Day3: Laurent Mbunda on the emerging Global Anglican Communion

In his first interview after being elected chair of the new Global Anglican Council, Archbishop of Rwanda Laurent Mbanda has outlined how leadership will work in the emerging Global Anglican Communion 

The GAFCON Primates have dissolved the GAFCON Primates Council — the body that has guided the movement since 2008 — and in its place established a new Global Anglican Council to help lead what is the emerging Global Anglican Communion.

The Primates have chosen to broaden authority. The new council will include primates alongside bishops, clergy, and lay leaders, all with full voting privileges. 

The structure signals a shift toward a more conciliar model of leadership, reflecting the conviction that the existing Instruments of Communion no longer adequately serve the majority of Anglicans worldwide.
 
Rwandan Primate, Archbishop Laurent Mbunda has been elected to chair the Council, until the Athens Conference in 2028.

In this Pastor’s Heart special from Abuja, Dominic Steele speaks with:

* The newly elected chairman of the Global Anglican Council, Rwanda’s Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, 

* Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel, 

* Former Archbishop of North America and Former Chair of Gafcon, Bishop Foley Beach, 

* John Dunnett from the Church of England Evangelical Council.

Mbunda, Raffel and Beach discuss the reasoning behind the new structures, what they mean for Anglican leadership globally, and how this moment emerged from nearly two decades of GAFCON’s development.

We expore why the Primates have chosen to share authority more widely, how the new council will function, and what the leaders involved hope it will mean for the future of Anglican mission, doctrine, and fellowship across the world.
 

Plus The launch of the New Global Anglican Communion Fund with Anglican AID CEO Tim Swan. 

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Transcript

New Global Anglican Council Announced

SPEAKER_00 1:17

I thank Anglican Aid for the sponsorship that you gave me. I studied diploma in theology at Bundar Bible College. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04 1:27

Reverend David is one of 2,000 pastors trained with support from Anglican Aid in the last five years. When you give to Anglican Aid's Global Anglican Communion Fund, you'll help resource the world's poorest diocese to preach Christ faithfully and care for people in need. Visit Anglicanaid.org.

SPEAKER_05 1:57

The new Global Anglican Communion is moving forward. New leadership has been announced. Archbishop Laurent Umbanda, Primate of Rwanda, will chair the council of the new Anglican Communion. He's with us now, and what an exciting moment in the main auditorium just a few minutes ago.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

It was and it is indeed. We have always said the future has arrived. Now the future is behind us. We are moving forward.

SPEAKER_05 2:26

It's very exciting. When I think back to that Martyrs Day moment uh late last year, and you released that statement, then we had a conversation the next day, and you announced this conference, and then really we've seen an extraordinary ground-up mood of ratification of that announcement these last 24-48 hours.

Theology Over Geography

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Yes. It has been a wonderful, a beautiful journey from that day to today. And here we are celebrating a new council, Anglican, Global Anglican Council that involves both clergy, lay and climate are together. There's the new governing body, there's a new board, there's a new council. It is also a moment to actually celebrate a global Anglican communion moving forward and strengthening and deepening the word of God. It is an opportunity for us to go to preach the good news of Jesus Christ. You see, people tend to think many different things. Let me say one thing it is all about scripture, it is all about the Bible. Don't look for other questions or don't look for other issues. It is about the teaching of the scripture. You go away from it, you have lost everything.

From Primates To Shared Council

SPEAKER_05 3:55

That was one of the lovely lines from yesterday that uh the global Anglican Communion is not going to be about geography but theology.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

It is going to be about biblical theology. It's going to be about the scripture, it's going to be the teachings of the scripture, which we won't depart from.

SPEAKER_05 4:13

Now let's just think about this uh change in leadership from a primates council to a global Anglican Communion Council. Uh, as Paul Donison said on the platform a moment ago, it's actually the primates giving away or sharing leadership.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Um I I wouldn't even say it's giving away, I would say it is sharing leadership with the lay, with the clergy, is a conciliar structure. So while many people like to hoard on power, while many people want to hoard, we want to share. So it's sharing the the leadership with those who are on the council. Previously, we had the primates, we had the advisors, we had the guarantors, that has come together and formed this whole new council.

