The meeting has witnessed a shift in the leadership of the conservative movement within the Anglican Communion, with the Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen assuming a new prominence among what had been an African-dominated leadership team. Challenged in a press conference by a gay activist to respond to the persecution of a lesbian in Uganda, who was forced to flee to the United Kingdom for her safety, Archbishop Henry Orombi responded that he did not think that homosexuals were persecuted in his country. It was Archbishop Jensen who then intervened, noting that all Anglicans abhorred homophobia, and that speaking for himself and the African church leaders, they were united in their condemnation of violence. When the issue was presented to the African leaders in those terms, they were quick to join their Australian colleague in condemning homophobic violence.

Condemned by critics as schismatic, the leaders of GAFCON have confounded expectations by focusing on spiritual solutions, with organizers hoping it will spark a renewal movement within the wider church. The long-term implications of GAFCON will likely rest upon its closing communiqué. Pilgrims will be asked to review seven questions over the course of the conference, including what can be done to restore sacramental Communion among the divided Anglican churches and whether it can be reformed from within.

The questions they will be asked to answer include whether cross border Episcopal jurisdictions are an appropriate way forward to resolve differences; is GAFCON merely a Global South initiative or does it have a role to play in the wider church; will the initiatives that arise from GAFCON be neutralized by the strategic use of money by its opponents in the Episcopal Church; can GAFCON provide a path towards the Anglican future; and should GAFCON become an institutional entity in order to achieve the tasks it has set for itself.

Archbishop Orombi said there were no predetermined answers to these questions from the archbishops, as it was important that clergy and lay voices be heard in formulating a way forward for Anglicanism.

Read it all.

With my departure for GAFCON less than a week away and Lambeth a mere three weeks from now, my ruminations, which are constantly upon the ebb and flow of things here in the Diocese of South Carolina, also swing into the sway of Global Anglicanism””which frankly are also seldom far from my waking thoughts. Let me share just little of my mental scrawl.

These are tenuous times to say the least. I could even say a time of crisis””if the word wasn’t over used and misleading. In the past I’ve quoted the Stanford economist Dr. Roemer’s provocative statement, “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste,” and I’ve suggested that we in The Episcopal Church are steadily wasting it. The reason why I shy away from the word crisis to describe our situation is that it suggests in many minds the idea that there will be a watershed moment in which things will tilt in one direction or another much as the mountains in North Carolina send some streams flowing towards the Savannah River to the Atlantic and others toward the Mississippi drainage and the Gulf of Mexico. I no longer think this is the best way to understand the times we are in. A metaphor I’ve taken up recalls a drive I took across Nevada some years ago on U.S. Highway 50, known in the west as “the loneliest road in America.” It is one mountain range crossing after another. You cross more separate ranges on that drive through the state than through the rest of the U.S. together whether I-40, I-10, I-80, you name it. If there is to be or has been a crossing of the Rubicon in things Anglican I think it will only be the retrospective vision that will reveal it or through some yet unrecognized prophet.
What is far more important to my mind is not in joisting at windmills with The Episcopal Church but working toward an Anglicanism sufficient for a Global Age. Some will be engaged in this work through some non-TEC realignment, and others will be striving under God’s providence to foster this emerging reality while remaining within TEC””I consider this diocese among this shrinking group. Yet I believe we in South Carolina are strategically aligned to work broadly with various constituencies””Communion Partners, Anglican Communion Network, Common Cause, TEC, and a variety of Provincial relationships. But we need to work beyond ad hoc configurations and happenstance missional relationships, (if there actually is such a thing). There will be much to say on this in the future.

These two gatherings of global Anglicanism will be yet another opportunity for my immersion into the larger Anglican world. Coming as it does in the first year of my episcopacy I am inclined to see it as a providential and formative experience that will shape this next decade for us. Thus I covet your prayers. To what end? 1) That God’s vision for the role that this diocese is to take in this emerging world of the Anglican Communion will begin to clarify in my mind and in the minds of others in this diocese who will be following these gatherings here at home. 2) That the provincial relationships which will be fundamental to our diocesan life and mission will not only be made or strengthened, but the role we are to play in helping shape the Anglicanism of this 21st Century will begin to emerge. 3) That I will be a faithful witness to our Lord Jesus Christ and the truth of the Gospel, wisely and forthrightly representing this diocese in the councils of the Church.

Faithfully yours,

(The Rt. Rev.) Mark Lawrence, Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina

Which to many makes it all the more baffling to understand why Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester has decided to boycott the Lambeth conference. He has become a champion of traditional Christianity in Britain, yet his action – along with that of the other 250 bishops – will be seen as a direct challenge to the authority of Dr Williams; as fermenting division rather than bringing healing. Rather than promoting a Church that has a message of hope and love, they seem to be reinforcing views that it has now come to stand for intolerance and bitter recrimination.

