Gafcon: Reflection from The Rev. Sam Ferguson

GAFCON IV: Lessons from a Communion in Birth Pains

This article originally appeared in The Gospel Coalition on April 25, 2023.

In AD 597, the bishop of Rome sent a missionary named Augustine to evangelize the Anglo people of southern England. Augustine’s mission base became known as the See of Canterbury, his office the Seat of Canterbury, and the global church that grew from it the Anglican Communion. There are now around 85 million Christians who are part of the Anglican tradition, making the Communion the third-largest Christian denomination in the world.

Sadly, the Anglican Communion is in crisis. Across the world, many Anglican bishops, pastors, and institutions have turned from the authority of Scripture and rebelled against both biblical teaching and church doctrine—especially in matters of human sexuality. The most recent example is the vote by the general synod of the Church of England to allow pastors to bless same-sex unions.

Those of us who gathered last week in Kigali, Rwanda, for the fourth Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON IV) are believing and praying this crisis is the birth pains of a renewed Communion, not its death throes.

I grew up in the Anglican Church, was ordained there, and now pastor one of its congregations. What happens to the Anglican Communion certainly matters to me and my congregation. It also matters to the broader church. Here’s what I experienced at GAFCON IV and what all believers can learn from global Anglicans in this important moment.

Resetting a Global Communion

From April 17–21, 1,302 delegates from 52 countries—including 315 bishops, 456 members of the clergy, and 531 laypeople—gathered in Kigali for GAFCON IV. These leaders attended on behalf of 85 percent of worldwide Anglicans.

Launched in Jerusalem in 2008, GAFCON stands as a response to the crisis in our Communion. Its goal is to offer a biblical counter to progressive Anglicans’ errors in doctrine and practice and a spiritual home for the faithful.

It’s unclear how other Anglican leaders will respond to the Kigali Commitment or how GAFCON and other orthodox Anglicans will organize fellowship “after Canterbury.” What’s clear is that GAFCON Anglicans will not abandon their church but are rather seeking to reset structures of authority and fellowship:

Resetting the Communion is an urgent matter. It needs an adequate and robust foundation that addresses the legal and constitutional complexities in various Provinces. The goal is that orthodox Anglicans worldwide will have a clear identity, a global “spiritual home” of which they can be proud, and a strong leadership structure that gives them stability and direction as Global Anglicans.

Read the entire article here.

The Rev. Sam Ferguson is rector of The Falls Church Anglican in Falls Church, VA.