Meanwhile the Bishop of Newcastle, Bishop Brian Farran, who lives right next to the Sydney Diocese says Archbishop Peter Jensen has created difficulties for his relationship with the rest of the Australian church. I asked him what are those difficulties.

Brian Farran: Well I think it’s particularly difficult within the province of New South Wales where the Archbishop is the Metropolitan. I think there’s in fact emerging as he has, probably by default, as a principal leader of the GAFCON movement, and their statement in which they really encourage the formation of what seems like a church within a church. I think it would be difficult for him to come back and operate as if nothing has happened, and that the relationships that we have normally, through say our Primate with the Archbishop of Canterbury, that they’re going to be a bit muddied by his relationship with this secondary movement.

Stephen Crittenden: I’ll come to the Archbishop of Canterbury in a moment, but presumably there would be some conservative Anglicans in every diocese in Australia who might want to join this new Confessing movement, but also many Anglicans in Sydney who’d like to escape it. I mean is this the time when some kind of Episcopal oversight needs to be offered to alienating Anglicans in Sydney?

Brian Farran: Well I personally don’t agree with alternative forms of Episcopal oversight, so I’m finding myself rather constrained in all of this. Certainly I’ve been in contact with some of the Anglicans in Sydney who sometimes flee up to Newcastle actually for a dose of liturgical renewal, and they themselves have said that they’re totally disappointed that the Sydney bishops are not going to be at Lambeth, and they really do feel abandoned in that. So I guess there will be people in Sydney who are looking for some kind of insight from Lambeth and some follow-on.

Stephen Crittenden: Isn’t the primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury actually ended in that these people will be giving their allegiance to apparently a new conciliar body from which they will take their lead?

Brian Farran: This is one of the problems that the Archbishop of Canterbury has signaled in the press release that he’s issued after GAFCON. He’s indicated for example, that the GAFCON’s initiative in establishing a sort of primational council of some of those African Archbishops, will in fact blur the role of our own primates meetings within the Anglican communion, and I’m not sure how GAFCON’s going to operate, because we’ve had these four very significant instruments of unity within the Anglican community, which includes of course the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates’ meetings, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Lambeth Conference. And now there seems to be a rival organisation being established who may well actually be instrumental in developing bishops to move into other dioceses which they regard as unorthodox.

Read it all and peruse the other two GAFCON segments here and there.

These difficult questions are at the heart of the entire present struggle over the soul of Anglicanism. Orthodox critics of GAFCON such as Williams and Wright””along with theologians such as Chris Seitz, Ephraim Radner, Philip Turner, and primates such as Drexel Gomez of the West Indies””argue that sufficient answers cannot come from ad hoc interventions and councils. They must come instead by reforming Anglicanism from within. These critics stake their hopes on the proposed Anglican Covenant, due to be discussed at Lambeth next week, the principal goal of which is to arrive at a mutually agreed-upon method for deciding disputed matters with reference to substantive and coherent theological criteria.

Unfortunately, it is not clear that Lambeth and the other existing structures of Anglicanism can accomplish any such thing. Many hope so, against great odds, and not a few continue to work and pray that it might. Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, one of the Church of England’s leading thinkers, said at GAFCON that Anglicanism, if it is to be an effective confessing church, needs also to be a “conciliar church . . . to have councils at every level, including worldwide, that are authoritative, that can make decisions that stick.” Orthodox Anglicans going to Lambeth agree; that is why they are going, and that is why they have placed their hopes in the proposed Anglican Covenant. If they do not succeed, the GAFCON fellowship will almost assuredly step in to fill the gap, as a new confessional church in the evangelical Anglican tradition. Anglicanism will not be what it used to be, and some will argue that it no longer genuinely exists.

It might be too much to say that a good Lambeth could save Anglicanism from such a fate, but it is probably not too much to say that a Lambeth gone wrong could render such schism unavoidable. Certainly it is not too much to predict that faithful Anglicans everywhere will be working, watching, and praying for guidance.

Read it all.

In his watershed analysis of the rapidly emerging Christian movements in the Global South titled The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, religious sociologist Philip Jenkins discerned that, regardless of the paternalistic interpretations that Christian observers in Europe and North America may cling to, “the emerging Christian world will be anchored in the Southern continents.” A careful scholar, Jenkins relied upon the best available data while weaving his thesis. And it is for this reason that his work serves as one of the premiere harbingers of what has, seven years after he wrote, come to pass. Those of us familiar with Jenkins work who attended the GAFCON in Jerusalem were very much aware that the event served, in many respects, as a sign that the future Jenkins so accurately described is now present with us.

