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For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and ofpeace there will be no end.
Isaiah 9:6-7a
My dear brothers and sisters,
At Christmas we celebrate the fulfillment of God’s promise. The long-awaited Messiah has come and where he is present the curse of sin is broken and the reign of God breaks in. Isaiah prophecies that ‘the government shall be upon his shoulder’ and while we shall not see its fulness until he returns in glory, wherever Christ is proclaimed faithfully we see the blessings of his kingdom. Men, women and children of every nation are born again to a living hope, sin and evil lose their power, and relationships are restored.
In this season it is therefore a good to ask ourselves how much our lives and the life of our Churches are demonstrating the good government of God.
GSFA exists to promote the government of God in Anglican Global South and the whole Communion by defending orthodox faith and fostering mission, unity and mutual upbuilding. There is much more to be done, but over the past year, I thank God that we have been able to make good progress towards these goals.
In February, GSFA held its first Bishops Formation Retreat, kindly hosted by the Church of Uganda, which was attended by 26 bishops, mostly with their wives, from Africa and Asia. Then in June we successfully held the First Assembly of the new covenantal structure established by the Cairo Covenant of 2019 with some 200 delegates and observers present. It was a time of rich fellowship and GSFA now has strong and stable structures, including an elected Board made up of lay, clerical and episcopal members, a Primates Council, an elected Primates Steering Committee, and a Council of Bishops.
Putting the Cairo Covenant into practice was an historic moment. It offers a way to redefine and reset an increasingly troubled Communion by bringing it back to the government of God when some have rejected the plain teaching of Scripture. Each Province of the Anglican Communion is of course independent, but the unity of our Communion is founded on a common recognition that we are governed by the Word of God.
This is what the Cairo Covenant enables us to preserve. In our communique from the First Assembly, we stated that as a covenanted fellowship, ‘the GSFA offers a robust instrument to enable orthodox Anglicans to fulfil their historic vocation in a rapidly changing Communion’. Events which have unfolded in the Church of England since then show just how necessary this provision has become. A Communion which makes room in its structures for teaching that which is against the teaching of Christ and the Scriptures has rejected the government of God.
Recognising that GSFA’s calling is not only to guard the truth, but also to serve the Communion in ministry and mission, the year ahead will see the three Tracks relaunched at the First Assembly moving forward as follows:
• Leadership & Ministerial Formation – two Bishops Formation Retreats are planned, the first in Egypt in February 2025, as well as work to support catechism and curriculum development.
• Mission Partnerships – GSFA Mission Partners were invited to the Diocese of Singapore’s Missions Round Table in November and Provincial representatives will gather in Bali in May 2025 with a focus on developing South to South and South to North mission partnerships.
• Economic Empowerment – Provincial representatives and speakers with proven expertise will meet in Singapore in March 2025 with the aim of facilitating specific, sustainable and scalable projects and addressing unhealthy patterns of economic dependency.
Finally, I wish to congratulate those who will be installed as Primates next month, Archbishops-elect Enrique Lago of Chile, Vicente Msosa of IAMA and Gilbert Rateloson of The Province of the Indian Ocean. We pray that God will daily encourage and refresh them by his Holy Spirit to be good stewards of the mysteries of God and faithful servants of the people of God. And as we celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace, let us continue to pray for the peace of the world, especially for those in our fellowship who live so courageously with the daily pressures of civil war and unrest in Sudan, DR Congo and Myanmar.
I take this opportunity to wish you all the joy of Christmas and the blessings of our one Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
The Most Revd Dr Justin Badi
Chairman
GSFA Steering Committee
