The Global Anglican Communion: A Reset
We should be very encouraged.
There's been a big meeting of Anglican leaders this month in Abuja, Nigeria. There were more than 450 Bishops, clergy and lay leaders from 27 provinces around the world attending the conference. A big decision was made that should stir our hearts to thanksgiving, and make us a whole lot more comfortable about being Anglican.
For decades now, Bible-believing Anglicans have experienced a growing concern about the teaching and ethics of the global leaders of the Anglican church based in England. In the past fortnight in Abuja, there has been a decisive turning point in Anglican history with the formation of 'The Global Anglican Communion’. The focus of this group is a return to the gospel, and a distancing from false teaching.
This movement seeks to reform the Anglican Communion, not by leaving it, but by leading it. Fundamental to this movement is the affirmation that our Anglican identity and basis for fellowship amongst Anglican churches will be based around an orthodox faith in the Bible rather than an institutional commitment to the Archbishop of Canterbury as the symbolic head of the Anglican Communion. While for us here in Dapto, nothing changes on the surface for ‘who we are’ and ‘what we do’ as we gather each week and seek to encourage each other in the faith of Jesus Christ, it is good to know we are now more closely aligned with Bible-believing Anglicans around the globe.
Given the gravity of this moment, it is worth taking the time to watch this 5-minute video from our Archbishop: https://vimeo.com/1174575894
Let us pray together about what has happened.
Heavenly Father,
We give you thanks and praise for the gathering of Christian Anglican leaders from all around the world in Abuja, Nigeria, and we thank you that under your hand, they were able to reset the fellowship of autonomous national churches (Provinces) as the ‘Global Anglican Communion.’
Lord, this has been more than 20 years in coming since there first was systemic disobedience in the upper echelons of the Canterbury leadership in the Church of England.
We pray that there would be repentance there.
We rejoice at this reset. We thank you that the Global Anglican Communion will be based around a common faith rather than geographic history.
We give you thanks for the hospitality of the Church of Nigeria and the leadership of the new chair of the Communion’s new Global Anglican Council, Rwandan Primate Laurent Mbanda.
And we pray for the new Global Anglican Communion fund to assist raising up and train ministers particularly in the poorer regions.
Most of all we pray that the Global Anglican Communion would work really effectively to see many many men and women and boys and girls come to trust in Christ for the glory of your name.
Amen.
(With thanks to Rev. Dominic Steele for the prayer.)
Some more information and answers to questions you may have may be found in this article: https://sydneyanglicans.net/news/explainer-anglican-re-ordering-and-gafcon-in-abuja/55469
Grace and peace,
Mark
PS: I’m so thankful for the united spirit in the room at our AGM on Sunday. We give thanks for those who have stepped up to serve in various leadership roles. Please be in prayer for them.