The General Secretary of GAFCON, Archbishop Ben Kwashi, has announced that the theme of the GAFCON IV conference, which will take place in Kigali, Rwanda from 17-21 April 2023, will be ‘To Whom Shall We Go?’. The venue for the event, the Kigali Conference Centre, has a capacity of 2,600 people.
GAFCON stands for Global Anglican Future Conference, and describes itself as ‘a global family of authentic Anglicans standing together to retain and restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion’.
Archbishop Ben Kwashi said: ‘As the worldwide church moves into the 2020s, there is increasing pressure to look for life’s answers in many places; there are certainly many voices offering suggestions to us, both as individuals and as a church. But to whom should we go?
‘Firstly, we should go to Jesus, as He is revealed to us in God’s word, the Bible, not picking and choosing the bits that suit our own purposes or that help us to fit comfortably into our society. We should go to Jesus, as revealed in God’s unchanging, inspired word to us, because it corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right’
‘Then we should then go to the church, to encourage each other with God’s word, to live and grow with our fellow brothers and sisters, under God’s direction. Finally, we are to go to the world, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life’.
GAFCON is keen that, post-Covid, delegates meet up in person again. It believes Zoom meetings are not as meaningful, because the heart of Christianity is fellowship; fellowship with God, fellowship with each other, and fellowship around the unchanging truth of God’s word. It is most important to meet in person, to hear personal testimonies and stories, to encourage, resource, relate to, pray for and inspire each other.
On a visit to research the venue and to get to know the conference organisers, GAFCON staff visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial – that solemn reminder of the atrocities that occurred in 1994. Next year, GAFCON IV will take place immediately after Rwanda’s annual week of remembrance for the Tutsi victims of the genocide.
