Reflections on the GAFCON (G26) Meeting in Abuja, Nigeria

By Bishop Felix Orji

March 17, 2026

Lent- St Patrick’s Day.

“The Global Anglican Communion is neither a breakaway Communion nor an alternative Communion. The Jerusalem Statement clearly says that "We cherish our Anglican heritage and the Anglican Communion and have no intention of departing from it". What has occurred instead is a shift of the stewardship of the Anglican Communion from the Canterbury Instruments to the Global Anglican Communion. We are returning the Anglican Communion to its roots. The Global Anglican Communion is not a new Communion, but the historic Anglican Communion reordered from within." -The Most Revd Dr Laurent Mbanda(Chairman of Global Anglican Communion).

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Greetings to all the people and congregations of the Anglican Diocese of all Nations, in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

As you know, I have just returned from the third mini-GAFCON meeting, this time gathering in Abuja, Nigeria from March 3-6, 2026. I was one of 347 Anglican bishops who joined other 121 lay and clergy leaders from twenty-seven provinces representing the vast majority of Anglicans worldwide. It was a great privilege to see God’s gracious hand directing our future for the church that we love. The Chairman of the Global Anglican Council, The Most Rev’d Dr. Lauret Mbanda, has issued a lengthy report, but I want to be as clear and succinct as I can to report to you what I understand the implications of this important gathering are for us in All Nations.

First, I had hoped that GAFCON26 would elect a new Archbishop to lead GAFCON as well as establish a godly Anglican Communion outside the See of Canterbury so we can march forward with renewed energy and focus on preaching Christ to the nations without unnecessary internal bickering and confusion with the Canterbury Communion. But sadly that did not happen. Be that as it may our Anglican future is GAFCON which is now called the Global Anglican Communion (GAC). It has been for some time. We must trust our sovereign God for a better future that honors Him under the authority and primacy of his written Word.

In recent history, the archbishops of Canterbury and, what the 2006 Windsor Report labeled “Instruments of Unity,” also known as instruments of communion, have increasingly chosen paths of accommodation with the world, and many times with unbiblical teachings and practices. In so doing they have rendered themselves redundant and irrelevant, and unwilling to lead our church in its historic Anglican way. At the same time Anglicans around the world have increasingly realized that the colonial aspects of the church that focused on Great Britain, though giving us a rich and glorious theological heritage, no longer serves the people of the Global Anglican Communion.

Besides changing our name from GAFCON to the Global Anglican Communion (GAC), our meeting reaffirmed in the strongest way our commitment Holy Scripture as God’s inspired Word that leads us to the Word Made Flesh, as this is upheld and understood in the historic Anglican formularies: the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion and the Book of Common Prayer (1662). This makes the GAC “confessional”; a church that is defined by what it believes, not by an invented, unholy ecclesiastical structure. This obviously means that we do not define ourselves by some contrived connection to Canterbury that has been expanding in self-importance in recent years, but to a theology that is grounded in the Edwardian and Elizabethan Settlements. This is what is clearly stated in the Jerusalem Declaration that came from the first GAFCON meeting in 2008, and reaffirmed in our meeting earlier this month. I commend to each member of our diocese a careful study of the Jerusalem Declaration(included in this email) as the summary of our confessional nature, and the statement around which the GAC finds its meaning, membership and future.

Canterbury’s separation from the majority of Anglicans and traditional Anglican teaching will be jarring for some, but it is not surprising to anyone who has an eye on our history. 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 common mind of the bishops and leaders who recently met in Abuja was not focused on a person or a superimposed ecclesiastical structure (i.e., the Archbishop of Canterbury or the other Instruments), but instead on a theology that has and continues to bind Anglicans together in unity of purpose and worship.

Trinity Anglican Seminary professor, Dr 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.”

