Statement by 
THE EVANGELICAL FELLOWSHIP IN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION
in support for Evangelical Fellowship in the Church in Wales (EFCW)
In July this year Archbishop Cherry Vann was installed as Primate of the Anglican Church in Wales. At the time of her appointment there was both local and global shock and disappointment, given that she is in a same sex relationship which is contrary to Lambeth 1.10. The responses of Gafcon and the GSFA reflect these concerns.
Since then the position of faithful and orthodox Anglicans in Wales has become acutely challenging.
On behalf of EFAC Global, the Executive Committee wish
- To assure all those in the Church in Wales desiring to uphold true Christian teaching and discipleship, of the prayer and support of their brothers and sisters around the world for their biblical faithfulness and willingness to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3).
- To thank God for the same biblical faithfulness among those who have left the Church in Wales and joined the Anglican Convocation in Europe. We pray for Bishop Stuart Bell and all those who long to uphold the apostolic faith and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God.
- To lament that the Governing Body of the Church in Wales has taken no heed of the global appeals for restraint nor what it means to be part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.
- To commit to pray for the Archbishop and her fellow bishops, as well as the clergy and laity of the Church, that even now there may be a deep repentance and turning to God.
- To grieve that the decline and difficulties that the Church in Wales is facing are exacerbated by the departure from the biblical faith enshrined in the historic formularies of the Anglican Communion.
- To repent of our own failure in the obedience of faith and the love of our neighbours.
- To rejoice in the hope “that the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all nations” (Isaiah 61:11)
Archbishop Cherry Vann’s same sex civil partnership is a clear breach of Lambeth 1:10 resolution, agreed overwhelmingly by the last gathering of all the bishops of the Anglican Communion.[3] At the Lambeth 2022 meeting of Anglican Bishops the then Archbishop of Canterbury said that the Lambeth 1:10 resolution was “still valid”. But to those from GAFCON who were absent, and to those from GSFA who at the Conference were not in communion with the Archbishop, as well as many others, it was/is not clear “valid to whom?”[4]
Even in 2022 the prophetic words of the Windsor report of 2004 still did not lead to repentance or restraint:
- “However, if realistic and visionary ways cannot be agreed to meet the levels of disagreement at present or to reach consensus on structures for encouraging greater understanding and communion in future it is doubtful if the Anglican Communion can continue in its present form.”
- “Should the call to halt and find ways of continuing in our present communion not be heeded, then we shall have to begin to learn to walk apart.”
EFAC notes John Stott’s comment in Issues Facing Christians Today, republished in Same Sex Relationships (2017), quoting Wolfhart Pannenberg (Professor of Theology Munich University) with approval: ““The biblical assessments of homosexual practice are unambiguous in their rejection!” He [Pannenberg] therefore concludes that a church which were to recognise same sex unions as equivalent to marriage “would cease to be the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church”.”
EFAC is committed to the whole of Lambeth 1:10 expressing the clarity of scripture on the nature of intimate sexual relationships as well as the compassion of scripture to all who experience a falling short of the glory of God in their own personal walk with the Lord. We welcome the work of the Alliance in the Church of England at present, and the recent opportunity of members of that Alliance, Living Out[5], to speak with leaders of the Global South commending the whole of Lambeth 1:10 especially para’s c and d as well as every other part.
EFAC Global calls on the Archbishop of Wales to, as a matter of urgency and pastoral inclusivity, to offer alternative episcopal pastoral oversight for those who in conscience cannot acknowledge her leadership.
[1] https://www.thegsfa.org/news/gsfa-statement-on-the-election-of-the-rt-rev-cherry-vann-as-the-archbishop-of-wales
[2] https://gafcon.org/communique-updates/archbishop-of-wales-election-shatters-the-communion/
[3] https://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/document-library/lambeth-conference/1998/section-i-called-to-full-humanity/section-i10-human-sexuality a-g
[4] See address of Bishop Keith Sinclair at GAFCON Conference Kigali 2023 https://efacglobal.com/bishop-keith-sinclairs-address-at-gafcon-iv-april-18/