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GAFCON Chairman Praises ACNA, Notes TEC and ACoC's "steep decline"

GAFCON Chairman Praises ACNA, Notes TEC and ACoC's "steep decline"
Without bold action and commitment to the ACNA as a new province... a whole continent would have been lost to orthodox witness within the Anglican Communion
Church of England's problems are being exported to the rest of the Communion, Says Nicholas Okoh

By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
August 31, 2016

The Archbishop of Nigeria and chairman of the GAFCON Primates' Council, Nicholas Okoh, praised the growth, strength and faithfulness of the Anglican Church in North America, even as he noted TEC and the ACoC's "steep decline" even as it sought to reshape itself in the image of a secular culture

"GAFCON recognizes that the Church is not ours. It belongs to Jesus and it is Jesus who builds the Church through his word. We are to be his instruments and not presume to be the architects. Schism happens, as it has in North America, when church leaders take the design into their own hands," he said in an August letter to GAFCON followers.

Okoh praised those who took a "costly stand" and said the ACNA exists because some Anglican Primates understood that once the boundaries of orthodoxy were crossed, they could not stand back and fail to help.

"Without that bold action and the commitment to the Anglican Church in North America as a new province at GAFCON's Jerusalem Conference in 2008, a whole continent would have been lost to orthodox witness within the Anglican Communion."

The GAFCON chairman observed that what happened in North America is being repeated elsewhere. "If not effectively challenged, false teaching is contagious, especially when it is well funded," he said.

"At the recent meeting in Kigali of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), the London based Anglican Communion Secretary General, Josiah Idowu-Fearon, commended the relief and development work of the Anglican Alliance, but a news source noted the closeness of this organization and TEC.

"Even now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa is contemplating the overturning of Scripture by legitimizing the blessing of same sex unions in breach of Lambeth Resolution I.10 of 1998, despite reaffirming it at the recent meeting of the Council of Anglican Churches of Africa in Rwanda."

Okoh then pointed the figure directly at the British Isles. "The Scottish Episcopal Church has already opened the door wide to conducting same sex 'marriages', while in England, Salisbury Cathedral has become the latest of a growing number of cathedrals which publicly support and even bless 'Gay Pride' marches. Chichester Diocese has issued a statement commending those of its churches 'with open doors to celebrate all that the Pride Festival stands for' while the website of the Church of England's Diocese of Europe celebrates the 'truly joyful occasion' of the same sex 'marriage' of a member of one of its congregations, conducted by the Lutheran Bishop of Copenhagen."

The Nigerian Primate said he was encouraged by the seventy two members of the Church of England's General Synod, who had written an open letter to the English bishops ahead of meetings planned later this year, calling on them not to compromise by adopting practices that are contrary to Lambeth Resolution I.10, and warning that to do so 'could set the Church of England adrift from her apostolic inheritance.' The archbishop cited Titus 1:9.

"The English House of Bishops has failed so far to demonstrate that it has the will to resist compromise and I therefore call on GAFCON in the UK and the Anglican Mission in England to demonstrate that they have the necessary courage and faith in a context which to a large extent they alone can grapple with."

Okoh said the Church of England's problems are being exported to the rest of the Communion, and he blasted successive Archbishops of Canterbury for not using their powers to teach and to gather in order to rebuke and inhibit those who audaciously contradict the Communion's apostolic inheritance. The contagion of false teaching could have been contained, he said.

The primate ripped what he called "endless dialogue" promoted as 'walking together', at the April meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, which, he said, only made matters worse. "Respectability has been given to a false gospel while reducing orthodox belief to an option and casting doubt on the trustworthiness of the Bible."

He blasted those who wanted to maintain institutional unity, while not facing issues of doctrinal integrity. "We face unprecedented global challenges, but the successful establishment of the Anglican Church in North America, now formally recognized by the majority of the world's Anglicans, is a sign of hope. God in his mercy has raised up GAFCON for such a time as this, to call the Anglican Communion back to its biblical roots. Let us, therefore, stand shoulder to shoulder as a global family, and be men and women of courage, committed to the glory of Jesus in the Church which he has purchased by his own shed blood."

You can read the Archbishop Okoh's letter here: http://gafcon.org/2016/08/chairmans-aug-2016-letter/

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