Post-GAFCON

GAFCON the conference is over, but GAFCON the movement has only just begun! That's the clear message of the Jerusalem Declaration and Statement, assented to by the 1200 pilgrims and signed off by the attending Primates of the Anglican Communion. I flew out of Jerusalem today to London, from where I'm writing.

On Tuesday at All Souls' Langham Place, there will be a special briefing for the Church of England by various GAFCON delegates and leaders. These include Henry Orombi, Peter Jensen and J. I. Packer. It has been organised by a coalition of nearly 50 vicars and leaders who represent a wide spectrum of orthodox believers within the C of E. As of yesterday morning they had 750 registered attenders! Interest in GAFCON and what it means for the future shape of Anglicanism is, to put it mildly, intense.

Richard Trist and I will be attending the meeting here and would love to have your prayers for us, as we keep learning and thinking through what all this means for us back in Melbourne and Australia.

I also want to offer my reflections on GAFCON at this stage. I'm exhausted! It was an intense 8 days of meeting lots of sisters and brothers in Christ and hearing lots of stories - good and bad - of ministry and life as an orthodox believer in Jesus Christ.

Our corporate worship was a wonderful wonderful experience, a real foretaste of heaven. I have video of Richard Trist doing the Nigerian 'shaky shaky' song and dance: just him and his 1200 new best friends!!! We are first hand witnesses of South American worship led by Bishop Tito and the 3 Amigos (including Greg Venables) - Alabare!!! We even saw Peter Jensen break into song, African-style, mid-way through announcements!

Our discussions were serious, thoughtful, passionate, and tinged with a sadness that we have come to this point in Anglican history when heterodoxy must be called out for what it is, and no longer condoned. It is one thing to be Anglican and comprehensive, another to close our eyes when so-called Anglican leaders are actively persecuting faithful sisters and brothers in their own church as they clearly have and are in North America. Some of those stories of persecution are genuinely disgusting, distasteful and devillish. I had not appreciated the intensity of the situation there as clearly before. It was one thing to read about it on the web, another to hear them first-hand.

Many encouragements were shared: the way the Gospel is moving forward in parts of Nigeria and Uganda is amazing! There's great ministry happening in the UK, in the US, in South America, in Asia, in NZ, in Australia. Many challenges were identified: I have a notebook full of 'Big Important Ideas' for the future, for a global future in Gospel ministry! So beware, if you're going to catch up with me when I get back!

But for now, please do pray for us: that we would travel home safely; that we would not fall ill (post-conference let-down); that we would be protected from evil and sin; and that we would discharge our ministry faithfully and well, by the grace and power of God.

in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Gafcon statement

By now, you will be able to read the Gafcon statement on the official Gafcon website. See the links on the side of this page.

I'm really happy with the Jerusalem Declaration. As a statement of orthodox Anglican belief I think it is great and should be helpful. The rest of the statement is good. I'm sure that it will be possible for people to disagree about some of the specifics set out in the "Road Ahead" - we probably all have a different ideas about how we would deal tactically with the current situation! However I'm pleased that it does not split the church. It's very good that the Australian church will not be asked to take sides. And yet it does make quite definite advances in bringing order to the relatively chaotic situation in North America. All the delegates I talked to from parishes in the USA and Canada were happy with the outcome. Actually they were mostly quite overcome.

I'll be checking the discussion forum every day or so, happy to talk about this more there with anyone who's interested.

Summary on Friday

For the next couple of days you may not hear as much from us because we've seen a draft statement from the conference but we need to keep "radio silence" until Sunday when it is released to the media.

However I thought it might still be interesting to talk about some other aspects of the conference, and being in Jerusalem, so far. Today Shabbat started at 4pm. The Sabbath is taken really seriously in Israel and it has challenged me about how well I implement this in my own life. Right now families are gathered on a large lawn outside the window, enjoying each other's company, picnicking and swimming. It's easy for us to pay lip service to the idea of a day of rest and yet let other things creep in and take away the time to worship and re-create.

Evangelism at GAFCON

Lots of things today that I could talk about, but let me tell you a few things about evangelism that I was struck by today.

