The Jerusalem Declaration: A Personal Commentary
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles by Dr. Stephen Noll, titled “The Jerusalem Declaration: A Personal Commentary.” In this series, Dr. Noll draws on decades of experience in the GAFCON movement, especially his role as Secretary of the Statement group that drafted the Jerusalem Declaration and its accompanying Statement.
In recent years, I have been introducing myself as a “historical,” a term I picked up in Africa that means an alumnus or an elder. I am writing in this persona, as one who has been commenting on disputes in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion for nearly forty years and has participated in the Gafcon movement since its inception.
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The Global Anglican Future Conference
At the first Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem on June 22–29, 2008, I was secretary of the Statement group, which included the Primates of Kenya and Rwanda, two diocesan bishops from Nigeria and Sydney, a bishop’s wife from Nigeria (with a Ph.D.), two academics, and a vicar from England. By God’s grace, and with scores of contributions from the assembled bishops and delegates, we drafted the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration, which was acclaimed unanimously by the assembled participants and signed by the seven primates present.
The Future Has Arrived
On 16 October 2025, after three further GAFCON assemblies and years of obstruction by the Canterbury establishment in England, the Gafcon Primates Council issued a communique titled “The Future has Arrived” announcing the inauguration of the Global Anglican Communion:
Our Gafcon Primates gathered this hour to fulfil our mandate to reform the Anglican Communion, as expressed in the Jerusalem Statement of 2008…
Today, Gafcon is leading the Global Anglican Communion.
As has been the case from the very beginning,we have not left the Anglican Communion; we are the Anglican Communion.
(The statement is also referred to as the Martyrs’ Day Statement. October 16 is the day in the church calendar commemorating Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, Anglican bishops and Protestant martyrs under Queen Mary in 1555.)
The Abuja Affirmation
This announcement was followed by a meeting of Anglican leaders on 3-6 March 2026 in Abuja, Nigeria. The conference statement—The Abuja Affirmation—elaborated on the central role of the Jerusalem Declaration in the reordering of the Communion. Here are several relevant quotations:
True communion is confessional, rather than defined by a shared history or institutional structures. The Jerusalem Declaration, which includes the Reformation Formularies, expresses our common confession of the Biblical truth, shared faith, and communal conviction. We are in fellowship with all who assent to the Jerusalem Declaration.
The Jerusalem Declaration was written as an expression of authentic Anglican doctrine because the Canterbury-led Anglican Communion had lost connection to its biblical roots, compromising its values, structures and mission. To embrace the Jerusalem Declaration is to apply historical Anglican doctrine and practice to the needs of contemporary society. We encourage all provinces to distribute and recommend appropriate translations of the Jerusalem Declaration for study.
As noted above, participation in the Global Anglican Communion is by assent to the Jerusalem Declaration. That assent may be made by resolution of a Provincial or Diocesan Synod, or it could be incorporated into their respective constitutions. Parish Church Councils and individuals may also participate by assenting to the Jerusalem Declaration.
A Personal Commentary
Like any other historic statement, the Jerusalem Declaration calls for careful exposition. I intend to treat its literal sense, recalling some of the preliminary discussions that led to its composition. I shall also suggest an expansive sense, looking at implications and applications of its principles to wider issues in the church and secular culture.
Commentaries on the Jerusalem Declaration
- Stephen Noll, “The Jerusalem Declaration (2008): A Commentary for Anglicans in Uganda,” in Noll, The Global Anglican Communion: Contending for Anglicanism 1993-2018 (Anglican House 2018), pages 185-219.
- Stephen Noll, “Is GAFCON a Church? Thoughts on the Jerusalem Declaration,” in Noll, The Gospel of God and the Church of God: Global Anglican Essays (Anglican House, 2020), pages 9-42.
- Stephen Noll, “Thesis 9: The Declaration of Faith,” an excerpt from Toward Reviving, Reforming, and Reordering the Anglican Communion: Fourteen Theses for Global Anglicans at “Stephen’s Witness” https://stephenswitness.org/2023/03/25/toward-reviving-reforming-and-reordering-the-anglican-communion-fourteen-theses-for-global-anglicans-2/.
Other Commentaries
- Being Faithful: The Shape of Historic Anglicanism Today (LatimerTrust 2009). This work was produced by the GAFCON Theological Resource Group, of which I was a member, as a follow-up to the 2008 Conference. Includes Commentary on pages 25-69.
- A series of short YouTube commentaries by various speakers in 2020.
- “Orienting Toward Jerusalem: On the Jerusalem Declaration.” A series of essays by “New High Church” American Anglicans: “The Anglican Center seeks to bring the theological and pastoral spirit of historic, catholic Anglicanism into a modern, pan-jurisdictional context.”
- Michael Bird, “Word from the Bird” Substack. The Rev. Dr. Michael Bird is a noted Australian theologian who teaches at Ridley College in Melbourne. This seven-part series began on 2 March 2026.
- Martin Davie, Ruritania, Authority and the Jerusalem Declaration. Martin Davie is an English Evangelical who has commented on the JD as a legitimate development of Anglican doctrine. See also The Gospel and the Anglican Tradition (Gilead, 2018), index; and Noviter Non Nova: The Development of doctrine and the Church of England Debate about Marriage and Sexuality (Gilead, 2026), pages 84-87.
Articles in the Series
The Jerusalem Declaration: A Personal Commentary
The Global Anglican Communion: From Canterbury to Jerusalem
The Jerusalem Declaration & Statement: Apples of Gold in a Setting of Silver
Confessing the Gospel in Our Day (Jerusalem Declaration Clause 1)
The Bible: Believing God’s Word Written (Jerusalem Declaration Clause 2.1)
The Bible: Walking in God’s Word (Jerusalem Declaration Clause 2.2)
Confessing the Faith: Catholic Councils and Creeds (Jerusalem Declaration Clause 3)
Image: Photo of Jerusalem by FredFroese from Getty Images Signature, courtesy of Canva. Digitally edited by Jacob Davis.
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Confessing the Gospel in Our Day (Jerusalem Declaration Clause 1)
The Jerusalem Declaration is the confessional basis for a reformed and reordered Communion. It is not only a memento of the first GAFCON in 2008, but it is also the ongoing “contemporary standard for Anglican identity” for individual and corporate membership in the Global Anglican Communion.
The Bible: Walking in God’s Word (Jerusalem Declaration Clause 2.2)
The Jerusalem Declaration offers a set of principles to guide us in our Christian walk, as outlined in the second sentence of Clause 2: “The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.”
