GLOBAL ANGLICAN FUTURE CONFERENCE IN HOLY LAND ANNOUNCED BY ORTHODOX PRIMATES
Orthodox Primates with other leading bishops from across the globe are to invite fellow Bishops, senior clergy and laity from every province of the Anglican Communion to a unique eight-day event, to be known as the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) 2008.
The event, which was agreed at a meeting of Primates in Nairobi last week, will be in the form of a pilgrimage back to the roots of the Church’s faith. The Holy Land is the planned venue. From 15-22 June 2008, Anglicans from both the Evangelical and Anglo-catholic wings of the church will make pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where Christ was born, ministered, died, rose again, ascended into heaven, sent his Holy Spirit, and where the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out, to strengthen them for what they believe will be difficult days ahead.
At the meeting were Archbishops Peter Akinola (Nigeria), Henry Orombi (Uganda), Emmanuel Kolini (Rwanda), Benjamin Nzimbi (Kenya), Donald Mtetemela (Tanzania), Peter Jensen (Sydney), Nicholas Okoh (Nigeria); Bishop Don Harvey (Canada), Bishop Bill Atwood (Kenya) representing Archbishop Greg Venables (Southern Cone) , Bishop Bob Duncan (Anglican Communion Network), Bishop Martyn Minns (Convocation of Anglicans in North America ), Canon Dr Vinay Samuel (India and England) and Canon Dr Chris Sugden (England). Bishops Michael Nazir-Ali (Rochester, England), Bishop Wallace Benn (Lewes, England) were consulted by telephone. These leaders represent over 30 million of the 55 million active Anglicans in the world.
Southern Cone Primate Gregory Venables said: “While there are many calls for shared mission, it clearly must rise from common shared faith. Our pastoral responsibility to the people that we lead is now to provide the opportunity to come together around the central and unchanging tenets of the central and unchanging historic Anglican faith. Rather than being subject to the continued chaos and compromise that have dramatically impeded Anglican mission, GAFCON will seek to clarify God’s call at this time and build a network of cooperation for Global mission.”
The gathering set in motion a Global Anglican Future Conference: A Gospel of Power and Transformation. The vision, according to Archbishop Nzimbi is to inform and inspire invited leaders “to seek transformation in our own lives and help impact communities and societies through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Bishops and their wives, clergy and laity, including the next generation of young leaders will attend GAFCON. The GAFCON website is http://www.gafcon.org/.
Canon Chris Sugden added: “While this conference is not a specific challenge to the Lambeth Conference, it will provide opportunities for fellowship and care for those who have decided not to attend Lambeth. There was no other place to meet at this critical time for the future of the Church than in the Holy Land .”
GAFCON? Is it intentionally meant to sound like DEFCON? And you have Harvey listed as from Canada–he renounced that association; he does not represent our province. Might they consider a day trip to Sodom? Think of the intolerance (grace) that could be preached there.
Commenter #1: Are you the John B. that the sloop the Beach Boys sang about is named after? The Anglicans I know can certainly relate to the following words from the song “I feel so broke up, I want to go home” (home being the church universal rather than the defiant little enclave that the ACC has become). They are tired of being tossed about on waves of innovation and want to return to the solid rock.
Gee GAFCON for it’s obvious sound will get attention of editors and probably press. And for what its worth why do those who disagree with our course spread so much bitterness and sarcasm in our path? The Second Commandment is hard to honor when I meet these people. Perhaps the liberals have removed it from their litanies.
Warren, in a word ‘defiant’ best describes what is happening in our church. I’ve had a short chat with ++Fred that was on the surface pleasant but now I’ve come away with the impression of the smiling used car salesman who didn’t really tell me about what I bought. I’m afraid it will get much worse before it gets better, but those of faith have suffered more than this. It just hurts that our brothers treat us as enemies.
should read Second Great Commandment
One of our biggest challenges is to continue to treat those who disagree with us with grace and love. It is not at all easy, and I do find myself biting my tongue often. Only by my Lord’s strength and help, can I hope to show the correct attitude.
Back on topic, GAFCON looks to me like another good step forward.
I do find myself biting my tongue often
I’m surprised I haven’t bitten a hole right through mine….
When our local Bishop had the churches read +Malcolm’s banishment to the eclestical leper colony the murmur was noticeable. There was a lot of tongue biting that day. I suspect the Dean was able to identify the conservatives from the glare coming back from the pews. There was a crowd around the letter on the bulletin board (coincidently not published on the internet). Needless to say, when you take the verbal jackboots to a very respected priest and bishop you create a lot of awareness when there was complacency. GAFCON will ratchet up the visibility, our problem here is spreading that news. The message is easy to disseminate to the conservatives but the ‘establishment’ has a lock on the diocese and parish websites and the print media will only carry a story so long. If we progress to home church and then a plant visibility will skyrocket. If conservatives have an alternative, then like New Westminster, there will be a shift. Sadly I don’t look forward to ‘poaching’ from another parish but perhaps enough lost parishes will make the ACC more sensitive. But San Joaquin made no impression on +KJS
#2: B is for Baptist
The Sky Is Falling!! The Sky Is Falling!
