Anglicanism offshoot sets its course

Last week, the Rev. Emmanuel Egbunu, bishop of the diocese of Lokoja in Nigeria, stood before a conference room filled with more than 450 Anglican clergy and lay people from around the world.

They gathered in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, for the GAFCON conference, a group of conservative Anglicans, primarily from Africa and Asia, now rebranded as the Global Anglican Communion.

Egbunu told the audience members they must be serious about God’s word. “People must keep within Biblical boundaries; we must not spare the rod for secret cults, or else we’ll end up there again,” he said. “As GAFCON, it must be made clear to all who subscribe that crossing the boundary will carry penalties.”

During the conference, the Global Anglican Communion took steps to define its relationship with the Church of England and confirmed its plans for new leadership in place of Anglican leaders in Europe. The new denominational group took shape nearly two decades ago as a result of disagreements over the Church of England’s leadership and leftward doctrinal shift.

But the group insists it is reforming the Anglican denomination, not breaking away from it. Leaders during the conference repeatedly used the analogy of a car, saying they aren’t rebuilding the car but only changing the engine.

The Rev. Paul Donison, the group’s general secretary, explained it is only rejecting the Church of England’s “Instruments of Communion,” the traditional leadership structures of global Anglicanism.

“For a time, maybe they did their job, but they certainly in the last 50 years, haven’t done their job well,” he told me. “It’s got to be a global leadership for a global church.”

Donison pointed to the Anglican Communion’s Lambeth Conference in 1998, when church leaders upheld Biblical teaching on marriage and called for abstinence before marriage. “If the Anglican Canterbury structures had done their job, this conference would be totally unnecessary,” Donison said.

But in 2002, a diocese in the Anglican Church of Canada approved a liturgy to bless same-sex unions. The following year, the U.S. Episcopal Church elected its first openly gay bishop.

In 2008, the Global Anglican Communion met for the first time and drafted the Jerusalem Declaration, which includes 14 tenets affirming Biblical inerrancy and honoring God’s design for marriage and sexuality, among other doctrines. Last week, the group confirmed that all intending members must sign the document.

The group’s latest objections to the Church of England emerged after the denomination this January confirmed Sarah Mullally as the first female archbishop of Canterbury. Mullally will formally be installed later this month.

Justin Murff, press secretary for this year’s Abuja conference, has said the doctrinal differences go beyond sexuality or female leadership. “It is whether Scripture or contemporary culture governs the life of this church,” he said.

Ahead of the Abuja meeting, the Global Anglican Communion had teased plans to appoint its own “first among equals” as an alternative to the Archbishop of Canterbury during the conference. Instead, it set up a leadership council, led by a top bishop or primate and including other clergy and lay members, all with equal voting rights.

The group selected the Rev. Laurent Mbanda, an Anglican archbishop from Rwanda, as the council’s chairman. He will serve as the group’s primary spokesperson in both ecumenical and international contexts.

Murff agreed the leadership structure plans took an unexpected turn. “Prayer and guidance of the Holy Spirit led the council to discern a new direction,” he said.

The new leadership solidifies the Global Anglican Communion’s operating structure separate from the Anglican Communion. The group now bans its leaders from attending the Anglican Communion’s traditional gatherings, including the Lambeth Conference and Primates’ Meetings. They also can’t approve any financial contributions to the Church of England and must eventually remove any reference to communion with Canterbury from their constitutions.

Murff had said a team of representatives from the Church of England also attended the conference. A spokesperson from the Anglican Communion told the U.K.-based outlet Premier Christian News that the denomination acknowledges the division among the groups but insisted that Christ calls them to be one.

The Global Anglican Communion isn’t the only conservative Anglican body opposed to the Church of England’s changes of direction. The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches has also said it is open to hearing plans for reform even as it remains within the Anglican Communion.

Donison said the Global Anglican Communion has experienced pushback, beginning with lawsuits when it first split off in 2008 and created a new province in North America—known as the Anglican Church in North America—separating from the Episcopal Church. Some Anglicans also believe instituting the Global Anglican Communion is too radical, he admitted.

“The truth is, you cannot reform anything without there being pushback,” Donison said. “And so we are always prepared for it.”