Now we are twelve-ish: the growing Diocese of the Southern Cross

October 9, 2026

By John Sandeman

Today, Saturday, the 10th of October, 2026, sees the Diocese of the Southern Cross grow towards 12 churches. In Brisbane, two lay ministers will be ordained as deacons, and their congregations will become Member Churches of the Diocese of the Southern Cross. The Anglican Church of the Torres Strait is also about to join the Diocese, becoming the twelfth Member Church.

On the 17th of October, in Perth, Rev. Mekyal Keira, who pastors a Sudanese congregation, the Kush Southern Cross Anglican Church, will be ordained as a presbyter. The Gafcon Australia Chair, Peter Smith, will be preaching.

The Anglican Church of the Torres Strait derives from a split in 1996-7 when conservative Torres Strait Islanders disputed a leadership choice after the Diocese of Carpentaria was merged into the Diocese of North Queensland.

The Diocese of the Southern Cross is a conservative Anglican body holding to the Global Anglican Communion’s (formerly Gafcon) Jerusalem Declaration and other Anglican formularies (statements of faith). It was set up to provide a refuge for Anglicans no longer comfortable in progressive dioceses (regions) within the Anglican Church of Australia. The Diocese of the Southern Cross is a separate and parallel Anglican body, and not a member of the traditional Anglican Communion.

At present, Bishop Glenn Davies, a former Archbishop of Sydney, leads the Diocese of the Southern Cross. As the network grows, there will be a time when it is large enough to hold a synod to elect its own bishop. The New Zealanders who set up a similar Anglican refuge, the Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa/New Zealand, elected a Bishop with 12 churches, but that does not mean Southern Cross will choose to do the same.

John Sandeman is an independent Australian Christian journalist, former editor of the national evangelical newspaper Eternity, and current editor at The Other Cheek.