2018 GAFCON Assembly in Jerusalem.
“The future has arrived.” — GAFCON Primates’ Council, October 16, 2025
The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) has declared that the long-awaited reformation of worldwide Anglicanism is now complete.
This isn’t a small breakaway faction. The churches represented by GAFCON — together with the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) — account for roughly 85 percent of Anglicans worldwide .
In other words, the center of gravity has shifted. What began as a reform movement is now the mainstream of global Anglicanism.
A Communion at the Crossroads
For decades, the Anglican Communion has struggled to maintain unity in the face of theological drift.
At the heart of the dispute lies a question as old as the Reformation: Is the Church ultimately governed by Scripture or by institutional authority?
When certain Western provinces — notably The Episcopal Church (USA), the Anglican Church of Canada, and, more recently, the Church of England — endorsed or blessed same-sex relationships, they crossed a clear biblical and confessional line.
GAFCON’s 2008 Jerusalem Statement described this as “the acceptance and promotion…of a different gospel…which undermines the authority of God’s Word written” .
That compromise, the statement warned, “tore the fabric of the Communion in such a way that it cannot simply be patched back together” .
What GAFCON’s 2025 Statement Declares
The latest communiqué, “The Future Has Arrived,” announces a decisive re-ordering of the Anglican world.
A. One Foundation of Communion
“The Anglican Communion will be reordered, with only one foundation of communion, namely the Holy Bible…translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense.”
Unity, therefore, is defined not by institutional recognition but by obedience to Scripture.
B. Rejection of Failed Instruments
The statement rejects the four traditional Instruments of Communion — Canterbury, Lambeth, the Anglican Consultative Council, and the Primates’ Meeting — citing their “failure to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Communion.”
The 2008 and 2018 conference documents chronicle years of pleas and ignored warnings. Bishops who defied biblical teaching on sexuality were welcomed at Lambeth, while those who upheld Scripture were marginalized.
C. A Return to Anglicanism’s Original Shape
GAFCON affirms that it has not abandoned Anglicanism; rather, it has reclaimed it:
“We have not left the Anglican Communion; we are the Anglican Communion.”
The movement restores the pattern of autonomous provinces bound by the Reformation formularies — the Thirty-Nine Articles, Book of Common Prayer, and Ordinal — governed by a new Council of Primates.
The Crux of the Problem
The issue is not simply moral or political. It’s theological — a crisis of authority and repentance.
From the beginning, GAFCON identified a “false gospel” being preached within the Communion — one that:
- Denies the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as “the way, the truth, and the life.”
- Redefines sin, blessing same-sex unions “over against the biblical teaching on holy matrimony.”
- Treats sexual immorality as a human right rather than rebellion against God .
At the 2023 Kigali Conference, GAFCON condemned the Church of England’s decision to bless same-sex couples, calling it “pastorally deceptive and blasphemous to craft prayers that invoke blessing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
It also noted that “public statements by the Archbishop of Canterbury … in support of same-sex blessings are a betrayal of their vows to uphold Scripture.”
In short, this is not about politics — it’s about whether Christ’s Church will call sin what Scripture calls sin, and whether grace still means repentance and transformation.
A Global Majority Standing Firm
What makes this moment unprecedented is scale and maturity.
The GAFCON-GSFA alliance represents tens of millions of believers across Africa, Asia, South America, and Oceania — the true heartland of the Anglican faith.
“Together, these Primates represent the overwhelming majority (estimated at 85%) of Anglicans worldwide.”
These provinces have grown precisely because they have refused to dilute the gospel.
In places like Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Sudan, Anglicanism is vibrant, missionary, and thoroughly biblical. The “old center” in the West may be collapsing, but the faith itself is flourishing.
A Model for Christian Faithfulness
Even for non-Anglicans, GAFCON offers a compelling model:
Reformation, Not Rebellion
When human institutions compromise truth, reform is not division — it’s obedience.
As the apostles said in Acts 5:29: “We must obey God rather than men.”
The Courage of Global South Christians
These churches have demonstrated what fidelity looks like under pressure — rejecting Western funding rather than accepting moral revisionism.
They show that global Christianity’s future lies not in appeasement but in conviction.
Scripture as the Sole Foundation
GAFCON’s stance reminds us that Christian unity must be confessional, not sentimental. There is no communion without truth.
For Anglicans Still Within Compromised Provinces
For believers in provinces still aligned with Canterbury, the path forward is clear.
Local GAFCON branches provide fellowship and recognition without requiring institutional permission.
The Jerusalem Declaration (2008) remains the touchstone of authentic Anglican identity — Scripture first, mission always.
“Every person is loved by God, and we are determined to love as God loves… yet appropriate pastoral care does not include pretending that God blesses sin.”
The Future of the Faith
The GAFCON statement concludes with a simple, gospel-shaped refrain:
“To whom shall we go? We go to Christ who alone has the words of eternal life — and then we go with Christ to the whole world.”
The re-ordered Communion now called the Global Anglican Communion embodies that mission. It has reclaimed historic orthodoxy and the missionary heart that once defined Anglicanism.
For Christians everywhere, this moment asks hard but hopeful questions:
- Are we willing to lose institutions in order to keep the gospel?
- Can we learn from the Global South’s courage?
- Will we measure unity by shared truth rather than shared bureaucracy?
The future of Anglicanism — and perhaps the future of orthodox Christianity in the West — will depend on how we answer.
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Grace and Truth