The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (known as GAFCON) has set up a council as an alternative to the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Following a meeting of the movement’s senior leaders in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, General Secretary Revd Paul Donison announced the formation of “new structures” to “meet the needs” of the majority of Anglicans around the world.
Last year, GAFCON rejected the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury-designate Sarah Mullally over her “unbiblical and revisionist teachings regarding marriage and sexual morality”.
‘Under the Word’
The newly created Global Anglican Council, which “will include bishops, clergy, and lay members each with full voting privileges”, is to be chaired by Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, the Primate of Rwanda.
Ahead of the gathering, Revd Donison described it as a “moment to gather together under the Word of God, to prayerfully discern what the Lord’s future for us looks like as we reorder our beloved Communion”.
He called the formation of the Council “a historic day for the Global Anglican Communion”.
Same-sex blessings
Dame Sarah Mullally is the first woman to be appointed to the office of Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England’s nearly 500-year history.
As Bishop of London, she led the Living in Love and Faith Next Steps Group, which promoted controversial resources that called into question the Church’s traditional teaching on “identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage”.
Following a 2023 bishops’ report that recommended allowing clergy to bless same-sex couples, Dame Sarah claimed “stable, faithful relationships” between two men or two women could be blessed.
Dame Sarah is expected to be installed as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury on 25 March.
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