Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Conservative Anglicans

Post by Collin Hansen

Around 750 Anglican clergy and leading conservative archbishops, including Peter Jensen, are meeting today at All Souls Church in London. The bishops have recently arrived from Jerusalem, where conservative Anglicans hosted the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon) ahead of the decennial Lambeth conference, which convenes in a couple weeks. In Jerusalem the archbishops introduced the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, a bulwark against counter-trend of theological liberalism in Great Britain and North America. Conservatives have not always been united, even as they agreed that Anglicans should not consecrate homosexual bishops. This most recent meeting shows that conservatives see the need to present a united front as they lobby for like-minded oversight without sinking the Anglican Communion.

N.T. Wright, bishop of Durham, was not invited to Gafcon, but he expressed praise and concern about the gathering in a statement. Christianity Today's Tim Morgan attended Gafcon and has been posting developments at the CT Liveblog.