The GAFCON IV conference will produce a closing communique to guide the organization’s path over the coming years this Friday, as well as announce the name of its new chairman to lead the reform and renewal movement for the next five years.
The Most Rev. Foley Beach on 19 April 2023 said a new chairman had been selected by the GAFCON primates council and his name would be brought forward for final approval on Friday. The new chairman will replace Archbishop Beach, and be the responsible for guiding the reform and renewal movement forward alongside its general secretary the Most Rev. Ben Kwashi.
Meeting at the Kigali Convention Center from 17 to 21 April 2023 in Kigali, GAFCON IV comprises 1302 bishops, clergy and lay delegates drawn from 51 countries–from the US to Guinea-Bissau. Work began on the communique with a team led by the Bishop of South Sydney, the Rt. Rev. Michael Stead, on the conference’s opening day. A team drawn from across the GAFCON provinces began with input from the primates and provincial leaders.
On Tuesday 18 April 2023 the conference divided at 2:00 pm into two houses: a Bishops’ Meeting and an Assembly of Clergy and Laity to discuss the concerns about the church and the world.
The Assembly of Clergy and Laity was led by the Rt. Rev. Richard Condie, Bishop of Tasmania and president of GAFCON-Australia who said the assembly’s task was to “bring together the thoughts on how to contribute to the statement.”
Accompanying Bishop Condie on stage was the Primate of the Indian Ocean, the Most Rev. James Wong, and eight clergy and lay delegates from: New Zealand, Sudan, Nigeria, Australia, Wales, two from the United States and Myanmar. Each of the speakers (some who could not be named or photographed due to security concerns) gave voice to the issues facing their churches.
The assembly then divided into groups of eight and after a half hour’s discussion presented their findings to the chair. Selected presentations were then offered by delegate groups including those from Uganda, the Church of England, South Sudan, and the United States before time was called..
At 4:00 pm the conference reassembled in their separate houses. Bishop Condie summarized the range of concerns with a list of “Communion Challenges”.
- Solidarity with the persecuted church
- Authority of the Bible
- Clarity and Confidence in the Gospel
- Evangelistic Integrity
- Theological Education
- Disciplining children and young people
- Strong leadership that will stand and defend the Gospel
- Kind, compassionate and loving relationship to all
The communique team returned that evening to prepare a draft based upon the inputs they had received. The following day Bishop Stead read the draft, asking that its details not be distributed on social media. The conference then broke into closed national and provincial groups for discussion. Secretaries at each group then returned the summary of discussions to the drafting committee for final revision and approval by the GAFCON primates’ council.
The final communique will be released on Friday 21 April 2023 at the close of the meeting when the new chairman is also named..
