About to go home

I'm sitting in Ben Gurion airport and trying to comprehend all that has happened in the past two days. Saturday was a blazing hot day of touring around the sea of Galilee. We visited several sites- Mount of the Beatitudes, the ruins of a 4th century synagogue, Tiberius. The most interesting was viewing a mosaic floor of the church over the site where the feeding of the 5,000 took place. The floor dates back to the 3rd century. At one point I was interviewed on camera by Australian television.

While we were there we were warmly greeted by his imminence, Elias Chacour, the archbishop of the Melkite Catholic Church in Galilee- the largest Christian group in the Middle East. Ap. Chacour has been nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in reconciliation in the Middle East.

Sunday began with our closing services of worship. The preacher for our Bible Study, Ap. Yong Ping Chung of SE Asia. He called GAFCON a Mordecai moment (refering to the book of Esther) calling us, like Esther, to speak out for the Gospel- both within Anglicanism and in the world. This is not a time to be silent or to acquiese. Perhaps God has put us in our positions of leadership so that we speak out "for such a time as this."

The final draft of the GAFCON statment, entitled "The Jerusalem Declaration" was presented to the packed ballroom, filled not only with the 1200 regular participants but a host of visitors and the press. At one point I counted over 30 people from the press some with television cameras. It was an historic moment. The statment was read word for word by Ap. Henry Orombi (Uganda) and it was greeted with loud cheers and an extended standing ovation.

A rousing communion service, warm hugs, and it was all over. A missionary movement has been born.