GAFCon 8 update – 26 June 2008

Conference statement drafting process

Today, GAFCON delegates will devote two hours to hearing and discussing the emerging consensus of the conference.  Yesterday, Archbishop Nzimbi (Kenya), who heads the drafting committee, provided the following comment to the media at a news conference:

We continue the process of discernment whereby every voice has been given the opportunity to be heard. This means we are still in the process of developing our final statement. Some themes, however, are emerging:

· There is a passion for the Gospel, a determination to stay true to the Bible, to continue the work of mission and to do so as Anglicans.

· There is a profound sadness about the current state of the Anglican Communion and a sense of betrayal and abandonment by the exiting leadership and communion structures.

· There is a determination to build on the experience of GAFCON and see it become a movement and not simply a moment.

· There is recognition that for this movement to continue to develop it will require an agreed theological framework and appropriate structures to sustain its growth.

· There is also agreement that more permanent structures need to be established for those faithful Anglicans who live and serve in provinces that have abandoned the traditional teaching of the Bible.

· There is a genuine desire to continue to reach out to other Anglicans around the Communion who share our common faith so that we can grow in our witness to the world of God’s transforming power.

We serve the King of Kings

Our master is not in Canterbury, nor Kampala, nor Lagos, declared the Rev Vaughan Roberts (UK) to the GAFCON pilgrims on Thursday.

Doing a Bible exposition on ‘The King of God’ (from 2 Samuel 7:1-17), Roberts emphasized that our Master is the Lord in Heaven above. He made three points:

1. Rulers are chosen by the Lord Himself. (2 Samuel 7).

2. Christ the King is descended from David, as is shown in the very first lines of the New Testament – which opens with the genealogy of Jesus. David was a vessel for God, which showed that the Lord uses the ordinary to fulfill His purposes.

3. Thirdly, the King of Kings is enthroned to reign forever.

The session began with enthusiastic worship led by the Mothers Union choir of Nigeria. Adorned in colourful African dress, the women sang local songs and soon had the audience swaying in rhythm.

“The women expressed such joy and were so uplifting. The colour, the sound, the feeling in the entire room was wonderful,” said American pilgrim Joy Gwaltney.

Enterprise approaches to poverty

“Jesus was a businessman. He was a craftsman. He and His [earthly] Father run a family business. He worked with His hands to provide for His family.” Entrepreneur Dr Kim Tan (Malaysia), a venture capitalist, told pilgrims yesterday, “What I do in my business life is part of my walk of faith.” 

Dr Tan, together with Jerry Marshall and Andrew Tanswell, introduced Transformational Business Network (TBN), a British-based organisation that networks businesspeople with a burden to transform lives – using their business talent to help the poor by creating jobs, building skills and providing capital, and giving hope and dignity. TBN sets up businesses, finds markets and invests. TBN has written a business guide in Uganda, and also has a presence in Kenya and South Africa.

Collin Timms, a Bangalore-based banker, told how he started Guardian Bank without any personal capital. “Anyone can start a bank. The heavy regulation actually makes it easy because it means that the manuals have told you what to do.” 

For more information see: www.tbnetwork.org and www.tbnetworkportal.org.

Bishop Akao asserts authority of Scripture

Bishop John Akao (Nigeria) spoke to journalists yesterday on the authority of the Bible for Anglican Christians.  Again and again the acceptance of the Bible as God’s authoritative Word has guided the church to renewal, he said.  Scripture played this important transformational role in the time of the Church fathers, during the Protestant Reformation and again in the present crisis in the Communion.

Bishop Akao also clarified the true Anglican position on how Christians know what to believe.  The triad of Scripture, tradition, and reason – popularly attributed to Anglican theologian and pastor Richard Hooker – is helpful, he said, only if understood in the way that Hooker and Anglicans have traditionally understood it. “It is Scripture first, tradition second and reason third. They have to feed each other, but nothing should be put over scripture,” said Bishop Akao.

Conference DVDs and CDs

Conference DVDs and CDs can be purchased at the Vered(travel agent) table.  This includes DVDs and/or CDs of each day’s plenary and worship sessions (at $5 US each) as well as a DVD of highlights of the entire conference (at $15 each) which will be mailed out in the weeks following the conference.  These can also be ordered online at www.gafcon.org. Spread the word…