Portrait of Martin Luther, 1530
Announcement from the Board of GAFCON Australia:
Dear brothers and sisters,
On 16 October the Gafcon Primates Council released a statement about the Global
Anglican Communion. In this statement, they announced a “reordering of the Anglican
Communion” centred on the Bible. As the Gafcon Australia Board, we welcome this
announcement and look forward to working with our brothers and sisters around the
world to reorder the Communion.
Gafcon has been calling the Instruments of Communion (the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates’ Meeting) to repent of their drift from historic, biblical Christian teaching since 2008. In the absence of such repentance and in light of the continued direction of the Canterbury Communion, they have decided that it is time for decisive action.
The Gafcon Primates Council have now officially rejected the Instruments of Communion, saying that they have failed to protect the doctrine and discipline of the Church, and have called for a reordered “fellowship of autonomous provinces”, bound
by our Reformation Formularies. They call for like-minded Provinces to remove historic references to being in communion with the See of Canterbury or the Church of England, and also to withdraw from any engagement with the Instruments of Communion. The reordered “Global Anglican Communion” will be a fellowship of provinces and dioceses who affirm the Jerusalem Declaration, and will have a Council of Primates with one elected as Chairman of its meetings.
The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Bishop Anthony Poggo, wrote in response to the announcement last week. He urged the Communion to continue its consideration and response to the Nairobi Cairo Proposals – a set of proposals intended
to help Anglican Churches navigate differences and divisions, upholding the call for all Christians to sustain the unity of the Church. He also urged Anglican Churches to send their representatives for more talks at the next meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council. Yet there have been many talks, countless meetings, and fruitless consultations over the past 20 years without any resolution and more importantly, without any repentance from those who have abandoned the teaching of Scripture.
God calls us to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the body of Christ. In Ephesians 4, Paul
calls us to “ make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
But that unity is not just being in the same room together. The apostle goes on to say:
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” 1 Our unity can only be in the faith that was “once for all delivered to the saints”. 2
Sadly, division in the church is a present reality. Division over heterodox doctrine is
sometimes necessary. In Romans 16:17 Paul says: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to
watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary
to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.” In this text and many others, 3
we are encouraged to avoid those who teach error, especially church leaders.
In some ways, the statement from the Gafcon Primates is an acknowledgment of a long existing division in the Anglican Communion. Relationships have been seriously impaired since 2002, when the Diocese of New Westminster authorised the blessing of same-sex unions, and exacerbated in 2003 when the first openly homosexual bishop was consecrated in the USA. Many bishops stayed away from the 2008 Lambeth Conference, and at the 2022 Lambeth Conference, at least a third of bishops were absent over doctrinal disagreement; many of those present declined to attend Holy Communion with the revisionist bishops who were there. The same is true locally, where some of the bishops of the Anglican Church of Australia have declined to join in fellowship at the Lord’s Table with revisionist bishops since 2022. This was after the majority of the House of Bishops was unable to affirm a Statement defining the church’s doctrine of marriage at the General Synod in 2022. Relationships in the Anglican Church of Australia are very strained.
The Anglican Church of Australia remains “in Communion” with the See of Canterbury by virtue of our Constitution. That can only be changed by the General Synod with the agreement of three quarters of all the Dioceses, including all five Metropolitan Dioceses. That is unlikely to occur in the near future. However, our “fellowship” with Canterbury and other Anglican Churches has been seriously impaired for some time. Ten Australian Bishops chose not to attend the Lambeth Conference in 2022. A number of our Synods have withdrawn contributions to the Anglican Consultative Council by ceasing to contribute to the “Special Assessment” to the General Synod. While all our dioceses are bound by the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia and therefore cannot cease to be “in Communion” with Canterbury, we suspect that our fellowship will continue to be strained.
We appreciate that there is not a uniform view about these matters across the Anglican
Church of Australia. Some wish that our theology was more “progressive”. Some
support traditional biblical ethics around marriage but disagree with Gafcon’s
strategies. While others are supportive of Gafcon’s position and strategy. Gafcon
Australia has expressed its mind on marriage and matters of human sexuality and is
committed to promoting biblical orthodoxy.
It is also committed to providing an Anglican home for those who feel compelled to leave the ACA, through the Diocese of the Southern Cross. We continue to respect faithful Anglicans who differ from us in these debates and we continue to support faithful Anglicans who remain in revisionist dioceses as a witness to the truth of the gospel and the authority of Scripture.
Bishops in Australia have promised to “correct and set aside teaching that is contrary to
the mind of Christ, both privately and publicly urging all to live according to God’s word”.
Please pray for them to uphold this vow.
Gafcon will continue to encourage and promote faithful, biblical, gospel ministry in
every church in Australia. There is a great opportunity to learn more about the Gafcon
Movement during the national tour of Bishop Paul Donison, the General Secretary of
Gafcon Global, next month. We welcome even those who are not supporters of Gafcon
to come along to these events.
Pictured: Bishop Paul Donison
Here are the details of the events in a capital city near you. *Most meetings start at
7:30pm:
Dates and Locations of the Gafcon Vision Events
- Tuesday, 18th November at 7.30pm – Melbourne: Ridley College, 170 The Avenue, Parkville, hosted by Fiona McLean
- Wednesday, 19th November at 7:30pm – Hobart: Wellspring Anglican Church, 43-47 Grosvenor St, Sandy Bay, hosted by Stephen Carnaby.
- Thursday 20th November *at 6pm – Perth: St Lawrence’s Anglican Church, 56 Viking Rd, Dalkieth, hosted by Peter Smith.
- Friday 21st November at 7:30pm – Adelaide: St Bart’s Norwood, 77 Beulah Rd, Norwood, hosted by Kate Hamer.
- Wednesday 26th November at 7:30pm – Sydney: Moore Theological College, 1 King St, Newtown, hosted by Mark Earngey.
- Friday 28th November at 7:30pm – Brisbane: St Philip’s Rochedale, 270 Rochedale Rd, Rochedale, hosted by Peter Judge-Mears.
Admission to these public events are FREE, and a light supper will be served at the conclusion. Please continue to hold the Anglican Church of Australia and the Global Anglican Communion in your prayers.
In partnership,
The Reverend Peter Smith,
Chair Gafcon Australia,
Reformation Day, 2025
Thomas Cranmer by Gerlach Flicke, Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
© National Portrait Gallery, London
References
1. Eph 4:3–6
2. Jude 3
3. See also Matt 18:17; 1 Cor 5:2, 5, 11, 13; 2 Thess 3:6; Tit 3:10; 2 John 10.