GAFCON has confirmed the dates for its third international conference. Between 17-22 June 2018 it will return to Jerusalem, the venue of the first Global Anglican Future Conference in 2008 (from which the movement takes its name).
The GAFCON announcement explains that ‘The city stands as a constant reminder of the birth of the gospel and the movement’s determination to remain true to the teachings of our Lord and his Word’ and so, to appreciate the significance of the 2018 conference, it is worth recalling how it all began.
Collapse of discipline
Over 1,100 delegates gathered for that first conference, including over 200 bishops, many of whom came to Jerusalem rather than attend the 2008 Lambeth Conference alongside those bishops of the Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC) who had set aside the biblical teaching on sexuality affirmed by the1998 Lambeth Conference by assenting to the consecration of a man in an active homosexual relationship as a bishop.