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Communion is source of weakness as churches reject truth and some Anglicans spread false teaching, says Kenyan archbishop
GAFCON Chairman calls for expansion of Roles in Central and Northern South America
ENS ignores pansexual divide. Disses ACNA Archbishop
By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
Sept. 22, 2015
The Anglican Archbishop of Kenya, the Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala says that the Anglican Communion is becoming a source of weakness where it should be a source of strength, because it has rejected the truth as Anglicans have received it, by spreading false teaching while continuing to stay in full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.
In a letter to his fellow brothers and sisters, the GAFCON chairman said the Communion has been going downhill over the last 20 years and that the GAFCON movement believes in a much richer vision. "We seek to unite. We recognize and embrace those who sacrifice for the sake of the gospel, not only those who persevere in the face of violent persecution but also those who persevere despite being marginalized and even forced out of their traditional spiritual homes by the rise of false teaching in the Church. To them we say 'You are not alone' as we join together to make Christ known."
It is on this basis that the GAFCON Primates will prayerfully consider their response to the Archbishop of Canterbury's letter. They recognize that the crisis in the Communion is not primarily a problem of relationships and cultural context, but of false teaching which continues without repentance or discipline, he noted in a letter to his followers.
Consistent with this position, they have advised the Archbishop of Canterbury that they would not attend any meeting at which The Episcopal Church of the United States or the Anglican Church of Canada were represented, nor would they attend any meeting from which the Anglican Church in North America was excluded.
"It is therefore of some encouragement that the Archbishop of Canterbury has opened the door of this meeting to the Primate of the Anglican Church in North America, Archbishop Foley Beach. He has already been recognized as a fellow primate of the Anglican Communion by Primates representing GAFCON and the Anglican Global South at his installation in Atlanta last October and he is a full member of the GAFCON Primates Council."
Ironically, a statement put out by the Episcopal News Service, the media arm of The Episcopal Church, downplayed the primates meeting saying only this, "It is likely to include the issues of religiously motivated violence, the protection of children and vulnerable adults, the environment and human sexuality." They dis ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach in the last paragraph saying that Welby's invitation extended to the ACNA archbishop or his representative would only be for part of the time.
Perhaps, but if Archbishop Beach had not been extended an invitation, that whole confab would be dead on arrival. Welby knows that the only way he can get the Global South archbishops to attend any kind of a gathering is to have Beach present. It is too disingenuous by half to think that the invitation to Archbishop Beach is an afterthought. He will be the elephant in the narthex and everyone knows it, including TEC Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Archbishop Fred Hiltz (Canada).
"In the end, our confidence is not in any structural reorganisation, useful though it may be, but in the saving grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and in the abiding truth of the Bible. That is what empowers us and this is the assurance we bring to our broken world," said Wabukala.
"When the GAFCON Primates Council met earlier this year, we agreed to a request from the Anglican Church in North America's Caminemos Juntos movement for Bishop Miguel Uchoa of the Diocese of Recife to provide episcopal covering for orthodox Anglican Churches in central and northern South America who are unable to continue within their dioceses."
Speaking at the annual Caminemos Juntos conference last month, GAFCON Primate Archbishop Tito Zavala said "It's time for biblical and missionary Anglicanism" and welcomed this initiative to bring isolated churches into fellowship and make possible a united Anglican church planting movement to reach Latinos throughout the Americas. In his plenary address, Archbishop Foley Beach emphasized the vital link between mission and discipleship, telling the delegates that "To plant churches and raise up workers we need to re-learn how to make disciples."
"I hope soon to announce various capacity building steps we are taking to fulfil the commitment we made in the Nairobi Communique of 2013 'to find new ways of supporting each other in mission and discipleship'. However, what will really assure the future of our movement, and of the Anglican Communion as a whole, is the recognition that our strength and unity does not depend upon institutional structures, new or historic, but upon an unshakeable commitment to obey the call of Jesus Christ and follow him," wrote Wabukala.
The Kenyan Primate has expressed hope that the Bible would be restored to the center of the communion. Like other African primates, he sees the crisis as the authority of Scripture which Western provinces down play, ignore, or revise to their postmodern tastes. Such false teaching will not be tolerated and has continued unabated without repentance or the exercise of discipline.
A case in point is the recent Diocese of London's clerical candidates for General Synod, one of whom is The Rev. Andrew Foreshew-Cain who "married" his male atheist partner in June 2013, yet he is being allowed to stand for the Church of England General Synod. Foreshew-Cain has not been disciplined and he is in Welby's Canterbury province.
An act like this will only further alienate the Global South primates and force them to ask if coming to Canterbury in January is really worth it.
The full pastoral letter can be read here: http://gafcon.org/news/chairmans-september-pastoral-letter-2015
