Bishop TJ's Assesment of GAFCON

Good evening all. I just received this by email from Bishop Johnston, and believe it to be the best summation of GAFCON that I have seen so far. He has give permission to share it so here goes.

The Mission (my term to include all that the Anglican Mission in the Americas is) remains as it did before GAFCON, a full and founding member of the Common Cause Federation. This Federation respects the autonomy of its nine current members, and allows The Mission to serve the Gospel as a missionary outreach and jurisdiction of the Province of Rwanda without conceding our unique missional vision and organizational structure. As such, we have committed to engage in defining, encouraging, and shaping new structures for mission and Anglicanism in the Americas as seem good and wise to the Holy Spirit and the Primates Council (as defined by the Jerusalem Statement). In this way, the Jerusalem conference drew us back to our First Promise roots (1997) where one of our stated purposes was the formation of new provincial structures for a new day of Gospel centered mission within our Anglican tradition.

I encourage all of you to read and reflect on the Statement that came out of GAFCON and, in particular, the portion that is The Jerusalem Declaration ( www.GAFCON.org ). The implications of this statement and the Declaration will be sorted out in the months and years ahead, but I believe that they already point us to:
+ A confessional, rather than institutional, way of ordering our partnership in the Gospel and, therefore, the Communion;
+ An emerging conciliar structural model that will replace the ineffective models and leadership structures of the Anglican Communion of today;
+ A priority on Gospel faithfulness and Truth and not institutional unity as a basis of our common mission to the world; and
+ A by-passing of established Anglican Communion structures whenever and wherever they inhibit the work of Gospel proclamation and ministry

Home at Last!

Good morning all. Happy Canada Day!

Well, it will take a few weeks to process the experience we have had in the Holy Land. The first week of personal pilgrimage was a wonderful time of discovery, rest and refreshment for Mary & me. The second week was beyond our wildest expectations. Just being in Jerusalem with 1200 other like-minded Anglicans was amazing, never mind the work of the Holy Spirit that was wrought in our midst as we prayed, worshiped and deliberated together about the future of Anglican Christianity.

By now many of you will have seen and read the Jerusalem Statement and Way Forward documents. They went through many drafts and all the delegates were involved in reviewing, suggesting appropriate changes, inclusions and editorial corrections. What I am trying to say is, it wasn't pre-written by the Primates and theologians. They gave us a draft to work with and listened very carefully as we struggled and prayed together to discern God's will. It was a work of the Holy Spirit operating in and through the gathered delegates. The result is the beginning of a reformation in the Anglican Communion, and a new day has dawned. This is the Common Cause group meeting to discuss and pray over the first draft.

The reaction of those who consider themselves the "instruments of Unity" of the Anglican Communion, i.e. the Anglican Consultative Council, The Archbishop of Canterbury and the liberal US and Canadian Bishops, is to be expected. Their rule has been challenged, and they will attempt to put their own spin on the statement, even going so far as to lie outright to protect their power and livings. Here is an example from the opening paragraph of the ABC's reaction. He said, "Despite the claims of some, the conviction of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Lord and God and of the absolute imperative of evangelism are not in dispute in the common life of the Communion." Contrast that with Michael Ingham's "melting-pot" theology and belief that evangelism is religious violence.

Here is another spin. The ABC refers to "instances of intervention in diocese whose leadership is unquestionably orthodox simply because of local difficulties of a personal and administrative nature." Surly he can't be speaking of the Diocese of New Westminster!

One more..."I believe that it is wrong to assume that we are now so far apart that those outside of the GAFCON network are simply proclaiming another gospel. This is not the case: it is not the experience of millions of faithful and biblically focussed Anglicans in every provinces. What is true is that, on all sides of our controversies, slogans, misrepresentations and caricatures abound." We are far apart because another false gospel has been and is being preached. This gospel looks and sounds authentic because it is "biblically focussed" as the ABC says, but it is not biblically obedient. Therein lies the difference. He also presumes that there are "sides" that have equal integrity and gospel authenticity. They do not, and given that we are indeed so far apart that a reformation is necessary.

Be encouraged my brothers and sisters. The last reformation took many years; this one will be no different. Remember 15 years ago. The few US and Canadian congregations who saw this coming stood virtually alone. Even 5 years ago many of those who rejoiced along side us in Jerusalem were counseling that that it could be fixed from within. The courageous stand that the Anglican Mission, REC and other continuing churches took has given other orthodox believers an example to follow. Over 35,000,000 of the Communion's believers were represented by leaders in that ballroom on Sunday. We have indeed come a long way....and God is not done with us yet! Like the sun beam illuminating the church of the Holy Sepulcher, God has graciously sent his promised light to illumine our pathway. What we need now is the continued courage to follow where He leads.