The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans – Australia

FCA Australia is part of a world-wide fellowship of Anglicans who “confess” the Jerusalem Declaration as a contemporary statement of orthodox Anglican faith. It was born out of the first Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) which was held in Jerusalem in 2008. FCA/GAFCON is a movement within the Anglican communion to continue to reform the Anglican church by the biblical gospel.

FCA has two main aims. The first aim is to promote orthodox Anglican faith and practice. We believe this orthodoxy is summed up in the Jerusalem Declaration, and is also upheld in a plain reading of the Fundamental Declarations of the Constitution of the Anglican Church in Australia. FCA-Australia intend to meet this aim through conferences, papers and lectures where we try and contribute to educating people in this faith. We believe doing this will help heal, reform and revitalise our mission in the world.

Our second aim is to provide fellowship for orthodox Anglicans who find themselves in a minority position in their own Dioceses due to actions of others who depart from orthodox faith and practice.

It is no surprise that there is a growing tide among Anglicans around the world to pursue theological novelty, and try to make it normative. The most glaring example is the re-writing of the biblical ethics of sexuality, but there are many other examples as well. When this novelty becomes the norm, it puts pressure on those who uphold the orthodoxy expressed in our first aim. In some cases, working in a Diocese that teaches as truth, what you (and the long history of Christian thought) consider to be error, or calling good what you consider to be sin, will be an unbearable burden. FCA has pledged to stand with people in this position.

Providing this fellowship may be as simple as recognizing as “Anglican” those who still hold to Anglican formularies where the prevailing culture has long since abandoned them. FCA-Australia recognises the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) as authentically Anglican sisters and brothers, even though they are officially “out of communion” with Canterbury.

FCA-Australia shares a lot in common with EFAC, but is different in two respects. First, it is intentionally a “broader tent” than EFAC, in that it embraces all orthodox Anglicans including those who don’t identify as “evangelical”. In fact globally, there are as many “orthodox catholic” Anglicans as part of FCA as there are evangelicals. And second, FCA is less focused on equipping for ministry than is EFAC, and is more focused on the structures and governance of the Anglican communion than is EFAC. We believe both fellowships are complementary.

Membership is open to all who can give their support to the Jerusalem Declaration. Details can be found on the FCA website: www.fac-aus.org.au

Richard Condie
Chair, FCA Australia
Bishop of Tasmania