Conservative Anglicans reiterated their frustration with the U.K.-based
Anglican Communion over the growing divide on same-sex marriage.
Six primates with the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), an
organization representing archbishops and their provinces around the
world, met April 18-21 in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the group’s future
and its ongoing response to the January meeting of Anglican bishops in
Canterbury, England.
“We went to Canterbury out of a desire for unity,” the GAFCON primates
wrote in a statement issued after the meeting. “In our hearts we desire
to see the tear in the fabric of the communion mended. The sanctions
passed at that meeting were the mildest possible rebuke to only the
worst of the offenders, but they were one step in the right direction.
Regrettably, these sanctions have not been upheld. This is
disappointing, but sadly not surprising.”
During the Canterbury meeting, the Anglican Communion voted to sanction
The Episcopal Church for violations of institutional protocol instead
of a lapse in scriptural fidelity. The U.S.-based province voted last
year to change its canon on marriage to accommodate same-sex unions.
The conservative members of the communion wanted to see stronger
actions that would bring the U.S. church back to “the plain teaching of
Scripture” in relation to marriage.
“Within hours of the meeting’s end the public responses from many
bishops, clergy, and lay people of The Episcopal Church made it clear
that they did not desire to share the same journey,” the GAFCON primates
wrote. “The biblical call to repentance is a call to make a 180 degree
turn. It grieves us that many in The Episcopal Church have again
rejected this call. While we desire to walk together, until there is
true repentance, the reality is that they are deliberately walking away
from the Anglican Communion and the authority of Scripture at a distance
that continues to increase.”
After the Canterbury meeting, Michael Curry, archbishop of The
Episcopal Church, offered no apology for his province’s actions,
suggesting instead it would lead the Anglican Communion toward a more
“welcoming” position on same-sex marriage and sexuality.
“And the truth is, it may be part of our vocation to help the communion
and to help many others to grow in a direction where we can realize and
live the love that God has for all of us, and we can one day be a
church and a communion where all of God’s children are fully welcomed,
where this is truly a house of prayer for all people,” he said.
The rift in the Anglican Communion over sexuality fidelity to Scripture
has been growing for years. While more liberal branches of the church,
including groups in the United States and Canada, have moved toward
embracing homosexuality and same-sex marriage, the majority of the
denomination, centered in Africa, has remained steadfast in its devotion
to biblical orthodoxy. A growing number of conservative U.S. churches
have separated from The Episcopal Church and aligned themselves with the
African province.
In the statement issued after their meeting in Nairobi, the GAFCON
primates pledged to continue working toward unity but hinted an official
split could be around the corner.
“We are of one mind that the future of the Anglican Communion does not
lay with manipulations, compromises, legal loopholes, or the
presentation of half-truths; the future of our Communion lies in humble
obedience to the truth of the Word of God written,” they wrote. “What
others have failed to do, GAFCON is doing: enabling global fellowship
and godly order, united by biblical faithfulness. This unity has
provided us with great energy to continue to work for the renewal of the
Anglican Communion.”
Courtesy: WORLD News Service
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