One of my study group members is a bishop from Northern Nigeria, who was consecrated into a missionary region a year ago. When I say a 'missionary diocese', I mean that there were no churches in his region a year ago, and he has been establishing churches and ordaining ministers as he goes. Today, there are 52 churches in his region (!), mostly based in small towns of 300-1000 people. He showed me pictures of his churches, which are mainly thatched buildings and semi-temporary structures that they build wherever needed. Their growth is phenomenal, and one of the challenges it has brought up is the desperate need to train enough ministers to look after all these new churches - at the moment, many ordained ministers in this areas are quite new Christians, with little or no theological training, and there is a big need for materials and training to give them the skills they need for ministry.

I spoke with Rico Tice this morning, about Christianity Explored and plans to roll it out in an African context. The English version has been used in Uganda for a few years now, and has had an 'informal' translation into local languages. Rico told me that they are planning to re-write an 'international' version that can be translated into a variety of languages. It was interesting to realise that the African churches don't need CE for evangelism - they clearly have a local flavour to evangelism already which is bearing lots of fruit. The place that CE might be most helpful for them is it discipleship and as an introductory catechism. It was interesting to reflect on how existing tools might be used in a different way in a different contexts; I'm hopeful that international connections through meetings like GAFCON can provide lots of people like Rico with the opportunity to see where these sorts of cross-overs could be realised.

While we're on the theme of evangelism, we heard a great story today from one of the Nigerian bishops, who was delayed for several hours at an airport while coming to the meeting. He spoke with a German tourist, and in true African style, opened his Bible and read John 3:16 with him, telling him that he needed to know Jesus. This tourist, who was a Buddhist, listened and prayed with him, and before they went their separate ways, had accepted Christ and handed over his statue of Buddha. I was really inspired by this story - my own hesitation and nervousness about evangelism is constantly being challenged by the simple gospel message that the African clergy here are so quick to talk about.

Looking forward to what tomorrow brings...

Meeting lots of people here!

GAFCON is an amazing event, and it's such an amazing experience to be here as a pilgrim or delegate. More than ever, I'm convinced that the true value of such events is the opportunity it gives us to have our vision of what God is doing all over the world enlarged. I've met so many top-value sisters and brothers in Christ. Let me give you a quick snapshot:

I'm in the Theological Education workshop stream. In my small group are Mike Ovey, principal of Oak Hill (UK) and Cezar Guzman, director of Centro de Estudios Pastorales (Chile). Also in the stream is Tim Wambunya, principal of Carlile College (Nairobi). These three lead the workshop and it's been tremendously stimulating and challenging. I can't tell you anything else about the stream because there is media embargo! But suffice to say that I'm getting to know and discuss meaty issues with many others involved in theolgical formation of future leaders from all over the world. It's great stuff!

Delegates are spread all over the city in several hotels, for reasons of security and space - apparently GAFCON is taking up 20% of the hotel rooms in Jerusalem this week. I'm in a hotel 30 minutes from the conference venue with maybe 50 others from various countries, including the US, Nigeria, UK, NZ, Canada. I've met five people here who regard Alf Stanway as a 'saint' because of his work in establishing the Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pittsburgh. That Ridley connection has been a fantastic springboard into conversations about their ministries and training for ministry.

Please pray for delegates - that we will continue to meet and make connections with the people that the Lord wants us to.

Ophel Gardens

Yesterday the whole conference met and worshipped sitting on the temple steps at the Ophel Gardens. What an incredible privilege to bewhere Jesus preached, Peter preached, and the first 3000 converts were made at Pentecost. This is a picture of the Melbourne delegation on
the steps

(L to R): Jenny, Matt, Richard C, Helen, Wei-Han, Richard T and Justin.

Update from GAFCON from Richard Trist

What a fascinating and powerful exerience the past 4 days have been -
powerful talks and Bible studies reminding us all of the centrality of
Gods Word in our lives and of the Lordship of Christ, opportunities to
meet believers from all around the globe many of whom are facing great
difficulties as orthodox believing Anglicans, and fantastic times of
praise and worship - a true foretaste of heaven.

