The Lord is building his true Church.

Some 2,000 Anglicans met in Jerusalem last week for the third Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON). Only half of those present were clergy but all delegates were Bible-believing Christians, which created a great spirit of unity as they celebrated their theme of ‘Proclaiming Christ Faithfully to the Nations’.

They affirmed that “God’s gospel is tlife-transforming message of salvation from sin and all its consequences through the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ”. They affirmed that “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

The conference sent a message to all Anglican churches around the world, warning of the attacks upon the truth of the Gospel that are coming not only externally but also internally from those who seek to re-define the Gospel to make it acceptable in a secular humanist world. They said that the most obvious example is in the area of “gender, sexuality and marriage”.

They also cited the ‘prosperity gospel’ and ‘theological revisionism’, which “recast God’s gospel to accommodate the surrounding culture, resulting in a seductive syncretism that denies the uniqueness of Christ, the seriousness of sin, the need for repentance and the final authority of the Bible.”

The statement also says that “tragically, there has been a failure of leadership in our churches to address these threats to the gospel”. They state that during the past 20 years the leadership of the worldwide Anglican Church have not only failed to uphold godly discipline but refused to recognise the concerns of Bible-believing Christians, choosing instead to denounce GAFCON as a ‘one-issue pressure group’ and to accuse it of promoting schism.

The GAFCON statement said that the Anglican churches in some of the Western nations have led the way in departing from the teaching of the Bible and the historic doctrine of the Church.

GAFCON has recognised that Anglican churches in the Western nations have led the way in departing from the teaching of the Bible.

Boycotting Lambeth?

The GAFCON conference affirmed “We are not leaving the Anglican Communion; we are the majority of the Anglican Communion seeking to remain faithful to our Anglican heritage”. They accused the Episcopal Church of the USA, the Anglican Church of Canada and the Scottish Episcopal Church of all having departed from the Christian faith and become apostate churches. They stopped short of including the Church of England although they specifically called upon the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, not to invite representatives of these apostate churches to the Lambeth Conference in 2020.

They further recommended that if the Archbishop does not do this, all the GAFCON leaders should boycott Lambeth next time.

This is a serious challenge to the worldwide Anglican Church because the GAFCON leaders claim to represent the vast majority of Anglicans in churches around the world. They say that it is leaders of the Western Anglican churches who have rejected the Bible, turned away from truth and embraced the values of the world. They further claim that it is these Western churches that are creating disunity and that they should repent and return to the historic faith as originally proclaimed in the Bible.

The Glory Will Depart

It looks as though the Lambeth Conference in 2020 will be a watershed for the Anglican Church. Already there has been criticism of the clergy and laypeople who went from Britain and Ireland to attend the Jerusalem conference.

The liberal/LGBTQ+ clergy in the Church of England are strongly represented back home and are no doubt encouraged by having an Archbishop who has publicly stated that he wants the Church to be “more inclusive” – in other words, more friendly to the world and more hostile to Bible-believing Christians.

I personally think it would be a mistake for Bible-believing Anglicans to stay away from the Lambeth Conference two years from now. They should be there declaring their biblical faith in unequivocal terms, and warning about the consequences of departing from the truth. If the Church of England continues on its present path it will be like the Temple in the vision given to Ezekiel of the glory of the Lord departing.

Already, I believe, the angel of the Lord is going through the land to put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in the nation (Ezek 9:4) and who grieve for the unbelief in the Church. Soon the word ICHABOD will be written across the cathedrals of the Church of England.

Already, I believe, the angel of the Lord is going through the land to put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve over the nation (Ezek 9:4) and the unbelief in the Church.

The True Church

But God still has a faithful remnant who have not bowed the knee to Baal – who have not submitted to the pressures and bullying tactics of those who have embraced the worldly values of ‘equality’ and ‘tolerance’ (usually the most intolerant people!).

As the corrupt institutional structures of the established Church crumble, so God is already raising his new Church in the homes of believers where small groups meet with open Bibles and love in their hearts for one another. They are looking forward to the City with foundations whose architect and builder is God; to the new Church, refined and purified, that he can use to save the nation in the days of trouble that are coming.

