Thursday 26 June 2008

GAFCON: Principles, not personalities says British Bishop

Bishop Wallace Benn says the GAFCON discussions about the future of the Anglican Church will be about biblical principles, not personalities.

Bishop Benn of Lewes, England gave a GAFCON media briefing an update on the work being done by the Gospel and Leadership workshop and also explained why he turned down the invitation to attend the Lambeth conference. He said that skipping the decennial meeting is much less about personalities than principles.

“Servant leadership is not about status or elevation. It is following the steps of Jesus, being gospel-focussed and remaining faithful to apostolic teaching” he told international media.

“I do not think I can pretend to be in fellowship with those who have persecuted my friend Dr. Packer in the Diocese New Westminster, Canada. I cannot be in fellowship with those who have denied the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. But I also respect those faithful brethren who are going to Lambeth; I respect their decision and will not condemn it.”

Asked whether there were any other challenges the Anglican Communion was grappling with, other than the ordination of an openly gay bishop and blessings of same sex unions, Bishop Benn named the questioning in some quarters of the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the contention in some others that, “the church wrote the Bible and therefore the church can re-write the Bible according to 21st Century fashion”. Read more


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1 comment:

Richard Brown said...

Bishop Wallace has managed, out of all that's passed about GAFCON, to finally hit the nail on the head. The Guardian, for example, in all of its coverage, has managed to portray GAFCON as a bunch of homosexual bashing Bishops. I hope they are not. I hope this conference is about authority and where we get it from. If we don't have authority for our preaching and teaching, then what right to we have to do it?