There are three components in the GAFCON final communiqué, which was formally released after final ratification by participants at a signing session on Sunday morning: the designation of GAFCON as a “fellowship of confessing Anglicans”; a 14-point Jerusalem Declaration described as “the basis of that fellowship”; and a newly formed Primates’ Council, which is likely to meet in the next two months.

Each of the three suggestions is radical. The transformation from a conference to a fellowship makes GAFCON an enduring element in the Anglican Church. The 14-point Declaration is largely doctrinal, though it contains a section on sexuality, and another on relations with more liberal dioceses. On sexuality, the document does not name homosexuality, and instead speaks of “marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy”, and it calls for “a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married”.

The other clause states: “We reject the authority of those Churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word of deed. We pray for them, and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.”

By contrast, and with matters like the ordination of women and liturgical difference looming, the Declaration says: “We celebrate the God-given diversity among us. . . and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters.”

The most radical structural change is the establishment of the Primates’ Council. This will arbitrate the membership of the fellowship, but as a first move it is urged in the statement to “authenticate” confessing Anglican jurisdictions, among them various breakaway Anglican Churches and irregular consecrations. It is not known yet whether this will supercede the Primates’ Meeting for Primates in the Global South, such as the seven present at GAFCON. Its designation as a Council responds to GAFCON concerns that it must have enough teeth to discipline errant members.

More seriously, the communiqué states that the time is now ripe “for the formation of a province in North America for the federation currently known as ‘Common Cause Partnership’”.

On the subject of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the communiqué states: “While acknowledging the nature of Canterbury as an historic see, we do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

Elsewhere, the statement laments the refusal of the US and Canadian Churches to reform themselves and the way the Lambeth Conference has been structured “so as to avoid any hard decisions”. This, it concludes, leads “to the devastating conclusion that ‘we are global Communion with colonial structures.”