Gafcon, a movement that claims to represent the majority of Anglicans around the world, particularly in the Global South, has formally rejected the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury and associated institutions such as the Lambeth Conference, and declared itself a true ‘World Anglican Church’.
The declaration marks a formal split in the Church of England, following long-standing growing concerns among Gafcon leaders over what they see as a departure from the teachings of the Bible in mainstream Communion. Their announcement comes after recent controversies involving the appointment of Rt. The Reverend Cherry Vann, a practicing lesbian, has been appointed Archbishop of Wales, and Dame Sarah Mullally has been named the first female Archbishop of Canterbury to declare support for same-sex blessings.
In an announcement titled “The Future Has Arrived” made to members and the public on October 16, Rev. Laurent Mbanda, Chairman of the Gafcon Primate Council and Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, explained the reasons behind this decision.
Mbanda recalled the first time the Gafcon group met at the World Conference on the Future of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem in 2008 to “prayerfully respond to the abandonment of the Bible by the most senior leaders of the Anglican Communion and seek their repentance.”
The archbishop asserted that there was a continued lack of such repentance and said Gafcon leaders were prayerfully considering a future framework for Anglicans that he and his colleagues consider to be faithful to the teachings of the Bible, with the aim of restoring that fidelity to the heart of the Holy Communion.
“Today, that future has arrived,” Mbanda announced after a meeting of the Gafcon Primate Council. “Our Gafcon primates have gathered at this hour to fulfill the mission of Anglican reform expressed in the Jerusalem Statement of 2008.”
A resolution to restore the Anglican Communion declared:
“We declare that the Communion of the Anglican Communion will be reorganized as the sole basis of the sacrament of the Holy Scriptures, “which shall be translated, read, preached, taught and followed in its plain and canonical sense, respecting the historical and consensual interpretation of the Church, respecting the historical and consensual interpretation of the Church”, reflecting Article 39 of the Religion, Article 6 (Jerusalem Declaration, Article 2),” Mbanda said.
Gafcon leaders also said they were formally rejecting the “instruments of communion” identified by the Anglican Leave group as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Synod, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) and the Primate Bishops’ Conference. He said these groups had failed to uphold Anglican doctrine and discipline.
“We cannot continue to engage with those who abandon the infallible word of God as the final authority and advocate revisionist policies that overturned the Lambeth Conference resolution I.10 of 1998,” Mbanda added.
“Gafcon therefore reorganized the Anglican Communion by restoring its original structure as a self-governing fellowship bound by the formal provisions of the Reformation, as reflected in the first Lambeth Conference of 1867, and we are now the World Episcopal Communion.”
Mr Mbanda said the World Anglican Province of Gafcon would not participate in meetings called by the Archbishop of Canterbury, such as meetings and financial exchanges of the Anglican Consultative Council and its networks.
As quoted by Mbanda, Gafcon’s declaration added: “States that have not already done so are encouraged to amend their constitutions to remove references to communion with the Patriarchate of Canterbury and the Church of England.”
He said any province or diocese seeking membership in the World Episcopal Church must agree to the 2008 Jerusalem Declaration, the modern standard of Anglican identity.
Primate councils in all member states are also established to elect a chairperson to “contend for the faith which was once transmitted to the saints forever” (Jude 3).
“As I declared in a statement two weeks ago, ‘The reset of our beloved Holy Communion is now uniquely in the hands of Gafcon, and we are ready to take the lead,” Mbanda said. “Gafcon is now leading the World Episcopal Church.”
“We have not left the Anglican Church, as we have from the beginning. We are Anglicans,” the archbishop stressed.
Gafcon intends to “bestow and celebrate” the World Episcopal Communion at the G26 Bishops’ Conference to be held in Abuja, Nigeria, from March 3 to 6, 2026.
“As we hear the voice of Jesus in the great Scriptures, pray that we may lead the communion and glorify God through prayerful submission to the Holy Spirit,” Mbanda added.
