Conservative Anglican leaders meet in Nigeria, facing debate on a possible breakaway

(4 Mar 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Abuja, Nigeria - 4 March 2026
1. Mid of Anglican church choirs singing
2. Various of guests arriving for the GAFCON (Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans) conference
3. Various of guests inside the church for conference
4. Mid of Anglican bishops
5. Wide of Anglican church delegates inside the hall
6. Mid of Anglican altar cross
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Venerable Canon Justin Murff, Canon for Global Affairs to the General Secretary of GAFCON:
"We would avoid and recommend avoid treating GAFCON simply as a small splinter or rebel group. Keep in mind, it represents the vast majority now of Anglicans around the world. We would prefer that you describe GAFCON as a global orthodox Anglican fellowship or as the global Anglican communion, which does indeed represent the majority of practicing Anglicans. Using schism without qualification, I think, only serves to confuse the general population. And we explicitly reject this framing. We are the Anglican Communion reordered."
8. Various of guests inside church during conference
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Venerable Canon Justin Murff, Canon for Global Affairs to the General Secretary of GAFCON:
"We're not a temporary pressure group or a reaction to a particular social controversy. No, we're a fellowship that is standing firm in the Anglican Communion, but recognizes the reality that the Anglican Communion is a global Anglican Communion. Logically, it doesn't make sense that 20 people in the UK, with very little input from the Global South, could actually decide who the global leader of the Anglican Church is. Why not have equal representation? We all represent countries that defend and promote democracy. Why is it that the church isn't allowed to actually exercise democratic rights, practices, and values? So that's exactly what we're seeing."
10. Various of guests during conference
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Venerable Canon Justin Murff, Canon for Global Affairs to the General Secretary of GAFCON:
"We have not left the Anglican communion, but the Anglican communion as we understand it and as it has been intended as a biblically faithful rooted church; we clearly see provinces around the world that have chosen to depart from that tradition."
12. Various of guests leaving church after conference
STORYLINE:
Conservative Anglican leaders from Africa, Asia, and Latin America gathered in Nigeria on Wednesday as part of a four-day meeting that could reshape the future of one of the world’s largest Christian communions.

The conference, organized by the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON), will debate proposals that could formalize a rift with parts of the Anglican world over same-sex marriage and the role of LGBTQ+ clergy.

"We would prefer that you describe GAFCON as a global orthodox Anglican fellowship or as the global Anglican communion, which does indeed represent the majority of practicing Anglicans," stressed Venerable Canon Justin Murff, Canon for Global Affairs to the General Secretary of GAFCON.
"Using schism without qualification, I think, only serves to confuse the general population. And we explicitly reject this framing. We are the Anglican Communion reordered."

This group — mostly from nations of the Global South, representing some of Anglicanism's largest church provinces — is a conservative coalition that operates outside of the official, London-based Anglican Communion, though most of GAFCON churches also remain members of the communion.
AP Video shot by: Afolabi Sotunde

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