What does it mean to be Anglican and part of the Anglican Communion?

Lambeth Conferences of all the Diocesan bishops of the Anglican Communion have been summoned by sitting Archbishops of Canterbury approximately every ten years since 1867 and their resolutions have not always gained the attention that might have been expected given the illustrious status of those convened. 

It may therefore come as a slight surprise to learn that Resolution 49 of the 1930 Lambeth Conference is now widely recognized as one of the most important declarations about Anglican ecclesiology, which is to say the self-understanding of the Anglican Communion as a church. The substantive part of the text as approved reads as follows: 

“The Anglican Communion is a fellowship, within the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, of those duly constituted dioceses, provinces or regional Churches in communion with the See of Canterbury, which have the following characteristics in common:

1. they uphold and propagate the Catholic and Apostolic faith and order as they are generally set forth in the Book of Common Prayer as authorised in their several Churches;
2. they are particular or national Churches, and, as such, promote within each of their territories a national expression of Christian faith, life and worship; and
3. they are bound together not by a central legislative and executive authority, but by mutual loyalty sustained through the common counsel of the bishops in conference.

The Conference makes this statement praying for and eagerly awaiting the time when the Churches of the present Anglican Communion will enter into communion with other parts of the Catholic Church not definable as Anglican in the above sense, as a step towards the ultimate reunion of all Christendom in one visibly united fellowship.”

This text has become newly prominent in the light of new proposals coming forward for consideration by the next meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council which would revise this understanding.

The ACC is made up of Anglican bishops, other clergy, and laity sent from each of the Communions 42 Province, meets every two or three years in between meetings of the Lambeth Conference and was itself brought into being by a resolution of the 1968 Lambeth Conference and it now has a permanent secretariat, based at Saint Andrew’s House, in London.

Among the bodies the ACC supports is the lengthily named, Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) which published a document just over year ago, in December 2024, entitled The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals: Renewing the Instruments of the Anglican Communion. This document was produced after two years of work and extensive consultation across theological and cultural differences around the Communion.

According to IASCUFO,  the document’s proposals are intended to address: ‘two interrelated crises: the deep divisions within the Communion concerning human sexuality and doctrine, and the anachronistic persistence of colonial power dynamics within its structures.’  

To these ends, ‘the document articulates a vision of “differentiation-in-communion”—a framework enabling autonomous provinces to maintain authentic fellowship despite significant disagreement.’ And it then more specifically proposes: 

1. ‘a revised definition of Anglican identity and then 
2. a decentralized model of ecclesiastical leadership’ 

In respect of 1), whereas, the 1930 resolution spoke of churches “in communion with the See of Canterbury,” it is now proposed that this relationship be reformulated as merely an  “historic connection with the See of Canterbury.” This is said to reflect, “the reality that certain churches—particularly those representing the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA)—have found the relationship with Canterbury ruptured, particularly following the Church of England’s 2023 decision to commend prayers of blessing for same-sex couples.” This circumstance has been further complicated by the much more recent announcement of the choice of the current Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally, as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, which is problematic for those Provinces which do not accept women in ordained ministry.  

‘By substituting “historic connection” for “in communion with,” the Proposals acknowledge that communion with Canterbury, while historically normative, can no longer serve as a metaphysical prerequisite for Anglican identity in the manner classical ecclesiology might suggest. Traditionally minded commentators and GSFA representatives have therefore argued that this change effectively decouples Canterbury from any disciplinary or doctrinal authority, rendering the “See of Canterbury” a mere historical marker rather than a living center of communion.’ 

In respect of 2), IASCUFO then in addition proposes:

1. a rotating presidency for the Anglican Consultative Council among the five regions of the Communion (Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, Australia/Pacific), with the president elected from the membership of the Primates’ Meeting (which is made up of Archbishops or Bishops with standings as Metropolitans) and 

2. Enhancement of the Primates’ Standing Committee’s role in convening and presiding over Primates’ Meetings and the Lambeth Conference. Thus, while historically, the Archbishop of Canterbury has exercised this right and responsibility with the consequent the authority to determine the agenda, timing, and indeed the very convening of these bodies this will no longer be the case and pass away from that office to this Committee of Primates instead 

Lastly, it should be noted (among much else, in what is a very long document) that what is now proposed also is the novel introduction, into Anglican vocabulary of the concept of “degrees of communion” — a framework enabling diverse churches to maintain authentic ecclesial relationship despite not achieving full sacramental intercommunion. 

This freely represents something that constitutes ‘a deliberate departure from the binary of full communion/no communion,’ with in turn a new formulation proposed of aspiration for all towards, ‘the highest degree of communion possible.’ If all this comes to be recognised, ‘the operative ecclesiological principle, (for the whole Anglican Communion) ‘acknowledging that perfect uniformity may be neither achievable nor, in some matters, necessary.’

Needless to say, there is a very great deal here to dwell upon, pray about and ponder, not least in terms of the wide implications for all levels of the church. I very much look forward to our exploring this terrain in the times ahead.