Last Tuesday, I had the joy of sharing good news: that biblically faithful Anglicans in the 75-85% of the Global South and GAFCON networks have finally repudiated the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the false teaching he has championed and are now prepared to “reset” the Global Anglican Communion on its biblical foundations. On June 11-15, 2024, some 200 delegates—archbishops, bishops, clergy, and lay leaders—will meet in Egypt to ratify and launch the ecclesial bodies envisioned in the Cairo Covenant. This gathering will mark a decisive step in providing genuine Communion that addresses both the gospel deficit (false teaching) and the ecclesial deficit (lack of accountability) that have plagued global Anglicanism for the last 50 years.

To date, eleven provinces (national or regional Anglican churches) have given their assent to the existing Covenantal Structure and have become ordinary members of the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans (GSFA).[1] Another two ecclesial bodies from GAFCON have become associate members,[2] and five Anglican mission societies[3] have become mission partners of GSFA. When the 200 delegates from these Anglican provinces, dioceses, and mission societies meet in June for the first GSFA Assembly, a significant part of the Assembly will be dedicated to operationalize the Covenantal Structure; namely, the election and formation of the Board (the Standing Committee of the Assembly) and the constituent elements of the structure like the Council of Bishops and its Faith and Order Commission, the Primates Council and its Steering Committee, and all of the “mission-focused” track committees that are at the heart and organization of the relational commitments in Section 2 of the Cairo Covenant.

Last week, I noted that both the Rev. Drs. Gerry McDermott and Stephen Noll questioned whether the Cairo Covenant provides a sufficiently secure foundation for the epochal reset of the Communion that biblically faithful Anglicans, GAFCON and GSFA alike, have longed for. Both raised suggested amendments to the Doctrinal Foundations in Section 1 before proceeding any further. As I noted last week, any changes and improvements by amendment can be made to the Doctrinal Foundations and elsewhere in the Covenantal Structure, but not before the First Assembly. 

In fact, the procedures for making such changes are spelled out in the Covenantal Structure itself. The genius of the Covenantal Structures lies in part with the Faith and Order Commission of the Council of Bishops who are available at all times to operationalize the ancient, rightful, and principal duty of bishops to guard the faith and order, doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Church now at the global Communion level. This biblically faithful and rigorous process takes time, but it is a central governing principle of Anglican Conciliarism. Therefore, we must first launch both the Council of Bishops and its Faith and Order Commission so that this process is in place.

In the meantime, the existing GSFA Steering Committee appointed a Covenantal Structure Review Committee to begin collating and assessing proposed changes or amendments to the Covenantal Structure which can be discussed at the First Assembly and deliberated on to agree on follow-up actions, including referral to the bishops’ Faith and Order Commission.

In short, the present wording and scope of the existing Covenantal Structure in the Cairo Covenant is sufficient (sound, clear, and comprehensive enough) to launch a global ecclesial body of orthodox Anglican churches that can benefit from full communion in its life and mission to the world. The Covenantal Structure (updated in 2021) is adequate for the purposes for which it was written; namely:

(a) to clearly articulate the doctrinal foundations of GSFA as an ecclesial grouping based on an orthodox, canonical, and historic reading of holy scripture,

(b) to establish relational commitments in mission and ministry among member churches; and

(c) to establish conciliar structures and processes that create mutual accountability among member churches in matters of faith, order, and practice. 

We agree with the Rev. Dr. Steve Noll that there should be wider distribution and reading of the Cairo Covenant. That’s why the American Anglican Council published 24 essays on the Cairo Covenant which you can find here and a video series with 23 videos exegeting the Covenantal Structures line by line, paragraph by paragraph which can be viewed here. Within the two hours and 45 minutes of transparent exegesis in the video series, we have also linked time and again to the text of the Cairo Covenant, as well as within our articles and Anglican Perspective podcasts. We also note that the Cairo Covenant was republished online by Anglican Ink, The Living Church, the Anglican Church in North America, Virtue Online, Thinking Anglicans, Amateur Anglican, Anglican Mainstream, and the Church of Nigeria. We are grateful that Dr. Noll himself republished the Cairo Covenant on his own blog, Stephen’s Witness.

Would that more Anglicans would share the good news we find in the Cairo Covenant and its sufficiency, as it was written, for such a time as this! Let us therefore guard the unity of this growing body of Anglicans even as we seek ways to strengthen our source document for the long-term good and responsiveness of biblically faithful Anglicans everywhere, GSFA and GAFCON alike. Then, we can join in that wonderful hymn, The Church’s One Foundation, with a crescendo of hope: 

Though with a scornful wonder

           Men see her sore oppressed,

           By schisms rent asunder,

           By heresies distressed,

           Yet saints their watch are keeping;

           Their cry goes up, “How long?”

           And soon the night of weeping

           Shall be the morn of song.

May we continue to pray that the night of weeping will draw to an end and that in June the morn of song will begin to rise in the Global Anglican Communion.

[1] These include the Anglican Churches in Alexandria, Bangladesh, Brazil (IAB-Gafcon), Chile, Congo, Indian Ocean, Myanmar, ACNA, South-East Asia, Sudan, and Uganda.

[2] The Gafcon Diocese of the Southern Cross and the Anglican Network in Europe.

[3] The Relay Trust, SOMA International, The American Anglican Council, Anglican Frontier Missions and EFAC.