The audacious undertaking

After only one exhausting day at GAFCON in Jerusalem I have been struck by two strong impressions. One is how audacious or courageous this conference is and secondly how this is excitingly Anglican in a way I’d never experienced before. 

The conference is audacious in both its scale and ambition.

Putting together a conference of 1000 people in the middle east after only some five months of preparation might seem impossible but they have done it. And not only that, they’ve not held back in quite ambitious programs. This morning’s gathering of all the delegates on the Mount of Olives to be photographed including bishops in convocation robes and a helicopter with a photographer on board would have made the most ambitious event organiser quake. But they did it! There is so much about this conference that is large and difficult and yet it is working remarkably well.

It is ambitious in that the conference has a goal none other than to rescue the Anglican Communion in the face of the perceived failure of its present leadership.  GAFCON is not for those wishing to hide away from the challenges of the Anglican Communion today.

Something of this energetic confidence flows from the strong African Anglicanism which is so dominant with its expressive joyful and openly Christ-centred Christianity.

This is where something of the exciting experience of Anglicanism comes in.  But it is more than just style. I was very moved by a key section of Archbishop Akinola’s opening address in which he talked powerfully about us being “ Anglican Christians by conviction” . The whole paragraph is worth quoting:

“I conclude let the world be informed that be it by birth or by conversion the men and women in GAFCON are people who have grown to be Anglican Christians by conviction, upholding the tenets of Anglican biblical orthodoxy. We have no other place to go nor is it our intention to start another church. Anglicans we are, Anglicans we’ll remain until the LORD shall return in glory to judge each one according to his deeds.”

In a world in which people are Anglicans either by an easy going complacency or with barely hidden embarrassment it was astounding to hear Akinola’s positive presentation on convicted Anglicanism.  Given that the conference seems to have all kinds of different styles of Anglicans, some anglo-catholic, some charismatic, some evangelical and some a bit of each, it is the question of discovering a true conviction of orthodox Anglicanism that truly unites us.

GAFCON is just the beginning of a process that will continue long after this conference and Lambeth are over. It will be important for the movement to embrace many more than those who have had the privilege of being here in Jerusalem.

Bishop Robert Forsyth is part of the Sydney Diocesan delegation to the Global Anglican Future Conference

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