By this time, it is clear that the Jerusalem Declaration has become the doctrinal standard of the global Anglican realignment.
The Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll is Professor Emeritus at Trinity Anglican Seminary and retired Vice Chancellor of Uganda Christian University. He served on the Statement Group of the first three Global Anglican Future Conferences and gave an inaugural address at the fourth. He has written extensively about the history of the Gafcon movement in The Global Anglican Communion: Contending for Anglicanism 1993-2018 (Anglican House: 2018) and online at “Reviving, Reforming, and Reordering the Anglican Communion: Fourteen Theses for Global Anglicans” (2023). He currently serves on the ministry board of Anglican Compass.
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…
The Global Anglican Communion: From Canterbury to Jerusalem
Someone may ask: “Hasn’t the Anglican Communion been around for a long, long time?” This depends on what you consider a long time and how you define the Anglican Communion.
Women Bishops and Reception: An Occasion for Rethinking
Editor’s Note: The Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll, now a board member of Anglican Compass, also served from 2015 to 2020 as the Convener of the GAFCON Task Force on Women in the Episcopate. In 2017, this Task Force issued a recommendation for a moratorium on the consecration of women bishops. In this article, we share Dr. Noll’s 2019 essay…
“From the Beginning”: God’s Design for Marriage (10th Anniversary Edition)
The Story Behind the Statement The legal legitimation of same-sex marriage in June 2015 was an important crossroads in American history and the Anglican Church’s witness in North America. I saw this event coming twenty years ago. I felt led to write a tract for the 1997 Episcopal General Convention titled Two Sexes, One Flesh:…
The Canons of Nicaea: Their Relevance for Anglicans Today
As we repeat the Nicene Creed week by week and come to appreciate its teaching, it is easy to miss the historic revolution that led to its creation at the First Council of Nicea. The early Church from Pentecost onward was a missionary movement taking the Gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria to the…
Trinity Sunday: God the Father’s Day?
Some years ago, David Roseberry posted a piece on Anglican Compass titled, “Should You Preach a Father’s Day Sermon on Father’s Day?” (Answer: “Yes!”). Let me pose another question, particularly appropriate in 2025, when Father’s Day converges with Trinity Sunday. My question is this: Should we preach on God the Father on Trinity Sunday? Have…
We Believe: Of All That Is, Visible and Invisible
The first article of the Nicene Creed—“We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth”—can easily slip by without our stopping to wonder at it. This is particularly true of the brief addendum, not found in the Apostles’ Creed, “of all that is, visible and invisible.” But this little phrase…
Prayers for the Global Anglican Communion of Churches
As Anglican churches prepare this World Mission Sunday, I would like to propose that our prayers include a petition for the global Anglican communion of churches.
George Herbert: A Rookie Anglican Guide to the Priest and Poet
George Herbert, perhaps the greatest devotional poet in the English language, was also a faithful pastor to a small country church. When I was a student, Herbert helped lead the way of my pilgrimage to Christ. As an adult disciple and priest, I have continually refreshed my spirit by dipping back into Herbert’s prose and…
Believing the Bible (Jerusalem Declaration Clause 2.1)
Clause 2 has two sentences. Taken together, they capture the twofold dynamic of the Bible, moving from God’s gracious self-revelation to our thankful response.