SPEAKER_05 5:02

And um in the past, there was uh there's been this term primus interparis or first among equals of the primates, whereas now we're really looking at chair of the council.

Leaving Ineffective Instruments Behind

SPEAKER_01 5:12

We are looking forward. We are leaving the old structures that didn't serve us in the past behind. And as we leave those old structures behind that have not served, that have not forced discipline, that have not in fact let me say this. I don't think the instruments of the Anglican community fared. I think what fared is the leadership to bring discipline, to use those instruments to serve the purpose of for which they were created. And so those structures that go with all that, we leave behind and we move forward. And we move forward with a conciliar structure, with a shared leadership, with a council that brings people together to give ideas, to make decisions. They all have voting powers like anybody else. So it is not just a one-man show that is moving forward in a considerial structure.

SPEAKER_05 6:17

That is Archbishop Laurent Umbanda, the Archbishop and Primate of Rwanda, former chair of the GAFCON Primates Council, and now the new chair of the Global Anglican Council to lead the Global Anglican Communion. Now, to reaction to that, and let's go first to Kanishka Rafel, the Archbishop of Sydney. Kanishka, um, if we've got new leadership for the Global Anglican Council, then there's going to be a global Anglican communion.

SPEAKER_03 6:47

Uh sure, Dominic. I mean, I think the message that we've been uh saying all along is that uh we are the communion. Uh that's been the message of GAFCOM that um GAFCON represents today. There are 24 provinces represented at this conference, uh, and the um primates council effectively dissolved itself uh to create a broader group of leadership, which which it will be called the Global Anglican Council. Um and uh that represents the uh the next step, I think. Um you'll remember from 2023 in Kigali uh that uh there was a repudiation of the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury and a sense that the instruments of communion, so-called, uh, have really failed to exercise discipline in the life of the global Anglican family, and that for that reason there was a need for the communion to be reordered. And so this is a way of doing it, and it's the next step. It represents um uh the majority world, Anglicans really, uh taking responsibility for this phrase I like, the stewardship of the communion and the gospel in the communion.

Majority World Leadership Emerges

SPEAKER_05 8:00

And um, I really did like that idea of primates sharing the leadership with bishops, clergy, layer laypeople, yeah, and really a new model of leadership for a new era.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

Yeah, I think so. I I mean what we've found is that the older structures uh have been um ineffective. And actually the Anglican way of doing things is uh uh clergy and people together with bishops, and so the new council that's been established reflects that in a way that's I think very wonderful.

SPEAKER_05 8:29

Uh what happens now? There's this there's still work on this big statement, because I mean, I guess you like me were a little surprised that this announcement was made today rather than as part of the big statement tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 8:40

Sure. Well, I think um there is a kind of dynamic uh process taking place, as is characteristic of the GAFGON conferences, that there is uh um feedback coming in and uh drafts being circulated, and as you'll know, um that process has been upgraded technologically so literally everybody who's got the app on their phone can comment on every paragraph of a draft statement. So something that's right. So the statement will come out tomorrow. Um, but the uh Primates Council has been meeting through the week and had taken the decision um that it would uh in, as I say, in a sense, dissolve itself and reconstitute uh as a council of leadership uh with a broader membership. And that reflects um the uh fact that we share this stewardship, actually, that the stewardship of the gospel in the life of the Anglican church across the globe isn't something that somehow belongs to a single person uh or even to uh the order of bishops. But actually the gospel belongs to us all. And so this leadership council reflects that commitment uh of uh every part of the church, as it were, to uh uh under the Lord to take responsibility for that.

Process, Statement, And Member Feedback

SPEAKER_05 9:54

That is Kanishka Raffel, the uh Archbishop of Sydney, and continuing to get reaction to this announcement of the Global Anglican Communion. And uh, we're gonna go to the former chair of the GAFCO Movement, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of North America, Foley Beach. I'm with Foley Beach, former chair of the GAFCO Movement and uh former Archbishop of the Anglican Church of North America, and uh but just down like me as a regular delegate today.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

Well, it's good to see you. Good to be with you, Dominique. Uh yes, I'm now back serving as the Bishop of our diocese, and that is keeping me very, very busy and loving it. Uh ministering to clergy, planting churches, and leading people to Jesus.