Yet this would be to misunderstand Bishop Nazir-Ali. Well-respected and valued in the Church, he is a man of deep conviction, but his decision is borne out of desperate frustration that the liberals have been able to advance their agenda – from electing a gay bishop to carrying out homosexual blessings – without any real attempt made to keep them in check. The fact is that the conservatives feel powerless to stop the liberal tide, and their statements betray this desperation.

There is in effect little that they can do, and also little that Dr Williams can do because of the autonomous nature of the various churches in the worldwide Communion. But their boycott of this summer’s conference and their attacks on the pro-gay moves in the Church have pushed them to the fringes of the communion and damaged their image in the eyes of wider society.

Read it all.

Check it out.

Refuting claims that GAFCON is about schism, Iker told ENS that the conference is “all about a renewal of confidence in Anglicanism.”

Ackerman told ENS that some of the bishops at GAFCON will also be attending the Lambeth Conference. “If this is a rival to Lambeth, nobody told us,” he said.

During his address, [Bishop Suheil] Dawani underscored his commitment to the Lambeth Conference, emphasizing that the once-a-decade gathering of bishops, set for July 16-August 3 in Canterbury, England, “is so important to our ongoing life together and for the mission of the church.”

Read it all and note the link to Bishop Dawani’s whole address.

Again, from the BBC blurb:

Is the Anglican Communion facing its biggest ever challenge? Traditionalists are angry, and their meeting in Jerusalem is seen as a challenge to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lambeth conference next month. Henry Orombi, the Archbishop of Uganda, said homosexuality was only one of the dilemmas facing the church.

For this segment go to this page where individual segments are listed and find the audio link at the segment at 0844.

From the BBC blurb:

Traditionalist Anglicans are meeting for a conference in Jerusalem and exhibiting some frustration with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Our religious affairs correspondent, Robert Pigott reports.

In order to listen to this segment you need to go here and click on the “latest programme in full” link at the top, and then go 1 hour and thirteen minutes in (my computer showed 20:13:30ish when the segment started, and the segment lasts about 4 minutes).

Is this finally the end for the Anglican Communion worldwide? We hear from the Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, one of the leaders of a breakaway conference for conservative Anglicans starting in Jerusalem this weekend. We also hear from Bishop Mouneer Anis of Egypt, who thinks this conference comes at the wrong place and the wrong time.

Listen to it all (about 14 minutes).

Some 300 bishops – a third of the Anglican bishops in the world – arrived in Jerusalem this week to attend the Global Anglican Future Conference, organized by the traditionalist wing of the church, which is opposed to ordaining homosexual bishops. GAFCON is being staged as a rival to next month’s Lambeth Conference in London, the Anglican Communion’s main event held every 10 years.

GAFCON has drawn some 1,000 participants: bishops, clergymen, and activists from Anglican congregations in 28 countries, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria.

The rift in the Anglican Communion occured in 2003, when its American wing, the Episcopal Church, ordained the openly gay Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire.

Read it all.

The new fellowship could have a leadership of six or seven senior conservative bishops and archbishops, such as the Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Right Rev Bob Duncan ”” who chairs the US Common Cause partnership that acts as an umbrella for American conservatives ”” Archbishop Henry Orombi, Primate of Uganda, and the Church of England’s Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali.

The aim is not to split the worldwide Anglican Communion, which has 80 million members in 38 provinces, but to reform it from within. Formal ties would be maintained with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, but fellowship members will consider themselves out of communion with the US and Canada.

Fellowship members could attempt to opt out of the pastoral care of their diocesan bishop and seek oversight from a more conservative archbishop from their own country or abroad.

Read it all.

Ordination of homosexuals, same-sex marriages and a perceived deviation from Jesus’s gospel have prompted some 300 hundred clergymen and hundreds more delegates from the conservative wing of the Anglican Communion to gather this week in Jerusalem.

The meeting, known as the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), is perhaps the most tangible demonstration yet of the division within the 77-million-strong Anglican church.

More liberal dioceses located primarily in North American and Britain are now pitted against more conservative congregants and clergy who come from the West, but also in disproportionately high numbers from Africa, Asia and South America.

These conservative Anglicans might represent just a third of the Anglican bishops, but they make up about 75 percent of Anglican churchgoers, said GAFCON organizers who spoke with The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

Read it all.

