00:00For four days this week, conservative leaders of the Anglican Church from all over the world are meeting in Abuja.
00:07The conference could profoundly change the communion.
00:10The conservative members of GAFCON, the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans,
00:15disapprove of the recent appointment of the first female leader of the Anglican Church.
00:20We would avoid and recommend avoid treating GAFCON simply as a small splinter or rebel group.
00:25Keep in mind, it represents the vast majority now of Anglicans around the world.
00:30We would prefer that you describe GAFCON as a Global Orthodox Anglican Fellowship or as the Global Anglican Communion,
00:38which does indeed represent the majority of practicing Anglicans.
00:43Using schism without qualification, I think, only serves to confuse the general population,
00:48and we explicitly reject this framing.
00:52We are the Anglican Communion reordered.
00:55The UK's Sarah Mullerly will officially become the first female Archbishop of Canterbury this month,
01:02meaning she will also be the spiritual leader of all Anglicans.
01:06In protest, the congregation in Abuja will reportedly discuss electing its own leader.
01:11We're not a temporary pressure group or a reaction to a particular social controversy.
01:16No, we're a fellowship that is standing firm in the Anglican Communion but recognizes the reality
01:24that the Anglican Communion is a global Anglican Communion.
01:29Logically, it doesn't make sense that 20 people in the UK with very little input from the Global South
01:33could actually decide who the global leader of the Anglican Church is.
01:38Why not have equal representation?
01:40We all represent countries that defend and promote democracy.
01:43Why is it that the Church isn't allowed to actually exercise democratic rights, practices and values?
01:51So that's exactly what we're seeing.
01:54Many conservative clerics in the GAFCON disagree with the UK-based Anglican Church leadership,
01:59not just regarding Mullerly's gender, but also her stance on homosexuality.
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