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The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) yesterday joined the growing rebellion against the mother church, the Church of England, over its decision to bless gay marriages. ACK head, Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit warned that the Anglican communion in Kenya would never recognize nor bless same-sex marriages as they offended Biblical teachings.

 “I want to urge all our Christians in Kenya that we are faithful to the teachings and espousing what is written in the word of God not what is interpreted by theologians or modern society today but as is written in the Bible recorded, which is translated from the Hebrew,” said Sapit in an interview with People Daily.

“In that bible, human sexuality has been listed as one of the things that God has ordained that marriage is between a male and a female where children can be born and posterity can thrive and grow. Any other teaching, which is contrary to that is an abomination and therefore as ACK, we go against the decision made by the Church of England General synod on February 9 where they have decided to bless gay marriages in the church,” he added.

My question has always been, in whose name will they bless that marriage, it is n the name of the very God who said homosexuality is an abomination.

Anglican Communion

I just came this morning from Accra Ghana where we had the Anglican consultative council and made decision as an Anglican communion and I asked the very question, did the church of England, which portend to be the mother church   of the Anglicans worldwide have read the Bible properly, interpreted it properly and made a decision to say that gay marriages are now right before God and have lifted them from being listed as the least of sins, they could not answer that question

So I join other Anglicans worldwide, from the global south which is Africa pacific india south America to say the Archbishop of Canterbury is no longer the leader of Anglican communion because he has abrogated that role by allowing his church to bless gay marriages.

He went on; “My question is this, when we bring things that are not of God to bless in the church are we enlisting the same God the blesser because we normally bless in the name of God and I said it cannot be in the name of very God who said homo sexuality is an abomination so my stand as Archbishop of ACK is that I study the scriptures, I will always follow what is right before God and men.”

He vowed not to allow the Kenyan Anglican community, estimated to comprise five million faithful, to support or recognize gay marriages.

“I can never allow my church to be part of that so the church of England cannot dictate what the rest of the world will do. ACK  has desisted from that which the church of England portends to portray as part of a practice of their church and we uphold the scriptures as written in the word of God, we will never waiver from that I call upon my church in Kenya to say we are no longer in communion with the church of England but as for the Anglican communion, they do not have hold of it, it belongs to us all. We want the bishop of Canterbury to cede his position as the President of the Anglican communion council so that we elect another primate who can lead the Anglican church worldwide. So as we stand today we in Kenya join the global south primates who have made a statement, the gulf and myself to say no to sin the church and we cannot allow it,” he stated.

Archbishop of Canterbury

Sapit joined 12 other Anglican church leaders who have declared that they no longer consider the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to be the leader of the global communion following his decision to allow blessings for gay partnerships.

The leaders, who say they represent 75 per cent of Anglicans worldwide – accused the Church of England of taking “the path of false teaching”, and going against “historical biblical faith.”

They included the Anglican heads of South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Congo, and Alexandria in Egypt.

Blessings for same-sex civil partnerships were approved by the Church of England’s legislative assembly, the General Synod, earlier this month. Daily Mail reported that the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) had said in a statement that it no longer considers Justin Welby to be ‘leader of the global communion’, and that it had ‘disqualified’ the Church of England from being its ‘mother church’.

It followed a decision, earlier this month, by the General Synod – the Church of England’s legislative assembly – to pass a motion to allow the blessing of same-sex couples in civil partnerships.

Member provinces

The GSFA said it speaks for 75 percent of Anglicans around the world, officially representing 25 member provinces, mainly in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

In a statement released on Monday, the group accused the Church of England of ‘taking the path of false teaching’ and going against ‘the historical biblical faith’ by allowing same-sex blessings, adding: ‘This breaks our hearts.’

They accused Archbishop Welby had ‘sadly led his House of Bishops to make the recommendations (for blessing gay couples) knowing that they run contrary to the faith and order of the orthodox provinces in the communion’.

‘We pray that our withdrawal of support for him to lead the whole Communion is received by him as an admonishment in love! Daily Mail quoted the statement. The GSFA added that this has caused a ‘leadership crisis’ and it is now working to ‘re-set the communion’.

The signatories included the GSFA’s chair, Archbishop Justin Badi, along with the archbishops of Chile, the Indian Ocean, Congo, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Uganda, Sudan, Alexandria and Melanesia.

Since its formation in 1867, the incumbent Archbishop of Canterbury has taken the role of spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, a global fellowship of 42 Anglican churches. Of the GSFA’s 25 member provinces, 22 are part of the wider Anglican Communion.

A spokesperson for the palace said: ‘The Archbishop is in regular contact with his fellow Primates and looks forward to discussing this and other matters with them over the coming period.

‘The Archbishop of Canterbury commented last week at the ACC in Ghana that these structures are always able to change with the times.

‘We note the statement issued today by some Anglican Primates and we fully appreciate their position.

‘As was reaffirmed in multiple discussions at the ACC in Ghana, however, no changes to the formal structures of the Anglican Communion can be made unless they are agreed upon by the Instruments of Communion.’‘In a world of conflict, suffering and uncertainty, we must remember that more unites us than divides us.