African, Asian Anglican Churches Create New Global Council, Breakaway From The Church Of England

Conservative Anglican churches from Africa and Asia have created a new leadership council to govern the global Anglican Communion, rejecting the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury weeks before she takes office.

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) announced Thursday it has established the council to replace what it calls outdated leadership structures. The group claims to represent the majority of the world’s 85 million Anglicans across 165 countries.

GAFCON elected Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, a former Rwandan refugee who studied in the United States, as chairman of the new council. The group said Mbanda will share power rather than serve as “first among equals.”

Bishop Paul Donison, secretary general of the new council, told the conference in Abuja, Nigeria, that the current Anglican leadership no longer serves the needs of most Anglicans worldwide.

“Believing the current instruments of communion no longer meet the needs of the majority of Anglicans around the world, the global Anglican Communion is to be led by a conciliar structure,” Donison said.

Naija News gathered that the council will include bishops, priests and lay members, with each person holding voting privileges.

The move directly challenges Sarah Mullally, whom the Church of England appointed last October as its first female Archbishop of Canterbury. Mullally will be enthroned as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury on March 25.

GAFCON Spokesman Says Group Recognises New Leader

GAFCON brings together conservative churches mainly from Africa and Asia. The group opposes what it sees as liberal shifts in parts of the Anglican Communion, including ordaining women as priests and bishops and welcoming LGBTQ+ members.

When reporters asked if GAFCON members still recognise the Archbishop of Canterbury’s leadership, group spokesman Justin Murff gave a clear answer.

“The Global Anglican Council recognises Archbishop Laurent Mbanda as its leader,” Murff said.

Responding to the development, a spokesperson for the Anglican Communion Office in London expressed concern.

“It hurts the body of Christ when some churches express a desire to separate, not associate, or otherwise renounce any association with those with whom they disagree,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the Church of England also brokeaway from Rome nearly 500 years ago under King Henry VIII. The Archbishop of Canterbury has served as the symbolic head of the Anglican Communion since then, leading a church that expanded worldwide through missionary activity.

GAFCON, founded in 2008, says it is not breaking away from the Anglican Communion but reorganising it around what members call Biblical authority. In October, Mbanda said the group had “not left the Anglican Communion; we are the Anglican Communion.”

Also, while leading prayers on Thursday, Mbanda declared a new era for the church.

“The future has arrived, no turning back,” he said.

Many Anglicans in Africa and Asia, where the church has grown fastest in recent decades, reject progressive trends they see in England and other Western countries. The split over women’s ordination and LGBTQ+ inclusion has pushed the global communion toward what church leaders describe as a breaking point.