Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans

History

Main article: Global Anglican Future Conference

The Global Anglican Future Conference was held near Jerusalem in June 2008 at the initiative of theologically conservative Anglican leaders, mostly from Africa and Asia, from across the globe who opposed the ordination of homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions by member churches of the Anglican Communion. The meeting came as the culmination of a series of controversies in the Anglican Communion that began in 2003 when the openly non-celibate gay bishop Gene Robinson was consecrated by the Episcopal Church USA. GAFCON was organised as a conservative alternative to the 2008 Lambeth Conference, which was boycotted by many traditionalists, except, most notably, Bishop Anis. Mouneer Anis the Presiding Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East (a conservative himself on matters of human sexuality), however, publicly announced he would not be one of the traditionalists attending GAFCON 2008; his observation was that "the Global South must not be driven by an exclusively Northern agenda or Northern personalities."

The GAFCON Final Statement produced at the first conference recognises the Archbishop of Canterbury for his historic role in the Anglican Church but denies that his recognition is the cornerstone of Anglican identity. The statement also called for the formation of "A Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans."

GAFCON was instrumental in the formation of the Anglican Church in North America in 2009. The ACNA was formed as an alternative church structure for those disaffected by the official Anglican structures in the United States and Canada. The Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America, which covers much of South America, is a key constituent of the GAFCON movement. The Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Australia, played an important role in forming the FCA and its Archbishop Peter Jensen was the FCA's first secretary.

On 6 July 2009, GAFCON was launched within the British Isles and by 2016 rebranded itself as GAFCON GB & Europe. Through this branch, the Anglican Network in Europe was created, and the Reformed Episcopal Church and Free Church of England have been members of GAFCON GB & Europe since 2008. In 2015, Rod Thomas (a member of the executive of AMiE) was consecrated the provincial episcopal visitor for conservative evangelical members of the Church of England.

On 3 September 2009, GAFCON's South African branch was established by the initiative of Bishop Bethlehem Nopece, of the Anglican Diocese of Port Elizabeth. It incorporates Anglicans from three denominations: the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa (REACH-SA) and the Traditional Anglican Communion. In 2023, REACH-SA was recognized as an "authentic Anglican province" by the Gafcon Primates' Council, and its presiding bishop, Glenn Lyons, was seated on the council.

GAFCON in New Zealand was launched in April 2016 in two conferences that took place in Auckland and Christchurch reuniting nearly 500 members from the entire country. Chairman Archbishop Eliud Wabukala from Kenya sent a message of support read at the conferences. Video greetings were also sent by Archbishop Foley Beach of the Anglican Church in North America, and Bishop Richard Condie of the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania and chairman of GAFCON Australia. Rev. Jay Behan became the chair of GAFCON New Zealand. The creation of GAFCON New Zealand was a result of the passing of Motion 30 by the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia and the subsequent document "A Way Forward", proposing the blessing of same-sex marriages, presented at their General Synod in May 2014. The Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa/New Zealand was established in 2019 with Behan as the inaugural bishop.

GAFCON helped to form the Diocese of the Southern Cross in 2022, a breakaway from the Anglican Church of Australia as a result of disagreements over same-sex marriage and other issues.

On October 16, 2025, in response to the Church of England's announcement of Sarah Mullally as the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of GAFCON, Laurent Mbanda, formally declared that GAFCON is the authentic Anglican Communion. He further stated that GAFCON "rejects" Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Anglican Communion's Primates Meeting, which GAFCON says have "failed to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Communion". GAFCON's primates also announced their intention to reorganize as the "Global Anglican Communion" in response. They reiterated that they are not leaving the Anglican Communion but have rather reorganized it under themselves as the Anglican Communion. As Mbanda explained, "We cannot continue to have communion with those who advocate the revisionist agenda, which has abandoned the inerrant word of God as the final authority and overturned Resolution I.10, of the 1998 Lambeth Conference."

Membership

As of 2025, GAFCON claims to represent upwards of 85% of the world's practising Anglicans. This claim is disputed. Peer-reviewed research from 2015 and 2016, published in the Journal of Anglican Studies by Cambridge University Press, indicates that GAFCON-aligned provinces represent closer to 45% of practising Anglicans and just over 54% of members baptized in any of the provinces of the Anglican Communion.

In 2020, additional peer-reviewed research focused on the Church of Nigeria, GAFCON's largest member church, Kenya, and Uganda. GAFCON claims that the Church of Nigeria has 25 million members, and the Church of Nigeria claims 18 million nominal members, but research published in the Journal of Anglican Studies estimated that 7.6 million Nigerians self-identified as Anglicans. The same research estimated the Anglican population in Kenya to be closer to 4.9 million and Uganda to be 10.9 million.

Organization

The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans aims to extend the goals of the GAFCON conferences into a movement, to "preach the biblical gospel [...] all over the world" and "provide aid to [...] faithful Anglicans" disaffected from their original churches. The fellowship recognizes the Jerusalem Declaration, written at the 2008 GAFCON meeting, as a "contemporary rule." The fellowship is administered by a "Primates' Council" originally consisting of Primates from the African provinces of the Anglican Communion. GAFCON currently lists 12 provinces, 7 branches, and 2 branches "being formed."

Member provinces

Non-provincial GAFCON branches

Ordination of women

The ordination of women to holy orders, the offices of deacon, priest (presbyter), and bishop, remains controversial in GAFCON. Among the member churches of GAFCON, there is a diversity of approaches to women's ordination. Nigeria only ordains women to the diaconate within limitations; Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda ordain women as priests. Kenya and South Sudan have ordained women as bishops.

In 2006, the Church of Nigeria planned to ordain women to the diaconate, but not as priests or bishops. In 2010, the church moved forward with those plans and began to ordain women as deacons, with limitations "for specific purposes like hospital work and school services". The Church of Nigeria continues to prohibit the ordination of women as priests or bishops.

The Church of Uganda has ordained women as deacons since 1973 and as priests since 1983. The Anglican Church in North America allows each diocese to decide whether to ordain women as deacons or priests but does not permit the ordination of women as bishops. In 2023, the Diocese of the Southern Cross (Australia) welcomed its first female priest.

Women in the episcopacy continues to divide GAFCON. In 2016, the Episcopal Church of Sudan consecrated the first woman, Elizabeth Awut Ngor, as bishop and the first woman bishop among the GAFCON members. In 2018, the primatial bishops of the GAFCON member churches agreed to a moratorium on further ordinations of women to the episcopate. In 2021, the Anglican Church of Kenya consecrated two women as bishops, Emily Onyango was consecrated as an assisting bishop and Rose Okeno was consecrated as the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Butere. In 2022, Archbishop Kaziimba of the Church of Uganda confirmed that a woman may be ordained a bishop in the Church of Uganda.

In 2025, GAFCON opposed the appointment of Sarah Mullally (who expressed liberal views on blessing same-sex couples in the Church of England) as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, stating that her appointment was a cause for "sorrow" and demonstrated that the Church of England had "relinquished its authority to lead". While some were opposed to the appointee being a woman, the Church of Uganda's Stephen Kaziimba stated his opposition to Sarah Mullally's appointment was based on her views, not her gender.

Notes

References

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