GAFCON Showing the West How It Is Done

Developing world Christians lead the Anglicans to biblical faithfulness:

In a piece I just penned yesterday I mentioned how the Anglican Church in the UK is very quickly losing its way. Actually, it has been going downhill for quite some time now, and recent developments are simply the icing on the cake – or rather the final nails in the coffin. As I wrote in that piece:

One of the latest and most spectacular examples being the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. As Christian Concern in the UK said about this when it was announced earlier this month:

“Bishop of London Sarah Mullally was announced this morning as the Church of England’s (CofE) new Archbishop of Canterbury. She will become the first ever female Archbishop in the CofE, which will itself lead to criticisms from many conservative and traditional Christians in England and around the world. She has called the Holy Spirit ‘she’ and voted in favour of blessings for same-sex relationships, calling it “a moment of hope for the Church”. She has described herself as pro-choice on abortion.”

Yep, another own-goal, to use soccer terminology. And then soon after this madness, we had the homosexual dean of the Canterbury Cathedral graffiti the ancient building’s interior with woke and leftist nonsense in support of “marginalized communities” and the like. https://billmuehlenberg.com/2025/10/16/on-the-fate-of-europe-and-the-church/

Those are just two recent examples of many that demonstrate the downward spiral of Western Anglicans. Thankfully not everyone is cheering on this decline. Some 17 years ago I wrote about an exciting development with the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) gathered in Jerusalem. I said this in the article:

The week-long Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) has just finished. The thousand-plus Anglicans met in Jerusalem as a protest to the July Lambeth Conference in the UK, and the failure of the Archbishop of Canterbury to strongly stand for Christian orthodoxy, especially on the issue of homosexuality.

The delegates at GAFCON – who represent more than 35 million Anglicans worldwide – reaffirmed the importance of the authority of Christ and the Word of God. They also reaffirmed God’s intention for human sexuality. As a closing resolution, they produced the 700-word document, “The Jerusalem Declaration”. It is a solid proclamation of orthodox Christian teachings, and a renewed affirmation of taking the Bible seriously on matters of sexuality….

Many African Anglican leaders were present at the conference. Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda said that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was a friend, and a godly and nice man. But he said this about the Church’s leader: “Sometimes it’s not enough to be nice. You ought to make some clear-cut decision where you stand… He doesn’t want to hurt anybody. He wants to be good to everybody. Then he ends up pleasing nobody. That’s a problem.” https://billmuehlenberg.com/2008/06/30/the-jerusalem-declaration/

GAFCON is still very much alive and well, and it is still resisting the apostasy taking place among far too many Anglicans. They have just released this communique: “The Future Has Arrived”. It opens with these words:

The first Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) gathered in 2008 in Jerusalem to prayerfully respond to the abandonment of the Scriptures by some of the most senior leaders of the Anglican Communion, and to seek their repentance.

In the absence of such repentance, we have been prayerfully advancing towards a future for faithful Anglicans, where the Bible is restored to the heart of the Communion. Today, that future has arrived. Today, Gafcon is leading the Global Anglican Communion. Our Gafcon Primates gathered this hour to fulfil our mandate to reform the Anglican Communion, as expressed in the Jerusalem Statement of 2008. We resolved to reorder the Anglican Communion as follows.

It then lists 8 points in this reordering. The first two are these:

We declare that the Anglican Communion will be reordered, with only one foundation of communion, namely the Holy Bible, “translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading” (Jerusalem Declaration, Article II), which reflects Article VI of the 39 Articles of Religion.
We reject the so-called Instruments of Communion, namely the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), and the Primates Meeting, which have failed to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Communion.

And the final two are as follows:

To be a member of the Global Anglican Communion, a province or a diocese must assent to the Jerusalem Declaration of 2008, the contemporary standard for Anglican identity.
We shall form a Council of Primates of all member provinces to elect a Chairman, as primus inter pares (‘first amongst equals’), to preside over the Council as it continues “to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

The communique closes with these words:

As I declared in my statement two weeks ago, “the reset of our beloved Communion is now uniquely in the hands of Gafcon, and we are ready to take the lead.” Today, Gafcon is leading the Global Anglican Communion. As has been the case from the very beginning, we have not left the Anglican Communion; we are the Anglican Communion.

At our upcoming G26 Bishops Conference in Abuja, Nigeria from 3 to 6 March 2026, we will confer and celebrate the Global Anglican Communion. Please pray that we will lead our Communion in prayerful submission to the Holy Spirit as we hear the voice of Jesus in his wondrous Scriptures, to the glory of God.

Yours in Christ,

The Most Revd Dr Laurent Mbanda
Chairman, Gafcon Primates’ Council
Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda
Thursday 16th October, 2025

You can read the full document here: https://gafcon.org/communique-updates/the-future-has-arrived/

Well done to the brave and faithful Christians who are standing for biblical truth while much of the church in the West keeps drifting away from the gospel and scriptural ethics. For centuries the West led the world in championing Christianity and spreading it far and wide, but today it increasingly is the other way around.

God can raise up true believers from all parts of the world. As Jesus put it, he can even make the stones cry out if his own will not testify about him (Luke 19:40).

Please pray for Mbanda and GAFCON as they seek to stand strong for Christ and the gospel.

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