GSFA Call to Pray for Lambeth 2022

Issued 5th July, 2022

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Pet 2:9)

Dear Faithful Ones in the GSFA Provinces and beyond,

The Lambeth Conference is only a few weeks away (July 27 – Aug 7). It can be, in the grace of God, a watershed Conference. We need the mercy and power of God. Only the Spirit of God can reform the Anglican Church according to biblical lines and enable her to discover a fresh spiritual vitality to bring the light of Christ to a world engulfed in darkness, gloom and widespread human suffering. We need therefore to give ourselves to fervent prayer.

There are pressing world issues that the Church must address and commit herself to in terms of responsible action. And there is the fundamental issue of doctrine with respect to same sex unions that the Conference cannot leave unattended.

Please pray for the orthodox bishops in the Communion who have decided to attend the coming Conference. Our desire is to collectively be a faithful witness at Canterbury itself to the life-giving truth of the ‘faith once delivered’. We respect the decision of some orthodox Provinces who have decided not to attend the Conference on the matter of principle and who find that their non-attendance is the best way to reinforce the message that the orthodox cannot “walk together’ with revisionist Provinces. For those of us who are attending, pray that the Spirit will clothe us with humble boldness and loving integrity to convey the same message, and to call the Communion to reset its trajectory to be in line with our biblical and historical roots.

We are calling the faithful in our Provinces to pray specifically for Lambeth 2022 during their respective lunchtime (anytime between 12-2 pm) for the period 7 July to 7 Aug. You are encouraged to use some of these Prayer times for prayer & fasting as we seek the face of God with all our hearts (Isaiah 62: 6-7). In the providence of God, because our 25 Provinces and their respective dioceses are spread across the face of the earth, we may end up having close to a 24-hour prayer chain around the globe for a whole month! We thank God that EFAC has similarly called on evangelical bishops in UK to a season of prayer for Lambeth 2022.

Here are the Prayer Pointers:

1. Pray for GSFA’s 4-fold objectives for orthodox bishops attending Lambeth 2022 :

• Foster the Unity of the Orthodox, whilst being a faithful witness and defender of ‘the faith once delivered’;
• Sound a clarion call to Biblical Faithfulness, including seeking the ‘reaffirmation of Lambeth 1.10’* as the ‘official teaching’ of the Anglican Church on marriage and sexuality;
• Stand by GSFA’s principle of not being a ‘breakaway group’ from the Anglican Communion. GSFA sees itself and seeks to be part of the ‘holy remnant’ that God has preserved in the Anglican Communion; and to
• Spur on the faithful in the Communion to get the Gospel out into the world, earnestly defending the purity of the faith in order that it might be propagated to a lost and needy world.

2. Pray for the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rt Hon & Most Revd Justin Welby, that the Spirit of God may be powerfully at work in him as he leads the Conference.

3. Pray for the Bible Studies on 1 Peter that the message of the book on ‘genuine faith and sure hope’ will be grasped and acted upon.

4. Pray for robust witness and winsome love by the orthodox bishops that Christ may be glorified and His cause advanced.

5. Pray for good communication among the orthodox bishops that they may speak with ‘one voice’ at the Conference, and that their media communications bring clarity, hope and renewed mission to the faithful.

The GSFA Co-ordinator of Prayer, the Most Revd James Wong, Primate of the Indian Ocean, together with the GSFA-EFAC Resource Group for the Conference, will bring specific Prayer Updates during the Conference.

Thank you, my dear brothers & sisters in Christ, for joining us to pray for the outcome of Lambeth Conference 2022. We desperately need the power of God to fulfil the purposes of God for His church: namely to be ‘a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God … bringing the world out of darkness into His marvelous light.’

To God alone be all the glory!

Yours in His wonderful service,

The Most Revd Dr Justin Badi

Chairman, GSFA