The bible must be at the centre of the Anglican Communion, the head of Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) has said.
A meeting on how Anglicans should move forward together was called for this week by the archbishop of Canterbury. The discussion is a recognition of the deep concerns of the leaders of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala said.
"It is on this basis (restoring the Bible in the heart of the Anglican Communion) that the GAFCON Primates will prayerfully consider their response to the Archbishop of Canterbury's letter," said the primate of Kenya and chairman of GAFCON in a statement on Friday.
Welby has suggested restructuring the communion as a looser association in order to maintain relations with liberal churches of North America that recognise and support gay marriage, as well as with conservative African churches that reject homosexuality and gay unions of all kinds.
However some African bishops prefer the current structure and view the change as superfluous.
The crisis in the communion is not a problem of relationship or cultural context, Wabukala said, but a problem of false teaching.
"Our confidence is not in any structural reorganisation, useful though it may be, but in the saving grace of ... Christ and in the abiding truth of the Bible," said Wabukala.
Founded in Jerusalem in 2008, GAFCON says its aim is to restore the integrity of the Anglican faith. It has previously maintained that they would not attend any meeting where the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada were present.
