introducing wei-han

Hello! My name is Wei-Han and I'm also going to GAFCON. I blame my mother for giving me too many names, so some of you also know me as Jonathan (that's okay, that's what my wife Valerie calls me). I'm a research student at Ridley Melbourne writing a history of evangelicalism in the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne and a very part-time curate at St Alfred's Blackburn North. I also do a bit of teaching at Ridley and around the place.

After GAFCON I'm going on to England where I will attend the EFAC International pre-Lambeth conference. I'm doing this in my capacity as editor of Essentials, the quarterly journal of EFAC Australia.

I think both conferences will be opportunities to meet with others who are committed to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Anglican Church's part in that mission. Like the other Melbourne delegates, I'm nervous about the impression that GAFCON is schismatic or anti-Lambeth.

I'm hoping to hear lots of great stories about people coming to know and serve Christ, lots of helpful ideas for evangelism and church planting, and lots of encouraging stories about ongoing church reform. I especially want to meet and get to know younger leaders who will be serving the Anglican Church over the next few decades.

I don't really like travel or being away from family - so please pray for me! This will be my first time to those parts of the world, and I'm grateful to the Lord for my supporters who have encouraged me, and are paying for me, to go.

Introducing Justin

Yes, GAFCON is seeming a lot closer than when we signed up for this!

By way of introduction, I am Justin Denholm. Like Jenny, I'm also a lay delegate. During the week, I work as a doctor in a public hospital, and I'm also involved in various ethics-related activities. I'm a member of St Jude's Anglican Church in Carlton, where I am also part of the Vestry.

Before travelling to GAFCON, my wife and I will be in Vancouver for a few weeks. We will be visiting some family, but I'm also hoping to stop in at St John's Shaughnessy to worship with them before heading off to Jerusalem. The circumstances that surround GAFCON have put many faithful Anglicans around the world in a difficult position, and I want to have their situation high on my own agenda as I talk with people about the future of the church.

We are all getting ready to go in different ways, but I know all of the delegates are talking with people around them to make sure people understand what GAFCON is and why we are going. I'm going to be speaking to a few congregations on Sunday to discuss this. We are very keen for people to be well-informed about this, and particularly to make sure that many people are praying for us while we are away. I also want to encourage people to pray for wisdom and clarity for those meeting in Jordan ahead of GAFCON.

I'll look forward to keeping you all up to date through this blog!

From Richard Trist

I am attending GAFCON in my capacity as Training Officer for EFAC Victoria and through the generosity of a number of EFAC Supporters.

Like the other Melbourne delegates I am looking forward to meeting people from around the globe and hearing of what God is doing amongst them. I hope that we will be able to bring back to our own Diocese some significant reflections to assist us in our own mission as well as perspectives on the current issues facing us as the Anglican Communion.

Post GAFCON I will be travelling to London with Wei-Han where I hope to catch up with friends from All Souls Langham Place, and then attend the EFAC International Conference in Bristol from July 8-10.

I hope our combined blogs will be useful to in keeping others in Melbourne in touch with what is occurring at GAFCON and help us all to respond thoughtfully to our future as Anglicans committed to global mission.

We are planning a gathering in Melbourne in August to report back to EFAC members and any others on the Conference and will post the details soon.

Introductions: Jenny and Matt

The Melbourne GAFCON delegates are writing this blog to keep (mostly Melbourne) people updated on what happens at the conference. Please feel free to comment on what we write: the discussion forum on the MASG site is a great place to do that (there's a link on the right hand side of this page). We hope to respond to questions and discussions there during
the conference (internet access permitting) and certainly afterwards.

To begin with, we'd like to introduce ourselves. I'm Jenny George. I am a member of St James' Old Cathedral in West Melbourne and a lay delegate to GAFCON. I am a member of the Board of Nominators for Melbourne diocese and on the Board of Ridley Melbourne, Mission and Ministry College. During the week I'm a faculty member at the University of Melbourne. My husband, Matt Williams, is also attending and I'm hoping that he'll do quite a bit of blogging while we're there.

GAFCON starts on June 22nd in Jerusalem. When we signed up in April it seemed quite a long way away but now we have less than six weeks left. The plane tickets are bought and travel plans are made. I haven't been to Jerusalem before so I'm gathering info about what to see and do.

I am looking forward to meeting people from around the world at GAFCON and finding out what life is like for them. I'm excited at the fantastic ministry going on in Africa, where the church is growing tremendously. I hope we get the chance to talk with people from there and ask them about what God is doing in their countries. GAFCON will also be an opportunity to meet people from churches in North America who are finding ministry difficult. Most of all, I hope GAFCON is a time when we talk and pray about unity and not division.