George Conger
June 24, 2008
Fears of a conservative-led schism within the Anglican Communion are unfounded, the Archbishop of Nigeria told delegates to the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem.
“Anglicans we are, Anglicans we’ll remain until the Lord shall return in glory to judge each one according to his deeds,” Archbishop Peter Akinola said in the June 22 opening address to the 300 bishops and 700 clergy and lay delegates to the conference.
Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem Suheil Dawani and Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria greet GAFCON participants following an Evening Prayer service June 22 at St. George’s Anglican Cathedral, Jerusalem. (Photo © 2008 Episcopal Life Online) |
With hopes for a political resolution to the divisions on doctrine and discipline within the Anglican Communion centring round homosexuality fading, delegates have focused on spiritual solutions with organizers hoping GAFCON will spark a renewal movement within the church.
Called “pilgrims,” the delegates to GAFCON were at the forefront of a “new reformation,” the Archbishop of Rwanda Emmanuel Kolini said—one that would take Anglicans back to the Bible.
While the situation remains dire, with Anglican churches breaking relations with one another, and churches in the West in numerical decline, it was not past saving. “Jesus will never let down the Anglican Communion,” Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda said, but will “send hope where hope is very small.”
He told the delegates that GAFCON would be a vehicle for this hope, and he prayed that delegates leave Jerusalem “full of the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Bishop Martyn Minns said what was “driving this is not politics, it is a passion for the Gospel.” The words of “politics” had so far “been absent from the deliberations” at GAFCON, said Bishop Minns, the leader of the breakaway Episcopal parishes in Virginia that have come under the oversight of the Church of Nigeria.
The conference opened with a speech by Archbishop Peter Akinola summarizing the political events of the last ten years within the Anglican Communion. He denounced the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada for pressing forward with the gay bishops and same-sex blessings, lamenting the grip of liberal theology upon the churches.
Africa would not succumb to this “apostasy,” he said. “Having survived the inhuman physical slavery of the 19th century, the political slavery called colonialism of the 20th century, the developing world economic enslavement [of today], we cannot, we dare not allow ourselves and the millions we represent be kept in religious and spiritual dungeon,” he said.
Archbishop Akinola also expressed his disappointment with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams for ignoring the pleas of the African churches for action. He was “not interested in what matters to us, in what we think or in what we say,” Akinola said.
The Nigerian leader refrained from criticising Dr. Williams by name, attacking instead decisions taken by “Lambeth Palace”—the Archbishop’s official palace across the Thames from the Houses of Parliament. Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney explained this language was deliberate, as there was a distinction to be made between the man, and the office.
Asked whether he had included Dr. Williams amongst the “apostates” of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Akinola said the Archbishop of Canterbury “was not guilty of apostasy.” We are, however, “not able to agree on certain things,” he noted.
African church leaders were disgruntled with Dr. Williams’ response to the crisis, noted Prof. Stephen Noll of Uganda Christian University. Lambeth Palace “just does not seem to realize” that many African bishops felt betrayed by the slow pace of reform within the communion, he explained.
Charges the meeting was a stalking horse for schism were unfounded, Dr. Jensen said as GAFCON sought to provide a vehicle for creating a loyal opposition within the communion. Reform, however, did not mean accommodation, he explained, stating that the Bible would remain the center of any future form of Anglicanism.
Delegates will be asked to review seven questions over the course of the conference, including what can be done to restore sacramental Communion amongst the divided Anglican churches and whether it can be reformed from within. They will be asked to report on various questions facing the church:
- Are cross border Episcopal jurisdictions an appropriate way forward to resolve differences?
- Is GAFCON merely a Global South initiative or does it have a role to play in the wider church?
- Will the initiatives that arise from GAFCON be neutralized by the strategic use of money by its opponents in the Episcopal Church?
- Can GAFCON provide a path towards the Anglican future?
- Should GAFCON become an institutional entity in order to achieve the tasks it has set for itself.
Archbishop Orombi said there were no predetermined answers to these questions, as it was important that clergy and lay voices be heard in formulating a way forward for Anglicanism.
The conference held at the Renaissance Hotel in West Jerusalem, got off to a rocky start. A meeting scheduled for June 19-21 in Jordan for conference organizers and bishops from Pakistan, the Sudan and other Muslim countries that discourage travel to Israel was abruptly moved to Jerusalem after Jordan refused entry to Archbishop Akinola.
The Nigerian Archbishop reported that he and the organizers of the conference had passed through customs and immigration at the Jordanian border, when an immigrations officer asked him to step into his office. Even though he was traveling on a Nigerian diplomatic passport and his entry had been pre-approved, the immigration officer demanded to know the Archbishop’s mother’s name, the date and place of his seminary training, and other personal questions.
When he questioned the need for these questions, the immigration officer stated he would have to check with his superiors and left the archbishop to wait. After three hours had passed, Archbishop Akinola told the other delegates he would return to Jerusalem, and the other delegates followed. He later said the Jordanian decision to bar his entry had worked out for the best, as it allowed the conference organizers to finalize their plans for the gathering.
The Jordanian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for an explanation for the Archbishop’s ban.
The Rev. Canon George Conger is a priest of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida and senior correspondent of The Church of England Newspaper.
- Related Article: Conservative Anglicans Seek to Form a “Church Within a Church” (June 30)
- Related Article: Anglican Conservatives Create “Confessing Movement” (July 8)
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