Received from Gafcon via email:

Opening Address by Archbishop Peter Akinola
Sunday 22nd June, 2008

People of the living God, welcome to Jerusalem. Welcome to GAFCON. One of the marks of apostolic ministry is signs, wonders and miracle[1]. There are many in today’s Church, who would lay claim to apostolic authority without holding on to apostolic faith nor do they manifest any of the marks of the apostles. In GAFCON, I have seen signs and wonders. That we are able to gather here this week is a miracle for which we must give thanks to God.

There have been many seemingly insurmountable obstacles, but as a testimony that the Lord our God is firmly in control of GAFCON, he has graciously removed them. A conference of this magnitude would normally require several years of extensive planning, consultations and fund raising. We had barely five months to put this conference together. The Lord raised men and women who gladly and willingly offered their time, skill and money to make it happen.

I am very grateful to the members of the leadership team for their selfless and sacrificial roles in helping to deliver this conference, [please stand for recognition] We are deeply grateful to all provincial, diocesan and parish local committees, the donors, the tour agents, the travel agents, the Jordanian and Israeli governments for allowing us to meet here and in Jordan. Brethren, we appreciate the labours of love of the theological resource group. I must also thank in advance all those who will provide leadership in worship, workshops and plenary. We are heavily indebted to the various sub-committees and their leaders. God bless you all.

Why are we here? What have we come to do?

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) holding here in the holy land this week has understandably elicited both commendation and contempt in varying measures from all who claim a stake in shaping the future identity or in destroying the traditional identity of the global Anglican Communion.

Those who failed to admit that by the unilateral actions they took in defiance of the Communion have literally torn the very fabric of our common life at it deepest level since 2003, are grumbling that we are here to break the Communion.
Similarly, those who fail, for whatever reason to come to terms with the painful reality that the Communion is in a state of brokenness and lacked the ability to secure a genuine reconciliation, but simply carried on the work of the Communion in a manner that is business as usual are not happy with us.
And of course there are those who argue that while there may be some justification for GAFCON; why not call it after Lambeth 2008.

But thanks be to God that there are millions of people around the world including members of other denominations and those of other faiths who not only share our concerns but have chosen to partner with us and are praying for us.
For those of us gathered here in the Name of the Lord, and on behalf of the over 35 million faithful Anglicans we represent[2] GAFCON is a continuation of that quiet but consistent initiative, a godly instrument appointed to reshape, reform, renew and reclaim a true Anglican Biblical orthodox Christianity that is firmly anchored in historic faith and ancient formularies.

Be that as it may, we must note that we cannot understand our present circumstance without locating it within the context of the controversies of the past decade. Every responsible historian knows that his task is predicated on the treasury of past events ”“ rightly interpreted, as the compass for the present and guide for the future. For this reason, GAFCON takes its bearings from the tides of varied opinions and equivocations that have characterised our Communion in the last few years and exposed our once robust reputation as children of the Reformation to scorn. We were well-known for our stand on Scripture as the foundation stone of our tradition and reason.

The underlying objective of GAFCON necessarily compels a deep and honest reflection on the theological and ecclesiological inconsistencies of the past decade at the highest and most sacred levels of our Communion[3]. While not contesting the right to personal opinions and attitudes to this new situation, we must disabuse our minds of the unworthy views about GAFCON being a monster on the horizon, or even a strange breed of Anglicanism devoid of antecedent factors.

Whichever way you look at it, the Communion is deeply in trouble. This is not only because of the actions of TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada but also because the hitherto honoured Instruments of Communion, in recent years have, by design become instruments of disunity, putting the Communion in an unprecedented brokenness and turmoil.

Brethren, we spent much of our God-given precious time travelling long distances and at huge costs, meditating and praying earnestly about what we thought were common concerns, urging for a listening process while assuring people with different sexual orientation of God’s love and our pastoral commitment to them, putting out carefully-worded communiqués and urging for restraint with regards to any attempt at defying time-tested limits.

PRE- LAMBETH 98
Human memory is very short. Therefore, permit me to suggest that we need to retrace our steps to some of the events that preceded Lambeth ’98 when some, particularly the Global South of the Communion sensed the crisis ahead. It was the Second Anglican Encounter in the South, which was held in Kuala Lumpur from 10th -15th February 1997 with the theme, ‘The Place of Scripture in the life and Mission of the Church in the 21st Century’. The theme was in the context of a premonition that the Communion was ‘at a time of difficulty and confusion in some provinces and of growth, martyrdom, dynamic missionary encouragement and quiet but powerful witness in others’.

