A major fault line within the worldwide Anglican Communion is widening after conservative church leaders gathered in Nigeria to reshape global Anglican leadership in a move that challenges the historic authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The meeting in Abuja, organised by the conservative alliance Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon), brought together bishops and church leaders from dozens of countries, largely from Africa, Asia and parts of Latin America. The group has long opposed what it describes as the “liberal drift” of Western Anglican churches, particularly on issues such as women’s ordination and the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people.
Gafcon’s leadership announced a significant restructuring of its global movement, replacing its existing Primates’ Council with a newly created Global Anglican Council. The council will include bishops, clergy and lay members with voting rights and is intended to guide what the movement describes as the “global Anglican Communion”.
The development represents the latest stage in a long-running theological and institutional conflict within Anglicanism, a worldwide Christian tradition of roughly 85 million members historically linked to the Church of England. Although the 46 national and regional churches that form the Anglican Communion are autonomous, they have traditionally recognised the Archbishop of Canterbury as primus inter pares—first among equals—and a symbolic focus of unity.
Conservative leaders say that model no longer reflects the reality of a church increasingly centred in the global south. Gafcon was established in 2008 as a coalition of churches determined to defend what they see as orthodox Anglican doctrine, especially regarding sexuality and biblical authority.
At the Abuja gathering, attended by more than 400 delegates from 48 countries and representing over 180 dioceses, leaders argued that existing Anglican structures have failed to resolve deep doctrinal disagreements.
Archbishop Laurent Mbanda of Rwanda, a central figure in the movement, was unanimously chosen as chairman of the new council. The body will oversee global coordination among Gafcon-aligned churches and organisations, while sharing authority among a broader group of leaders rather than concentrating it in a single figure.
The shift stops short of formally creating a rival Archbishop of Canterbury, a step that many observers believed would represent a definitive institutional break. Instead, Gafcon leaders say they are reorganising global Anglicanism around what they view as a more representative leadership structure.
Still, the move signals a deepening divide in the centuries-old communion.
Many of the tensions revolve around changes within Western Anglican churches, including the acceptance of same-sex relationships and the ordination of openly LGBTQ+ clergy. These developments have been particularly controversial among churches in Africa and Asia, where Anglicanism has grown rapidly and where conservative theological positions tend to dominate.
The appointment of Sarah Mullally as Archbishop of Canterbury intensified those tensions. Some conservative leaders opposed her leadership on theological grounds, including objections to female episcopal leadership and to perceived liberalising trends within the Church of England.
Gafcon leaders insist that they are not leaving the Anglican Communion but rather reclaiming what they believe to be its authentic doctrinal foundation. The movement frequently describes itself as representing the majority of practising Anglicans, largely because the fastest-growing Anglican churches are located in the global south.
For many clergy attending the meeting, the question is not merely institutional but theological.
Francis Aduroja, a Nigerian priest, said many conservative Anglicans expected their bishops to reaffirm a strict interpretation of scripture. “We want them to defend the faith of our fathers,” he said ahead of the gathering. “We want encouragement that we are still upholding the gospel with no backing out and no compromise.”
The divisions have been building for decades. Since the early 2000s, disagreements over sexuality and church authority have prompted several national churches to boycott major Anglican gatherings such as the Lambeth Conference and Primates’ Meetings.
In recent years the conflict has increasingly taken on a geographic dimension, with churches in Africa—particularly Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda—playing a prominent role in the conservative movement. The Church of Nigeria, the largest Anglican province in the world, hosted the Abuja conference and has been a key supporter of Gafcon’s agenda.
Some scholars describe the dispute as part of a broader “Anglican realignment”, in which alliances among churches are increasingly defined by theology rather than historic ties to Canterbury.
Historians note that the Anglican Communion has no central governing authority, meaning unity depends largely on voluntary cooperation and shared tradition. That flexibility has historically allowed the global church to accommodate diverse cultural contexts. Yet critics argue that it has also made the communion vulnerable to prolonged doctrinal disputes.
Whether the latest restructuring will ultimately produce a formal split remains uncertain. Some church leaders still hope reconciliation is possible, while others believe a long-term realignment of global Anglican leadership is inevitable.
What is clear, however, is that the balance of influence within Anglicanism is shifting. As churches across Africa and Asia continue to grow, their leaders increasingly insist that the future of the communion will not be determined solely in England.
The decisions taken in Abuja may therefore mark not only a moment of conflict but also a turning point in how one of the world’s largest Christian traditions understands authority, leadership and unity in the 21st century.
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