Now that our leaders meeting in Abuja have determined “a full and public disengagement from these structures [Lambeth and the Instruments of Unity]” (Archbishop Mbanda’s statement), and now that the GAC has assumed leadership of the wider Communion that still acknowledges our biblical and reformational heritage as delineated in the Jerusalem Declaration, and now that we in the ACNA have determined our place in the GAC, how then shall this church be led? The determination of those gathered prayerfully in Abuja is that there will be a Global Anglican Council. Time will tell what role this council will have and how leadership will develop in the GAC, but for now Archbishop Laurent Mbanda (Rwanda) was elected Chair of the Council, Archbishop Miguel Uchoa (Brazil) was elected Deputy Chair, and Bishop Paul Donison (rector and dean of Christ Church, Plano, TX) was elected General Secretary. Please pray for these leaders in your private prayers and in your Sunday worship, that God will continue to guide the church that has brought new life to millions all over the world.

In some ways the Anglican Communion has changed dramatically, first with the formation of GAFCON and now with the Global Anglican Communion. And yet, not much has changed in the ways faithful local congregations, the church’s main unit of ministry, continue to grow in love for the Lord. You continue to deliver the message of our Savior Jesus Christ who seeks and saves the lost. You continue to offer the grace of God duly administered in the sacraments.

We must refuse to be discouraged or distracted by the antics of the Canterbury-led Anglican Communion so that we can focus our attention and energy on faithfully preaching the gospel, teaching the Word of God, administering the Sacraments, and pastoring the Church of God to the glory of God. I treasure my place among you as your bishop and I crave your prayers and support for our life together. The word “Lent” comes from the Old English word “lencten” which means spring, the time of year when azaleas bloom and buds burst from the ground in surprising ways and places. May God bless you, your families, and your church families with newness of life this Lent, that is the life that comes through knowing and following Jesus our Lord.

The Jerusalem Declaration

In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit:

We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, have met in the land of Jesus’ birth. We express our loyalty as disciples to the King of kings, the Lord Jesus. We joyfully embrace his command to proclaim the reality of his kingdom which he first announced in this land. The gospel of the kingdom is the good news of salvation, liberation and transformation for all. In light of the above, we agree to chart a way forward together that promotes and protects the biblical gospel and mission to the world, solemnly declaring the following tenets of orthodoxy which underpin our Anglican identity.

1. We rejoice in the gospel of God through which we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God first loved us, we love him and as believers bring forth fruits of love, ongoing repentance, lively hope and thanksgiving to God in all things.

2. We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.

3. We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

4. We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God’s Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.

5. We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity’s only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.

6. We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.

7. We recognise that God has called and gifted bishops, priests and deacons in historic succession to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world. We uphold the classic Anglican Ordinal as an authoritative standard of clerical orders.

8. We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.

9. We gladly accept the Great Commission of the risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, to seek those who do not know Christ and to baptise, teach and bring new believers to maturity.

10. We are mindful of our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, to uphold and advocate justice in society, and to seek relief and empowerment of the poor and needy.

11. We are committed to the unity of all those who know and love Christ and to building authentic ecumenical relationships. We recognise the orders and jurisdiction of those Anglicans who uphold orthodox faith and practice, and we encourage them to join us in this declaration.

12. We celebrate the God-given diversity among us which enriches our global fellowship, and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters. We pledge to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.

13. We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.

14. We rejoice at the prospect of Jesus’ coming again in glory, and while we await this final event of history, we praise him for the way he builds up his church through his Spirit by miraculously changing lives.”

The Collect For St Patrick’s Day(Bishop and Missionary of Ireland, 461 AD)

Almighty God, in your providence you chose your servant Patrick to be the apostle of the Irish people, to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error to the true light and knowledge of you: Grant us so to walk in that light that we may come at last to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Warm regards,

The Rt Rev’d Dr Felix Orji, OSB.

Diocesan Bishop

Anglican Diocese of All Nations

Anglican Church in North America(ACNA)

Houston, Texas.

www.adoan.org