OUR FUTURE IS GAFCON

By Chuck Collins

www.virtueonline.org

October 5, 2025

This is good news! For American Anglicans (ACNA), orthodox Episcopalians, and the majority of Anglicans around the world, the last ties are cut with the Archbishops of Canterbury who have been recalcitrant adulterous partners. They have done this to themselves by refusing to leave their reformist lovers and return the church to its theological grounding: the teaching of Holy Scripture as our primary authority as upheld and defined by Anglican’s historic formularies. These honorary heads of the Church of England have been unwilling to lead the Anglican Communion well, either by refusing to face head-on the thorny theological issues that threaten the Communion with any biblical conviction, or by outright calling evil good and good evil.

In recent years it has become popular by some to define themselves in terms of their relationship to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Years ago, my Episcopalian bishop told me and a large group gathered at our church that to be “in communion with Canterbury” is more important than maintaining continuity with historic Anglicanism and the teaching of Holy Scripture. In recent years Anglicans have seen the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury balloon in stature from being the first among equals (among Anglican primates and bishops) to almost pope-like status. This constitutes a stunning shift from a “theological” to an “institutional" understanding of what it means to be Anglican.

With uncanny foresight, the 1948 Lambeth Conference declared: “Former Lambeth Conferences have wisely rejected proposals for a formal primacy of Canterbury... authority which binds the Anglican Communion together is therefore seen to be moral and spiritual, resting on the truth of the Gospel, and on a charity which is patient and willing to defer to the common mind.” The Primates, the titular heads of all the provinces that make up the Anglican Communion, also concerned about the exponential growth of Canterbury’s power and influence, expressed this after their 2005 meeting in Dromantine, Ireland: “We also have further questions concerning the development of the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Council of Advice. While we welcome the ministry of the Archbishop of Canterbury as that of one who speaks to us as primus inter pares (first among equals) about the realities we face as a Communion, we are cautious of any development which would seem to imply the creation of an international jurisdiction which could override our proper provincial autonomy.”

Even the recently retired Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, spoke of the overstated view of his bishopric: “I think someone recently said that ‘the path to heaven doesn’t necessarily lie through Lambeth.’ I agree entirely. The path to heaven lies solely through Jesus Christ our Savior and the unity he gives, and the only use and integrity of the instruments of unity [including the Archbishop of Canterbury] is when they serve that.”

Seminary professor, Bill Witt, in a essay on this topic, pointed out that there are no references to the See of Canterbury in any of the classical Anglican writings (including the Articles of Religion and the Book of Common Prayer). He concluded that, “If one actually reads Cranmer or Jewel or Hooker et al, it becomes quite clear that (as they broke with Rome) they would have had no hesitation to break with Canterbury should Canterbury break with the doctrines and practices which encapsulate the gospel -- because the identity of Anglicanism does not lie in communion with an historic see, but in the doctrines and practices that adhere to the gospel.”

All Anglicans agree that Canterbury is an historic see and the Archbishop of Canterbury has served as the symbolic head of the Anglican Communion, but to give him the kind of extraordinary authority over the church that he acquired in recent times distorts what Anglicans have historically believed. Anglicans believe that Canterbury’s word is only as good as he upholds God’s Word, and his authority only as strong as he upholds the Anglican heritage. To give our loyalty to an ecclesiastical office is misplaced loyalty. The 2008 Global Anglican Futures Conference (GAFCON), a meeting of biblically orthodox leaders from around the world, got it right when they stated: “While acknowledging the nature of Canterbury as an historic see, we do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

Being “Anglican,” therefore, means a theology, a heritage, something we believe - not an artificial church structure that demands our loyalty no matter what. The office of Archbishop of Canterbury is now the adulterous partner who refuses to leave her lover. Our real hope is what the Prayer Book calls “the substance of the faith,” and what the Bible calls “the faith once and for all delivered to the saints.” This, and only this, gives us direction and hope for the future of the Anglican Communion. Gafcon promises us this hopeful future. A chapter of our history is now closed and the baton has been passed on. Thanks be to God for a clear way forward in mission and ministry!

Dean Chuck Collins is an Anglican historian. He lives in Texas.