Looking back, one must confess that some of the resolutions couldn’t have been more prophetic. Take for instance the Encounter’s resolution about ‘Scripture, the Family and Human Sexuality’:
Reflection on our Encounter theme has helped further to deepen our resolve to uphold the authority of Scripture in every aspect of life, including the family and human sexuality.
Therefore:
6.1 We call on the Anglican Communion as a Church claiming to be rooted in the Apostolic and Reformed Tradition to remain true to Scripture as the final authority in all matters of faith and conduct;
6.2 We affirm that Scripture upholds marriage as a sacred relationship between a man and a woman, instituted in the creation ordinance;
6.3 We reaffirm that the only sexual expression, as taught by Scripture, which honours God and upholds human dignity is that between a man and a woman within the sacred ordinance of marriage;
6.4 We further believe that Scripture maintains that any other form of sexual expression is at once sinful, selfish, dishonouring to God and an abuse of human dignity;

6.5 We are aware of the scourge of sexual promiscuity, including homosexuality, rape and child abuse in our time. These are pastoral problems, and we call on the Churches to seek to find a pastoral and scriptural way to bring healing and restoration to those who are affected by any of these harrowing tragedies.

This Second Trumpet was used by God to make the majority of the Bishops who participated in the Lambeth Conference 1998 stand together to assert the authority of the Bible against the revisionist agenda that was being peddled then.

Post-Lambeth Reactions
Paradoxically, that which was universally hailed as the triumph of biblical truth was, soon after the Lambeth Conference, lamented by a self-conceited typical American bishop, Jack Spong of Newark (now retired) as a disastrous condescension to stone-age logic. He actually said that the Africans were theologically “animistic and superstitious” and ignorant of scientific advancement. Lest some interpret this as a racial rather than a doctrinal issue, Barbara Harris (a black), Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts, even said the African Bishops’ loyalty had been “bought with chicken dinners” by the conservative American Anglican Council. Of course, these slanders were calmly repudiated by noted African voices such as my most worthy predecessor- The Most Rev. Joseph Adetiloye, who said: “We in Africa hold the Bible as our authority for the Christian life. Therefore we will stand by the Word of God. To do otherwise, I’m afraid, would be impossible”¦”

Many American revisionist dioceses and congregations withdrew their financial assistance to needy African dioceses. Responding to this development, Bishop John Rucyahana of Rwanda who had been affected by that action said, “This has happened to many other African countries and African churches. Our opinion and independence of mind is being choked by [patronising generosity] via the gifts of money. That is manipulation and dehumanizing to think we will do what people want because they have money.”

Clearly the bedrock of the revisionist perspective is the humanist, rather than theological approach. This is the crux of the problem: they are going in the opposite direction from what Biblical orthodoxy demands, and with such a mindset, a meeting-point with those who are labelled conservatives ”“ who have chosen to stand where the Bible stands, becomes a very remote possibility.
Crossing the ‘Rubicon’
Between the Lambeth Conference in 1998 and 2003, several dioceses in the Episcopal Church (ECUSA) continued with impunity to legitimise open same-sex unions. The election and proposed consecration, in 2003, of a man in an active homosexual relationship, Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in defiance of Resolution 1:10 of Lambeth 98, inflicted the most devastating wound on the pastorally responsible listening process recommended by that conference. Throughout the Communion, there was widespread outcry against that proposal. For ease of reference the text of Lambeth Resolution 1.10 is appended to this address.
The Primates’ meeting in October 2003 at Lambeth Palace discussed this development with deep concern and came up with this statement:
“We ”¦ re-affirm the resolutions made by the bishops of the Anglican Communion gathered at the Lambeth Conference in 1998 on issues of human sexuality as having moral force and commanding the respect of the Communion as its present position on these issues. We commend the report of that Conference in its entirety to all members of the Anglican Communion valuing especially its emphasis on the need “to listen to the experience of homosexual persons,…”
“Therefore, as a body we deeply regret the actions of the Diocese of New Westminster and the Episcopal Church (USA) which appear to a number of provinces to have short-circuited that process, and could be perceived to alter unilaterally the teaching of the Anglican Communion on this issue. They do not. Whilst we recognise the juridical autonomy of each province in our Communion, the mutual interdependence of the provinces means that none has authority unilaterally to substitute an alternative teaching as if it were the teaching of the entire Anglican Communion.
“To this extent, therefore, we must make clear that recent actions in New Westminster and in the Episcopal Church (USA) do not express the mind of our Communion as a whole, and these decisions jeopardise our sacramental fellowship with each other”¦
At that point, the red lights were unmistakable and the appropriate note of caution was sounded by the Primates:
“If his consecration proceeds, we recognise that we have reached a crucial and critical point in the life of the Anglican Communion and we have had to conclude that the future of the Communion itself will be put in jeopardy. In this case, the ministry of this one bishop will not be recognised by most of the Anglican world, and many provinces are likely to consider themselves to be out of Communion with the Episcopal Church (USA). This will tear the fabric of our Communion at its deepest level, and may lead to further division on this and further issues as provinces have to decide in consequence whether they can remain in Communion with provinces that choose not to break Communion with the Episcopal Church (USA).
Sadly, in spite of the Primates’ godly admonition, prophetic and timely warning the consecration went ahead. This singular defiant action put our Communion in total disarray as some provinces like West Indies and Southern Cone declared a state of impaired Communion with ECUSA and others like Uganda, South East Asia, Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria broke off sacramental communion with it.
It was now clear that ECUSA by its own deliberate action had made its choice to walk apart from the rest of the Communion.
For most of us, this was the point when the truth of the African proverb that “a dog that is heading for self-destruction stops heeding the hunter’s whistle” became clear. We also recalled the question posed by Prophet Amos, “Do two walk together except they have agreed to do so?”[4]
Some people interpreted our response as a judgmental attitude, but we knew we had come to that point when we had to stand up for our convictions based on the word of God and the faithful witness of a long succession of Anglicans, rather than fall for anything in the name of enlightened logic and dictates of modern cultural trappings.
Meetings and More Meetings
More efforts were still made in an attempt to manage the crisis, and we remember in particular the Dromantine meeting of the Primates in 2005 where ECUSA and Canada were given time to respond to the questions put to them by the Windsor report and also to consider their place within the Anglican Communion[5].