I wonder why you find it necessary to retreat to the ‘Holy Land’? Have you folk no faith to stand, and be counted?
Don Harvey’s well known for his exhortation to ‘Keep the Faith’, a by-product of his love, respect, and appreciation for the Church Lads Brigade, no doubt. Why is Don Harvey, of ALL people, Frequent Exhorter of a Return to the Faith, AFRAID of anything? Could it be that Don needs to see something in order to HAVE faith?
If you few here gathered want to ponder something, you might consider Eccelesiastes. There IS nothing new under the sun – the Council of Nicea came before you; the Reformation came before you; any number of divisions and schisms have come before you. Your own past Archibishop of Canterbury had this to say:
“Christian evangelists faced an uphill task in an ‘affluent, self-assured First World’, which thought that it did not need God. ‘The Church is one generation away from extinction’, Dr. Carey said. ‘Our generation is being called to hand on our faith to the generations of the Third Millennium. It will require all our vigour, all our energy, all our faith and enthusiasm’.”
Now, I ask you: if the church IS only one generation from extinction, what does that speak of God’s ability to plan for the future? Why the drop in the efficacy of the Gospel?
Rationality’s a terrible thing. It means conscious beings can recognize when Natural Selection’s a-bangin’ at their door.
James, stand and be counted is precisely what this is all about. The ABC admonished the conservatives while ignoring +Ingham & +Robinson, now he’s back on the fence waving the red flag at two bulls and doing little to solve the problem. The absentee’s at Lambeth will signal a shift in the Communion. Not so much of a shift than a return to Biblical standards. If you accept the inerrancy of Scripture you do not have the right to grossly misrepresent it for your agenda. That said having read your blog I am left with a different impression.
James PFP, we who claim to be followers of Jesus are called to have faith in God, but individual success or failure in that regard (and I know I fail often) will not affect the ultimate advancement of the Kingdom. Even the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The Anglican church and (other denominations) may pass away, but Christ’s church will stand. As you give the impression of being a student of church history, you should know better than to predict outcomes concerning Christianity based on “natural selection” (or the number of people who post on this blog). I don’t give credence to natural selection when it comes to following Jesus, so you can mark me down as irrational. Perhaps on another occasion we can discuss the logical consistency of your world view.
As an aside, as the Holy Land is a reasonable geographical middle ground for GAFCON participants, why do you call it a “retreat”? If the conference was held in North America, would that make it look like less of a retreat to the many Anglicans in Africa?
stand and be counted is precisely what this is all about.
That’s where I think you’re mistaken. It seems to me standing to be counted, for the sake of the Gospel, means living it, not playing power politics within Synods and pretending to seek the will of god, only to petulantly remove oneself from communion once the winds of change cease blowing in your favor. You’d think that a Body would know, By Now, that it’s got to Stick Together, or fall to Ruin. See Matthew 12.
but individual success or failure in that regard (and I know I fail often) will not affect the ultimate advancement of the Kingdom.
I said nothing about individual failings – your entire CHURCH is failing. That’s the Collective Body, the thing that’s having difficulty. Could it be there’s a problem with it’s Head?
Leading, of course, the BIG QUESTION: Why is it so important to have this conference in the Holy Land??
James PFP, the ACC is not “my” church and I agree that it appears to be failing. If the leadership are in rebellion against God (as I believe that at least some of them are), then it may cease to exist as a visible symbol of Christ’s church (although it may continue as some form of institution). “Stand and be counted” is biblical in terms of being an individual follower of Jesus, but your application of the expression reflects a poor exegesis of scripture (it seems you are taking “kingdom” in Matt 12:25 to mean ACC – otherwise I don’t see what relevance Matt 12 has to your argument). When you say “petulantly remove oneself from communion”, what do you mean by communion? The way I define the word, your statement does not make sense. Finally, I don’t know why GAFCON is being held in the Holy Land; maybe none of the participants in this blog do. But, since you’ve already decided that it is for the wrong reason, to maintain credibility you should be saying, “the BIG RHETORICAL QUESTION” (unless you are a “troll”).
Essentials isn’t playing power politics. One of the problems with the Anglican church is that our synods have gradually moved away from being meetings to discern the will of God, and toward being political conventions.
