Ecclesiology: Autonomy and Communion Structure

Matthew analyzes claims about restoring autonomous provinces, the role of instruments, and tensions in proposed structural changes.

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This bonus episode of the podcast responds to the launch of a Global Anglican Communion, which would be separate from the Anglican Communion as we have known it.

There are Anglicans rejoicing over this news. Anglicans grieving over this news. Anglicans who don’t know what to think. And a lot of Anglicans who may not know what’s going on, or may not know what this has to do with them.

Today, we explore some of these feelings and questions, and pose some questions of our own.

On Oct 16, a communiqué email went out from a conservative, international fellowship of Anglican churches, representing several major Anglican provinces worldwide, known as GAFCON. (There are a lot of acronyms in this episode, but we will spell them out as we go.) This communiqué dropped into people’s inboxes with the title “The Future Has Arrived.” Here are a few introductory paragraphs:

“The first Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) gathered in 2008 in Jerusalem to prayerfully respond to the abandonment of the Scriptures by some of the most senior leaders of the Anglican Communion, and to seek their repentance.

“In the absence of such repentance, we have been prayerfully advancing towards a future for faithful Anglicans, where the Bible is restored to the heart of the Communion.

“Today, that future has arrived.”

Then follow 8 resolutions for establishing a Global Anglican Communion separate from the Anglican Communion and the Instruments of Communion.

TLC editor Mark Michael and executive director Matthew Olver join podcast host Amber Noel to ask questions about the meaning and contents of this communiqué, its language and propositions, the history that led up to it, its timing in light of current leadership scandals in the ACNA, and what people who want to move forward with GAFCON might be risking, particularly leaders from the Global South, or what they may still need to know. We also direct specific questions to GAFCON leaders themselves.

And we invite you to join us. If you are a leader in the Anglican Communion, in GAFCON, in the ACNA, or in the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans, and you have something you want to ask, share, or correct in response to this podcast, please get in touch: ambernoel@livingchurch.org. We have questions and critiques, but we also want to understand better what’s going on, and why, and how we can receive needed renewal and reformation together.

Thanks for listening to this conversation. And if you have something to bring to the table, we hope to hear from you.

From this episode:

Resources from GAFCON:

Oct 16 “The Future Has Arrived” communiqué

The Jerusalem Declaration (founding document of GAFCON)

Bishop Paul Donison’s interview on the Stand Firm podcast

Bishop Laurent Mbanda's podcast interview

Resources from The Living Church:

Analysis: GAFCON Creates Global Anglican Communion

‘You Have Broken My Heart’—A Letter to My Siblings in GAFCON

Poggo Responds to GAFCON Communion Launch

The Inside Story on GAFCON’s Communiqué