On Friday 15 January the Primates meeting of the Anglican church, called by Archbishop Justin Welby to discuss the moral and spiritual crisis in the Church surrounding attitudes to homosexuality revealed that they had voted to explicitly reject same-sex marriage.
After five days of discussion they concluded it is a ‘fundamental departure’ from Anglican teaching. They also decided to exclude the US branch of Anglicanism, The Episcopal Church (TEC) from key bodies and decision making for 3 years because of their embracing of same-sex marriage, but it remains a part of the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Church of Canada which takes a similar stance to TEC but has not yet officially endorsed same-sex marriage services escaped censure.
Repentance?
Dr. Eliud Wabukala and Dr. Peter Jensen of GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference) subsequently released a statement saying that ‘this action must not be seen as an end, but as a beginning.’ They go on to say that ‘it must be recognised that the continuing brokenness of the Communion is not the result simply of failed relationships, but is caused by the persistent rejection of biblical and apostolic faith as set out in Lambeth Resolution 1.10. We are therefore disappointed that the Primate’s statement makes no reference to repentance.’