James PFP ~ You speak about Essentials or ANiC playing politics…
Really Now!! Who is playing politics?
In reality it is TEC and ACC that are playing politics. The banishment of Bsp. Harding in Brandon, MB by the present bishop is terribly unchristian and the ACC hasn’t even really got into their politics yet, at least not that you know of. In the coming days or weeks, you will hear of things done by the ACC, it’s Primate and his politically motivated bishops doing, writing and saying things that are unheard of in the Anglican Communion. The iron fisted politicians within ACC are ready to follow in the footsteps of Katharin Jeffers-Schorri and be playing court games, strangling their priests with authoritative regulations that are from days gone by.
ANiC and Essentials playing politics; I think not. We just want to be able to follow Scripture and not be under the authority of the liberal
revisionists that see nothing with doing away with the Anglican Communion to suit their own perverted desires.
James PFP ~ You speak about Essentials or ANiC playing politics…
Really Now!! Who is playing politics?
In reality it is TEC and ACC that are playing politics. The banishment of Bsp. Harding in Brandon, MB by the present bishop is terribly unchristian and the ACC hasn’t even really got into their politics yet, at least not that you know of. In the coming days or weeks, you will hear of things done by the ACC, it’s Primate and his politically motivated bishops doing, writing and saying things that are unheard of in the Anglican Communion. The iron fisted politicians within ACC are ready to follow in the footsteps of Katharin Jeffers-Schorri and be playing Court games and strangling their priests with authoritative regulations that are from days gone by.
ANiC and Essentials playing politics; I think not. We just want to be able to follow Scripture and not be under the authority of the liberal
revisionists that see nothing wrong with doing away with the Anglican Communion to suit their own perverted desires.
Drumroll, some people stutter, some repeat entire thoughts
In my position I deal with both +Jim and +Malcolm and I bite my tongue a lot in the Cathedral. Coincidently before I went to +Jim about answering the call to priesthood I had a 1½ hour chat with +Malcolm. Comparing the two conversations in retrospect and in light of +Malcolm’s realignment I have to agree with the latter. Even before General Synod (May 2007) +Jim brought up the subject of SSA blessings. It is obvious that he was prepared to start the process in the Diocese of Brandon. Even after +Jim’s scathing letter read to all +Malcolm showed no bitterness, more disapointment than anything else. And that seems to be overall response of the ‘conservatives’ sadness at the raised voices from the ACC and TEC. The ACC reminds me of our shop dog, hair up, barking at something the other side of the door, just because it’s there.
It gets worse, the Dean in the Bulletin on the prayer cycle refered to ‘licenced bishops’. It is becoming almost childish. My wife and I are switching parishes to one that has an Essestials sympatetic priest. It will two less conservatives cluttering the Cathedral pews.
http://www.dioceseofbrandon.org/Christmas1.pdf
Prairie Words………sorry about the stuttering…I tried to correct a couple of small errors on my first entry, thinking it would work, but alas, I were in error so to speak!!
Yes, it is becoming childish what that ACC is doing, however, the childishness will be affecting many careers and families that will be part of this new “reformation” or re-alignment and that is the part that I find most disheartening.
The Liberal Church leaders, including The Primate, will stop at nothing to enforce their revisionist agenda and will show their bared teeth more and more as we move forward.
Two less conservatives for the Cathedral BUT two more conservatives to support an essentials sympathetic Priest. Good Move. I think we need to see more of this type of activity in areas where new plants may be slow in starting due to shortage of numbers at the present time. The numbers will grow and then the plants will grow, well rooted.
Prairie Words, a week ago I left a comment on Dean Robin’s sermon from late Nov where he quoted someone who said that schism was worse than heresy (heresy would die out, but schism would last forever – an obvious dig at Essentials). From what I could see, it was the only comment that anyone had left for all of 2007. I admit that the comment was a little sarcastic, but it engaged with the idea and was not personal (I asked that, since many Anglicans worldwide think that the ACC and TEC are promoting heresy and being schismatic, whether the ACC would die out or last forever?). Last night, I noticed that both the comment and the sermon had disappeared. If the sermon reappears (or is replaced by something else), I doubt my comment will reappear. Thoughts of “rewriting history) are going through my mind, but I suppose I am being premature.
I guess I can’t even spell my name right this morning
(see comment above).
I read that response and his note that he considered not posting the response. The problem is the ‘establishment’ (haven’t used that word since high school) is becoming too sensative to critism and unwilling accept that others do not hold their views. The post and exchange are here, they were not deleted just made inaccessable:
http://stmatt.dean.journalmine.com/blog/_archives/2007/11/24/3372936.html
The links on my blog still work:
http://prairiewords.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/bp-malcolm-realigns/
BTW Warrem (?;) I believe we know each other…