Global Anglican Future Conference
| Global Anglican Future Conference | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | GAFCON |
| Type | Religious movement |
| Classification | Anglican |
| Orientation | Conservative Evangelical Anglicanism |
| Scripture | Bible |
| Theology | Confessional Anglican |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Chair | Laurent Mbanda (Archbishop of Rwanda) |
| Associations | Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans |
| Headquarters | Nairobi, Kenya |
| Founder | Council of Anglican leaders |
| Origin | June 2008 Jerusalem |
| Separations | From parts of the Anglican Communion |
| Publications | Jerusalem Declaration (2008); Kigali Commitment (2023) |
| Official website | www |
| Slogan | "Proclaiming Christ Faithfully to the Nations" |
| Part of a series on the |
| Anglican realignment |
|---|
The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders.
The first of these conferences was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the Anglican Communion, the rise of secularism, as well as concerns with HIV/AIDS and poverty. As a result of the conference, the Jerusalem Declaration was issued and the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans was created. The conference participants also called for the creation of the Anglican Church in North America as an alternative to both the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada, and declared that recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury is not necessary to Anglican identity.
GAFCON occurred one month prior to the Lambeth Conference, the ten-yearly gathering of Anglican Communion bishops. GAFCON stated the movement rose because a "false gospel" was being promoted within the Anglican Communion, which denied the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and "promotes a variety of sexual preferences and immoral behaviour as a universal human right".
This movement is commonly considered to have been prompted by the consecration of openly gay and non-celibate man Gene Robinson as Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, and more generally from the view that some parts of the global Anglican Communion may be departing from biblical teaching.
On 16 October 2025, GAFCON Chairman Laurent Mbanda announced that the GAFCON communion would officially be renamed Global Anglican Communion and its members will select a new primus inter pares instead of the Archbishop of Canterbury. As of 2025, GAFCON claims to represent upwards of 85% of the world's practicing Anglicans. Peer-reviewed research published in 2016 in the Journal of Anglican Studies, indicates that the GAFCON-aligned provinces represent closer to 45% of practising Anglicans and just over 54% of members baptised in any of the provinces of the Anglican Communion.