[3] The meeting came as the culmination of a series of controversies in the Anglican Communion that began in 2003 when the openly non-celibate gay bishop Gene Robinson was consecrated by the Episcopal Church USA.

[4] GAFCON was organised as a conservative alternative to the 2008 Lambeth Conference, which was boycotted by many traditionalists except most notably, Bishop Anis.

On 3 September 2009, GAFCON's South African branch was established by the initiative of Bishop Bethlehem Nopece, of the Anglican Diocese of Port Elizabeth.

[11] GAFCON in New Zealand was launched in April 2016 in two conferences that took place in Auckland and Christchurch reuniting nearly 500 members from the entire country.

[13] GAFCON helped to form the Diocese of the Southern Cross in 2022, a breakaway from the Anglican Church of Australia as a result of disagreements over same-sex marriage and other issues.

[17] [28] [28] The ordination of women to holy orders, the offices of deacon, priest (presbyter), and bishop, remains controversial in GAFCON.

[30] In 2010, the church moved forward with those plans and began to ordain women as deacons, with limitations "for specific purposes like hospital work and school services".

[35][36] In 2016, prior to the moratorium, the Episcopal Church of Sudan consecrated the first woman, Elizabeth Awut Ngor, as bishop and the first among the GAFCON members.