12 October 2015 A.D Update on GAFCON (dated 1 Jan 2008)

12 October 2015 A.D Update on GAFCON (dated 1 Jan 2008) 

Sarmiento, Simon. “update [sic] on GAFCON.” Thinking Anglicans. 1 Jan 2008. http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/002828.html. Accessed 12 Oct 2015. 

Tuesday, 1 January 2008

update on GAFCON

Updated Tuesday afternoon

Reactions to the GAFCON announcement continue to appear.

George Conger had an article in the Jerusalem Post Anglicans choose Jerusalem for key June conference.

Changing Attitude issued a press release: Changing Attitude responds to the GAFCON announcement.

And there is a report on Sydney Anglicans titled Future Anglicans Unite.

Bishop David Anderson of CANA and the AAC, had this to say about it in his weekly email:

Orthodox Primates with other leading bishops from across the globe are inviting fellow Bishops, senior clergy and laity from every province of the Anglican Communion to a unique eight-day event in Jerusalem, to be known as the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) 2008. This GAFCON event, which was agreed upon at a meeting of Primates in Nairobi a few weeks ago, will give the orthodox Anglicans from around the world the opportunity to gather, to learn, to take counsel together and to go forward equipped to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to a world sitting in the shadow of unbelief. The gathering will be in the form of a pilgrimage back to the roots of the Church’s faith: thus this journey begins with a pilgrimage.

The first thing that springs to my mind is the planning necessary to accommodate all the people who will want to come. I remember the summer of 2003 when Canon David Roseberry and I had planned a small gathering of church leaders at his church near Dallas, to take place after the General Convention in Minneapolis and to be jointly hosted by Christ Church, Plano, and the American Anglican Council. As people heard of the gathering, more wanted to come, so we upped our estimated attendance several times. Finally, as a number of unfaithful and unholy decisions were made by the General Convention of TEC, the rallying cry of the orthodox became, “See you in Plano,” and David Roseberry and I had to begin to think really big. Hurting people who wanted to be hopeful came, bishops, priests and deacons and laity came, over 2000 in all. Over 800 clergy were vested in the great procession in the Eucharist. A note of encouragement from Cardinal Ratzinger, later to become Pope Benedict, was read by Bishop Duncan of Pittsburgh. Plano became a term and Plano II and Plano West happened as people took the hope and enthusiasm back home to their areas. The relentless grinding down of the orthodox members by the Episcopal Church, the subsequent departures and planned departures, the law suits and litigation, the depositions and deceit of TEC have all taken their toll, and many of our faithful Anglicans in North America are hungry and hopeful.

Could Jerusalem 08 (GAFCON) be more than a simple gathering of the faithful? Might this meeting be on a global scale what Plano was in the USA: the crystallization of the future; the future taking form and substance in our midst, and bringing us forward into a reality shaped and formed by the Holy Spirit of God? What might God do with Jerusalem 08 and GAFCON?

Tuesday afternoon update

Riazat Butt has published an article on the Guardian website Conservative Anglicans plan rebel summit.

Posted by Simon Sarmiento on Tuesday