This week, Sydney's Synod has voted overwhelmingly to endorse the Jerusalem Declaration, a statement overwhelmingly supported by those who attended GAFCON in June. At the time of GAFCON, Archbishop Peter Jensen said the declaration would ‘help bring order out of chaos'. Synod’s declared support for the historic communiqué has come as some GAFCON churches continue to be targeted by the liberal dioceses in which they find themselves.

Synod endorsed the Jerusalem Declaration "as exemplifying the tenets of orthodoxy which underpin our Anglican identity" and to "invite all Anglicans in Australia to endorse the Declaration".

Synod also agreed to "congratulate our Archbishop and Assistant Bishops on their attendance at GAFCON and their move to continue our development as a truly Bible-based Anglican Church".

Last week, Synod passed a motion calling on Standing Committee to include in its budget proposals to the 2009 session of Synod "appropriate financial support to enable Archbishop Jensen to adequately discharge his responsibilities as Honorary Secretary to the GAFCON Primates' Council".

The decision followed a screening of footage from the Jerusalem conference, which features screen grabs from the talks and press conferences at GAFCON, as well as footage of Sydney Anglican clergy and laypeople on ‘pilgrimages’ to sites in Jerusalem, with many other GAFCON attendees.

Why it is right for Sydney to support GAFCON

In his Presidential Address to Synod last week, Archbishop Jensen recounted his experience of the conference and movement that, together with Connect09, had "dominated my life".

Archbishop Jensen was unflinching as he explained why he remains confident that it was right for him and Sydney's five regional bishops not to go to Lambeth, but to commit to GAFCON.

"I have never worked such long hours or with such intensity [as at the time of GAFCON], but I can say this: nor have I ever seen so clearly the Lord's hand at work in blessing his people, especially in that week in Jerusalem."

Archbishop Jensen reaffirmed that the birth of the GAFCON movement was delayed for as long as possible, as "there had been hope against hope that a solution would be found to the problems in the Anglican Communion".

Further, the Archbishop said the portrayal of GAFCON as a "breakaway" movement aimed at splitting the Anglican Communion is "perverse, almost malign", as the first tear in the Communion’s fabric actually appeared in 2003 with the appointment of a divorced and actively homosexual bishop in the US.

"[The Anglican Communion] is a highly significant entity, [it] is to be cherished and maintained, not torn apart," Archbishop Jensen asserted.

"The aim of GAFCON is to renew and invigorate the Communion and to help bring order and peace out of the mayhem created by the American division."

Far from making trouble, those protesting against the developments in the US and Canada were eventually left with "no choice" but to leave, he said.

"The very Scriptures which urge us to unity, to stand together in the cause of the gospel, also warn us that there are moments when we must break unity to preserve the gospel and the spiritual lives of those in our care," he said.

It was therefore good and right for Sydney to recognise and support "those who bravely live out a protest".

"They need our fellowship to make up for the fellowship they are losing by standing back from their original home church."

Archbishop Jensen’s words have come as St John's Shaughnessy, led by Sydney Anglican the Rev David Short, stands with two other churches " St Matthew's, Abbotsford and St Matthias'/St Luke's, Vancouver " in a Canadian court to avoid being evicted from their church buildings.

The three churches were part of a group that voted to break away from the Anglican Church in Canada and realign with the Diocese of the Southern Cone in February.

Already, St Matthew's and St Matthias'/St Luke's have had their bank accounts frozen and their church trustees replaced.

Only weeks ago in the United States, the Diocese of Pittsburgh voted to realign with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, after its bishop, Robert Duncan was deposed for "abandoning the Communion" of The Episcopal Church.

Bishop Duncan had opposed American Primate, Bishop Katharine Schori over the Church's erosion of traditional Christian teaching on human sexuality, and had also given his diocesan synod the freedom to discuss leaving The Episcopal Church.
Archbishop Jensen related that he had shared, prayed and agonised with figures such as the Rev David Short, Bishop Bob Duncan, Archbishop Gregory Venables and Bishop Don Harvey, often on the phone, late at night and across the world.

Why now is the time to stand

Archbishop Jensen asserted in his Presidential Address that acting now " in staying away from Lambeth and attending GAFCON " has also been a response to the "danger of the spread of this theological fallout" to Africa, Asia, South America and even Australia.

"Not to be there [at Lambeth] spoke a thousand times more powerfully than attendance would have done," he said.

He argued that the outcomes of Lambeth had doubtful potential to meaningfully improve the situation.

Lambeth's proposed Anglican Covenant " which is likely not to deal adequately with the crisis - was likely to "take a very long time to be ratified"; the moratoria on activities causing offence were "ambiguous" and seemed to be being defied already; and the announcement of the provision of a Pastoral Forum to care for those objecting to this "theological innovation" had been followed by the deposition of one of those people in Bishop Duncan.

So the newly formed Primates Council will bring "order to the Anglican Communion" by welcoming those forced to leave their own churches.

Conversations with bishops in the Nairobi hotel room where GAFCON was planned were flavoured by mission, the need for biblical repentance and the importance of an authentic gospel, Archbishop Jensen said.

"The business of assuring people that their sins are forgiven is no light thing. These are the keys of heaven and hell, administered with great solemnity by the appointed preachers of God's word.

“Woe to the one who casually assures us in the name of God that we are forgiven when we are not!"