This was made known in press statement released by the Church of Nigeria’s Communication officer, Korede, Akintunde today.

The College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America elected the Rt. Rev. Steve Wood, bishop of the Diocese of the Carolinas, as its next archbishop during a conclave held in the crypt of St. Vincent’s Basilica at St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, from Thursday, June 20 to Saturday, June 22, 2024.

Archbishop Ndukuba in his warm congratulatory message to the new ACNA archbishop-designate noted that the Church of Nigeria joined in praying along with ACNA College of Bishops for a successful election that will bring on board yet another leader for ACNA who will continue the good works of his predecessors in office.

“We are glad that God found you fit for this task and has elevated you so serve Him in the capacity as the Archbishop of ACNA. No doubt this election is a testament to your dedication and service to the LORD and a significant milestone in your leadership and spiritual journey. Your commitment to the Gospel and your passion for spreading the message of love, hope, and redemption have made a profound impact on the lives of many, and we are glad you have been elected to continue in the biblical leadership of God’s Church.”

Dr. Henry assured him that, the Church of Nigeria as one of the Provinces that is in communion with ACNA, will work together with his leadership to strengthen the work of mission and also pray along with others for God’s continuous guide and strength.

Primate Ndukuba prays for God’s wisdom, grace, and discernment to cover his leadership as the Primate of ACNA and looks forward to working with him in the years ahead.

Bishop Wood will serve as the third archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), which was founded in 2009 and now comprises over 128,000 members in more than 1,000 congregations across Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

The formal transfer of authority from Archbishop Beach, who is currently occupying the seat, to Wood will take place during the closing Eucharist of the Provincial Assembly on Friday, June 28, 2024.

Meeting at the Kigali Convention Center in Rwanda, the opening session of the 17 – 21 April 2023 meeting featured entertainment from a local choir and dancers, and addresses by the host, the Most Rev. Laurent Mbanda, Archbishop of Rwanda, the general secretary of GAFCON, the Most Rev. Ben Kwashi, the prime minister of Rwanda, Édouard Ngirente, and Archbishop Beach.

In a powerful address that was interrupted by applause in several places, Archbishop Beach began his address noting the five years since the last GAFCON meeting in Jerusalem had been difficult for the church. Covid-19 “shut down our ministries,” he said, adding that “many faced persecution,” “famine, drought, flooding, war and civil unrest” prompting him to wonder if GAFCON would survive.

However, “when God ordains something he sees it through,” he declared, stating GAFCON IV “may be one of the most important church gatherings in our time.”

“God had his hand on GAFCON,” he said, and was blessing the movement for “standing against those who conveniently or culturally stand against the word of God.”

The archbishop then turned to the core of his address, speaking about the “four marks of a continuing spirit filed movement:” a repenting church, a reconciling church, a reproducing church, and a relentlessly compassionate church.

“We” Anglicans “can go on playing church, being religious, and even making statements that make no spiritual impact on our world.” However, the desire of Christians today is to see “revival break out and spread to every part of the world.”

A repenting church was one that modeled the Lord’s call for all people to repent of their sins. It served no purpose to call out the sins of others if we ignored our own sins and shortcomings, he explained. The Holy Spirit “reveals” to a believer their sins, giving you a choice to turn away or to continue in sin.

Here the archbishop made his only comment on the situation facing the Church of England – not as a rallying cry for action, but as an example of reprobate behavior. He stated: “In recent days we have seen the Church of England led by the Archbishop of Canterbury walk away from the plain teaching of Scripture. We call on them to repent, to return to the teaching of the word of God. We call on them to stop blessing sin and return to the sanctity and holiness of marriage.”

He then called out the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church in Wales, the Episcopal Church of Brazil, the Anglican Church of New Zealand, the Church of Australia, the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Episcopal Church of the USA to “repent and turn to the teachings of Holy Scripture.”

“Sadly,” he observed, “and with broken hearts, we say that until the Archbishop of Canterbury repents we can no longer recognize him as the first among equals and the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion.”

“It is time for the whole Anglican establishment to be reformed,” he declared, and then asked “Why does the secular government of only one of the nations represented in the Anglican Communion still get to pick the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion? This makes no sense in today’s post-colonial world.”

Archbishop Beach then turned to the question of personal and corporate holiness, speaking as forcefully and at equal length to “our provincial sins, our church’s sins, our personal sins,” as “some things we do are not of God.” We must repent.

A reconciling church was not a church that was reconciled to the world, or to sin, but first to God “based on the truth of the Scriptures.” Archbishop Beach argued “real reconciliation” needs to “remove the source of the quarrel, the root cause” of the hostility and anger between people. There could be “no reconciliation, without repentance,” he concluded.

