GAFCON

Anglicanism has been all over the news this week due to the meetings occurring in Jerusalem known as GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference). Many see GAFCON as the conservative "alternate" to the Lambeth conference, the gathering of Anglican bishops from all over the world that occurs only every 10 years and will convene again this coming July.

A lot of controversy surrounds both conferences. The rumors swirl especially vigorously around GAFCON, for many suspect that the more conservative church leaders meeting in Jerusalem are determined to form another Anglican communion in protest against what conservatives see as the "wayward" beliefs and practices of large sections of the Western Anglican church (such as the Episcopal Church in the States).

Though the conflict over ordination of homosexual bishops in the Anglican church gets top billing in the news, the dividing issues in global Anglicanism are far deeper and more expansive than this one issue. Here's one helpful link that compares conservative and liberal views on a number of points: "Anglican Rift: Conservative v. Liberal."

NOTE: This link is from BBC News. It doesn't quite get at another, perhaps THE, core issue between liberals and conservatives in the Anglican church: the doctrine of Scripture, as well as the related issue of authority in the church. The two "sides" seem to take fundamentally different approaches to these central questions, which is more concerning to me than debates (though legitimate) over morality and who-should-be-ordained.

Another link: GAFCON photoblog (found it on TitusOneNine)

[Cartoon from http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/9509/.]