A London meeting of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) in late April called for major restructuring of the global Anglican Communion, including moving away from a "British Empire" model of leadership. Some proposed replacing the office of the archbishop of Canterbury, the appointed Anglican leader, with an elected chair. The FCA is a conservative renewal movement within the Anglican denomination, which has been wracked with controversies over biblical authority and homosexual ordination. The FCA says its purpose is "to proclaim and defend the gospel throughout the world, and to strengthen the church worldwide by supporting and authenticating faithful Anglicans."
Anglican membership has plummeted in England and America (home of largely liberal Episcopalians) but soared in areas of the global South. African leaders, typically more conservative than many Westerners on scriptural interpretation and social issues, have argued that their numerical dominance should translate into greater denominational power. Ugandan-born cleric John Sentamu, the archbishop of York, has emerged as one of the leading candidates to replace the retiring Rowan Williams as the archbishop of Canterbury. But FCA leaders such as Nigerian Archbishop Nicholas Okoh called for more fundamental changes that would de-emphasize England's traditional leadership in the denomination.
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