A reproducing church was a church that consciously sought to make disciples and tell the whole world about the saving grace and love of Jesus Christ, he noted. A relentlessly compassionate church was one driven by the love of God to love one’s neighbor. “The love of God compels me” to love my neighbor, he argued.

While some of his examples touched upon the dysfunction within the Church of England, the tenor of the archbishop’s address dealt with the overarching call of repentance, renewal and revival. The agenda set out by the conference is likely to include a statement or call for action in response to the February decision by General Synod to bless same-sex marriage. However, Archbishop Beach made it clear the Anglican world had move beyond England and was now focused on all peoples, cultures and races around the globe.

GAFCON IV, Kigali, Rwanda

Right Honorable Prime Minister, Archbishop Mbanda, Mr. General Secretary, my fellow primates and bishops, and all delegates to this 4th Gafcon Conference, greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!.

As the Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America, and current chair of the Gafcon Primates Council, it is a joy to join others in welcoming you here to Kigali. I bring you greetings from my dear wife, Allison, and from laity, clergy, and bishops of the Anglican Church in North America.

Actually, we owe our existence to Gafcon. In 2008 Gafcon called for a new Province in North America, and in 2009 we were received into the Anglican Communion by the Gafcon Primates.

Thank you!

It has been an honor to have been selected by the Primates to serve in this capacity for the past five years. We have seen the Lord do some amazing things throughout the world to advance the Gospel of Jesus. But I have to admit it has been quite a challenge! We have had to face together a world-wide epidemic of COVID-19. Not only did we lose many people who were precious to us, but we literally had to shut down our ministries. We weren’t able to have church. We weren’t able to travel.

Many of us have faced persecution with the killing of fellow Christians in our villages. Many of us have faced famine and drought and flooding which caused all kinds of hardship, including starvation and sickness. Many of us have faced war and civil unrest, and many of us have had to face economic challenges. Frankly, I wondered if Gafcon would survive, but when God ordains something, he sees it through! Romans 8:28 tells us that God works out all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

Here we are, the largest gathering of Anglican leaders since Gafcon III in Jerusalem in 2018, and maybe, one of the most important Church gatherings in our life-time. God has had his hand on Gafcon –not because we have charismatic leaders, not because we have a great organization, and not because we are Anglicans. No, God has had his hand on Gafcon because we are honoring him by standing against those who conveniently and culturally disregard the Word of God.

We have stood firm in our biblical convictions summed up in the Jerusalem Declaration. He has been honoring our efforts to call the Anglican Communion to repentance, to renewal, and to reform. Jesus is our Lord and we are seeking to honor him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

I want to thank our General Secretary, Archbishop Ben Kwashi, who has been fighting serious health challenges. He has not compromised in his dedication to Gafcon and to serving us. He continues to be the evangelist God has called him to be, and to keep us focused on the mission Jesus gave to us all.

I want to thank my fellow primates: Archbishop Henry Ndukuba of the Church of All Nigeria, Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit of the Church of Kenya, Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba of the Church of Uganda, Archbishop Laurent Mbanda of the Church of Rwanda, Archbishop Stephen Than of the Church of Myanmar, Archbishop Miguel Uchoa of the Anglican Church of Brazil, Archbishop Tito Zavalla of the Church of Chile, Archbishop Justin Badi of the Church of South Sudan.

I want to thank our new primates: Archbishop Andre Titre of the Church of the Congo, Archbishop Samy Shehata, from the Province of Alexandria.

I want to thank our Advisors: Archbishop James Wong of the Province of the Indian Ocean, Archbishop Ezekiel Condo of the Province of Sudan, and Archbishop Kaniska Raffel from the Diocese of Sydney.

These men have stood tall amidst challenging events in their own Provinces, but they have also been tremendous leaders in facing the challenges laid down for all of us by the Anglican Establishment. They have each been a source of encouragement to me personally, but also examples of faithfulness to the Word of God! Thank you, my brothers!!

We are joined this week by some of the leaders of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches: Justin Badi, the Chairman, and Tito Zavala, the Vice Chairman, are also Gafcon Primates, and the General Secretary, the retired bishop of Singapore, Rennis Ponniah is also here. Welcome my brothers. I look forward to ways we can collaborate for the sake of the Gospel.

As we gather this week from all over the world, I want to encourage you to keep the following in mind as we travel together this week, and then return to our provinces.

I would like to share what I call the “Four Marks of Continuing a Spirit-filled Movement” or rather we could say, the “Four Marks of Modern Anglicanism.” You see, we could go on playing Church, being religious, and even making bold statements and make no spiritual impact in our world. What a tragedy this would be! No, we want to see true revival break out and spread to every part of the world.