SPEAKER_05 10:34

Yes. Now tell us, um, what's your reaction to the big announcements? Um, because I mean, we were watching you and Ben Kwashi lead the GAFCON movement right up to 2023, and we were just on the verge, I thought, of having this kind of announcement uh three years ago. But how exciting to get there today.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Well, it's I think it's been a long time coming. I remember I haven't shared this actually with, I don't think publicly at all, but when I was the the chairman, I I was in prayer one day and I had this uh I don't know how to describe it, just a vision. And um, it was an old wineskin. It's this brown, ugly looking thing, and it all of a sudden started puffing up and then started cracking. And next thing you know, all this beautiful wine is is pouring through it. And to me, that was symbolic of the colonial structures of the Anglican communion, that God was doing this, has been doing this incredible thing in the Anglican communion, but the structures are still for a colonial age, and something had to happen. And so um I think the evolution of this process is this is where we are today in the culture. It needed to change. Uh we're no longer colonies. Um, the center of the Anglican communion is is no longer in the UK. Uh the leadership uh thinks they are, um, but it's it's the rest of the world.

SPEAKER_05 11:51

I mean, you come here to Nigeria and it is so blindingly obvious, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Yeah, it's incredible. Uh not only their hospitality, the the sheer numbers, the enthusiasm, the love of the gospel, the emphasis. That's been one of the great things about this week is the emphasis on the Bible and teaching the Bible and focusing on the Lord and your relationship with the Lord. That's what it's all about, right?

Stewardship Belongs To The Whole Church

SPEAKER_05 12:11

Absolutely. I walked into the FOIA. We we're just standing at the very front entrance of the uh Church of Nigeria headquarters. I just walked into the FOIA there. There's a sign saying we're a church that's on about Jesus, we're on about preaching Christ, we're on about the Holy Spirit's work, and you think, well, that's a church I want to join.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Exactly. That's what it's all about. And and sadly, the the leadership in the Anglican communion has lost its way, and that the the instruments are no longer functioning in a way that that serves the gospel and serves the people of God. Uh sadly, um, you know, it was an innovation at the time. They thought it would work, and maybe it did for a period of time, but it no they no longer work.

SPEAKER_05 13:18

And uh, what's been exciting for you about the last couple of days is you've um met all sorts of people and been in the different buzz groups and participated in the conference?

Post‑Colonial Shift And Growth In Africa

SPEAKER_02 13:27

I think for me, first of all, reconnecting with uh with a lot of folks because no longer being the primate or the archbishop, I'm not in the meeting seeing folks. Uh, but but also hearing what God is doing in their lives and in their provinces and how um even in the midst of so much struggle, uh the gospel is going forth, people's lives are being changed. I've had a couple of people come up and thank me uh for things I did that I don't even remember doing, and uh how God used it to change their life. I mean, that's what it's all about, being centered in Christ.

SPEAKER_05 13:56

And that is Folly Beach, the former Archbishop of the Anglican Church of North America and also former chair of the CAFCON Primates Council. Now, to the United Kingdom, and a few hours ago, I spoke with John Dunnett of the Church of England Evangelical Council here in Abuja. John, as you've been processing uh what's been said over the last 24 hours and what we're hearing uh in in the discussions around the place, but also from the platform, there's a need for clarity because there's some confusion about what's coming out of here.

SPEAKER_06 14:29

That's right, Dominic, there is. And um, some of the confusion is around whether what's been proposed is a breakaway or a new communion. And of course, we've heard several times here that this is not a breakaway, it's not a new communion, it is a reordering of the Anglican communion. And I think in England, people are not all hearing that perhaps as clearly as they should.

SPEAKER_05 14:51

One of the lines that I felt landed quite strongly with delegates yesterday is we want a communion uh ordered around theology rather than geography. And uh, I mean, that may be a little hard for the English to hear, but or for some of the English to hear, but did you want to just reflect on that?

SPEAKER_06 15:08

Let's put it this way we live in a post-colonial world, and um what we are as Anglicans really needs to reflect that reality. And um, you know, standing here in Abuja and worshiping with people from every nation, every tongue, um, there is a real sense of, yeah, this is the the Anglican community is a global church. It's not an English export, which of course it was um originally. Um the communion is a different animal now, and I think um what we need to reflect that um in the way that the communion is led, in the way that we understand um relationships across provinces. It is a different world now.

