It is on this basis that the GAFCON Primates will prayerfully consider their response to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter. They recognize that the crisis in the Communion is not primarily a problem of relationships and cultural context, but of false teaching which continues without repentance or discipline.
Consistent with this position, they have previously advised the Archbishop of Canterbury that they would not attend any meeting at which The Episcopal Church of the United States or the Anglican Church of Canada were represented, nor would they attend any meeting from which the Anglican Church in North America was excluded.
It is therefore of some encouragement that the Archbishop of Canterbury has opened the door of this meeting to the Primate of the Anglican Church in North America, Archbishop Foley Beach. He has already been recognized as a fellow primate of the Anglican Communion by Primates representing GAFCON and the Anglican Global South at his installation in Atlanta last October and he is a full member of the GAFCON Primates Council.
Okay, so despite media reports that Gafcon is definitely going to the ABC’s meeting in January, Gafcon has now confirmed that their position is exactly the same as it was before. They aren’t sharing a meeting with representatives of TEC and ACoC, until those churches repent of their heresy and apostasy.
I think GAFCON should ask for the following. US, Canada and Scotland Primates only invited to the meetings which ACNA can also attend. Keep them out of other ‘official’ gatherings of Primates who have not crossed the line. Shuttle diplomacy might ensue.
I’ve read a lot of the guesses about this. I hope that GAFCON, and the other GS primates, will stay the course, which is refusing to attend Communion meetings attended by the provinces causing the problems.
I think the entire reason this is a “gathering” rather than a “meeting” is so that the ABoC can try to get everyone to Lambeth. Once there, I think several “meetings” will take place, probably none of which will be attended by everyone, other than maybe dinner.
For example, +Foley Beach will not be invited to the meeting between +Welby and the pro-gay alliance. Likewise, TEC will not be invited when he meets with Gafcon and GS, but Beach will be. And at the end, the GS will go on strengthening the bonds between the orthodox, and the various Western churches will declare their unbridled independence, and Welby will declare there was good disagreement, and that the CoE is still in communion with everybody until it adopts gay marriage in 2017 per Porter’s facilitated conversation schedule, at which time it will join TEC and Scotland and ACoC in the “second tier.”
Frankly, TEC and CoE could save everyone a lot of bother, forget the Anglican Communion, and become full time members of the Porvoo churches, which would be a better fit. That would leave the 60 odd million actual Anglicans free to get about the mission of the Gospel.
“In the end, our confidence is not in any structural reorganisation, useful though it may be, but in the saving grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and in the abiding truth of the Bible. That is what empowers us and this is the assurance we bring to our broken world.”
Thank you, Gafcon Primates.
Yes, thanks be to God for the primates of the Global South and GAFCON! They are true Anglicans!