Global Anglican Future Conference

Originally, GAFCON was intended to take place in two parts: a week in Jordan and a week in Jerusalem for the conference. This was also intended to allow participation by bishops from Pakistan and Sudan, who would not be able to visit Israel. To make accommodations and meet issues raised by the local Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, the Jordan part of the programme was subsequently downgraded to a "pre-GAFCON preparatory consultation", with the Jerusalem segment upgraded from a pilgrimage to a period of substantive deliberation.

After one day, on June 18, Jordanian authorities closed GAFCON, forcing about 140 people to relocate to Jerusalem. Archbishop Akinola's diplomatic passport was denied entry into Jordan.[8]

The conference took place from 22 to 29 June 2008 at the modern Renaissance Hotel near the outskirts of Jerusalem.[9]

At the beginning of the conference a booklet was released by Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria entitled The Way, the Truth and the Life: Theological Resources for a Pilgrimage to a Global Anglican Future.[10] Delegates also visited sacred sites in and around Jerusalem.

The leading participants of GAFCON included seven Anglican primates, archbishops Peter Akinola of Nigeria, Justice Akrofi of West Africa, Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda, Henry Luke Orombi of Uganda, Valentino Mokiwa of the Anglican Church of Tanzania, and Presiding Bishop Greg Venables of the Southern Cone; Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney, Australia, Bill Atwood of Kenya, bishops Wallace Benn and Michael Nazir-Ali of England, Don Harvey of Canada, bishops Robert Duncan and Martyn Minns of the United States; Canon Vinay Samuel of India, Hugh Pratt and Canon Chris Sugden of England. GAFCON was attended by 1148 lay and clergy delegates, including 291 Anglican Bishops, from 29 countries. The identities of those attending have not been published and may have included bishops and clergy outside the Anglican Communion, including some from the Continuing Anglican movement. Hugh Pratt was also treasurer, responsible for security, accommodation and the implementation of the Conference.[11]

The leaders present claimed to represent 35 million "active" Anglicans in the worldwide communion.[12][13] The leadership team listed by GAFCON on its website consisted of 16 men, of whom 9 were from England, North America and Australia, and one other was UK based.[14]

Daily sessions were held from 22 to 29 June 2008. Sessions were held on the topics of secularism, the Anglican Communion, HIV/AIDS and poverty.[15]

A GAFCON statement was released on the final day of the conference. It was produced based on input from all 1148 delegates.[2]

The statement claimed that the GAFCON movement arose because a "false gospel" was being promoted within the Anglican Communion, which denied the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and "promotes a variety of sexual preferences and immoral behaviour as a universal human right".[2][4]

The GAFCON statement announced that GAFCON would be a continuing "movement in the Spirit" rather than a once-off event. Although GAFCON did not decide to create a formal schism in the Anglican Communion, it expressed plans to set up new ecclesiastical structures, particularly within the liberal provinces of North America, to cater for conservative Anglicans. Of particular note, the GAFCON statement claims that recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury is not necessary to Anglican identity.[2] It calls for the formation of a new council of unelected GAFCON primates.[4]

The GAFCON statement was criticized by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who said that "A 'Primates' Council' which consists only of a self-selected group from among the Primates of the Communion will not pass the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion. And any claim to be free to operate across provincial boundaries is fraught with difficulties, both theological and practical."[16]

The GAFCON statement contained the "Jerusalem Declaration", a doctrinal confession which was intended to form the basis of a new "Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans" (FCA, now also branded as GAFCON).[2] The declaration upheld the Holy Scriptures as containing "all things necessary for salvation", the first four Ecumenical councils and three Creeds as expressing the church's rule of faith, and the Thirty-Nine Articles as authoritative for Anglicans today. In addition, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer was called "a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer" and the Anglican Ordinal was recognised as an authoritative standard.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said on 19 December 2007 that plans to hold a pre-Lambeth meeting for conservatives did not signal disloyalty as such a meeting "would not have any official status as far as the Communion is concerned".[17]

The Presiding Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Mouneer Anis, who is conservative on matters of human sexuality, publicly announced that he would not attend GAFCON, observing that "the Global South must not be driven by an exclusively Northern agenda or Northern personalities".[18]

