Global Anglican Future Conference makes a move to abandon Canterbury

The influential group of conservative Anglicans have announced the establishment of ​a new Council to lead the Global Anglican Communion, in a direct challenge to the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury ‌who is about to be installed.

The move by the Global Anglican Future Conference which brings together conservative churches mainly from Africa and Asia and claims to represent a majority of the world’s Anglicans – highlights a deepening rift within the Church after years of tension over theological and social issues.

Global Anglican Future Conference opposes liberal shifts in parts of the Communion, including the ordination ​of women and greater inclusion of LGBTQ+ members.

The Group strongly criticised the Church of England’s appointment last October of Rev ​Sarah Mullally as its first female Archbishop of Canterbury, and thus spiritual leader of the world’s Anglicans spread across ⁠165 countries.

Bishop Paul Donison, the Secretary-General of the new Council, told the conference in Abuja, Nigeria that the current instruments of communion no longer meet the needs of the majority of Anglicans around the world, the global Anglican Communion is ​to be led by a conciliar structure.

The council will include bishops, priests and ​lay members, each with voting privileges, GAFCON announced.

Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, a former Rwandan refugee who later studied in the United States, was elected chairman of the new council. GAFCON said he would not be primus inter pares (first among equals) but would share power.

Asked if GAFCON members still recognised the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the group’s spokesman Justin Murff said that the Global Anglican Council recognises ​Archbishop Laurent Mbanda as its leader.

However the Communion Office in London said GAFCON’s announcement failed to take into account years of consultations ​over Anglican identity, structures and leadership.

This had led to ideas, known as The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, which included exploring “more collegial, diverse approaches to shared leadership” in a post-colonial world.

“We ‌encourage Anglican ⁠member churches and Anglican groups to engage with this conversation about The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals,” The New added.

Rev Mullally, who was officially confirmed in her new role at a ceremony in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, on January 5, is due to be enthroned as the 106th archbishop of Canterbury on March 25th 2026.

It should be remembered that the Church of England broke from Rome nearly 500 years ago under King Henry VIII and since then, the Archbishop of Canterbury has been the symbolic head of an Anglican ​Communion that has expanded worldwide through missionary ​activity, especially in countries that ⁠were once part of the British Empire.

Over the last three decades, reforms in the Church of England have allowed women to be ordained first as priests and later as bishops, but such reforms – along with debate over same-sex relationships – have ​increasingly pushed the Communion toward what some leaders describe as a breaking point.

Many Anglicans in Africa and Asia, where ​the Church has been ⁠growing fastest, reject the more progressive trends seen in England and other Western countries.

GAFCON, founded in 2008 to counter what members describe as the abandonment of scripture, says it is not seeking to break away from the Anglican Communion but to “reorganise and realign” it around Biblical authority.

One of the proposed reforms aimed at warding off a ⁠full schism ​would dilute the Archbishop of Canterbury’s role, creating a rotating international figurehead, who would assume ​some organisational responsibilities while the Archbishop focuses on pastoral duties.

In October last year, Archbishop Mbanda said the grouping had not left the Anglican Communion, but they are the Anglican Communion and the future has ​arrived and no turning back.

Additional reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe in Lagos.