CofE ‘propagating false teaching on same-sex relationships’

Church of England plans to bless same-sex partnerships violate the clear teaching of the Bible, a global group of orthodox Anglican bishops has said.

The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) described the recent report by CofE bishops on sexual ethics as a “collective failure” to defend biblical truth and doctrine.

In their report, CofE bishops endorsed blessing people who have been through a same-sex civil ceremony, while claiming to uphold “the Church’s doctrine of Holy Matrimony”.

Unfaithful

GSFA Chairman and Archbishop of South Sudan, The Most Revd Dr Justin Badi, branded the document a “farcical compromise”, devoid of any supporting theological argument.

collective failure

He said: “What the English bishops are recommending constitutes unfaithfulness to the God who has spoken through His written word.”

“They are re-writing God’s law for His creation; laws that are re-affirmed by Christ in the Gospel accounts.”

Archbishop Badi argued that, by welcoming the blessings, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was guilty of “advocating false teaching from a biblical point of view”, even though he declined to ‘offer’ them himself.

‘Re-configuration’

The GSFA’s Chairman restated the fellowship’s commitment to remain loyal “to God and the plain teaching of holy scripture – whatever the cultural winds of the day”.

He warned that CofE acceptance of its bishops’ revisionist proposals would “inevitably lead to a re-configuration and a re-structuring” of the Anglican Church worldwide.

They are re-writing God’s law for His creation

GSFA would, he said, continue to seek to “‘shepherd’ those who want to be faithful to the covenant-keeping God revealed in Christ and the Scriptures. This includes Orthodox Anglicans in England, bishops, clergy and laity.”

He added: “We will also be especially mindful to care for and encourage those who are same sex attracted, but whose love of the Lord, and His teaching, mean they abstain from same sex unions.”

Good news

The Archbishop concluded: “The mission Christ entrusted to His Church must cause us to take the Gospel out to those who have yet to know and respond to the good news of Jesus Christ, and to live out the kingdom in a holistic way.

“We will, in the grace of God, both defend and propagate this death-defeating, life-transforming Gospel.”

We will also be especially mindful to care for and encourage those who are same sex attracted, but whose love of the Lord, and His teaching, mean they abstain from same sex unions.