The Gafcon movement is a global family of authentic Anglicans standing together to retain and restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion.
Our values
There are some 85 million Christians in the worldwide Anglican Communion spread across 40 regional churches, known as Provinces. Gafcon is a global movement within the Communion which represents the majority of all Anglicans.
Each Anglican Province is led by a Primate (Archbishop), nine of whom are active supporters of Gafcon. These Provinces are therefore regarded as Gafcon Provinces. There is a tenth Gafcon Province, The Anglican Church in North America, which is emerging within the Anglican Communion as the orthodox church in the United States, Canada and Mexico. This is because the historic Provinces in that continent, The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) have abandoned bible-based Anglican orthodoxy. An eleventh Gafcon Province is the Anglican Church in Brazil, which emerged after the liberal Episcopal Church of Brazil also abandoned Biblical orthodoxy. The Anglican Church in Brazil is recognised by the Gafcon Primates as a Province within the Anglican Communion.
Among the remaining Provinces several local branches of Gafcon have been established or are in the process of being formed.
The map below identifies Gafcon Provinces and branches. Click on the particular provinces or branches for further information about each Gafcon territory.
Provinces
- Anglican Network in Europe (proto-province)
- Anglican Church in North America (United States, Canada & Mexico)
- South Sudan
- Nigeria
- Uganda
- Kenya
- Congo
- Rwanda
- South America
- Brazil
- Myanmar
- Chile
Branches
- Gafcon UK
- Gafcon Australia
- FCA New Zealand
- South Africa
- Gafcon Ireland
- Gafcon Tanzania
- Ghana (Sunyani)
- Sudan – being formed
- Pakistan – being formed
Gafcon is a Bible-based movement which submits to the authority of the Scripture.
The Apostle Paul reminded Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that: ‘All Scripture is God-breathed, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ Paul was making it clear to his young protégé that although written by men, the words in Scripture were originally breathed out through God’s lips into the writers’ hearts and the Bible is therefore God’s written Word. And because God is sovereign and incapable of error, so is his Word. It contains the key principles and teaching for mankind to be fully ‘equipped’ to live the way God wants. As well as the Bible, God has given humans reason and the historical witness of the church to discern matters of faith but Gafcon believe that Scripture is the higher authority. It is the final court of appeal for doctrine because it is His revealed will. All the foundational documents of Anglicanism, the Thirty-Nine Articles, The Book of Common Prayer and the Homilies all insist on this supreme authority. Sadly, there are those within the Anglican Communion, including whole Provinces, who have rejected the authority of God’s written Word and have put their trust in their own reason. This has been most evident in the area of sexual ethics and human sexuality. And it is for this reason that Gafcon was formed; to restore the Bible to heart of the Communion so that the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ might not be compromised.1. Evangelism
Gafcon is passionate about bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to areas of the world where it has been obscured or lost, as well as to unreached peoples. We are particularly concerned to bring the gospel to children and young people and to develop leaders for the future. This was a key theme of the third Gafcon conference in 2018: ‘Proclaiming Christ faithfully to the nations.” At the fourth Gafcon conference in Dubai, known as G19, the theme was “Serving Christ faithfully in the nations” and the talks were tailored to Christians in ‘restricted situations’.2. Supporting gospel initiatives
In those instances where existing structures constrain gospel proclamation, Gafcon seeks to intervene to provide or to facilitate orthodox oversight. This was perhaps most evident in the pastoral guidance of Gafcon Primates and their provinces in the creation of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) which is now recognised as the orthodox province in the Unites States, Canada and Mexico. AMiE (the Anglican Mission in England) is a mission society established by Gafcon to multiply and strengthen healthy Anglican churches in England. AMiE provides authentic Anglican oversight for both new church plants outside the Church of England and established fellowships within. Indeed, church planting was another key theme of the 2018 conference and a global Church Planting Network was established to coordinate learning and practice throughout the movement.3. Guarding the gospel
Gafcon undertakes to expose false gospels that aren’t consistent with apostolic teaching and to proclaim the true gospel throughout the world. To achieve that Gafcon is committed to ensuring church leaders are thoroughly equipped to guard the truth. In September 2016 Gafcon held its inaugural Bishops Training Institute. Since then Gafcon has held four more BTIs, and now the bishops’ wives join the training as well.Our Mission is to guard the unchanging, transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ and to proclaim Him to the world.
Why Gafcon began
Hear about the history of Gafcon as a global network of Anglicans in this short 5-minute video.
The history of Gafcon at a glance
1998
Resolution 1.10 of the Lambeth Conference upholds the Bible’s teaching on marriage between a man and a woman, and abstinence before marriage, while urging pastoral care of those of same-sex attraction.2002
Diocese of New Westminster, Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) authorised liturgy to bless same-sex unions. Eight parishes seek alternative episcopal oversight.
2003
An Anglican clergyman in America who is in a same-sex relationship having divorced his wife is consecrated as a bishop.
2008
Gafcon is created to guard and proclaim biblical truth globally and provide fellowship for orthodox Anglicans.
The birth of Gafcon
The Gafcon journey began in 2008 when moral compromise, doctrinal error and the collapse of biblical witness in parts of the Anglican communion had reached such a level that the leaders of the majority of the world’s Anglicans felt it was necessary to take a united stand for truth.
A crowd of more than one thousand witnesses, including Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, clergy and lay leaders gathered in Jerusalem for the first Gafcon Conference.
The second conference, Gafcon 2013, was held in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013, at which over 1,300 delegates from 38 nations and 27 Provinces of the Anglican Communion were present. The gathering gave the Primates a mandate, through the Nairobi Communiqué and Commitment, to take forward the work of the Gafcon movement. We look for the prayer and financial support of Anglicans around the world who long for a clear and certain witness to Jesus Christ as Lord.
We’ve since continued to gather in key conferences in 2018 (Israel), in 2019 (Dubai), and in 2022 (Kigali).
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