The Global South encounters started in 1994. The Global South standing gained impetus concerning the controversies over the acceptance of non-celibate homosexuality, as the blessing of same-sex unions and the allowing of non-celibate homosexual clergy was being promoted by the
Episcopal Church in the
United States and the
Anglican Church of Canada. The apex of the controversy took place with the consecration of
Gene Robinson, a partnered homosexual, as bishop of the Episcopal Church in 2003. The Global South churches have since then vigorously opposed the legitimacy of any acceptance of
same-sex relationships within the Anglican Communion. Several of the Global South primates attended the
Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) that took place in
Jerusalem in 2008, as an alternative to the
Lambeth Conference.
Mouneer Anis the Presiding Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, personally objected to attending GAFCON 2008, believing that "the Global South must not be driven by an exclusively Northern agenda or Northern personalities." Following this conference, the Global South supported the creation of the
Anglican Church in North America, in 2009, as a province in formation of the Anglican Communion and a theologically conservative alternative in the United States and Canada in opposition to what were viewed as revisionist departures that had taken place in these provinces concerning specifically human sexuality and the interpretation of the
Bible. Archbishop
Robert Duncan of the Anglican Church in North America was present at the Global South Primates Encounter that took place in
Singapore, on 19–23 April 2010. The final statement declared: "We are grateful that the recently formed Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a faithful expression of Anglicanism. We welcomed them as partners in the Gospel and our hope is that all provinces will be in full communion with the clergy and people of the ACNA and the Communion Partners." The Global South issued a letter to the Crown Nominations Commission of the Anglican Communion, on 20 July 2012, signed by 13 primates and representatives of other three churches, including the
Anglican Church of Southern Africa, expressing the wish that the new Archbishop of Canterbury will remain faithful to the orthodoxy of the Anglican faith and work for the unity of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The 7th Global South Conference, held in
Cairo,
Egypt, on 8–11 October 2019, reuniting 101 delegates and observers of 18 Anglican provinces, proposed the creation of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches, with the GSFA Covenantal Structure, which was then approved on their official communiqué. The 8th Global South Conference, also held in Cairo, except that online, on 14–17 October 2021, with the presence of 90 delegates from 16 provinces and a diocese, endorsed the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches "as a global body of orthodox Anglicans within the Anglican Communion. It retains its geographical anchorage in the provinces of the traditional "Global South", nurtures its koinonia in the Gospel". It was also decided that in the next conference, "membership in the Global South Fellowship will be based on assent to the Fundamental Declarations of the Covenantal Structure and agreement with the conciliar structures that bind us together as an ecclesial body." On the same occasion,
Justin Badi Arama, Archbishop of
South Sudan, was elected as chairman. On 9 February 2023, the Global South Fellowship questioned
Justin Welby's "fitness to lead" the
Anglican Communion following the
Church of England's vote on same-sex blessings. A day later, the
Church of Uganda said they did not recognize the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury. On 20 February 2023, some
primates within the fellowship released a statement declaring that it had broken communion with and no longer recognized Justin Welby as
primus inter pares of the Anglican Communion,
de facto marking a schism within the Anglican Communion. In March, 2023, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, although not an "ordinary member" of the GSFA, released a statement saying that, while they could not approve of blessings or marriage for same-sex couples, they accepted Archbishop Makgoba's proposal to form a subcommittee to "prepare formal prayers suitable for providing pastoral care to couples in same-sex civil unions." However, while they approved a subcommittee to draft pastoral prayers for consideration, a proposal to bless same-sex unions was rejected by the majority of their bishops. == Membership ==