To our utter dismay, it became apparent that our sober resolutions were, in the aftermath, trivialized by some of our most respected leaders. As if that was not bad enough, our corporate integrity was abused and the pains and concerns shared so open-mindedly ridiculed and betrayed by the flagrant compromises of those entrusted with the responsibility of guarding divine and eternal truths. These rather reckless departures from our painstaking resolutions turned delicate matters into what became more of a pastime for merely pious rhetoric at the expense of the spiritual welfare of our Communion which was evidently in jeopardy.

In the light of this, the Conference of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) commissioned a group that came up with The Road to Lambeth which was endorsed by several Provinces[6] including Nigeria.

The last major meeting that considered this issue was the Primates’ Meeting in Tanzania in February 2007. After long and painful hours of deliberations the primates gave TEC a last chance to clarify unequivocally and adequately their stand by 30th September, 2007.

Strangely, before the deadline, and before the Primates could get the opportunity of meeting to assess the adequacy of the response of TEC and in a clear demonstration of unwillingness to follow through our collective decisions which for many of us was an apparent lack of regard for the Primates, Lambeth Palace in July 2007 issued invitations to TEC bishops including those who consecrated Gene Robinson to attend the Lambeth 2008 conference.

At this point, it dawned upon us, regrettably, that the Archbishop of Canterbury was not interested in what matters to us, in what we think or in what we say.

For the avoidance of doubt, I need to reiterate the most agonizing part of it all which is the fact that thrice, in the course of these crises, we have met as Primates of the Communion and have been unable in good conscience on each occasion to share in the Lord’s Supper with leaders of TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada. What else can more powerfully and most vividly demonstrate our brokenness? No solution has been found to this fundament issue. Until sacramental communion is restored, we remain sadly, broken. This is the stark reality our leaders continue to ignore and of course to the peril of the Communion.

As the Lambeth Conference 2008 approached and invitations were being sent out as though it was business as usual, some of our Provinces counselled the Archbishop of Canterbury to consider shifting the date[7] until the time for a meaningful fellowship and healing of relationships could be discerned. In addition, it would give the provinces of the Communion space to conclude and ratify the draft Anglican Covenant. Rejecting all entreaties, Lambeth Palace chose not to be bothered about that which troubles us; decided to stick to its own plans and to erect the walls of 2008 Lambeth Conference on the shaky and unsafe foundations of our brokenness.

Why GAFCON?

We cannot succumb to this turmoil in our Communion and simply watch helplessly. We have found ourselves in a world in which Anglican leaders hold on to a form of religion but consistently deny its power. We have a situation in which some members of the Anglican family think they are so superior to all others that they are above the law, they can do whatever they please with impunity. As a Communion we have been unable to exercise discipline. In the face of global suspicion of the links of Islam with terrorism, Lambeth Palace is making misleading statements about the Islamic Law, Shari a, to the point that even secular leaders are now calling us to order! We can no longer trust where some of our Communion leaders are taking us.

