GAFCON and AKINOLA

A section of the Pastoral Letter to the Anglican Church of Nigeria from its Primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola, dated April 2nd

“GAFCON

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) was introduced in our earlier pastoral letter written from the Bishops retreat in January. The planning of this conference, coming up in Jerusalem in the month of June, has reached an advanced stage. The choice of Jerusalem as the venue is to take us back in a pilgrimage to the biblical and historical roots of our faith to draw inspiration in the face of major attempts to undermine the sufficiency of Scripture by some of our brothers and sisters in the West. Knowing that this is not merely a cultural or theological struggle alone, but more importantly a spiritual battle, we urge earnest and concerted prayers that the Spirit of the Lord will show us the way ahead for our beloved Anglican Communion.
When the proposal was first discussed in January, we were staggered by the enormity of the cost, but we trusted that if God hand was in it, He would provide. Indeed the Lord has gone beyond our expectations by raising up from among us those who have felt sufficiently committed to the need to preserve the sanctity of our historic faith that they have committed huge resources to cover all the cost of the conference. May our gracious God reward these people abundantly and may they never be confounded as they continue to trust in Him and give themselves to His glad service.

The Bishops also resolved that Dioceses that had paid the required amount but have an outstanding balance in their Endowment Fund commitment should have their accounts credited with the money meant for the travel costs. This should enable us to make further progress in our desire to resource our Seminaries and other major projects in our vision. This will be a tremendous blessing to the seminaries where our clergy are trained. We have made resources available to meet their most critical needs so that our candidates for ordination and the future shepherds of our church will be well prepared for their ministry without being subjected to the usual handicaps in their training. We hope our postulants and the staff of the seminaries will reward this gesture.”

Comment on the above:

First,
The choice of Jerusalem as the venue is to take us back in a pilgrimage to the biblical and historical roots of our faith to draw inspiration in the face of major attempts to undermine the sufficiency of Scripture by some of our brothers and sisters in the West.

1 On the choice of Jerusalem
There is no suggestion at all in the extensive writings of St Paul in the NT that Christian Faith for Gentiles requires any physical relation at all to the so called “holy land” or “the city of David.” For Paul, our mother is the new Jerusalem which is above (Galatians 4:26)!

Certainly pilgrimages to the sites referred to in the OT and NT began in the fourth century and continued thereafter. However, to refer to the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem as “the biblical roots of our faith” is misleading. Our Faith is only and totally in our God and Father and in his Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and as an evangelically-minded pastor Peter Akinola obviously knows this. A visit to Israel may increase our appreciation of the context and background of the Bible; but faith comes from hearing and receiving the Word of God, wherever one is located to hear. 99 per cent or more of baptized believing Christians have never been to Jerusalem!
So why these notions of pilgrimage and roots of faith. The answer seems to be (from within the specific Nigerian context of Muslim presence) of the pastoral need of Christians having the dynamic equivalent of what the Muslims have in their required pilgrimage to Mecca in Arabia. If you like, taking a leaf out of the Muslim book!

2 Drawing inspiration and recovering a sense of the sufficiency of Scripture
In classic Protestant thinking, the sufficiency of Scripture relates primarily to what the books of the Bible deliver to us concerning salvation from sin and everlasting life, and the type of living in this world that necessarily goes with receiving such a gift of grace. It is a sufficiency of the biblical message of faith and related conduct by the church and each Christian and not – except by extension—sufficiency in terms of historical and geographical information.

See the Ordinal of the BCP 1662, the question of the Bishop to the man to be ordained priest which speaks eloquently of the sufficiency of Scripture.

It is true that the modern TEC seems not to believe in the sufficiency of Scripture for the purposes stated in the Ordinal; but, adds to the Bible the category of modern “Experience,” as the joint basis of faith and conduct.

A question? Is not Peter Akinola adding “experience” to the sufficiency of the Bible by the way he speaks of this “pilgrimage” to Jerusalem? If one does not go one appears to be missing out on something fundamental! Possibly Evangelicals like progressive liberals can make mistakes!

Second,
Knowing that this is not merely a cultural or theological struggle alone, but more importantly a spiritual battle, we urge earnest and concerted prayers that the Spirit of the Lord will show us the way ahead for our beloved Anglican Communion

A Spiritual Battle
Probably Peter Akinola, certainly a man of fervent prayer, has in mind the famous passage of St Paul in Ephesians 6, where he speaks in detail about the whole armor of God and clearly explains that we wrestle not against merely earthly forces, but rather against evil spiritual forces, which seek to do to us eternal harm. There is little doubt from an evangelical perspective that the whole modern agenda about same-sex relations and its claims to scriptural support arise from Satanic influence upon contemporary church thinking; thus he is absolutely right to call for sustained and fervent prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.
And it is prayer for the Anglican Family that it may walk forward in the right way in the right path, a path where it is not invaded and possessed by devilish doctrines, innovations, practices and ceremonies.

From what the Archbishop and his spokesmen have said publicly over the last year, he already believes (as led by the Holy Spirit) that the future for the Anglican Family lies in being much more committed to the classic, biblical faith and evangelical mission, with deep social involvement with the poor and needy. It will also most probably include much less, or virtually, no leadership from the provinces of the North (West) which are, he knows, so influenced by secularization and have thus lost their moral right to lead the Family, as they have done hitherto.

The Lord shall provide
When the proposal was first discussed in January, we were staggered by the enormity of the cost, but we trusted that if God hand was in it, He would provide. Indeed the Lord has gone beyond our expectations by raising up from among us those who have felt sufficiently committed to the need to preserve the sanctity of our historic faith that they have committed huge resources to cover all the cost of the conference. May our gracious God reward these people abundantly and may they never be confounded as they continue to trust in Him and give themselves to His glad service.

The cost of this conference and pilgrimage is very expensive indeed! One week costs more than what the average Nigerian earns in a whole year! Then there is the high air cost in high season! But there is wealth in Nigeria with its oil and other natural resources and the Lord has provided by his own sovereign means the necessary costs for the bishops and their wives, plus others to go –and maybe enough to help the much poorer Ugandans and Kenyans and Rwandans.

In the sovereign providence and guidance of God, and under his abundant mercy may the Conference, whatever be its human weaknesses, be a real means of bringing needed reform and renewal to the Anglican Way worldwide!

drpetertoon@yahoo.com April 3 2008

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