The Jerusalem Declaration: A Personal Commentary
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.
At GAFCON 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.
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By this time, it is clear that the Jerusalem Declaration has become the doctrinal standard of the global Anglican realignment. The Jerusalem Declaration has been included in the “Documentary Foundations” section of the 2019 Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church in North America. Assent to the Declaration has been an entry requirement for attendance at subsequent Conferences and will now continue as a requirement for membership in the Global Anglican Communion.
This “Personal Commentary” does not pretend to be a scholarly treatment of the areas the Declaration covers. What I hope to do is provide some background and appreciation for this historical “movement in the Spirit” in Anglican history.
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)
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 Jerusalem Declaration & Statement: Apples of Gold in a Setting of Silver
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Proverbs 25:11 In their statement that “The Future Has Arrived,” the Primates of the Gafcon movement have declared: Our Gafcon Primates gathered this hour to fulfil our mandate to reform the Anglican Communion, as expressed in the Jerusalem Statement of 2008. To be a member…
