Following the appointment of Sarah Mullally as Archbishop of Canterbury, Anglican churches affiliated with the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) issued a statement. Founded in 2008, GAFCON is governed by the Jerusalem Declaration.
The statement was signed by President Laurent Mbanda, Primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, and announced «the reordering of the Anglican Communion, whose 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).»
These Anglican Churches no longer recognize the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council, or the meeting of primates because they have not kept faith with «the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Communion.» According to the statement, the Anglican Communion has been abandoned by all Churches that have recognized or continue to recognize Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference regarding human sexuality, particularly homosexuality. Consequently, the statement announces the birth of a new global Anglican Communion represented by GAFCON.
The provinces of this global Anglican Communion «shall not participate in meetings called by the Archbishop of Canterbury, including the Anglican Consultative Council.» Furthermore, they shall not «shall not make any monetary contribution to the Anglican Consultative Council, nor receive any monetary contribution from the Anglican Consultative Council or its networks.»
The ecclesiastical provinces of the new Global Anglican Communion are asked to «remove any references to being in communion with the See of Canterbury and the Church of England.»
Given GAFCON’s transformation into the Anglican Global Communion, a Council of Primates must be formed from all member provinces to elect a president. This president will have the role of «primus inter pares» and continue to affirm the faith «delivered to the saints.»
In conclusion, the statement affirms that the «restoration of our beloved Communion is now solely in the hands of GAFCON. 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.»
This internal schism within the Anglican world entails a sort of Catholicization of the GAFCON Churches: on the one hand, through the use of tradition as a criterion for interpreting the biblical foundation, and on the other hand, through the need to establish a primacy (albeit among equals) to ensure continuity within this tradition. Finally, GAFCON’s accusation of heresy against the See of Canterbury points precisely in this direction: «Due to successive archbishops’ failure to guard the faith, the office can no longer function as a credible leader of Anglicans.»