GAFCON was a uniquely global experience. During my week in Jerusalem as I served as a delegate or “pilgrim” to the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), I often reflected on Jenkins’ analysis. Individuals whose skin is darker than mine dominated every meeting, every worship service, and every foray into the Israeli countryside. Organized and orchestrated primarily by Christian leaders representing third-world Anglican Provinces, the conference and its place in history should not be underestimated by revisionist or orthodox Christians. The nearly 300 bishops representing 25 nations who turned out for the gathering oversee more than half the Communion’s adherents and perhaps more than 2/3rds the active Communion. Much more than a demonstration of support for orthodox Anglicans in North America, GAFCON is emblematic of a Global South Christianity come of age.

The ironies surrounding GAFCON’s issuance of its highly controversial Jerusalem Declaration are manifold. Consider, for example, the movement’s affinities with liberation theology. Phillip Berryman recognized liberation theology in broadest terms as “an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor’s suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor.”

For decades, Western liberals saw in the Global South a tool and an ally to help advance their radical social/political agenda. The third world churches received their “generous subsidies” and were, they were certain, duty bound to embrace Marxist inspired liberation theologies that would abet their own world view. A remarkably paternalistic class, these same liberals now feel betrayed by a Global South Christianity who have rejected Marx and have expressed keen desire to maintain a conservative theological position. Recent commentary regarding the “GAFCON rebels” published by Anglicans in the United Kingdom and North America indicates that the gloves have come off and that a head-on collision between what remains of well-monied Western revisionist Christians and the economically poor, disfranchised emerging Southern orthodox is inevitable.

Why, precisely, have Global South Christians rejected Western ecclesiological neopatrimonialisms? In effect, at Jerusalem the South declared that the colonialist methods of maintaining the Anglican Communion represent a catastrophic failure. Heretical Western bishops openly teach with impunity that Christ was a sinner and that he was not raised from the grave while theologically faithful bishops like Dr. William Jackson Cox are publicly disciplined and then jettisoned from the church. All the while, the Archbishop of Canterbury observes what is happening in silence or, on occasion, calls on Anglicans to continue “listening” or to participate in “gracious conversation.”

Lean southerners have been “listening” to their well-fed, tony neighbors for a long time and as a matter of courtesy will continue to do so in the future. But as Episcopal Church leaders deposed priests by the score and drove biblically-focused congregations from their buildings, the Global South bishops grew steadfastly aware that these calls for gracious conversation, for bringing their “exuberance to the larger party” while their deadlines for clarity were being ignored were red herrings, obfuscatory techniques designed to buy time and hopefully fatigue the opposition.

The Western scheme has failed. Now fully empowered, well-educated, and shrewd, our third-world counterparts are serving notice that they are no longer willing to sit idly while Lambeth continues to engineer decadal stall tactics ( e.g., boundless gracious discussion sessions) designed ultimately to protect the worldly interests of an aggressively anti-orthodox American Episcopal Church.

The Western liberals seem incapable of recognizing the rapidly shifting paradigm occurring in their midst. Their ears now appear dull, their eyes dim (Isaiah 6). Having sloshed through their plans for the colonials over cocktails, few seem all that interested in listening to the narratives of their Global South neighbors. Few seem inclined to consider even the stories of martyrdom that many in Africa and Asia are able to share. Western liberals now find themselves in the unenviable position of explaining why they are unable to abide the third world’s critique and the liberation they discovered in the Gospel. They must now find ways to explain to them that they are not, indeed, the oppressors.

Whether they are heard or no, the economically poor of the third world have broken their shackles and will, in time, play a dominant role in the Anglican Communion. As Jenkins predicted, Christendom is increasingly finding its anchor in the Global South. Following GAFCON, it now seems plausible that, in due course, it will find its compass there as well.

“The conference proceeded with the spotlight of world media upon it, it was not done in a corner. Its conclusions cannot be dismissed as the work of only a few.”

“The seven primates are significant leaders within the Anglican communion and they approach this work with appropriate seriousness and solemnity.” Dr [Peter] Jensen said.

The Archbishop says the lack of restraint by some revisionist church leaders in North America and the indecisiveness in response to it has made their task more urgent.

“No good can come from questioning the legitimacy of these men or their clear commitment to the church’s mission. Rather we must commend their willingness to provide clear leadership and to help bring order to this chaos.”

Read it all.

Leaders of the adherents of the Anglican faith need to stop embarrassing their flock. They are also making the Holy Trinity they listen to look confused and opening their communion to ridicule.

Come July 16, some Anglicans will be at the Lambeth Conference. Two weeks ago, another lot was in Jerusalem-Jordan-Jerusalem participating in the Global Anglican Future Conference, GOFCON, which formed the Fellowship of Confessing Christians.

The group meeting at Lambeth watched and listened. The… [GAFCON] lot will now do likewise. Each holds, not viciously so far, theological and canonical sledgehammers over the Scriptures’ stand on a juicy subject: sex.

Read it all.

