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Anglicanism has officially split in two. GAFCON’s historic move follows the news that Sarah Mullally will become Archbishop of Canterbury, who is a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage and abortion.

A historic reordering of global Anglicanism has arrived, with the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) announcing Thursday that it no longer recognises the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Church of England.

Delivered by GAFCON chairman Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, the declaration marks the birth of a new fellowship of Anglican provinces under a new name — the Global Anglican Communion.

In a communiqué titled ‘The Future Has Arrived’, Archbishop Mbanda explained that GAFCON has “reordered” the Anglican Communion, and will replace the traditional structures centred on Canterbury.

“We have not left the Anglican Communion; we are the Anglican Communion,” he stated. “The reset of our beloved Communion is now uniquely in the hands of GAFCON, and we are ready to take the lead.”

The move formalises the greatest structural shift in Anglicanism since its birth in the 16th century, effectively creating two rival communions — one centred on the See of Canterbury; the other on a renewed commitment to Scripture and Anglicanism’s historic teachings.

GAFCON’s move comes just two weeks after the Church of Nigeria — the largest Anglican province in the world, representing over 25 million members — announced its formal split from Canterbury.

Rejection of Canterbury’s Instruments of Communion

The letter began by invoking the high-stakes courage of two reformers martyred for their fidelity to God’s Word — Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, burned at the stake exactly 470 years prior, on 16 October, 1555.

Archbishop Mbanda’s statement made clear that GAFCON has now formally rejected all four “Instruments of Communion” that have historically united Anglicans worldwide — the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), and the Primates’ Meeting.

These institutions, he wrote, “have failed to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Communion”.

GAFCON leaders say the new structure restores the Communion’s Reformation foundations, grounded in the authority of Scripture and expressed through the 39 Articles of Religion.

“We declare that the Anglican Communion will be reordered, with only one foundation of communion, namely the Holy Bible,” the statement said. Scripture, it continued, must be “translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading”.

The announcement comes just two weeks after the Church of England appointed Rt Rev Dame Sarah Mullally as Archbishop of Canterbury-designate, the first woman to hold the post and an advocate of same-sex marriage, abortion and racial politics.

Earlier this year, the Church in Wales elected Archbishop Cherry Vann, who is in a same-sex relationship — another decision that widened long-standing rifts over Scripture and sexuality across the Communion.

A Split Long in the Making

GAFCON’s latest move formalises a split that has been growing for over two decades.

Tensions first escalated in 2003, when the Episcopal Church in the United States made the controversial decision to consecrate Gene Robinson, the first openly homosexual bishop. Conservative Anglicans across Africa, Asia, and Latin America roundly condemned the move as a clear departure from biblical teaching.

In 2008, GAFCON held its first conference in Jerusalem, from which emerged the Jerusalem Declaration — a manifesto reaffirming the Bible’s authority, the 39 Articles, and the traditional Christian understanding of marriage between one man and one woman.

Since then, GAFCON’s influence has grown, and now represents the majority of the world’s active Anglicans, particularly across the Global South.

This week’s communiqué declares that, in light of continuing “revisionist agendas,” the time for reform has arrived.

“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,” Archbishop Mbanda wrote.

Resolution I.10 affirmed marriage as the lifelong union of a man and a woman, and remains a key doctrinal touchstone for faithful Anglicans.

A New Structure for a Global Anglicanism

Under the new order, GAFCON provinces have been told to amend their constitutions to remove any reference to being “in communion with the See of Canterbury and the Church of England.”

They will also wind up their participation in any meetings convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury, including the Anglican Consultative Council, and withdraw financial support from its networks.

Instead, member provinces will now create a Council of Primates — a leadership body of senior archbishops — who will elect a chairman to preside as its own primus inter pares, or “first among equals.”

Membership will be open only to provinces and dioceses that assent to the Jerusalem Declaration of 2008, which GAFCON holds to be “the contemporary standard for Anglican identity”.

That declaration calls for the restoration of the Bible “to the heart of the Communion”, and insists that faith and practice must be governed by the Word of God rather than the tides of culture or politics.

The new Global Anglican Communion will celebrate its formation at the G26 Bishops’ Conference in Abuja, Nigeria, to be held in March 2026. The event will gather hundreds of bishops from across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and other regions.

Archbishop Mbanda’s communiqué concludes with a call to prayer: “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.”

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Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and GAFCON.