Dear Editor,
While David Baker (Evangelical Options, reference to July en) makes a passing GAFCON’s appointment of Andy Lines as a missionary bishop for Europe, he devotes most of his attention to what he sees as its Anglo-Catholic leanings, with the clear implication that it is better to ‘remain and resist’ in the Church of England than to be a GAFCON ‘refugee’.
This is superficial. Even a cursory reading of GAFCON’s 2008 Jerusalem Statement and Declaration reveals that this is the missionary Anglicanism of the Global South which owes much to John Stott and J. I. Packer. GAFCON is recovering what in practice the Church of England has lost, namely the fundamental conviction that Christianity is a revealed religion, a faith we confess rather than a shifting consensus.
For GAFCON, the key question is this – will we or will we not remain in fellowship with those who show contempt for the clear teaching of Jesus and Scripture as a whole? To make a stand for truth may not necessarily lead to the exit, but a stand must be made. This was the approach set out in the GAFCON Primates Lagos Communiqué last April: ‘Faithful Christians may be called to different courses of action. We bless those whose context and conscience have led them to remain and contend for the faith within the current structures. If you are successful, you will not need a missionary bishop; if you are not successful, an alternative is at hand. The only true failure would be to waste time through inaction’.
GAFCON is a movement for fellowship in the truth. It is about contemporary reformation, not creating refugees, but it does enable those who for reasons of biblical conscience can no longer continue in their existing dioceses and provinces to remain within the fellowship of the global Anglican family.
Faithful Anglicans in distress have looked to successive Archbishops of Canterbury to act, but have been consistently let down, most recently in Scotland. The spiritual decay south of the border is now also far advanced and those are committed to remaining may well find that the GAFCON is essential to any effective resistance.
Yours sincerely,
