From the President

29 October 2025

The Anglican Communion and GAFCON

A statement issued 16 October 2025 by GAFCON– the conservative Global Anglican Future Conference has raised both alarm and questions about the future of the Anglican Communion.  The latter comprises more than 85 million Anglicans in 47 independent Anglican Churches, including the Anglican Church of Australia.

The statement constitutes a deliberate walking away from the Anglican Communion as it is now and from all Churches in the Communion that do not join with them.  It is a blow to the prospect of unity and peace among Anglicans and deeply to be regretted.

The statement by GAFCON by The Most Reverend Dr Laurent Mbanda, the Primate of Rwanda, as Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council, proclaimed itself as the new ‘Global Anglican Communion’, claiming it had ‘re-ordered’ the worldwide Anglican Communion.

In the statement, GAFCON rejected the Instruments of Communion – the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council (the ACC) and the Primates Meeting – the bodies which hold together the Anglican Communion.

GAFCON called on member Churches to amend their constitutions to remove their connection to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England, and so join their ‘re-ordered’ Communion.  They state–          

Provinces of the Global Anglican Communion shall not participate in meetings called by the Archbishop of Canterbury, including the ACC, and shall not make any monetary contribution to the ACC, nor receive any monetary contribution from the ACC or its networks.

            The statement has provoked justifiable censure and criticism from leaders in the Anglican Church of Australia.  We commend their responses for your consideration.

The Archbishop of Brisbane, the Most Reverend Jeremy Greaves issued an ad clerum, the former Australian Primate and former Archbishop of Perth, Bishop Peter Carnley published an article and the Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Peter Stuart has also responded here.

The  diocese of Sydney has supported the GAFCON statement.  "We are thankful to God for the biblical faithfulness and clarity of the GAFCON primates," said Bishop Peter Hayward, Commissary for the Archbishop of Sydney.

            In his message, Archbishop Greaves remains steadfast in my commitment to the Anglican Church of Australia and to our communion with the Church of England and the See of Canterbury.  He states–

The Instruments of Communion anchor us in a worldwide fellowship that is diverse, imperfect, and within which we walk together in faith and mission.

He points out that our national church constitution, which commits us to remain in communion with the Church of England in England, can only be changed with the agreement of the General Synod, as well as three-quarters of the diocesan synods in our country, including all five metropolitan sees. That makes any such change highly unlikely.

            Bishop Carnley, in his article ‘A Gaff and a Con’, says the GAFCON statement is ‘sadly wanting in theological coherence’.  He provides helpful analysis. He adds that it is an ‘ecclesial confidence trick’ and systematically interrogates its flaws and problems, before calling on its authors to retract the statement.  What is the Anglican Communion?

Rather, our communion is not just with one another, but ‘with God the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ’ (I John 1.3). The ‘one basis of our Communion’ is not an alleged inerrant reading of some selected texts of Scripture, but the Holy Communion of God the Holy Trinity, in which people of faith are invited to share, and into which they are baptised, and by grace participate.

Bishop Peter Stuart has said in his message–

No single movement expresses Anglican identity. We are a complex multi-faceted movement of Christians who celebrate the breadth of humanity and know the call to negotiate differences with respect.

Victorian Anglicans Together joins with Archbishop Greaves–

 May we keep our eyes fixed on the work that matters most: the work of proclaiming the Gospel, building inclusive, welcoming community, and embodying the compassion of Christ.

 Yours in Christ

 Michael Shand AM KC

President,

Victorian Anglicans Together