The First Mark of Modern Anglicanism is that we must be a repenting Church. After all, this is the message we have received in the Gospel. Remember the message of John the Baptist: Repent.  Matthew 3:2 – “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Remember the message of Jesus: Repent.  Matthew 4:17 – “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

Remember the message of the Apostle Peter – at the end of his Pentecost sermon and the people were asking, “what must we do?”  Acts 2:38 – “Repent and be baptized every one of you in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This promise is for you and your children.”

Remember the words of the Apostle Paul when he was addressing the people of Athens in Acts 17:22 – “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands people everywhere to repent.”

We are called to be a repenting Church.  That is, we must call people to repent of their sins,

and also be a repenting people ourselves; a group of repenting followers of Jesus. When God shows us our sin, we must turn from it and return to the Lord. Isn’t this what repent means? Literally, to change your mind. Illustrate repentance.

St. John of Damascus said, “Repentance is returning from the unnatural to the natural state, from the devil to God, through discipline and effort.” I know…people will say that this is how you become a believer – and it is – we repent of our sins, believe, and follow Jesus.

Because of God’s love for us, because of Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins, and because of his resurrection and the promise of eternal life, we change our minds (repent) about living for me, myself, and I, and begin to live for Jesus. But this repentance doesn’t stop when one is born again or comes into a relationship with God through Jesus. It is a day by day, moment by moment reality.

When a person comes to faith in Jesus, God does a wonderful and amazing thing – he places within the person the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit begins to teach you, guide you, reveal to you the ways of God, and he begins to reveal to you your sin.

As God the Holy Spirit reveals to you your sin – usually through His Word, the Bible, – you then have a choice: continue in the sin or change your mind (repent). That is, begin to believe the behavior or attitude is a sin – and turn from it! This is repentance.

He is constantly showing me my sin and unless I repent I quench the Holy Spirit in my life and in my ministry. (1 Thess.5:19) As God shows us our sin, we must turn from it and return to the Lord.

St. Paul of the Cross said, “Should we fall into a sin, let us humble ourselves sorrowfully in his presence, and then, with an act of unbounded confidence, let us throw ourselves into the ocean of his goodness, where every failing will be cancelled and anxiety turned into love.”

We are called to be a repenting Church. In recent days, we have seen the Church of England, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and their bishops, walk away from the plain teaching of Scripture. We call on them to repent – to return to the teaching of the Word of God. We call on them to stop blessing sin, and return to the sanctity and holiness of Marriage.

We call on the Scottish Episcopal Church to repent. We call on the Church of Wales to repent. We call on the Episcopal Church in Brazil to repent. We call on the Anglican Church in New Zealand Church to repent. We call on the Church of Australia to repent. We call on the Anglican Church of Canada to repent. We call on the Episcopal Church to repent. Repent and return to the teaching of Holy Scripture!

Sadly, and with broken hearts, we must say that until the Archbishop of Canterbury repents, we can no longer recognize him as the “first among equals” and the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion. It is time for the whole Anglican Establishment to be reformed anyway. Why does a secular government of only one of the nations represented in the Anglican Communion still get to pick the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion? This makes no sense in today’s post-colonial world.

But let us not only call on those “out there” to repent. Some of United States need to repent of our sins – of our provincial sins, our church’s sins, and our personal sins. Sexual sins are not the only sins in the bible. Some of us have practices in our provinces, in our ministries, and in our lives which are not of God. We need to repent.

We Anglicans pray this prayer each time we pray confess the General Confession, “We are truly sorry, and we humbly repent…” (Or some version of this – depending on the liturgy.) As we confess our sins, we tell God that we are sorry, and that we humbly repent. Yet, do we? The question each of us must ask ourselves: “Is there something in my life which the Lord has shown me of which I must repent?” If we are going to be the people of God that the Lord wants us to be, we must be a repenting Church. If we want a true spiritual awakening, we must be a repenting Church.

The Second Mark of Modern Anglicanism is that we must be is a reconciling Church. When I speak of reconciliation, I am not talking about being reconciled with the world, or with sin, or with sinful behavior, or giving up one’s principles, or compromising Biblical Truth in order to be reconciled.

The Scriptures do tell us that we are all ministers of reconciliation and that we are to be reconciled with each other. This reconciliation is based on the cross of Jesus, on the Truth in the Scriptures, and on the tradition handed down to us by the Church Fathers, but this reconciliation does not compromise the teaching of Scripture.