GAFCON was a good thing. Other complexions have, of course, been put on it, but the conference in Jerusalem transformed disaffection from the Anglican Communion into a renewed commitment to its core, which is the love of Christ. Against the expectations of many, the week was not spent fulminating against gays. Bishop Robinson’s name was not heard. Clearly, dissatisfaction with liberal developments in ethics and theology, principally in the United States, had brought many of the participants to Jerusalem. But, once settled in Jerusalem, the participants spent too much of their time worshipping God and making their pilgrimage for GAFCON to be written off as a godless mistake.

Read it all.

Now to the GAFCON Communiqué: Most of it I can wholeheartedly support though I hardly have space in this ENewsletter to discuss it at length. Briefly let me say that The Jerusalem Declaration (the fourteen points in the document) affirms much of what I understand as basic Christianity as Anglicans have received it. As for the call for a North American Province to align the various judicatories of the Episcopalian diaspora, it is a noble and necessary endeavor, though it does not address any particular need that we in South Carolina have. That is, I rejoice that these brothers and sisters who have long looked for validation as “continuing” Anglicans are now recognized by important Provinces on the world stage when Canterbury, for various reasons, has been unable to do so. This recognition I can support even while I am grateful that we here in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina remain in full communion with Canterbury, that most historic and prominent See of Anglicanism. In fact this next week at the invitation of Archbishop, Rowan Williams, I travel to England””first to Exeter for what is termed the “Hospitality Week”. It is especially fitting to be assigned there. You may remember that the Diocese of Exeter at its Synod stood in solidarity with us when the first consent process for my election was ruled null and void. Along with this the Dean of Exeter was in Charleston this past January and February, serving as cantor at the evensong service the night before my consecration and as part of the procession at the joyous event the next day. From Exeter Allison and I will go to Canterbury for the Lambeth Conference from July 16th””August 3rd.

I am participating in both GAFCON and Lambeth because I believe it will take both the outside and the inside tack to move the Anglican Communion towards its God-given purpose and mission in the 21st Century. I think it is fair to say that without the likes of both George Whitefield and Joseph Butler pushing their wares in a prior century Anglicanism would not only be pastorally the weaker, but ecclesiologically the smaller. Or to use another historical allusion, without The Confession of Augsburg there would have been no Council of Trent. Institutions do not usually correct or readily adapt their structures or missions without a great deal of leverage, and GAFCON””regardless of whatever else it is””is clearly leverage.

Read it all.

2) The meeting, set last week in Jerusalem, was a great outpouring of Anglican love and traditional teaching. Check out the “Jerusalem Document” on the CANA website or the ADV website. It is a concise document which spells out what you and I have always believed but was yanked away from us by radical professors and church leaders: Primacy of Scripture; Jesus as Incarnate and the only way to salvation; the Creeds said without crossing our fingers at certain phrases; regular use of the BCP & Ordinal (Apostolic Succession); holy living including financial and earth stewardship, reaching out with the Gospel message, and sexual behavior that honors God.

3) There were actually over 1,200 participants, including just over 300 bishops. Interestingly enough, the bishops from North America included CANA, Uganda, Kenya, Southern Cone, Rwanda, Reformed Episcopal Church, Anglican Province in America, some bishops of Continuing Anglican groups from USA and Canada, and sitting bishops of TEC (Love, McPherson, Beckwith, Ackerman, Iker, Jim Adams, Schofield, Lawrence, Scriven.) All were excited to be there and supportive of the Document.

Read it all.

But GAFCON is no limp compromise. The declaration rejected bishops and churches that proclaim a “false gospel” in which “all religions offer equal access to God” and “a variety of sexual preferences and immoral behavior” are treated as human rights. Because existing “instruments” that unite and lead Anglicanism have failed, GAFCON stated, the crisis requires “realignment.”

The new movement will be led by a council of the primates (bishops) who head conservative Anglican provinces, starting with Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, West Africa, southernmost South America, and probably Tanzania, with hopes to enlist other nations. Australia’s large Sydney diocese is solidly on board. Right after GAFCON, nearly 800 Church of England clergy and laity met in London to discuss joining the movement, which is backed by England’s prominent, Pakistan-born Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali.

Dramatically ignoring Anglican tradition against overlapping jurisdictions, GAFCON hierarchs will jointly establish a new North American province to rally some 300 dissenting congregations that recently quit The Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada, plus hundreds more from earlier breakaways. These fellowships will include those who both allow and forbid women clergy.

The spiritual leader of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, personifies what GAFCON considers an outdated “colonial structure.” GAFCON acknowledged Canterbury as “an historic see” but added, “We do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

Read it all.

So far, the help and order needed in this matter is coming from the southern hemisphere. Ironically, the very churches established by colonial Anglican missionaries have provided clarity and leadership. They understand that our present structures are unable to cope and that taking rose-coloured glasses to have tea with the Archbishop of Canterbury will not help either. Those who have stepped forward are primates, senior leaders of our denomination, with huge responsibilities in their own churches. They don’t need to do it, but they are prepared to do it for Western Christians who have lost the plot.

