Gafcon IV-Kigali commitment was made by church leaders representing more than 53 countries
The fourth Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) has concluded its week long activities in Kigali with very strong resolutions mainly against the church of England and in relation to communion of Christians of the church in reference to what they bible says.
Convening in Kigali from 17-21 April 2023, Gafcon brought together 1,302 delegates from 52 countries, including 315 bishops, 456 other clergy and 531 laity.
Among other topics, Gafcon elaborated on what they called “The Current Crisis in the Anglican Communion”
Under this subtitle, the participants indicated that “despite 25 years of persistent warnings by most Anglican Primates, repeated departures from the authority of God’s Word have torn the fabric of the Communion. These warnings were blatantly and deliberately disregarded and now without repentance this tear cannot be mended.”
The latest of these departures, reads part of the document, is the majority vote by the General Synod of the Church of England in February 2023 to welcome proposals by the bishops to enable same-sex couples to receive God’s blessing.
“It grieves the Holy Spirit and us that the leadership of the Church of England is determined to bless sin.”
They elaborated by saying that since the Lord does not bless same-sex unions, it is pastorally deceptive and blasphemous to craft prayers that invoke blessing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
From this, they went by biblical references whereby they indicated that any refusal to follow the biblical teaching that the only appropriate context for sexual activity is the exclusive lifelong union of a man and a woman in marriage violates the created order (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4–6) and endangers salvation (1 Corinthians 6:9).
The Archbishop of Canterbury
Gafcon IV was straight to mention the head of the Anglican church at the helm of this matter, where they said that the Public statements by the Archbishop of Canterbury and other leaders of the Church of England in support of same-sex blessings “are a betrayal of their ordination and consecration vows to banish error and to uphold and defend the truth taught in Scripture.”
These statements, the Kigali Commitment reads in part, are also a repudiation of Resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, which declared that ‘homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture,’ and advised against the ‘legitimising or blessing of same sex unions’. This occurred despite the Archbishop of Canterbury having affirmed that ‘the validity of the resolution passed at the Lambeth Conference 1998, I.10 is not in doubt and that whole resolution is still in existence’.
The 2022 Lambeth Conference demonstrated the deep divisions in the Anglican Communion as many bishops chose not to attend and some of those who did withdrew from sharing at the Lord’s table.
The participants therefore hinted on what they called ”Failure of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Other Instruments of Communion’ and said that they “have no confidence that the Archbishop of Canterbury nor the other Instruments of Communion led by him (the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates’ Meetings) are able to provide a godly way forward that will be acceptable to those who are committed to the truthfulness, clarity, sufficiency and authority of Scripture. The Instruments of Communion have failed to maintain true communion based on the Word of God and shared faith in Christ.”
And by principles, the Gafcon IV indicated that all four Instruments propose that the way ahead for the Anglican Communion is to learn to walk together in ‘good disagreement’.
“However we reject the claim that two contradictory positions can both be valid in matters affecting salvation. We cannot ‘walk together’ in good disagreement with those who have deliberately chosen to walk away from the ‘faith once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3). The people of God ’walk in his ways’, ‘walk in the truth’, and ‘walk in the light’, all of which require that we do not walk in Christian fellowship with those in darkness (Deuteronomy 8:6; 2 John 4; 1 John 1:7).”
The Kigali commitment alleged that successive Archbishops of Canterbury have failed to guard the faith by inviting bishops to Lambeth who have embraced or promoted practices contrary to Scripture.
“This failure of church discipline has been compounded by the current Archbishop of Canterbury who has himself welcomed the provision of liturgical resources to bless these practices contrary to Scripture. This renders his leadership role in the Anglican Communion entirely indefensible,” reads part of the long document.
The full declaration is available on the website of gafcon which can be available via this link.