SPEAKER_05 15:49

I mean, and actually, for you coming from the UK and me coming from Australia, from Australia, it it it is actually extraordinarily eye-opening to see what's going on, particularly here in the Church of Nigeria.

SPEAKER_06 16:01

It's certainly true that with what is it, 20, 25 million Anglicans um in Nigeria, there is um which is more than there are people in Australia. Indeed. And there is an irony that um the Church of England and in particular the See of Canterbury still has a role that in a post-colonial world doesn't recognise those demographic um realities. And again, if you think of what we hear about the church in Nigeria, um uh church planting uh and growing, and then you look at the you know, sometimes somewhat depressing figures in England, that the Church of England, despite the best spin, is not actually um seeing anything like a parallel. Um and these guys and the the organizational structure they're they're leading, they deserve respect. I think that's right. I mean, I I don't know if you you noticed, but there was a paper out yesterday, a kind of an addendum by ISCAFO, um, in which it was suggested that a previous idea of um the kind of the Canterbury role being passed around primates, it appears that that's been kind of backpedaled a bit, such that now it's gonna be, or the or the current proposal, if I've read yesterday's paperwork correctly, is that Canterbury might draw around um uh uh um primates from elsewhere rather than the baton be passed around. Which again it just struck me as profoundly tone-deaf. It it it is tone-deaf. I I think it's also indicative of what what we you know the the conversation around um what does Anglicanism look like in a post-colonial world. We we really ought to be uh um more positively embracing the leadership of primates of churches around the world that are just growing so rapidly and seeing such you know wonderful gospel witness and and activity.

SPEAKER_05 18:01

And we in the West have to come to terms with the idea that the future really is in Africa at the moment.

Humility, Costly Discipleship, And Respect

SPEAKER_06 18:07

I think it's very difficult for um Western white people like myself um to um to have the to have the grace um to be able to say, yeah, it we no longer, you know, we we're no longer the the key players in this. We have to have a hu a certain humility that says what God is doing in his church in places I mean here we are in Nigeria like Nigeria um is is profoundly impressive.

SPEAKER_05 18:40

And one of the things that struck me is how hurt that the Africans have felt for so long so deeply by the um by the patronizing tone they've got from um Christian, so-called Christian brothers and sisters um uh in leadership in the West.

SPEAKER_06 19:03

There is there is a I think there is a patronization. One of the particular ways that shows itself is in the comments that are made about the theology of the African and other churches. And there is sometimes this subtext which is oh, when when they grow up a bit, when they become a bit more mature, they'll understand what we, the enlightened West, now understand. And um, you know, you you come to somewhere like Nigeria or I was in Kigali for for the GAFCON meeting there, and you you know, the the confidence that people have in scripture, yeah, the willingness there is to submit to scripture, uh in costly ways. In costly ways. I mean, we know the you know, there are African countries where um to be a bishop or a Christian leader is a risky thing, uh, and yet they're they're willing to say, well, this is what the Bible says, so this is how it is. So I've spoken to um primates and bishops um at this and at previous GAFCON, um, and also at the Global South Fellowship of Anglican meetings, where you hear their testimony and you realize that um it has cost them literally, in some cases, it's an issue of life and death. Um, very humbling to us in the West who have, you know, to be honest, a pretty comfortable existence.

SPEAKER_05 20:20

That is the uh Church of England Evangelical Councils John Dunnett. And uh now one of the other announcements to come out of here over the last 24 hours has been the announcement of a global Anglican Communion Fund to assist those dioceses that are particularly struggling. And uh that has been organized by Anglican AIDS CEO Tim Swann, and he is with us now. Just before we get into some of the great things that are going on with this global Anglican Communion Fund we want to talk to you about, what's your pastor's heart on the conference so far?