I can understand some in Australia will say, what has this to do with me? That has never been the way of the Anglican communion. We rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn and seek to restore those who have strayed. Our “broad” church should never encompass those who deny basic Christian teaching. I don’t expect any Australian church-goer to notice changes here because of Gafcon. These events are being played out on the world stage. But we too have our part to play in this Anglican renewal and the first step is to recognise the crisis and that Gafcon is part of the solution. The past two weeks have been among the most spiritually invigorating of my life. I have seen great generosity of spirit.

Americans, from a proud nation with a proud history, have been willing to genuinely reach out to their African, Asian and South American brothers and sisters and say: “Help.” No hint of paternalistic or racist attitudes. The “Church of England” has come full circle.

Read it all.

Clergy discipline is of great importance to the morale of the Church. Scripture and the historic church, along with the Anglican Ordinal, have been of one accord in insisting that discipline begins with the household of God, and that church leaders are therefore especially accountable (1 Peter 4:17). I have observed serious breakdowns in this area on both sides of the ocean, but only in the West has this been done shamelessly. In the Episcopal Church, clergy divorce has become rampant in the last 35 years. While the so-called “gay lifestyle” of some clergy in the West grabs the headlines, rampant divorce among clergy, some with several marriages (let’s call this serial polygamy) is probably the more corrosive factor in the decline of those churches. Whatever the precise meaning of a bishop being husband of one wife (1 Timothy 3:2), it seems to me to limit the highest office in the church to those who have not been divorced as Christians.

Article 34 may seem out of place in a section on discipline, as it speaks of the diversity of traditions within the church. It teaches us, on the one hand, to be slow to judge those who practice their religion differently from us. There are many customs ”“ which we term adiaphora ”“ which Christians may follow in good conscience. The Article goes on to state that we must follow our local traditions in cases where they are the law of our church. This Article lays the foundation for obedience to canon law.

Article 33 speaks frankly of excommunicate persons who by open denunciation of the church should be shunned until they repent and are publicly reconciled. This Article complements the disciplinary rubric which allows a priest to refuse Communion to a “notorious evil-liver.” For many Anglicans in the West the whole idea of excommunication seems quaint or even anathema, although the Episcopal Church USA has managed to reinvent it under the twisted rubric of “abandonment of communion,” which is being used to bludgeon the orthodox. In the Church of England, for instance, a priest can be brought up on charges to the bishop if he were to refuse Holy Communion to an openly gay parishioner. Coming from this permissive culture to Africa, I was rather shocked to find there the opposite tendency: large numbers of Ugandan Anglicans absenting themselves from the Eucharist because of irregular marriages which render them excommunicate.

Read it all.

FiF NA’s pilgrims see GAFCON as not unlike the Fort Worth Congress of 1989, where there was an international presence and a clear sense of the consensus which brought us together, issuing in a call for the lead bishops to establish a structure that could further the cause. What was different here is the fact that several of the Primates who matter have already acted, and the great energy and urgency apparent both in the conference as a whole and in its leadership. What was begun here will not drag on. Its effect can already be seen in the strong reaction of the Episcopal establishment. And the BBC has announced that it will air a documentary film on GAFCON on the eve of the Lambeth Conference.

We did not meet to talk about something we hope will happen someday. We met to talk about something that is already happening, and to plan its direction for the future.

The Lambeth Conference of 1998 called on the Communion to reach out to those who are Anglicans, but outside the Communion. FiF NA was the first body in North America still tied to the Anglican Communion to recognize churches of the Continuum as fellow-Anglicans, and enter into full communion with them.

Your delegation rejoices in GAFCON’S decision to ask its Primates’ Council “to authenticate and recognize confessing Anglican jurisdictions, clergy, and congregations”. While not all Continuing bodies are interested in a relationship with the Communion, GAFCON is the first on-the-ground effort within the Communion to reintegrate those which do. About two-thirds of Continuers were represented at GAFCON.

GAFCON’s final statement endorsed FiF NA’s vision for a new province in North America, and identified the CCP as the vehicle for carrying it out. The GAFCON movement recognizes the ordination of women as one of the issues which divides it, as it does the CCP, and is committed to seek the mind of Christ together on these issues.

Read it all.

The Gospel of God in Christ is faithfully proclaimed by Canadian Anglicans today just as it has been by generations who have gone before us. I believe it is important to state this truth in response to the recent statement from the GAFCON gathering in Jerusalem, which suggests otherwise.

The GAFCON statement is based on a premise that there is “acceptance and promotion within the provinces of the Anglican Communion of a different gospel which is contrary to the apostolic gospel.” The statement specifically accuses Anglican churches in the Canada and the United States of proclaiming this “false gospel that has paralysed the Communion.” I challenge and repudiate this charge.

In my first year as Primate, I have visited many parishes across the country, attended synods and participated in gatherings of clergy and laity who care deeply for the church, its unity and witness. What I see is a faithful proclamation of the apostolic gospel in liturgy and loving service to those in need and in advocacy for justice and peace for all people.