This new Church will be the true ekklesia of the Lord, whose trust is in God alone and who have rejected the values of the world for the promise of the Lord: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty” (Zech 4:6).

Postscript

My grandson, Mark Cooper, who is training for the Anglican ministry, was in Jerusalem for the GAFCON Conference. It was his first visit to Israel. Mark is on the pastoral team of Toxteth Parish church, Liverpool. He sent me the following note:

It was incredibly inspiring to be around Bible-believing Christians from 50 nations, facing different challenges but with a powerful sense of unity. It was mentioned a few times that gatherings of global Anglicans (which were not just bishops) were incredibly rare twenty years ago and it showed something of how God is uniting Anglicans through the present problems, and the opportunity the Anglican Communion has to be a force for good.

What was especially moving to me was the courage of many Global South bishops. Many of these churches look fondly to Britain as a father in the faith and yet now they are finding they are having to take a stand against the direction the Western churches are taking. It was inspiring to see them finding their own voice. The passion this diverse mix of Christians showed to proclaim Christ was something that will stay with me for a long time.

Welby, the wedding and the Gospel

My colleague Charles Gardner has written a splendid piece on the Royal wedding, eulogising the sermon from Bishop Curry that made such a great contribution to the union of Harry and Meghan. It was a powerful message delivered with great skill and passion that captivated not only the congregation in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, but countless millions watching the service around the world.

At the risk of being a spoilsport and dubbed a ‘prophet of doom and gloom’, I want to offer a few thoughts to go alongside what Charles has written. I too watched the wedding on TV and I was delighted with the charismatic message delivered by the Bishop. And I was really pleased that he did not only speak about love in a sentimental, romantic context, but he spoke about the love of God and got some Gospel into his message.

I applauded him for taking the opportunity of presenting the Gospel in simple words that would have communicated clearly to probably the largest congregation any preacher has ever faced. It was certainly good for Christianity.

Changes in the Church

My concern was not with the message but with the whole event and with the enormous changes that are taking place within the Church – especially the Church of England as our state Church. The last time a prince of the realm wanted to marry a divorced American lady whose ex-husband was still living, it resulted in the abdication of King Edward VIII. 

My concern is not with the message but with the whole event and the enormous changes taking place within the Church.

That was the 1930s and much has changed since then. But Harry and Meghan’s wedding could not even have taken place 10 years ago, when Dr Rowan Williams was Archbishop of Canterbury and Prince Charles wanted to marry Camilla Parker-Bowles whose ex-husband was still alive – something that was directly against the teaching of Jesus (Luke 16:18).

I remember discussing it with Rowan at the time. He was steadfastly against allowing a full Anglican wedding service and Charles and Camilla had to go to Windsor Town Hall and have a civil ceremony, after which they went to St George’s Chapel for a blessing.

Now, everyone is so delighted that the Royal family have accepted a beautiful, racially-mixed young lady into their midst that no one takes any notice of her divorce. I believe it is right under exceptional circumstances that the Church should offer a full wedding service where someone has been divorced – I have done this myself – and I don’t know the circumstances of Meghan’s former marriage, so I’m in no position to make any comment on this. My concern is really with Archbishop Justin Welby who has said publicly that it is his intention to make the Church of England ‘more inclusive’.

Gospel Truth?

It was Welby who advised Harry and Meghan to have Bishop Curry as their preacher, knowing full well that Curry is an advocate of same-sex marriage and the propagation of the LGBT code of immorality. I know that the Archbishop sent out guidelines to all CofE primary schools last year urging teachers to encourage the children to cross-dress in preparation for living in a gender-free society. 

What message is the Church sending to the world?

So, I wonder what Welby’s next move will be in undermining our Judeo-Christian heritage? How far does he intend going in promoting the LGBT agenda, destroying biblical truth and promoting an apostate Church?

Yes, it was a lovely wedding and only the British could put on such an amazing pageant in such an historic setting, blessed by perfect weather. It was great to have a national celebration in the midst of the dark Brexit-laden days we are enduring. It was great for the public to enjoy such a celebration and it was good for the national image worldwide. My only concern is: what message is the Church sending to the world? Does the Church of England even know the truth of the Gospel it is supposed to proclaim?