African Bishops Release Joint Response to Windsor Report
Friday, Oct. 29, 2004 The Christian Post

"The bishops who gathered for the first ever African Anglican Bishop's Conference released the long-awaited response to the report on homosexuality and unity in the Anglican Communion.

The 300 bishops who gathered in Lagos, Nigeria for the premier African Anglican Bishop’s Conference, released their first statement regarding the Windsor Report, on Oct. 29, 2004. The response, which offered “preliminary reflections” on the report on homosexuality and the unity of the Anglican Communion, essentially reiterated the conservative stance of the African bishops and called for greater equity in the worldwide Communion.

“We are gathered at an extraordinary and historic meeting of Anglican Bishops from all over Africa. We do so grateful for the Faith once delivered to the saints and the generosity of those who first brought the good news of Jesus Christ to the African continent,” the statement began.

The preliminary reflections began with a note of thanks to the members who drew up the Windsor Report. The report, which was released on Oct. 18, addresses the contentious issues of homosexual clergy and homosexual union blessings, and the consequential divisions that arose in the communion...

“We call on the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada to take seriously the need for “repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation enjoined on us by Christ,” they added.

Meanwhile, the African bishops rejected “the moral equivalence” drawn between the Episcopal Church USA and the African churches.

“To call on us to “express regret” and reassert our commitment to the Communion is offensive in light of our earlier statements. If the Episcopal Church USA had not willfully “torn the fabric of our communion at its deepest level” our actions would not have been necessary,” they wrote..." (Full article found here.)