Read it all.

Rarely has an archbishop been so tested. Only days before he attends the General Synod in York, Dr Rowan Williams has received a letter from more than 1,300 clergy, including 11 serving bishops, threatening to defect from the Church of England if women are consecrated bishops. The letter comes hard on the heels of an equally minatory ultimatum issued in Jerusalem last week by more than 250 bishops from across the Anglican Communion excoriating the Archbishop of Canterbury for his lack of moral leadership and calling on traditionalists to “sideline” him.

That is not all. In a challenge to his authority as primus inter pares, some 800 Church of England clergy and lay leaders took the first step on Tuesday to forming a “Church within a Church”. Led by three overseas bishops, the group met in a London evangelical church to assert their opposition to the ordination of [noncelibate] gay people as well as an anathema on liberal theology that they said was undermining the Church.

Read it all.

Anglicanism is is a dynamic, changing, growing and living faith which takes its authority from scripture, reason and tradition. It is unafraid to learn and receive anew the lessons of God’s unconditional love. The last century has taught us how we must make sure that there are no barriers to the welcome we offer to God’s house. Anglican Christians in the United States, Britain and across the world have applied those lessons and, in accordance with scripture, opened their doors to those previously shut out.

We welcome the response of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the GAFCON statement. The arbitrary creation of a “Primates’ Council” without legitimacy or authority cuts directly across the Anglican Instruments of Communion – the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates Meeting. The Statement represents, in sum and despite its denials, a schismatic document which seeks to re-form Anglicanism in a way which is without justification historically and ecclesiologically.

We regret the stumbling blocks which are created by the insistence on a narrow understanding of scriptural authority, especially for members of Anglican Churches in provinces whose leaders support the ideas of GAFCON. And those who break away from the Anglican Communion will still have the challenge of celebrating the diversity in God’s universe, and acknowledging the divine gifts bestowed on people who may be marginalised in some provinces – especially women and lesbian and gay people.

Read it all.

Dr Butler, head of the Anglican community in the boroughs of Bromley, Bexley and Greenwich, said: “Those attending the GAFCon make claims concerning the Anglican Communion which are frankly not supportable.

“It would seem that some of the authors of the statement from the conference and the founders of the new organisation are coming to Britain to recruit from amongst our parishes and clergy.

“I will be very surprised if many from Southwark Diocese rush to join them as it was only a couple of years ago that some of our good, hardworking, thoughtful evangelical clergy asked me to take action against other, more militant, evangelicals who were planting congregations in their parishes.

“What is proposed goes against the spirit of Anglicanism and Archbishop Dr Williams is right to challenge them to think carefully before going on down this path.”

Read it all.

From here:

The archbishop’s thoughtful letter is helpful, and his defense of the Communion’s structures is persuasive. I am particularly grateful to hear him say that “the conviction of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Lord and God and the absolute imperative of evangelism are not in dispute in the common life of the Communion.” This slanderous bit of boilerplate has been repeated frequently by the opponents of the Episcopal Church, and it is heartening to know that the archbishop realizes that it false.

‘I am quite concerned however that Archbishop Williams seems not to understand that there are primates, bishops, and others in the Communion who are actively seeking to undermine his office. He says that we should not “input selfish or malicious motives to those who have offered pastoral oversight to congregations in other provinces.” But there is no doubt that extending such oversight is an effort to foment discord, and punish those who argue on behalf of the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of our Communion. Peter Akinola is unwilling to articulate a simple condemnation of violence against homosexuals. What more does he have to do to persuade the archbishop that his views are dangerous, malicious and un-Christian?’

During the press conference at All Souls’ Church, Langham Place, London, Archbishop [Peter] Jensen expressed surprise that Archbishop Williams was not more supportive of the group’s efforts.

“I was hoping he would be very joyfully receptive to what he saw as a development of quite legitimate authority to help bring order to the chaos of the Anglican Communion within the last five years,” he said.

Archbishop Jensen dismissed as mythological the idea that the Archbishop of Canterbury exercised legal or juridical power over the Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s power is largely moral, he said, adding “that the last five years have seen a diminution of the moral authority that he is able to bring to this role.” The loss of moral authority was not Archbishop Williams’ fault, Archbishop Jensen said, and probably would have happened to “whoever had been the archbishop.”

Read it all.

Topics covered included both the GAFCON gathering and the Lambeth Conference–listen to it all (about 8 and 1/2 minutes).

Nearly 800 clergy and lay leaders from the Church of England took the first steps yesterday towards forming a “Church within a Church” to be an evangelical stronghold against the ordination of [noncelibate] gay people.

The clergy met at All Souls Langham Place, in Central London, a prominent evangelical church, where they were invited to sign up to the “Jerusalem declaration” rejecting liberal doctrines. Most are expected to endorse the statement, forming the British arm of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, a rival Anglican Communion that was started in Israel last week at a conference of conservative Anglicans from around the world.