Launching The Communion Fund

SPEAKER_04 20:53

Um Dominic, I'm just so encouraged. I just, I just my my heart is exploding with um with joy, really, because I was I was reading about Cranmer before I came and thinking of the reformers, you know, we had the the the Martyr's Day statement came out about from the re reformers Hugh Latimer and uh and uh and Ridley. And when Latimer uh was burnt at the stake for his uh work in reforming the church in England, he said uh play play play the man because we shall light such a flame in England this day as it will not be put out never be put out. And I just feel like here in this room we have more than 300 bishops, I think 475 delegates from around the Anglican Communion, lighting a flame. Lighting the flame, the flame kindling the flame, the flame is burning, and we have all these people working for the reformation and the restructuring and the uh renewing of the Anglican communion. So I just think Cranma would be thrilled, Latimer Ridley would be thrilled about what is happening here, that now there is a communion that just isn't in England, but it's right across the world. And so, Dominic, I'm just really thrilled to be here and see what God is doing through this group and for the world.

SPEAKER_05 22:10

Now that's what's going on in the main platform and flow of the conference. But aside from that, you've got a whole different thing going on in that you're catching up with a zillion different people that you're supporting. I want to come back to some of those relationships in a moment. But yesterday I saw you on the main platform announcing the Global Anglican Communion Fund. Can you talk about that?

SPEAKER_04 22:34

Yeah. For many of the bishops that that are in the global Anglican Communion, particularly in the poorer diocese, and I'm thinking places like Burundi, Madagascar.

SPEAKER_05 22:43

We just spoke to Kampeach from northern Kenya. And uh and he really is dealing in a in a very um low socioeconomic uh band.

SPEAKER_04 22:53

So these are dioceses where they struggle to be able to train their clergy in the Bible, and GAFCON has said we want to keep the Bible at the center. And GAFCON has said we want to proclaim Christ faithfully to the nations, but for many dioceses, they are struggling to be able to train their people to proclaim Christ faithfully. They need support from elsewhere, they're looking for funds to be able to do this, and sadly, many of them need to uh are looking for funds from what we might say compromised sources, like and those ones, Trinity Wall Street and those kind of ones, which are providing lots of money, but strings attached theologically, and strings attached theologically, and if if you join GAFCON, it will be no more funding coming your way.

SPEAKER_05 23:37

And so those of us from wealthier places have to help fund some of these poorer areas.

Funding Without Theological Strings

SPEAKER_04 23:43

Well that's that's the idea. We've set up the global ang the Global Anglican Communion Fund to be able to uh have a mechanism through which we can raise funds uh from any country in the world. You can make a donation and give a tax, get a tax receipt from any country, um, put it into this fund so that we'll be able to support ministry in the poorest diocese to go forward, so those bishops um can have their ministry funded and also feel like they don't have to sell their soul and leave their theology at the door when they apply for funds from Trinity Wall Street and other places. Right.

SPEAKER_05 24:17

And what's the reaction been as that announcement was made as you've talked to people? I'm imagining people thinking this is great.

SPEAKER_04 24:26

I've I have spoken to quite a few Americans, for example, who are really keen on this idea. They've been saying, yes, this is what is needed. We definitely need to get behind our uh you know brothers and sisters in in poorer nations. We need to back them not just with words, but with the the the financial ability to be able to send uh take ministry forward. Um and so there has been a good reaction. I mean, this is going to be uh uh something which we'll have to build up in time, and it's about building relationships and uh building trust.

SPEAKER_05 24:57

But if we're doing this global Anglican communion, then obviously this is a strategy that we need to take on course.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

It's a strategy, and actually, um some may remember that Anglican aid was originally set up by the former Archbishop of Sydney, uh Peter Jensen, who was also the former GAFCON uh general secretary. And so it's been set up in Sydney already. We're in partnership with 120 different uh of the poorest dioceses around the world. So we've got runs on the board, so to speak. And this is to say, okay, we've been doing this already from Sydney. We need to do this as a group. If we're serious about seeing the gospel proclaimed right around the world, we need to, as a group, band together, fund the ministry, uh, and see Christ proclaimed faithfully to the nations.

SPEAKER_05 25:46

And that wraps up this edition of the Pastor's Heart from Abuja, Nigeria. Uh, this is Dominic Steele. We're brought to you by Anglican Aid. We'll be back tomorrow to look at the final statement coming out of this conference and all the reaction to that. We'll look forward to seeing you then.