Global South (Anglican)

Global South (Anglican)

The Anglican Global South is a grouping of 24 of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion. The provinces identified with the Global South grouping represent most, but not all, of the Third World countries within the Communion and are mostly conservative on matters of sexual ethics, and evangelical in churchmanship. The term significantly excludes the Anglican Churches of Australia and New Zealand. The Anglican Church of Southern Africa was already represented in several Global South meetings, despite being more liberal then their African counterparts.

The term Global South was originally simply a general description of what was formerly referred to as the Third World, which is primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. It was applied, specifically, to Christian churches only in 2003, gaining impetus in the context of disputes within the Anglican Communion over the ordination in 2003 of a partnered gay man, Gene Robinson, as a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States. Global South churches, in alliance with conservative Anglicans in the United States, have since then vigorously protested the unacceptability to them of any accommodation of same-sex relationships within the Anglican Communion.

The majority of the Provinces are part of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA). The Global South makes regular pronouncements on the internal politics of the Anglican Communion, with particular emphasis upon issues of human sexuality, through a self-appointed Steering Committee, whose Chairman is the Most Rev. Mouneer Anis.

The Global South issued a letter to the Anglican Communion Crown Nominations Commission on 20 July 2012, signed by 13 Primates and representatives of three churches, including the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, expressing his will that the new Archbishop of Canterbury will remain faithfull to the orthodoxy of the Anglican faith and work for the unity of the wordwide Anglican Communion.