“We are excited to be here this week,” said Archbishop Foley Beach, Chair of the Gafcon Primates Council, at the media conference kicking off a meeting of the conservative Anglican group in Kigali, Rwanda. “We have about 1300 folks that have travelled from about 50 nations for this Gafcon event. We are excited about what the Lord is doing in our midst.” Primate is the title of the leader of a national Anglican church.
Questions at the media conference centred on the relationship with a second organisation, the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans (GSFA), which also represents conservative Anglicans. There is a sense that the two groups are drawing together in the wake of the Church of England moving towards same-sex blessings.
“Most of you know some of actually most of the Global South Primates are also Gafcon primates, but we did have a meeting with the leaders of both groups, the chairs and vice chairs and the general secretaries and have very good discussion to kind of lay out some ground for what we’re going to discuss later this week, ” Beach said. “So we’ll be gathering together later this week.”
The General Secretary of the GSFA, Rennis Ponniah a retired Bishop of singapore has joined the Promates in discussions.
In a prepared statement, the General Secretary of Gafcon, Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi, directly addressed the Church of England events that will drive the discussion at this conference.
“The Bible stands at the heart of the faith that all Anglican Churches have inherited from the Church of England,” said Kwashi, the General Secretary of GAFCON and an Archbishop in the Anglican Church of Nigeria. “That the Church of England has now decided to depart from the Bible’s teaching is troubling for many Anglicans.”
“Some have accused GAFCON of creating division in the Anglican Church, but I must disagree. There have been deep disagreements over the authority of the Bible among members of the Anglican Communion for quite some time. We do not seek division, but rather we want to move with the mission of God in the world. The gospel of our Lord Jesus calls us to guard the unchanging, transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ and to proclaim Him to the world.”
“I am praying that as we meet together in Kigali, we will be encouraged to continue to walk as disciples of Jesus Christ, no matter what challenges are set before us,” says Archbishop Kwashi.
Tonight’s opening session will be live in the screen below.
And a discussion from the Heart of Gafcon podcast