Modern Day Reformation

At GAFCON IV the global Anglican Communion reaffirmed the sovereignty of Jesus Christ and the authority of the Scriptures.

“GAFCON is first and foremost, we, are those who above everything else and anything else believe the gospel that Jesus is Lord. He is supreme. He is preeminent. He is all we need. We are the ones who have been bought by His blood on the Cross. We have Him as King. That is who we are as GAFCON. We preach Christ crucified. He is what we proclaim and we rejoice in. What we give thanks for. Who we point the world, that so desperately needs Him, to. Everything else must flow out of this truth: He is Lord. So look at Jesus. The more we look at Jesus the more rightly we will look like Jesus and that is good news for the world. Our GAFCON conference is titled, To whom shall we go? Friends, there’s no other door. There’s only Jesus.” -Bishop Jay Behan of New Zealand, closing his sermon on Col. 1:15-23 on the opening day of the conference.

I was privileged to join our friends from Europe at Core Issues Trust (X-Out Loud and the International Federation for Therapeutic and Counseling Choice) to attend the 4th annual (Global Anglican Futures Conference) GAFCON conference in Kigali, Rwanda (April 17-21). There, Anglican leaders from across the world gathered to discuss and respond to recent decisions by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England to bless same-sex unions. In a stunning presentation of unity, over 1,300 leaders (Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and associated clergy and laity) representing 85 million Anglicans globally reconfirmed the sovereignty of Jesus Christ and the authority of Scripture in the face of increasing syncretism with LGBT-centric theology.

The atmosphere was sober, sincere, and marked by the fear of the Lord. I can’t adequately describe the shared attitude of repentance and honor among all who attended. Everyone knew the gravity of the decisions being made before God and the world. It was historic. As one who has been in the midst of this theological and doctrinal battleground for years, I left the event in awe of the passion of Jesus Christ, who is moving on behalf of all of us impacted by LGBT feelings and culture to preserve His Church.

The global Anglican Church chose not to waiver on the truth of God’s Word and power to preserve, heal, and transform the life of every believer.

Over the last 20 years, these leaders have sounded the alarm against the steady advance of Western “sex culture” in church doctrine, particularly embracing LGBT identity. Their outspoken concern has yearly been dismissed and demeaned. In 2008 many Western bishops and clergy stepped away from the leadership of Canterbury to form GAFCON. Their decisions cost them dearly as their congregation members each chose their paths, not to mention losses of church buildings, career retirement pensions, and healthcare coverage... to stay true to orthodox biblical anthropology.

“The current divisions in the Anglican Communion have been caused by radical departures from the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some within the Communion have been taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophies of this world (Colossians 2:8). Such a failure to hear and heed God’s Word undermines the mission of the church as a whole. The Bible is God’s Word written, breathed out by God as it was written by his faithful messengers (2 Timothy 3:16). It carries God’s own authority, is its own interpreter, and it does not need to be supplemented, nor can it ever be overturned by human wisdom.” - The Kigali Commitment

They entreated the Archbishop of Canterbury to repent and formally called for the Anglican Communion to be reset separate from the Church of England,

“Both the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) and Gafcon Primates share the view that, due to the departures from orthodoxy articulated above, they can no longer recognise the Archbishop of Canterbury as an Instrument of Communion, the ‘first among equals’ of the Primates. The Church of England has chosen to impair her relationship with the orthodox provinces in the Communion.” - The Kigali Commitment

Standing as witnesses to the transformative power of God’s love, CHANGED and Core Issues Trust shared our testimonies of freedom and encouraged global leaders to be compassionate yet firm in the face of Western influence. I spoke with dozens of Africans about the onslaught of LGBT values they are facing. They asked how to protect their children from these new ideologies and from LGBT trafficking they are witnessing. Nations such as Uganda, which is grappling with a controversial anti-LGBT law, face harsh government sanctions as they defend national family values. Among other things, the West is using supplies of HIV drugs to manipulate nations toward LGBT acceptance. The Ugandan bishops I spoke with assured me of their concern for care for individuals who experience SSA and gender dysphoria. At the heart of this legislation is the desire to dissuade their youth from exploring and embracing same-sex sexual behaviors and LGBT identity. Nations like Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Kenya are searching for answers and pathways of care that CHANGED offers. Please join me in praying that God does something entirely new in these nations to offer care as they align with the Kigali Commitment:

“Aware of our own sin and frailty, we commit ourselves to providing appropriate pastoral care to all people in our churches. This is all the more necessary in the current context of sexual and gender confusion, made worse by its deliberate and systematic promotion across the world. Appropriate pastoral care affirms faithfulness in marriage and abstinence in singleness. It is not appropriate pastoral care to mislead people, by pretending that God blesses sexually active relationships between two people of the same sex. This is unloving as it leads them into error and places a stumbling block in the way of their inheriting the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

We affirm that every person is loved by God and we are determined to love as God loves. As Resolution I.10 affirms, we oppose the vilification or demeaning of any person including those who do not follow God’s ways, since all human beings are created in God’s image.

We are thankful to God for all those who seek to live a life of faithfulness to God’s Word in the face of all forms of sexual temptation.

We pledge ourselves afresh to support and care for one another in a loving and pastorally sensitive way as members of Christ’s body, building one another up in the Word and in the Spirit, and encouraging each other to experience God’s transforming power as we walk by faith in the path of repentance and obedience that leads to fullness of life.”