To be reconciled means there was “once” a problem. The Australia Anglican scholar, Leon Morris, wrote “Reconciliation properly applies not to good relations in general but to the doing away of an enmity, the bridging over of a quarrel.  It implies that the parties being reconciled were formerly hostile to one another.” This is true with us individually with The Lord.This is true with too many of God’s people with each other.

For real reconciliation to take place, you must remove the enmity, the source of the quarrel. We may apologize for our actions, we may pay back money we owe, we may return something which we borrowed, or we may make restitution for the damage we have done. In every situation, there must be a dealing with the root cause of the enmity. In other words, there is no true reconciliation without repentance.

Jesus died on the cross to put away our sin; he removed the enmity between humanity and God. He opened the door for all human beings to come back to God.  He made it possible for us to be reconciled to God through faith. However, there is another aspect of reconciliation, and if this is not addressed in our lives and in our congregations, the Holy Spirit is grieved.

The Apostles John addresses this in 1 John in several ways.  Here is one, I John 4:20 says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” God has called us to be a reconciling church; a people who are reconciled with God through Jesus Christ and who are reconciled with one another.

Doesn’t Jesus tell us that this is one of our biggest witnessing tools to unbelievers – our love for one another? And yet people wound us, people get mad and say bad things, family members hurt us, friends go back on their word. Godly people get out of the Spirit and in the flesh do things or say things which offend us. This happens in congregations, too.  We are all human and too many times our sinfulness is brought into spiritual situations, and we can make a big mess of things. I know I have.

The biggest problem we have in being reconciled with others is our unwillingness to forgive. Unforgiveness sets in, resentment begins to grow, bitterness creeps in, and before long, unforgiveness has so grieved the Holy Spirit in your life that there is no joy or peace,

and it affects everything you do. Brother and sisters, this must not be! We are called to be a reconciling Church.

To be reconciled doesn’t mean you are going to agree about everything. To be reconciled doesn’t mean you necessarily even agree about the facts of what happened. To be reconciled means that you value the Lord and each other so much, that you are willing to acknowledge your own part in the situation, repent, and you are willing to forgive and move on.

This is what we confess each week. When we pass the peace each Sunday, what are we symbolizing? We are not just greeting our neighbor. I am visibly saying that before I come to the Table of the Lord, I am reconciled with my brother or sister to the best of my ability.

We are called to be a reconciling Church.  If not, we grieve the Holy Spirit. You may not think it affects your life. You may not think it affects your relationships with others. You may not think it affects your ministry. But it does! Ephesians 4:30 says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.”

So the question which must be asked:  Is there someone or a “bunch of someones” with whom you need to be reconciled? God is calling us to be a reconciling Church.

A Third Mark of Modern Anglicanism is we are called to be a reproducing Church. Just as in the creation story when God told humanity to be fruitful and multiply, Jesus commissioned his disciples before he ascended to do the same. Matthew 28:19 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you to the end of the ages.”

We are called to be a reproducing church, a disciple-making church. This is the major reason God gives us the Holy Spirit. Remember his words after this in Acts 1, “Go into Jerusalem, and wait for the gift of My Father.”  And then, says Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to end of the earth.”

The power of the Spirit is related to the commission to Go and make disciples. Do you think that God will continue to pour out his Spirit if we are not obeying his commission? Jesus says here that we are to GO. They will rarely come to us. We must go. We must get out of the four walls of our church and go. We must get out from in front of the television or the computer screen and go.

The theme of this conference is “To Whom Shall We Go?” And we will hear a lot of this, but please know that at this moment there are over 3 Billion people in our world who don’t know Jesus. You and I need to go.

We need to go to people in our world, our sphere of influence: the people we work with, the people we have fun with, the people down the street, the people in our villages, and the people in the next village or town. We are called to go share the Good News of Jesus and make disciples of ALL Nations. Brothers and Sisters, We are called to be a reproducing Church

The 4th Mark of Modern Anglicanism is that we are called to be a relentlessly compassionate Church. 2 Corinthians 5:14 says, “The love of Christ compels us!” 1 Timothy 1:5 says, “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” Galatians 5:22 says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love.” Jesus, in the second Great Commandment, said “Love your neighbor as yourselves.”

Do you know what most unbelievers out there think we feel toward them? They think we hate them. They think we despise them. They think we judge them. They think we don’t care about them. Now, obviously, they don’t know us very well because that is not true. But this is our problem, not theirs. God calls us to be relentlessly compassionate to the people in our world.

Let me challenge you to pray a very dangerous prayer: “Lord, open my eyes to see the hurt and the pain in the people around me.” Don’t pray this unless you are ready to be compassionate. Don’t pray this unless you are ready to care. People all around us are suffering immensely. People have wounded family relationships People are living in sexual brokenness and misery.