The Conference has been extremely busy with barely a spare moment to
think and process all that is being presented, but here are some
initial observations:

1. It is vital that one outcome will be a united vision for action and
support for Anglicans in North America currently disenfranchised from
their national churches. It is a miracle that amidst all the diversity
and past fractures in the USA, all the various denominations and
Anglican groupings are actually here - seeking to put aside previous
disputes and seeking a new future. One delegate I spoke to said he
never expected to see this to occur in his lifetime. We need to pray
that this will occur.

2. I am also seeing amongst us all a renewed confidence that a return
to historic Anglican orthodoxy is the only hope for our denomination.
It is only in those places where the gospel is faithfully preached and
the new gospel of "inclusiveness" is rejected, that men and women are
coming to Christ - in every nation and in every culture. Let us be
confident to go where the Spirit is moving.

Point for prayer - that the final conference statement being currently
hammered out will reflect the diverse opinions of the conference and
will be more than just words but be a powerful statement of intent and
commitment of this new renewal movement within our Anglican Communion.

Richard

Observations at the halfway point

One of the things that I've been very interested in this week, is the question of "What does it mean to be Anglican?"

This has come up throughout the week in one way or another in many fora. There are quite a few ways to answer it:
- Anglican means people in fellowship with Canterbury
- Anglican means people who use the prayer book as the basis for worship
- Anglican means people who have a particular system of episcopal government
- Anglican means people who subscribe to the historic creeds and documents of Anglicanism such as the 39 articles
- Anglican means people who see the vernacular word and sacraments as central to their life together

Probably we can all relate to at some bits of all those definitions. The more time I've spent here the more I think that it is important to use the historical bases of Anglicanism to guide our Anglican identity. I hope that this will be reflected in the statement that eventually comes out of GAFCON. I think we need to see this meeting as the start of a movement to reclaim and revive the understandings of the gospel and the church that motivated the founders of the Anglican church.

HIV in Uganda

In the midst of all our hard-core theological reflection, the session on HIV this afternoon was a good change of pace for me! Two speakers from Uganda and Nigeria presented about the ways in which the Anglican church in their countries has been active in HIV-related areas, and gave a wonderful overview about the impact that well-organised churches can have. For the international HIV community, Uganda is regarded as one of the major success stories, having managed to decrease the prevalence of HIV from around 27% in the early 1990’s to 6.7% in 2005 – a phenomenal result not paralleled in any other country. Churches in Uganda have promoted abstinence and faithful marriages as their major platform, and supported this with youth groups, HIV support programs, AIDS palliative care and HIV treatment programs in conjunction with UNAIDS - a program from a church that is much more impressive effort than most countries, I must say!

Alongside the stories of these programs was a strong feeling that GAFCON needs to be about more than just doctrine, as important as that is. If we are to be a global, renewed communion, we also need to be serious about how we transform our communities and look for healing and justice for those around us. Uganda's example was a powerful reminder of just how big an impact churches can have in major social issues, and one that I think we can learn a lot from as we share our stories here.

Some photos

I'll be posting more during the week, but here are two photos. The first is from the welcome by Archbishop Peter Akinola (Nigeria). The second is a view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, taken this morning.

Reflections on Day 2

It was very moving today to stand on the Mount of Olives and read of Jesus weeping over the lack of faith of the city of Jerusalem. We read this with the background of the city in view with the temple mount Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. This city still needs faith in Jesus. We prayed for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps 122:6) We then reflected on the areas of our own cities, lives and ministries over which Jesus must still weep for lack of faith.

 

This evening we were stimulated by Os Guinness on the challenges of secularism. I resonated with each point. He spoke (among many things) of how the secular world leads to a corruption of faith – fragmentation (where people’s lives are less and less integrated with faith), preference (where people’s faith is more to do with personal preference rather than authority or conviction) and Syncretism (where the secular smorgasbord allows people to pick and choose their faith constructs).