In the declaration conservative bishops, mainly from Africa and Asia, stated: “We reject the authority of those Churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, hit back at the evangelical rebels yesterday, warning them that their new structures lacked legitimacy and urging them to “think very carefully about the risks entailed”.

Read it all.

The Anglican church is in “chaos” with the “moral authority” of the Archbishop of Canterbury lying in tatters amid growing splits over homosexuality and women bishops, rebel leaders claim.

In a direct challenge to the leadership of Dr Rowan Williams, three leading Archbishops said they had decided to “take things in hand”.

Leaders of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Foca), a newly formed network for millions of Anglicans angered by the rise of liberal theology, denied that they planned to “seize power” within the church.

Read it all.

Please check it out.

What stands out in the statement? Five initial impressions of what will be important.

1. A strong commitment to stay in and affirm the Anglican Communion, despite all.

2. The creation of a fellowship of Confessing Anglicans within the Communion.

3. The issuing of the Jerusalem Declaration as the basis for such a fellowship.

4. A Council of Primates to oversee the movement.

5. A new Province in the USA recognised by the Council of Primates, which means that the power of the Archbishop of Canterbury alone to say who is in and who is out is to be shared.

Read it all.

“[In Jerusalem] we all sat around the table, and pretty well with one voice, we said, we are not leaving the Anglican Communion,” Archbishop Greg Venables, who oversees several countries in South America, said from Jerusalem. “We are not going to break away and form another church.”

There had been talk preceding the meeting of a theological divorce. The group did not split because, Venables says, “we are the true Anglicans.”

“We don’t accept that we can hand over the franchise of Anglicanism to people who suddenly, without consulting anyone, decided to create a new version of Anglicanism,” he says.

Read or listen to it all.

For now, GAFcon seems to be trying to provoke a split rather than announcing one itself. On Monday, Rowan Williams responded to the Jerusalem declaration by saying he thought “the tenets of orthodoxy” spelled out in the document will be acceptable and shared by the vast majority of Anglicans. He did, however, note that GAFcon’s proposals for reorganizing its churches and “intervention” in existing dioceses were problematic. It now likely that the U.S., which brought the conservative-liberal tension to a boil with its consecration of openly gay bishop V. Gene Robinson in 2003, could end up being the setting for a GAFcon provocation. Certainly, after this past weekend, the temperature of the U.S. battle will only increase along with the international stakes.

Read it all.

In some ways the newly formed Gafcon body resembles much more this “colonial” strategy than perhaps its organizers contemplate. The banding together of like-minded Anglicans to give mutual support and to encourage evangelism and church growth, in bodies which remain within the traditional structure of the church, but in formal and ad hoc ways exercise their own control, has been a part of the Anglican story for centuries.

What is revolutionary and perhaps troubling is the intention of Gafcon to enter existing Provinces of the Communion without the authorization or consent of the canonical bodies involved. In this perhaps crucial aspect, Gafcon is proposing to act as a church rather than as a large “missionary society” or lobby or interest group.

That such a society exhibits impatience with existing church structures is nothing new. The argument which split the Evangelical Movement in the 18th Century was not simply about “Calvinism” versus “Arminianism”, although neither title precisely fits the moment, but about whether the existing parochial structure of the church was to be respected and used, or whether to go outside that structure and create cells of converts linked in “connexion”. Gradually the Wesleyans “invaded” the structure, placing evangelism above ecclesiology. Church evangelicals remained within the structure, “converting” parishes and accepting high office.

As far as North America and perhaps England is concerned, Gafcon seems to be following the path of the early Methodists in placing evangelical strategy and need over ecclesiology.

Read it all.

[color=red]last updated: 3 July 2008, 12:30 GMT (8:30 a.m. Eastern)[/color]
What’s new: Response from +Hiltz of Canada, new GLOBAL petition to indicate your support of GAFCON, long commentary on GAFCON from Forward in Faith, etc…

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Now that the responses to GAFCON are coming in fast and furious, we thought it would be helpful to create a roundup post to track them. As always, feel free to post comments that include links to articles and statements of interest.

[b]New entries July 2 & 3:[/b] (apologies these are in no particular order… it’s a busy day)

A NEW GLOBAL Petition in support of GAFCON:

++Hiltz (Primate of Canada)

+Chane (Dio. Washington)

+Benn (Lewes, UK)

CANA Bishop David Bena writes his clergy about GAFCON

Forward in Faith: Letter from Jerusalem

Bp. Kirk Smith of Arizona (See “A Final Thought”)

Alister McGrath

Chris Sugden

Kevin Kallsen of Anglican TV reflects on GAFCON

GAFCON Report by Canon Bill Gandenberger (Dio. San Joaquin)

Church of England GAFCON Briefing (one of the Melbourne GAFCON bloggers)

Church Times blog (July 1): GAFCON Primates in London

A summary of GAFCON designed for parish newsletters (Produced by the Chelmsford branch of Anglican Mainstream, note this is primarily geared to CoE parishes)

New materials at Anglican TV:
GAFCON: The Post Gafcon London Meeting
GAFCON Archbishop Venables delivers closing sermon
GAFCON-Final-Press-ConferenceGAFCON: Final Press Conference

— end of new July 3 links —

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I. GAFCON Communique and other important Conference Materials (see also section VI. below for more conference materials)

The GAFCON Communique — full text and primary T19 discussion thread.
— the SF Discussion Thread on the Communique.

