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GAFCON Chairman Affirms Jerusalem Declaration not Canterbury as future of Anglican Communion
Kenya Primate hints that schism could ensue in April if TEC continues defiance of Canterbury Communique
By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
February 18, 2016
The chairman of GAFCON, the Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala has written a pastoral letter to his fellow bishops and those in the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans saying that Jerusalem not Canterbury is the future of orthodox Anglicans in the Communion and the "false gospel" of many in the communion will not go unchallenged.
The Primate of Kenya said that for the GAFCON Primates in Canterbury last month, "it was the light shining from Jerusalem that enabled us to give a lead in the steps taken to sanction the Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC) as a step towards restoring godly faith and order. Sadly, the meeting had hardly finished before it was made very clear that there would be no repentance or change of direction on the part of TEC and their delegation to the Anglican Consultative Council Meeting in April expect it to be business as usual."
Citing comments made by GAFCON Vice Chairman, Nigerian Archbishop Okoh of Nigeria, who noted that nothing has changed as a result of the Canterbury meeting and that the fabric of the Communion is still badly torn and there can be no true walking together until there is repentance for what is acknowledged even by TEC as a breach of core doctrine, Wabukala said there is a strong possibility that other Provinces would take the same step this year.
"Some of you are asking what GAFCON's approach will be during the three years that TEC are subject to sanctions and what will happen at the end of that time, given that TEC appears to have moved well beyond the possibility of changing course.
"At our Primates Council in April, we will take counsel together on these matters, but I can say that all of us in the GAFCON movement need to set our faces to go to Jerusalem. While we honor Canterbury as the mother See of the Anglican Communion, it was at Jerusalem that we placed our hope for the future in Jesus and the truth of the Bible.
"The Jerusalem Statement and Declaration reflects that reality and expresses the core truths that guide us today: the rise of a false gospel in the Anglican Communion, that our identity is found first and foremost in the faith we confess, the need to support and recognize those who have been excluded from their Anglican homes, and the duty to reject the authority of churches and leaders who deny orthodox faith in word or deed.
"In a compromised Communion these are not comfortable truths, but we must set our faces to Jerusalem and keep to them, because this is the way of the cross and therefore of true resurrection."
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