GAFCON

The Conference is called Global Anglican Future Conference and it is something amazing in sights to see, content to hear, and to experience. When you think of a typical Anglican you certainly don’t imagine this! This is Anglican at it’s finest and most heavily represented in terms of population. It is overwhelmingly African! The conference is chaired by the Nigerian Archbishop and Primate Peter Akinola. The make-up of the 1300 pilgrims in the conference reflects the make-up of the Anglican churches of the world. Africa alone makes up the overwhelming majority of the world’s Anglicans. Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Congo, all of these countries have their Bishops, Bishops wives and many clergy and lay people here. There are also the leaders of the Latin American, Asian, and Australian churches too. The representation from the West (England, USA, Canada) is quite small and is made up of those whose theology and views are similar to those of the Africans. Here it is revealing one of the most dramatic realities of the Christian churches of all types worldwide. The Christian religion is not (at least by numbers) a white religion. It is black and brown. This conference shows that truth very visually.

The other reality emerging here is the growing assertiveness of the African churches in leadership. They are flexing their muscles and putting their stamp and influence into the theology, direction, and strategy of the Anglican churches worldwide. This appears to be somewhat hard for the English and North American Anglicans to come to terms with. Most British, American, Canadian and Australian clergy here at this conference are like me quite happy with the African leadership role coming into the forefront. This is not true however with many leaders of the Western and white Anglican churches. To many North American churchgoers, religion doesn’t matter the way it does for Africans and for people here in the middle east. Also, the English and the Americans in particular have over the years grown accustomed to being in charge of the affairs and direction of the Anglican witness in the world. After all, they point to the Western missionaries as being the ones to have brought the gospel to many of these countries in Africa and Asia in the first place. As well, they have had and still have the money to back up the clout they have always exercised in leadership. This has created an assumed entitlement of leadership that has expressed itself in defining the theological direction the Anglican world should follow, while representing a small minority of the Anglican worldwide population. But the Africans do not agree with the excesses in permissiveness and the watering down of the Christian religion that the English and the North Americans have done over the years and now they have said “no further, and enough is enough”. This conference is showing this assertiveness. African Anglicans believe the faith they hold. It is not a wishy washy thing for them and they are now putting their stamp on the churches of the west who seem quite lost in their wishy washy beliefs.

The visual images and the worship here in Jerusalem at this conference demonstrate this. The Africans stand out here in their traditional dress which is so dramatic and so beautiful in all the colors. The Church of Uganda contingent here is doing the music and the music is incredible! During the services there is often a spontaneous song that an African may start to sing which of course is joined in by others and then by the whole crowd of 1300. The preaching is often done by Africans and it is customarily passionate. They are injecting into those of us from the western world a much needed and much appreciated breath of new life and fresh air.

I`ve been making lots of contacts with the Ugandan group and they react with joy and excitement when I tell them that I am going form Jerusalem to Uganda. They very quickly say `welcome home`and then insist that I visit their diocese in Uganda. I`ve been invited pretty much all over the country from the West Nile to the North as well as to the East and will have quite a dilemma when I get there and start contacting these Bishops who will expect me to come see them at home and to see their churches.

There is a web site by an Anglican journalist you can go to to read the stories of this conference but more importantly to see the visuals by accessing a link to the photographs that were taken from a helicopter as we gathered on the Mount of Olives Monday. There are two photos there and one shows the entire group of us and the other was just the 300 bishops who are here. That photo shows the make-up of the leadership here ….you can see for yourself at http://www.virtueonline.org/ when you click the NEWS section and scroll through the stories posted there. Don't get bogged down by the stories of the politics of this conference as most secular press stories in Britain, Canada and the U.S. are missing the mark by galaxies when it comes to the awesome content, the joy, and warmth of this gathering. It's like they are reporting on a completely different conference than the one I am at. But hey, that's to be expected with the cynical western media. I will post some pics of the Mount of Olives and garden of Gethsemane visit as well.