 

He made a great observation about how people try to deal with secularism. Some stand in defiance of the secular culture around us. This leads in the end to an unhelpful fundamentalism, where faith is set up in opposition to culture. Others surrender to the culture, and allow secular culture to lead the church ultimately to apostasy and immorality. Neither of these approaches are good enough. Better is  the approach of Discernment, where fully engaged with the faith once delivered, we act in discernment with the culture in which we live. This is the hardest but the most fruitful of all, preventing us from being either fundamentalist or apostate, and helping us make a Gospel difference in the world.

 

I have been stimulated and encouraged in faith today. Singing with our African brothers and sisters is a real treat. Being in Jerusalem and reading the scriptures (John 5 today) after having visited the sites (the Pools of Bethesda on Saturday) is something quite special.

 

Please pray for the conference that its outcomes honour the Lord Jesus Christ.

Update on Monday

This morning we set off early to the Mount of Olives. We began with a short morning liturgy overlooking the city of Jerusalem. The Kidron Valley, between the Mount of Olives and the old city, is full of tombs because it is believed that the God's day of judgement (and resurrection) will begin there. After taking a large group photo, we made our way slowly down the hill to the Garden of Gethsemane. The hills are amazingly steep on both sides of the valley. I can see why the Bible always talks about going "up" to Jerusalem. And the passage in Isaiah 40 that talks about every hill and every valley being made into a plain (it was read later in the afternoon) became much more real. If you had to walk up and down those things on a regular basis you'd look forward to them being flattened.

The communion service this afternoon was excellent. We used a liturgy from Kenya that was innovative and orthodox with thought-provoking ideas. Archbishop Henry Orombe of Uganda preached on the passage about the paralysed man at the Pool who was healed by Jesus. He talked about the need for us individually and collectively to be healed by Jesus. That we need to know our healer and testify to him. I thought his talk was very balanced. I especially appreciated the fact that he talked about the possibility for people at GAFCON to be sinful in pride and judgement of others. This was a helpful reminder early in the week.

There has been no real discussion yet of what practical things might come out of GAFCON, except amongst individuals.

More later.

First impressions

I haven't slept for about 30 hours and tomorrow starts at 6.30, just 7 short hours from now, so this will be very brief.

Gafcon started with a brilliant time of worship. There were not a few tears around the room. In my case it was a surprising combination of the 1000 people there all praising God, along with the "Jerusalem factor". It's quite intense just being here in a place with so much history.

Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria gave the opening address. More on that tomorrow. I would think the speech will likely be published on the official website.

Some logistical issues to be ironed out...

Every morning's program starts at 6.30am (good grief!)...

Lots of journalists around the conference...

Signing off from Jerusalem, Jenny

St John's Shaughnessy

GAFCON doesn't start for a few weeks yet, but I thought I'd update you all after my visit to St John's Shaughnessy yesterday.

St John's has a lovely church building on the edge of the CBD. We visited with a small child, and found that they had great space for ministry, with a creche and Sunday School, offices and a library, as well as seating for perhaps 300. Those of you who know me might be wondering why I'm talking about their buildings rather than about the people I met or the service. Normally, I wouldn't have commented; I probably wouldn't have noticed. On Monday, though, the church received a letter from the Diocese of New Westminster ordering them to cease all ministry activity and vacate the building.

In this context, to hear David Short preach on the Church as God's dwelling place (Ephesians 2:11-22)was incredibly powerful. This has obviously been a long time in coming, and I know that they have done an immense amount of work to find alternative solutions over the last decade, but I was struck by how ready they are to walk away from the physical buildings and continue in ministry. Please pray for them as they make very difficult decisions, particularly that they will be able to continue in effective ministry whatever happens.

I was able to speak with several of St John's GAFCON delegates while I was visiting, and will look forward to meeting with them again in Jerusalem. Thinking about the awful experience that this group of faithful believers is going through now, I find my own approach to the questions facing the worldwide church being formed. Our worldwide church needs to be able to support faithful believers and correct wrong teaching, and we need to think seriously about the structures that can best ensure this.

Whatever GAFCON accomplishes, we are gathering to declare our solidarity and unity in the faith with churches like St John's, and support them and other like them in their persecution.