•Anglican church
A grouping of conservative Anglican churches that rejects the idea of a woman serving as the titular head of the worldwide Anglican Communion yesterday denied it was creating a schism, insisting instead that it was defending the historic continuity of the Church.
The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), a coalition of largely conservative Anglican churches from Africa and Asia, has opposed liberal developments within parts of the Communion, including the ordination of women and greater inclusion of LGBTQ+ members, reports AFP.
Tensions escalated after the Church of England — the Anglican Communion’s historic “mother church” —last year appointed its first female Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally. The move has particularly unsettled GAFCON, which is expected this week to elect what it describes as an alternative leader.
Speaking to reporters at the start of a three-day meeting in Nigeria, GAFCON spokesperson Justin Murff said the group was not seeking to break away from the Anglican Communion but rather to “reorganise and realign” it around biblical authority.
“This is not a schism. It is actually a claim to continuity,” Murff said.
Founded in 2008, GAFCON says it now represents the majority of practising Anglicans worldwide.
“Logically, it does not make sense that a small group in the United Kingdom, with minimal input from the Global South, should determine who leads the global Anglican Church,” Murff added.
He noted that the movement’s growth reflects the demographic reality of modern Anglicanism, where most practising members now live in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The Church of England emerged nearly 500 years ago after Henry VIII broke away from the Roman Catholic Church.
For centuries, the Archbishop of Canterbury has served as the symbolic head of the Anglican Communion, which comprises about 85 million members across 165 countries.
However, that authority —historically rooted in the missionary expansion of the British Empire — has come under increasing pressure in recent decades as divisions over women’s ordination and same-sex rights have deepened.
These disagreements have strained relations between the more progressive Church of England and the more traditional Anglican churches across much of Africa and Asia, raising fresh questions about the future unity and leadership structure of the global Anglican Communion.