Repeatedly, those of us in the leadership team of GAFCON have been advised by all levels of our ecclesial structures to avoid a vacuum. All our bishops and wives who would normally look to the Lambeth Conference for fellowship but now could not along with senior lay leaders and selected clergy to whom Lambeth authorities are not willing to listen should meet in another forum for prayerful deliberation on matters critical to our common life and mission. Thus GAFCON is a rescue mission.
Our beloved Anglican Communion must be rescued from the manipulation of those who have denied the gospel and its power to transform and to save; those who have departed from the scripture and the faith ‘once and for all delivered to the saints’ from those who are proclaiming a new gospel, which really is no gospel at all, {Gal 1.} In the wisdom and strength God supplies we must rescue what is left of the Church from error of the apostates.
Brethren, we are here
—Because we are bound together in a godly fellowship by the Gospel-the gospel that shaped the theological and ecclesiological foundations of our Church-the same gospel with its transforming power that made the difference in the lives of our heroes like Thomas Cranmer, William Wilberforce, the Clapham brothers and Ajayi Crowther.
— Because we are convinced that GAFCON is a veritable tool within the Communion which God is using to bring together all who are concerned not only about the need to preserve the faith, but also to persevere and bequeath a legacy of wholesome, undiluted faith to future generations of Anglicans. It is God’s gift to the Anglican Communion and to the world.
— To draw fresh inspiration to enable us ‘contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints’ both for our sake and for the sake of future generations of Anglicans.
— Because we want to renew our commitment to our sacred duty to preserve and proclaim uncompromisingly, the undistorted word of God written to a sinful and fragmented world. GAFCON is a meeting of ordained and lay leaders concerned about the mission of the Church and how best to carry it out and be poised to address the ever-present challenges of self-reliance, good governance, overcoming corruption and to prepare a strong and stable platform for upcoming generations.
–Yes, GAFCON offers fresh hope for a meaningful spiritual haven for orthodox Anglicans who can no longer hold out and be truly Anglican under revisionist leadership.
–We are here because we know that in God’s providence GAFCON will liberate and set participants [particularly Africans] free from spiritual bondage which TEC and its Allies champion. Having survived the inhuman physical slavery of the 19th century, the political slavery called colonialism of the 20th century, the developing world economic enslavement, we cannot, we dare not allow ourselves and the millions we represent be kept in religious and spiritual dungeon.
–Because we know that together as lay leaders, clergy and bishops of our Church we can banish the errors plaguing our beloved Communion-for we will not abdicate our God-given responsibility and simply acquiesce to destructive modern cultural and political dictates.
–We are here because we know that in spite of the fractures in our Communion, as orthodox Anglicans, we have a future and so we are here in the holy land to inaugurate and determine the roadmap to that future.

And from what better place in the world could we take the fullest advantage of the most powerful reminders of the life and ministry of our Lord and only Saviour Jesus the Christ than here in the holy land where he was born, grew up, served; was killed, rose again for our justification, ascended to heaven and now seated at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for us.

It was here in the holy land that our Lord Jesus the Christ of God gave the command to go and proclaim the sacred message of salvation and to disciple those who believe. From here, brethren, the recipient Church in the power of the Holy Spirit went out to the world and began the gradual process of its transformation.
So far, I have tried to address the whole question of ‘why and how’ we got to where we are in the life of our beloved Anglican Communion. The challenge we must now address is, where do we go from here and what is the roadmap for that journey? As we participate in the various workshops and plenary sessions, I ask that we give some prayerful consideration to the following questions:
1. In the light of the fact that the Communion is in a state of brokenness in fellowship and sacrament, are we reconcilable; is there anything that can be done which has not been articulated for the restoration of sacramental Communion?
2. A sizeable part of the Communion is in error and not a few are apostate; is the Communion correctable from within or must it be from without?
3. A growing number of our people are already talking about what they call ‘unavoidable realignment’ for the rescue operation within the Communion; is that the best way forward and if not, what are the alternatives?
4. To some, GAFCON is the metamorphosis of CAPA and the Global south. Is it? Put in another way, what is the place of CAPA and the Global south which historically antedate GAFCON in an all-embracing and truly global GAFCON?
5. We know that the expert ‘divide and rule’ agents of TEC and Lambeth have been at work using money and other attractions to buy ‘silence and compromise’ from some gullible African and Global South Church leaders; hence we have begun to see signs of disunity in our ranks. How do we forestall this danger in GAFCON?
6. Can we here begin to discern the content and nature of that future we long to see and work for as Anglicans?
7. What sort of recognisable structure and funding must GAFCON as a ‘movement’ in the Communion have to be able achieve the tasks set for it?
As I conclude let the world be informed that be it by birth or by conversion the men and women in GAFCON are people who have grown to be Anglican Christians by conviction, upholding the tenets of Anglican biblical orthodoxy. We have no other place to go nor is it our intention to start another church. Anglicans we are, Anglicans we’ll remain until the LORD shall return in glory to judge each one according to his deeds.
And finally fellow pilgrims it goes without saying that we have committed so much prayer and material resources to this conference and pilgrimage. We have not come here to fantasise or day dream. This is the land in which the LORD our God manifested his glory and power in concrete actions in empirical history.
The programme, painstakingly designed with you in mind, is therefore fairly elaborate with variety of activities such as pilgrimage to holy sites, liturgical worship, devotional prayer sessions, workshops, Bible study and several plenary sessions. I urge you; please make GAFCON a worthwhile event. Be involved. Be punctual in attending all sessions. Participate fully and actively. Only by so doing can we together this week here in the holy land, come up with practical, realistic and actionable decisions that will honour God and bring blessing to our Communion. Let us walk, work and pray together here in Jerusalem to inaugurate that glorious future of the Anglican Communion.