The Bishop of Jerusalem, Suheil Dawani, in whose territory it was to be held, initially issued a press release saying:

I am deeply troubled that this meeting, of which we had no prior knowledge, will import inter-Anglican conflict into our diocese, which seeks to be a place of welcome for all Anglicans. It could also have serious consequences for our ongoing ministry of reconciliation in this divided land. Indeed, it could further inflame tensions here. We who minister here know only too well what happens when two sides cease talking to each other. We do not want to see any further dividing walls![19]

He indicated that the regional primate "is also concerned about this event. His advice to the organisers that this was not the right time or place for such a meeting was ignored."[19]

On 12 and 15 January 2008, the Bishop of Jerusalem had meetings with the GAFCON organisers, including Archbishops Jensen and Akinola, in which he explained his reasons for objecting to the conference, and the damage it would do to his local ministry of welcome and reconciliation in the Holy Land. He insisted that the Lambeth Conference was the correct venue for internal discussions. However, he proposed as an alternative, "for the sake of making progress in this discussion" that the GAFCON conference should take place in Cyprus, to be followed by a "pure pilgrimage" to the Holy Land. The minutes of the meetings were published.[20]

The announcement of the conference received criticism from some conservatives due to it potentially giving liberals a more powerful voice at the Lambeth Conference. Former archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, said: "If the Jerusalem conference is an alternative to the Lambeth Conference, which I perceive it is, then I think it is regrettable. The irony is that all they are going to do is weaken the Lambeth Conference. They are going to give the liberals a more powerful voice because they are absent and they are going to act as if they are schismatics."[21] Carey also called for the American House of Bishops to commit itself to the Windsor Covenant, which imposes a moratorium on the consecration of homosexual bishops and blessing of same-sex unions.[21]

The Bishop of Newcastle in Australia, Brian Farran, was critical of GAFCON along with the overwhelming majority of the Australian bishops.[22]

The conference was particularly welcomed by bishops in conflict with the official policies of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America. Former Episcopal priest, now suffragan bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, David Anderson said: "The gathering will be in the form of a pilgrimage back to the roots of the Church's faith: thus this journey begins with a pilgrimage."[23]

An additional conference, named G19, took place from 25 February to 1 March 2019, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for those who were not able to attend the previous year GAFCON III. G19 was hosted by bishops Michael Nazir-Ali, of the Church of England, and Azad Marshall, of the Church of Pakistan, and was attended by 138 delegates, including 31 bishops and archbishops, and four primates, Nicholas Okoh, of Nigeria, Foley Beach, of North America, both who also attended GAFCON III, Justin Badi Arama, of South Sudan, and Samuel Mankhin, of Bangladesh.[31][32]

According to the conference's final communique, GAFCON IV gathered 1,302 delegates from 52 countries, among them 315 bishops, 456 other clergy and 531 laity.[36] Participants included primates from 10 provinces, including Justin Badi Arama of South Sudan,[37] Foley Beach of North America,[38] Samy Fawzy of Alexandria, Stephen Kaziimba of Uganda,[38] Laurent Mbanda of Rwanda,[33] Henry Ndukuba of Nigeria, Jackson Ole Sapit of Kenya, Miguel Uchôa of Brazil,[39] James Wong of the Indian Ocean[40] and Tito Zavala of Chile.[41] The conference was marked by the participation of not just GAFCON leaders but also several key leaders of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (including Badi, Wong, Zavala and Rennis Ponniah[42]), who participated the development of the communique.[38] Other participants from within the Anglican Communion included Kanishka Raffel and several delegates from the Anglican Diocese of Sydney,[39] Rob Munro and Keith Sinclair of the Church of England,[38] David Parsons of the Anglican Diocese of the Arctic[43] and Festus Yeboah Asuamah of the Anglican Diocese of Sunyani. GAFCON IV also gathered leaders from several Anglican realignment jurisdictions not recognized by Canterbury, including the Anglican Network in Europe,[44] Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa/New Zealand, Diocese of the Southern Cross,[38] Free Church of England and REACH-SA.[45]