GAFCON Final Press Briefing (audio)

GAFCON Final Press Release
— SF Discussion thread

Jerusalem Declaration Acceptance Statement (Matt Kennedy’s liveblog)

The Offical GAFCON website is here.

***

II. International Response and Commentary

Archbishop Rowan Williams Response
— SF Discussion thread

Bishop NT Wright’s Response

Bp. Allan Ewing (Canberra)

Abp. Peter Jensen (Sydney)

Bp. Robert Forsyth (South Sydney)

Modern Churchpeople’s Union

Bp. Tom Butler (Southwark)

++Philip Aspinall, Primate of Australia

Inclusive Church

Anglican Church League, Sydney

***

III. US Response and Commentary

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s Response

Bishop Iker’s (Fort Worth) Response

Canon Neal Michell (Diocese of Dallas) Response

Dr. Leander Harding

Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina: Understanding the Times (pre-GAFCON)

***

IV. Bloggers and Various other Commentary

The GAFCON links post which we elves had posted during most of the GAFCON conference — links to all those who were blogging from Jerusalem

Matt Kennedy: The Anglican Communion Must Change or Die

Greg Griffith: Finally, Into the Breach? The Global Anglican Future Begins

Fr. Dan Martins: A First Take on the Jerusalem Declaration

The Ugley Vicar: Can GAFCON really help us in England?

Graham Kings: On the GAFCON Final Statement: Encouragements and Serious Questions

Christopher Seitz on the GAFCON Communique’

Brad Drell: What The Gafcon Statement Means For Western Louisiana

Bobby J. Kennedy: GAFCON: What’s in it for me? (Another view from Western Louisiana)

Fr. Lee Nelson (Fort Worth, GAFCON attendee): My Thoughts on the Jerusalem Declaration and the GAFCON Statement

Tony Payne (Sydney, GAFCON attendee): GAFCON final day: Making a Statement!

Dr. Karin Sowada (Sydney, GAFCON attendee): Singing Bishops and Firm Words

REFORM Ireland (GAFCON attendee): Moving Forward

The Rev. Grant LeMarquand (Trinity Seminary, Ambridge)

Cherie Wetzel (Anglicans United, Dallas, GAFCON attendee)

Tony Clavier: GAFCON and Voluntary Groups

Chris Watson Lee: GAFCON Roundup

***
V. Mainstream Media Reports

Timothy Morgan: Misunderstanding GAFCON (Christianity Today)

Travis Kavulla: Remaking Anglicanism (National Review)

Time: An Anglican Schism Headed for US?

Telegraph July 1 (coverage of All Souls Langham Place, comments by ++Jensen and ++Orombi)

NPR: All Things Considered, June 30, Barbara Bradley Hagerty (Comments by ++Venables, Naughton, +Minns, +VGR)

***

VI. Miscellaneous Conference Materials

Matt Kennedy’s blog entry listing TEC Bishops and Anglican Primates in attendance at GAFCON

Dr. Stephen Noll: COMMUNING WITH CHRIST, A WORKSHOP ON ANGLICAN ECCLESIOLOGY
Given at GAFCON 2008

Notes on Dr. Os Guiness’ talk at GAFCON

The full Transcript of Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali’s GAFCON Talk
GAFCON Day 3: Live Blog of +Nazr-Ali Remarks to General Assembly

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali on authentic Anglicanism

Dr. Mark Thompson: “Just what is the Bible?” (GAFCON Scripture workshop)

Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda Interviewed at Gafcon by BBC’s Today Programme
Live Blog: Archbishop Henry Orombi’s Sermon at the Opening Eucharist

GAFCON: Live Blog of Day 1 Press Conference

GAFCON ”“ A Rescue Mission: Archbishop Peter Akinola’s opening address
GAFCON: Transcript of Archbishop Akinola’s Opening Address

Bp Bob Duncan: Anglicanism Come of Age: A Post-Colonial and Global Communion for the 21st Century
— SF Discussion thread

GAFCON: ”˜The Way, the Truth and the Life’ Publication [PDF Document]
— T19 thread
— SF Discussion

VII. All Souls Langham Place London Post-Gafcon meeting
1. Presentation by ++Orombi
2. Presentation by ++Venables
3. Interview with JI Packer
4. Panel Discussion
5. Apb. Peter Jensen Presentation
6. Petition to declare support of GAFCON for CoE members (COE members only!)