And now to the King Immortal, Invisible, the only wise God be all honour, glory, dominion and majesty, for ever and ever. Amen.

[Appendix]
Lambeth 98: Resolution I.10; Human Sexuality
This Conference:
a. in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage;
b. recognises that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation. Many of these are members of the Church and are seeking the pastoral care, moral direction of the Church, and God’s transforming power for the living of their lives and the ordering of relationships. We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ;
c. while rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialization of sex;
d. cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender union.;

________________________________________
[1] 11 Corinthians 12.12
[2] This is out of the estimated 55 million Anglicans who go to Church regularly.
[3] See ‘The Way, The Truth and The Life ( Theological Resources for a Pilgrimage to a Global Anglican Future)
[4] Amos 3.3
[5] See details in sections 8-14 of the Communiqué issued by the Primates, Feb 2005.
[6] See minutes of CAPA Primates Meeting , Dar es Salaam, Feb, 2007
[7] that wont be the first time in the history of Lambeth Conferences

If you read GAFCON’s “The Way, the Truth, the Life” (484kb PDF) and Bishop Duncan’s opening address, “Anglicanism Come of Age: A Post-Colonial and Global Communion for the 21st Century” (100kb PDF), you will encounter what can be regarded as one very significant contradiction: The writers of “The Way, the Truth, the Life” state, “The Anglican Church has always been a confessional institution…” whereas Bp. Duncan says, “Anglicanism is neither papal, nor confessional, it is rather apostolic and conciliar.”

GAFCON’s detractors may well see this contradiction as an opportunity to allege that those who are busily involved in crafting a new global Anglican future cannot even agree on the nature of Anglicanism’s past and present identity. And, of course, there are those, from both the liberal and Anglo-Catholic camps, who have never liked the idea of Anglicans being a confessional people. It was considered a virtual article of faith in the Confirmation class I attended that the Articles of Religion (the 39 Articles) were in no way to be viewed as a confession of faith, such as the Augsburg Confession is for Lutherans or the Westminster Confession is for Presbyterians.

Read it all.

Listen to it all (it starts a little past 45 seconds in). Mr. Piggott is the Religious Affairs correspondent of the BBC and he is interviewed on the BBC’s very fine “Sunday” programme.. Note carefully the quote from Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney at the conclusion of the segment.

See below for links to bloggers and reporters who are in Jersusalem covering GAFCON. We’ll keep this “sticky” until the GAFCON final statement appears. Look for new entries below this post.

We thought it might be helpful to round up a list of those who are providing first-hand coverage and blogging of GAFCON this week.

Anglican TV’s Kevin Kallsen is there and is providing live-streaming coverage of some of the sessions, as well as written diaries. All the AnglicanTV coverage is here. (This elf is currently watching such live stream coverage as I type this. You rock, Kevin. Thanks for your service!) (Note: Stand Firm should usually be broadcasting Kevin’s live feed.)

Stand Firm’s Matt Kennedy+ is there and will be sharing his impressions and insights, and showing off his amazing live blogging skills. Just keep an eye on Stand Firm for Matt’s posts throughout the day.. Matt’s wife Anne+ is also at GAFCON. You can follow her accounts at her blog, an undercurrent of hostility, here.

The London Times’ Ruth Gledhill is in Jerusalem and you can find her reports here.

Anglicans United’s Cherie Wetzel and her husband, the Rev. Todd Wetzel are there. You can follow Cherie’s reports here.

Scotland’s the Rev. David McCarthy is at GAFCON and blogging at his Gadget Vicar site.

The official GAFCON site is here.

If you know of others who are blogging and reporting from GAFCON, please post links in the comments. Thanks.

