THE BISHOP of Armidale, Peter Brain, was among the Anglican leaders who endorsed an historic document that addresses the crisis gripping the church over scriptural authority.
Bishop Brain is pictured attending the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem in the past week.
The conference was called in response to the ideological split within the church over gay bishops and same-sex marriages, and to North American bishops supporting those views being invited to the Lambeth Conference later this month.
Church leaders representing a majority of the world’s practising Anglicans affirmed the GAFCON Statement and the Jerusalem Declaration at the end of the conference on Sunday.
It calls for the creation of a new council of primates overseeing a volunteer fellowship committed to mission and biblical Anglicanism as well as a new structure of accountability based on the Jerusalem Declaration.
Speaking specifically to Anglican Christians in North America, the conference document says GAFCON believes ‘the time is now ripe for the formation of a province in North America for the federation currently known as Common Cause Partnership to be recognised by the primates’ council’.
Bishop Brain said the conference was ‘an extraordinary experience, an extraordinary show of unity . . . unanimous among the 1191 people there’.
“It was a clear statement and I believe many, many Anglicans will agree with it, especially people in the pews,” he said.
“For people in the Armidale diocese, it would be exacly what they would agree to.
“It indicates massive support for those in places where the leadership are denying many of the great truths of the Christian faith.”
The statement declares that ‘our fellowship is not breaking away from the Anglican communion’.
It asserts the intention of all those involved to remain Anglican.