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THE CONTINUED RESET OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION
By Phil Ashey
AMERICAN ANGLICAN COUNCIL
May 31, 2023
I want to say a few words today to comment on an important development within Global Anglicanism. An article that came out last week in regards to the Kigali Statement. You can read it here: https://virtueonline.org/archbishop-canterbury-needs-gafcongsfa-help-call-global-anglican-council-fix-anglican-communion
The authors of this letter frame their argument on the need for the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chair of GAFCON and Global South to call a Global Council together. This is absurd given the Kigali Statement's declaration that Canterbury is unfit to lead the Communion at all. Despite this, the authors state in the second sentence of the article that there's no clear alternative way forward for the Anglican Communion.
That is simply false.
There is a way forward. It is the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans Covenantal Structure, also known as the Cairo Covenant: section 1, which is a confessional statement; section 2, relational commitments; and section 3, the conciliar structures that will hold the Communion together. This has been out since 2019.
It is notable that these authors make no reference to it. That is lamentable on their part. It is, however, well known among the 85 percent of Anglicans all over the world that the Global South addressed both the deficit of false teaching and the ecclesial deficit that was outlined in the Windsor report, and they did so through this covenant. We invite you to read the Cairo Covenant in its entirety, which can be found here.
We also released a video series on the Cairo Covenant, going over its different parts and their implications for the Communion, which can be seen here. Please review these resources for yourself. You'll see this covenant is a solid basis for resetting the Anglican Communion, and it's clear from the Kigali Statement that the GAFCON primates and Global South primates are going to work together towards that end. The Kigali Statement quotes Ecclesiastes 4:12, that a cord of three strands is not easily broken. It points to their pledge that GAFCON and the Global South will stay in step with the Holy Spirit. It is our prayer that this three-fold cord will, indeed, not be easily broken.
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