Reformation Is Underway. The Global South’s Foundational Act and the Rise of the Remnant Church
- Charles Perez
- 19 hours ago
- 5 min read
By The Rev. Dr. Ronald Moore
January 21, 2026
On 20 January 2026, the Primates of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) issued a communiqué from Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles, under the unmistakable title: “Reformation is Underway.”
David Virtue has helpfully published the full text at VirtueOnline, where it deserves careful and sober reading by every orthodox Anglican.¹
This communiqué is not another protest document.
It is not a lament.
It is not a warning shot.
It is a foundational act.
What has occurred here is nothing less than the public, institutional articulation of a new center of gravity within global Anglicanism — one grounded not in historical prestige or inherited instruments of power, but in covenantal fidelity to Christ and the apostolic faith.
A Quiet Constitutional Moment
Most church statements are ephemeral.
This one is not.
In paragraph 8 of the communiqué, the primates write:
“We have in the past written about the need for a ‘reset’ of the Communion and it was achieved in principle by the introduction of the Cairo Covenant in 2019. This created a framework for a process of reformation which is the work to which we are now committed.”
That sentence is not rhetorical flourish. It is constitutional language.
What the GSFA is declaring is that:
The old Instruments of Communion have failed to preserve doctrinal fidelity.
A new covenantal framework already exists (the Cairo Covenant).
A deliberate, structured process of ecclesial reformation is now formally underway.
This is not reaction.
It is succession planning.
And it is happening in full public view.
Canterbury Has Been Written Off — Without Saying So
The communiqué is restrained, dignified, and pastoral.
But its implications are unmistakable.
In paragraph 6, the primates state:
“We lamented the departure from historic Anglican teaching which is now becoming entrenched in the senior leadership of the Church of England.”
The word entrenched is decisive.
It means institutionalized. Fixed. Settled.
They are no longer speaking of temporary drift or internal disagreement.
They are declaring that doctrinal departure has now become structural and permanent at the center of Anglican authority.
And then comes the quiet pastoral off-ramp:
“We recognise that there are many in the Church of England, united in ‘The Alliance’, who have remained faithful…”
That sentence is doing ecclesial triage.
It is signaling to orthodox English Anglicans that their future does not lie with Canterbury’s leadership, but with a wider, faithful communion now forming beyond it.
GSFA Is Becoming a Church, Not a Caucus
One of the most revealing lines in the communiqué appears in paragraph 5:
“Which is increasingly becoming a spiritual home, not just an ecclesial structure…”
This is not the language of a protest movement.
It is the language of emerging ecclesial identity.
GSFA is no longer presenting itself merely as:
a reform caucus
a conservative pressure group
a coalition of dissenting provinces
It is presenting itself as:
a home
a covenant body
a locus of communion
a normative center of orthodoxy
That is a decisive ecclesiological shift.
It marks the transition from resistance to replacement.
“Staying in the Communion” While Replacing Its Center
In paragraph 3, the primates state:
“GSFA is staying within the Anglican Communion, but more importantly, we are staying with Jesus…”
This is not ambiguity.
It is hierarchy.
They are subordinating institutional affiliation to doctrinal fidelity.
They are declaring — in effect — that true Anglicanism is now defined by faithfulness to Christ, not recognition by Canterbury.
This is precisely how every major reformation in Church history has unfolded:
The faithful remnant remains “inside” the shell of the old structure.
A parallel covenantal body forms within it.
Authority migrates quietly.
The old center collapses long after it has lost spiritual legitimacy.
We are now well into that process.
The Remnant Church Thesis, Now Publicly Ratified
Everything the GSFA communiqué articulates maps directly onto what I have elsewhere called the Remnant Church thesis:
The institutional Church can retain power after it loses truth.
The primates now openly acknowledge this reality.
Orthodoxy cannot survive by protest alone.
It must build covenantal structures for formation, discipline, and mission.
The faithful remnant becomes the true Church-in-fact before it is recognized as such.
GSFA is now functioning as exactly that.
Authority follows fidelity, not history.
That principle is now being operationalized at a global scale.
This is not theory anymore.
It is institutional reality.
The Global South Has Become the Anglican Church’s Moral Core
The list of signatories matters more than many Western observers will realize:
South Sudan
Alexandria
Southeast Asia
Indian Ocean
Congo
Brazil
Sudan
Myanmar
Uganda
This is not a fringe coalition.
It is a massive portion of the Anglican world’s living, missionary, suffering Church.
These are not comfortable, decadent provinces.
These are churches forged under persecution, instability, poverty, and war.
They have not lost their faith because they could not afford to play with it.
And they are now saying to the world:
We will not mirror Western decadence.
We will not revise Scripture.
We will not trade truth for institutional peace.
That is not reactionary.
That is apostolic.
What Comes Next
The communiqué announces a Second Assembly in Uganda in April 2027.
Between now and then, we should expect:
Formal doctrinal benchmarks for GSFA communion
Clearer reception pathways for dioceses, clergy, and parishes
Expanded ministerial formation structures
Growing marginalization of Canterbury as a global authority figure
The tipping point will feel sudden when it arrives.
But it has already been decided here.
This Was Not News. It Was a Founding Moment.
David Virtue is right to highlight this communiqué as a major development in global Anglicanism.¹
But its significance goes even deeper than many will yet realize.
This was not a press release.
It was not a policy statement.
It was not a lament.
It was a foundational act.
It was the public emergence of the Remnant Church at a global, institutional scale.
And it confirms what faithful Anglicans already know in their bones:
The future of Anglicanism no longer runs through Canterbury.
It runs through fidelity.
Reference
¹ David Virtue, “Primates of Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches Issue Communiqué: Reformation is Underway,” VirtueOnline, 20 January 2026.
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