We don’t support same-sex unions, Anglican top clergy insist after Nairobi meeting

Global Anglican Future Conference officials Dr Ruth Senyonyi, Dr Peter Jensen and Mr Benjamin Kwashi during a meeting at All Saints Cathedral. [PHOTO: Jonah Onyango/STANDARD]

By STEPHEN MAKABILA

Anglicans across the world have maintained their opposition to homo-sexuality and same-sex marriages.

In a communiqué released at the end of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) meeting in Nairobi, the church said it still stands by The Lambeth Resolution of 1998.

The 1998 Lambeth Resolution I.10 on Human Sexuality states that sexual activity is to be exclusive to marriage and that abstinence is a right for those who are single.

“We still hold to that authoritative statement. Sexual temptation affects us all, and we pray therefore for faithfulness to God’s word in marriage and singleness,” read the Communique in part.

The Nairobi meeting, which brought together 1,200 Anglican Bishops from across the world, was held at the All-Saints Cathedral. The Anglican Communion is the third largest body of Christians in the world, with nearly 80 million members, most of who are located in Sub-Saharan Africa.

GAFCON, which first met in Jerusalem in 2008, launched a renewal movement – the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. GAFCON was convened to counter a false gospel which was spreading throughout the Communion questioning the uniqueness of Christ and his substitutionary death.

False gospel

To the Anglicans, the false gospel undermined the authority of God’s Word and sought to mask sinful behaviour with the language of human rights. It promoted homosexual practice as consistent with holiness, despite the fact that the Bible clearly identifies it as sinful.

A crisis point was reached in 2003 when a man in an active same-sex relationship was consecrated bishop in the USA. In the years that followed, there were repeated attempts to resolve the crisis within the Communion, none of which succeeded.

The situation worsened with further defiance. As a response to the crisis, the Church adopted The Jerusalem Statement and Declaration which commited members to biblical faithfulness, and has since provided the framework for renewed Anglican orthodoxy to which all Evangelicals, Anglo-Catholics and Charismatics are committed.

But Anglican churches are increasingly divided over scriptural authority and the uniqueness of salvation through Jesus Christ, with Global South church leaders being more theologically traditionalist than their northern counterparts.

During the Nairobi meeting, participants grieved that several national governments, aided by some church leaders, were claiming to redefine marriage and have turned same-sex marriage into a human rights issue.

Civil partnerships

“Human rights, we believe, are founded on a true understanding of human nature, which is that we are created in God’s image, male and female such that a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife (Matthew 19:6; Ephesians 5:31). We want to make clear that any civil partnership of a sexual nature does not receive the blessing of God. According to the deliberations at the meeting, the gospel alone has the power to transform lives.

“We therefore commit ourselves and call on our brothers and sisters throughout the Communion to join in rediscovering the power of the gospel and seeking boldness from the Holy Spirit to proclaim it with renewed vigour,” added the report.

Participants also resolved to commit to the future of the GFCA and agreed to take steps to strengthen their fellowship.