If the Anglican Communion should have a schism, which no one at GAFCON’s podiums or pulpits are apparently saying it is, Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney says the responsibility lies with the American and Canadian churches. He also says:
What GAFCON is doing is saying that given that new state of affairs, how can we now live together and how can we sustain the highest level of communion and work well together. My way of putting it is to say that the British Empire has now ceased to be and the British commonwealth of nations has come into existence or the nuclear family has turned into an extended family. This is the new reality. I don’t hear GAFCON saying or GAFCON being a further cause for schism.
Now, last we checked, extended families were usually the result of divorce and remarriage, which really does imply a split is happening. So even though this address was intended to say it wasn’t about schism, we thought it was saying something else.
Apparently, so did the Age (here), which not only frames the comments as a formal declaration of schism, but goes so far as to paint the end of the metaphorical Empire as a sign of things to come:
Dr Jensen said that the Global Anglican Future Conference was acknowledging that a new state of affairs existed within the worldwide Anglican communion, in which the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury was no longer considered dominant.
Anglican TV says offers live video from the conference. According to them there are 3 purposes for GAFCON:
1. To provide an opportunity for fellowship as well as to continue to experience and proclaim the transforming love of Jesus Christ
2. To develop a renewed understanding of our identity as Anglican Christians.
3. To prepare for an Anglican future in which the Gospel is uncompromised and Christ-centred mission is a top priority.