VIII: Additional Anglican TV videos:
GAFCON Jerusalem Declaration Video
GAFCON Behind the scenes briefing
GAFCON Interview with Archbishop Venables
Anglican Report with Archbishop Orombi

[color=red]last updated: 3 July 2008, 12:30 GMT (8:30 am Eastern)[/color]

Contrary to their claims, the Anglican Communion is traditionally one that embraces difference and respects diversity. Since the reign of Henry VIII the Church of England has sought to encompass a range of opinions because it recognized that no one group has special access to truth. Therefore engagement with those with whom you disagree is essential in pursuit of truth.

The formation of FOCA is nothing less than a pre-emptive first strike by those who are determined to have their own way come what may. Their abandonment of serious theological discussion and debate is a betrayal of the ethos of Anglicanism.

Jonathan Clatworthy, General Secretary of the MCU said: “They tried to take over, using homosexuality as a rallying-cry and threatening to split the Anglican Communion. Finding their more extreme demands rejected they have finally decided to go their own way. This will be an opportunity for the Anglican Communion to reaffirm its traditional openness and diversity, recognizing that nobody has all the answers”.

Read it all.

It has been a joy to participate in the GAFCON experience in Jerusalem, and I welcome and endorse the proclamation that has been issued at the conclusion of our week of deliberation and prayer.

It is a positive contribution to the future direction of the Anglican Communion, as well as a very encouraging affirmation and validation of the realignment that has been taking place in the Communion over the past few years.

We stand in solidarity with the GAFCON movement and principles, and we in Fort Worth look forward to the continuing saga of this exciting development in our life together as faithful Anglicans.

May the Lord continue to bless and guide us in the challenging days ahead of us.

The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker
Bishop of Fort Worth

[from the Diocese of Fort Worth website]

What’s more, it is enormously exciting to live at a time when new leadership is arising from places completely outside the north Atlantic axis. Africa was one of the great cradles of early Christianity, producing such towering minds as Tertullian and Augustine. Most of us have long ago moved away from any idea that Christianity, or even Anglicanism, somehow ”˜belongs’ to England or northern Europe. In my own diocese we love our link with Lesotho, and always find that visits from our friends there bring new energy and joy to our parishes and schools. Just as you don’t have to go to Jerusalem to meet Jesus ”“ he is alive and present to heal and save in every place! ”“ so it’s obvious that you don’t have to go to Canterbury to be part of the Anglican family. However, as I know, going to Jerusalem can help. Pilgrimage can add a new dimension to our awareness of who Jesus was and is; it has done that for me, as it clearly has done for those attending GAFCON. Likewise, the historic link with Canterbury is not to be dismissed. Cutting your links with the past can be like cutting off the roots of a tree. Reconnecting with our roots ”“ and, where necessary, refreshing and cleaning them ”“ is always better than pretending we don’t need them. But what matters is of course the fruit. Here in my diocese, as in so many in England, we are refreshing our roots and seeing real fruit; but we don’t imagine we are self-sufficient. On the contrary, we know we have a great deal to learn from brothers and sisters in many other parts of the world, Africa included. I would have hoped, actually, that all this would now go without saying: that we have long moved beyond the sterile stand-off between ”˜colonialism’ and ”˜post-colonialism’. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. That’s what matters.

I and my colleagues in this diocese, like so many others, share exactly in the sense that we are a fellowship ”˜confessing the faith of Christ crucified, standing firm for the gospel in the global and Anglican context’, sharing too the goal ”˜to reform, heal and revitalise the Anglican Communion and expand its mission to the world’ and ”˜to give clear and certain witness to Jesus Christ’. For this reason, I know that the GAFCON leaders can’t have intended to imply (as a ”˜suspicious’ reading of their text might suggest) that they are the only ones who really believe all this, that they and they alone care about such things. The rest of us, no doubt ”“ including several of us who were not invited to GAFCON ”“ are eager to share in any fresh movements of the Spirit that are going ahead. And as we do so I know that the GAFCON leaders would want us to express the various questions that naturally come to mind as we contemplate what they have said to us. Just as they wouldn’t want anyone to swallow uncritically the latest pronouncement from Canterbury or New York, so clearly they wouldn’t want us merely to glance at their document, see that it’s ”˜all about the gospel’, and then conclude that we must sign up without thinking through what’s being said and why. It is in that spirit that I raise certain questions which seem to me important precisely because of our shared goals (the advancement of the gospel), our shared context (the enormous challenges of contemporary society and of a church often muddled in theology and ethics and lacking the structures to cope), and our shared heritage (the Anglican tradition with its Articles, Prayer Books and historic roots).

Central to these questions is the puzzle about the new proposed structure. I am sure the GAFCON organisers are as horrified as I am to see today’s headlines about ”˜a new church’. That doesn’t seem to be what they intended.

Read it carefully and read it all.