Gafcon, a movement claiming to represent the majority of Anglicans worldwide, particularly in the Global South, has officially rejected the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury and related institutions such as the Lambeth Conference — declaring itself the true “Global Anglican Communion.”
The declaration marks a formal split in the Anglican Church, following years of mounting concern among Gafcon leaders over what they view as the mainstream Communion’s departure from biblical teaching. Their announcement comes after recent controversies, including the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Cherry Vann, a practicing lesbian, as Archbishop of Wales, and the naming of Dame Sarah Mullally as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, who has voiced support for same-sex blessings.
In an announcement titled “The future has arrived,” released to members and the public on Oct. 16, Most Rev. Laurent Mbanda, chairman of the Gafcon Primates’ Council and archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, explained the reasons behind the decision.
Mbanda recalled how the Gafcon group first gathered at the Global Anglican Future Conference in 2008 in Jerusalem to “prayerfully respond to the abandonment of the Scriptures by some of the most senior leaders of the Anglican Communion, and to seek their repentance.”
The archbishop alleged a continuing absence of such repentance and said Gafcon leaders have been prayerfully considering a future framework for Anglicans whom he and his peers regard as faithful to biblical teaching, with the aim of restoring that faithfulness to the heart of the Communion.
“Today, that future has arrived,” announced Mbanda after a meeting of the Gafcon Primates’ Council. “Our Gafcon Primates gathered this hour to fulfil our mandate to reform the Anglican Communion, as expressed in the Jerusalem Statement of 2008.”
A resolution to restore the Anglican Communion was declared as follows:
“We declare that the Anglican Communion will be reordered, with only one foundation of communion, namely the Holy Bible, ‘translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading’ (Jerusalem Declaration, Article II), which reflects Article VI of the 39 Articles of Religion,” said Mbanda.
The Gafcon leader also said the Anglican breakaway group is officially rejecting the “Instruments of Communion,” which he identified as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), and the Primates’ Meeting. He said these bodies have failed to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Communion.
“We cannot continue to have communion with those who advocate the revisionist agenda, which has abandoned the inerrant word of God as the final authority and overturned Resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference,” added Mbanda.
“Therefore, Gafcon has re-ordered the Anglican Communion by restoring its original structure as a fellowship of autonomous provinces bound together by the Formularies of the Reformation, as reflected at the first Lambeth Conference in 1867, and we are now the Global Anglican Communion.”
Mbanda said provinces of Gafcon’s Global Anglican Communion will not participate in meetings called by the Archbishop of Canterbury, including gatherings of, or financial exchanges with, the Anglican Consultative Council or its networks.
“Provinces which have yet to do so are encouraged to amend their constitution to remove any reference to being in communion with the See of Canterbury and the Church of England,” added the Gafcon declaration, as quoted by Mbanda.
He said a province or diocese seeking membership in the Global Anglican Communion must assent to the Jerusalem Declaration of 2008, the contemporary standard for Anglican identity.
A Council of Primates of all member provinces is also being formed to elect a chairman as it continues “to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
“As I declared in my statement two weeks ago, ‘the reset of our beloved Communion is now uniquely in the hands of Gafcon, and we are ready to take the lead,’” said Mbanda. “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 archbishop emphasized.
Gafcon intends to both “confer and celebrate” the Global Anglican Communion at the upcoming G26 Bishops Conference in Abuja, Nigeria, from March 3–6, 2026.
“Please pray that we will lead our Communion in prayerful submission to the Holy Spirit as we hear the voice of Jesus in his wondrous Scriptures, to the glory of God,” added Mbanda.
