Editor’s Note: This is the fifteenth in a series of articles by Dr. Stephen Noll, titled “The Jerusalem Declaration: A Personal Commentary.” 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. If clause 8 on…
Practice Resurrection: A Reading of Wendell Berry’s “Manifesto”
Berry’s “Manifesto”… is more than a commentary on culture and politics, it is a commentary on the human condition.
Hannah More: Lessons from the Educator and Abolitionist
Hannah More was one of Britain’s most influential Christian women—a writer, reformer of society, poet and playwright, educator, abolitionist, and lifelong Anglican.
Marriage and Mankind (Jerusalem Declaration 8.2)
By linking the “unchangeable standard of Christian marriage” to the creation of humankind as male and female, clause 8 opens a doorway to consider a cluster of related issues concerning human nature.
Marriage and Sexual Intimacy (Jerusalem Declaration 8.1)
Many outside the Gafcon movement, and some within it, have asked: “Why are you hung up on sex?” My reply has two parts. First, I will exposit this clause literally, focusing on the meaning of marriage as expressed in the Bible and Prayer Book.
William Wilberforce: Faith that Changed a Nation
On February 23, 1807, after nearly two decades of setbacks, speeches, defeats, and renewed efforts, the British House of Commons voted overwhelmingly to abolish Great Britain’s slave trade. Members rose to cheer as William Wilberforce—exhausted and overcome with emotion—sat, with tears streaming down his face. This was a political victory, for sure; however, its roots…
The Governance of a Global Communion (Jerusalem Declaration 7.2)
When the Gafcon Primates announced a Global Anglican Communion of churches committed to the Jerusalem Declaration, it naturally followed that they would order it with the threefold ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons.
Equipped by the Historic Episcopate (Jerusalem Declaration 7.1)
We recognise that God has called and gifted bishops, priests and deacons in historic succession to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world.
The Standard of Prayer Book Worship (Jerusalem Declaration 6)
We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.
Discipleship: Submission to Christ the Lord (Jerusalem Declaration 5)
The phrase “we gladly proclaim and submit” is the retrospective boast of a person—and a church—that has come to know and follow Jesus as the Holy One of God.
Confessing the Faith: Protestant Articles of Religion (Jerusalem Declaration 4)
In the previous essay, I examined the development of doctrine, especially as it pertains to the Councils and Creeds of the first five centuries.
Do the Work of an Evangelist: An African Perspective (Jerusalem Declaration 9.2)
I am including here, as a supplement to this commentary, an interview with the Rev. Canon Dr. John Senyonyi, my friend, colleague, and successor as Vice Chancellor of Uganda Christian University.