People are financially burdened and overwhelmed. People are addicted to alcohol, drugs, sex, porn, and money. People are exhausted and can’t get off the merry-go-round, and the black-hole just gets deeper and deeper with no way out. People have medical conditions which sap all their strength and creativity. They are craving a little compassionate care. They are craving a better way.

We have the answer for their needs. We have the answer for the drug addict. We have the answer for the porn addict, the financially broken, emotionally and physically abused, those living a life of poverty.  His name is Jesus.

He cares for them and desires to help them. He deeply wants a relationship with them and to lead them into meaningful life. However, this Jesus expects his body to be His Body in the towns, villages, cities, and neighborhoods in which we live. He expects us to be His arms, His legs, His voice, His ears, and His heart.

We are not and cannot be the Church as we have known it.  We must be a living Body engaged with the people around us.  We must be the Temple of the Holy Spirit exhibiting the fruit and gifts of the Spirit in all we do.

May it not be said that we did not pray and fast for our nations. May it not be said that we did not reach out to our neighbors in love. May it not be said that we did not love our enemies into the Kingdom of God. May it not be said that we did not do all we could do to reach our friends, neighbors, family members, and co-workers with the transforming love of Jesus. We are to be a relentlessly compassionate Church.

As we go throughout the week with our theme, “To whom shall we go?,” and we eventually return back to our homes and ministries, let us remember that God calls us to be a repenting people, a reconciling people, a reproducing people, and a relentlessly compassionate people.

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I am writing to you today to share the news that Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali has joined The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.  We are deeply grateful for Bishop Michael’s ministry over the years on behalf of the Gafcon movement.  He is a stalwart defender of Christian orthodoxy, and my own faith has been enriched and encouraged by his witness and teaching.

Michael is a gift to the global Church, and he has shared with me his willingness to continue to assist the Gafcon movement in any way that might be suitable.  While we are still exploring what this might look like, in the near term we look forward to continuing to partner with him in support of the suffering church.  Please continue to keep Gafcon, the Nazir-Alis, and the whole Church in your prayers.

The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach

Chairman, Global Anglican Future Conference

Archbishop and Primate, Anglican Church in North America

14 October 2021

Like many of you, I have been soberly watching the situation unfolding in Afghanistan.   I know it has surfaced many emotions for people across the world, especially those who have personal connections with Afghanistan and the Afghan people.  Whether justified or unjustified, war is always a tragic consequence of the Fall.  While in war we can witness the greatness of human courage and selflessness, we also realize the depths of human sinfulness, as poet Robert Burns wrote, “man’s inhumanity to man.”

Please join me in prayer for the people of Afghanistan, those Afghans and Americans seeking safe passage out of the country, and those on the ground continuing to help.  Pray for wisdom for leaders at all levels who face very difficult decisions.  Pray for the ever-growing underground Church in Afghanistan.  Even more, pray that all Afghanis, especially those in power, are met by the Holy Spirit and come to personally know the risen Christ.  Please join me in prayer and fasting with special prayers in our worship services this coming Sunday.

I want to send a personal message to all the military, foreign service, civil service, contractors, missionaries, and aid workers, and their families, who have given so much of their blood, sweat, and tears in service to their nations and for the welfare of the Afghan people.  Know that your efforts are not in vain.  You selflessly answered the call to service, sacrificing many things, and risking your own life for others.   Many of you bear the scars, visible and invisible.  Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)  These words may resonate so deeply in your souls in a way that many will never understand because they are words that you have lived by.  However, our Lord knows.  He also bears the scars.  It is through His indescribable love for us that He gave His own life on the cross.  The things of this fallen world will disappoint us, but our God never will.  For those who are feeling burdened, please don’t go through this alone.  Please contact your clergy or one of the many veterans’ groups.  We love you and we thank you for all the things you have done.

Additionally, please offer up prayers for all those affected by the recent earthquake and tropical storms, especially those in Haiti, as well as the ongoing COVID pandemic.  The depth of suffering, loss, and heartache so many are experiencing at this time can only be met by the supernatural Presence of the Lord.

As the world seemingly darkens, remember that the Church is to be a light to the world, pointing to the One who is the Light of life.  Let us remain united together in Christ, as citizens of heaven, opposing the powers of darkness, and remembering what Saint Paul wrote: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

The Anglican Relief and Development Fund has begun raising funds for support for Afghan refugees and the people of Haiti.  Donations can be made at ardf.org.

In Christ Jesus,

The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach
Archbishop and Primate, Anglican Church in North America