Global Anglican Future Conference
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The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the Anglican Communion, the rise of secularism, as well as concerns with HIV/AIDS and poverty. As a result of the conference, the Jerusalem Declaration was issued and the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans was created. The conference participants also called for the creation of the Anglican Church in North America as an alternative to both the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada, and declared that recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury is not necessary to Anglican identity.
GAFCON occurred one month prior to the Lambeth Conference, the ten-yearly gathering of Anglican Communion bishops. GAFCON stated the movement rose because a "false gospel" was being promoted within the Anglican Communion, which denied the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and "promotes a variety of sexual preferences and immoral behaviour as a universal human right (sic)".
This reactionary movement is commonly considered to have been prompted by the consecration of openly gay and non-celibate Gene Robinson as Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, and more generally from the view that some, more progressive and welcoming parts of the global Anglican Communion might be departing from more traditional and conservative understandings of biblical teaching.