More than 1,000 Anglicans representing 17 of the Communion’s 38 provinces have registered for the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in the Middle East next month. The number of attendees includes 280 bishops.
 
Pilgrims will visit traditional sites in Jerusalem during the pilgrimage June 22-29, including the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Ophel Gardens and Temple steps, site of Peter’s preaching at Pentecost. The pilgrims will travel to Bethlehem to the Church of the Nativity and Shepherds' Field, and then to Galilee.
 
A week-long, invitation-only consultation will be held in Jordan the week before the pilgrimage. The stated goals of the conference are in part to “prepare for an Anglican future in which the gospel is uncompromised and Christ-centered mission a top priority,” although organizers have said the conference is not intended to be a replacement for the Lambeth Conference, which meets July 16 through Aug. 3 in England by invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
 
Final attendance figures will depend on smooth processing of requested visas, and other factors, according to a media release by conference organizers.
 
GAFCON leaders have met with the leaders of Anglican, Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic churches and Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews in Jerusalem to brief them on the nature and purpose of the conference. GAFCON leaders, the release notes, want to affirm the continuing presence of the Christian Church in the Holy Land.
 
We invite your response to this article through a Letter to the Editor. Email your letter to tlc@livingchurch.org. Please include your name, city and state.
 
To find more news, feature articles, and commentary about the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion not available online, read The Living Church magazine each week. Click here to start your subscription.