Overview
- Conservative Anglican leaders created the Global Anglican Council instead of appointing a primus inter pares, opting for shared authority among primates, bishops, clergy, and laity.
- Archbishop Laurent Mbanda was elected chairman, Archbishop Miguel Uchôa deputy chairman, and Bishop Paul Donison general secretary, with terms running until GAFCON V in 2028.
- The new council directed members to shun Canterbury-led gatherings such as the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’ Meeting, and the Anglican Consultative Council, and to cut related financial ties.
- GAFCON leaders insist they are reordering rather than forming a breakaway communion, citing doctrinal departures on issues including same-sex marriage as the reason for disengagement.
- Organizers reported 347 bishops and 121 lay and clerical leaders attended in Abuja, while critics such as Kenya’s Bishop Rose Okeno warned against distancing from the Communion’s historic instruments.