The Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem (GAFCON) produced a Final Statement most of which could draw applause from all parts of the Anglican world. We are indeed a fellowship 'confessing the faith of Christ crucified, standing firm for the gospel in the global and Anglican context.' We surely want to 'reform, heal and revitalise the Anglican Communion and expand its mission to the world,' giving, 'clear and certain witness to Jesus Christ.' I'm sure the organisers of GAFCON wouldn't wish to imply that they are the only ones who believe this.
It's good to hear first hand reports of the joy and enthusiasm participants felt for worship and evangelism. It's just how I felt a few weeks ago when 750 people from the diocese gathered for a conference on making disciples called 'Living Faith.' Such conferences encourage us in our daily walk with Christ and our journey through some of the more tedious passages of the Christian landscape.
So far so good. What is rather more problematic is the establishing of a Primates' Council which is unelected and unaccountable, and which rejects the roots of Anglican identity in a special link with Canterbury. (You know what happens when you cut off the roots of a tree?) In the Anglican Communion the Primates Meeting is balanced in authority by the other 'instruments of unity,' the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference and the Anglican Consultative Council. The proposed Primates' Council sounds as if it could be a self-selected group which takes major decisions about crossing provincial boundaries and trying to attract other dioceses and parishes to join a 'church within a church,' with competing loyalties.
The stated aims of GAFCON are beyond reproach. Of course we want a renewed Church. A better approach, therefore, would be to put all the spiritual energy and wonderful enthusiasm for the gospel which was displayed at the conference, into the existing central councils of the Anglican Communion where the Windsor process and the emerging Anglican Covenant are precisely intended to inject a sense of identity and loyalty to the Church we love. These were stated by the Archbishop of Canterbury to be the implications of accepting an invitation to Lambeth.
Huge numbers of us are working flat out for the gospel. In the diocese of Oxford I have said that holistic mission and deepening spirituality are the two major 'tent pegs' that I want to drive into the ground to support the tent of God. I hope, therefore, that we'll all be cautious as we work through the implications of the GAFCON final statement. There's no need to panic and there's no need to rush. Let's take counsel together, wait on God, and look to Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
+John Oxon
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