[b]Update[/b]:

Thanks to a tipster, we note that Fr. Russell Martin of St. Timothy & St. Titus parish (under the Southern Cone) in San Diego, is blogging. His entries are posted at San Diego Anglicans.

[b]George Conger[/b] is in Jerusalem. His blog is here.

[b]Sydney Anglicans[/b] has a dedicated GAFCON page here.

[b]Christianity Today reporter Tim Morgan[/b] is in Jerusalem. The CT blog is here.

[b]Five Delegates from Melbourne Australia[/b] are blogging here.

Some folks from [b]Reform Ireland[/b] are blogging. Their blog is here.

[b]Thinking Anglicans[/b] are in touch with those covering GAFCON for the Lesbian & Gay Christian movement and have posted e-mail from them as part of a GAFCON coverage roundup.

A Sydney attendee, Tony Payne, is blogging here.

Do keep us posted if you come across more links for first-hand reports from GAFCON. Thanks!

[b]Update 2[/b]:

[b]Father Lee Nelson[/b] (dio Fort Worth) has a GAFCON photoblog that is very nice, here.

A blogger from the Anglican Coalition in Canada, Pastor Barclay, has many excellent photos, here.

The Sydney Anglicans GAFCON page has news, pictures, videos, and also blog entries. We’ve noted three blog entries so far. Abp. Peter Jensen, Bishop Robert Forsyth, and Dr. Karin Sowada.

There is an excellent collection of daily photo albums from GAFCON set up at Picassa, here.

“I’m not hearing anything about breaking up the Anglican Communion, or anything of the sort,” Bishop Martyn Minns told The Living Church. Bishop Minns, formerly rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Va., is the founding Missionary Bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), an outreach of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

“We are not focusing all of our attention on human sexuality,” he added. “The workshops are designed to get us moving forward with emphasis on evangelism, church planting, the Bible, family and marriage, and also on developing a better understanding of our Anglican identity.”

Bishop Minns said a booklet titled “The Way, The Truth and the Life: Theological Resources for a Pilgrimage to a Global Anglican Future,” released by GAFCON organizers at a press conference June 19, has been mischaracterized in some reports as conference planners’ declaration of independence from the Anglican Communion. He noted that the booklet is a historical summary of the recent past, and does not contain specific recommendations for the future.

“The purpose of the conference is not to call people away from either the Lambeth Conference or the Anglican Communion,” he said. “Certain things of monumental importance have changed about Anglicanism within the past 10 years. Those things have irreversibly reshaped the landscape. We must get together and work out what to do about our future in light of the facts that have occurred.”

Read it all.

We’re looked forward to this immensely. Already the gathering of the initial team has been an extraordinary, bracing occasion and one which we have enjoyed thoroughly. I am looking forward to an extraordinarily interesting and rather exciting conference I have to say and you may be interested to know that I personally, speaking for myself now, personally wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury just a couple of weeks ago to assure him of my prayers for Lambeth and for the successful outcome of the Lambeth conference and he has now written to me and assured me of his prayers for us and his prayers for a successful outcome of this conference as well. So I think that’s worth knowing when we talk a great deal about things like schism and so forth.

Read or listen to it it all.

More than one thousand Anglicans from 25 nations, including 300 bishops are on their way to Jerusalem to attend the Global Anglican Future Conference. The meeting, which will be held June 22 ”“ 29, includes daily addresses from key Anglican pastors, teachers and leaders.

The Most Rev. Peter Akinola, primate Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) will formally welcome pilgrims to GAFCON on June 22. There are over 22 million Anglicans in church every Sunday, making the Church of Nigeria the largest church of the Anglican Communion.

After a pilgrimage to the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane on Monday morning, the Most Rev. Henry Orombi, primate of the Anglican Church of the Province of Uganda, will deliver the keynote address, “Jesus Christ as Lord” on Monday afternoon.

Read it all.

The schism long forecast for the Anglican Communion over the church’s liberal stand on homosexuality may be getting closer. A document released by a group of conservative churchmen called the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFcon) made it clear that the more than 250 bishops who belong to the group intend to transform the 77-million-member global Communion, the world’s third-largest affiliation of churches, because of their differences over the church’s stance on gay priests and other issues.

Just days before the group’s conference is set to begin in Jerusalem, GAFcon’s leader, Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, declared in a 94-page theological statement: “There is no longer any hope, therefore, for a unified Communion … Now we confront a moment of decision … We want unity, but not at the cost of relegating Christ to the position of another wise teacher, who can be obeyed or disobeyed. We earnestly desire the healing of our beloved Communion, but not at the cost of rewriting the Bible to accommodate the latest cultural trend. We have arrived at a crossroads; it is, for us, the moment of truth.”

Read it all.