The Archbishop of Kenya, the Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala, has denounced the Anglican Consultative Council’s London staff for suborning rebellion within his province. In a statement released on 6 April 2016 Dr. Wabukala said it was a “matter of regret that this Church’s delegation to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in Lusaka has been encouraged to disregard my spiritual counsel and attend this meeting.”
Sources within the GAFCON movement tell Anglican Ink, they believe ACC staff is responsible for splitting the Kenyan delegation from their primate and house of bishops. However, if it can be shown that it was the Archbishop of Canterbury who was responsible for the subversion, any residual goodwill Archbishop Justin Welby had amongst conservative primates will evaporate, the source speculated.
On 18 March 2016 Archbishop Wabukala wrote to Archbishop Welby saying the Kenyan church would not be sending a delegation to Lusaka in light of statements made by ACC chairman, the Rt. Rev. James Tengatenga, that promises made by Archbishop Welby to the primates would not be kept.
Dr. Tengatenga had rejected “our moral authority” as leaders of the church and had “affirmed in clear terms” that the Episcopal Church would “participate fully and without restriction” at the Lusaka meeting — contrary to the promises made in Canterbury, Dr. Wabukala said, adding the London-based bureaucrats were “not being used so much as instruments of unity but as instruments to cajole orthodox Global South provinces of the Communion into acquiescence with the secular sexual culture which has made such inroads into the Anglican Churches of the West.”
As a consequence, “some of us have been forced to the conclusion that the best way to make our voices heard is by absence rather than presence. We have no wish to interfere in the juridical authority of other provinces, but we do have a responsibility to ensure that our recognition of one another in the Anglican family is based on a common submission to the authority of God’s Word, not simply a shared history,” Dr. Wabukala said.
However, the Kenyan archbishop today wrote: “Despite my public statement and my personal direction to them, the Kenyan delegation has informed me of their intention to be present, with air tickets purchased for them and assignments already given. It seems that the rejection of the moral and spiritual authority of the Primates by the ACC Chairman, without public rebuke from the Archbishop of Canterbury, has become infectious and is encouraging further breakdown of godly order in the Communion.”
