New structure for worldwide Anglicanism to be unveiled

Published: 29 July 2008

A proposal for a new central governance structure for the worldwide Anglican Communion has been presented to bishops at the Lambeth Conference.

The proposal, by a body of senior bishops known as the Windsor Continuation Group, is designed to help Anglicans deal with problems such as those caused by the ordination of an openly homosexual man, Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire in The Episcopal Church in the United States.

The Anglican Communion is not a single church but a group of 38 individual national and regional churches held together without any international corporate structure, governance or constitution. This has meant finding solutions when the different churches disagree has been difficult.

There are currently four international ‘instruments of unity’ which hold the Anglican Communion together:

The Lambeth Conference has no power and only meets once every ten years. Its membership includes - normally - every Anglican bishop but its decisions aren’t binding on the member churches because Anglican churches are governed not just by their bishops but also by synods. The decisions taken and resolutions made at Lambeth Conferences carry weight having been agreed by all or a majority of the Communion’s bishops, but they have no legal authority.

The Primates Meeting takes place more frequently than the Lambeth Conference and includes the 38 heads of the individual churches within the Anglican Communion. Like the Lambeth Conference, its decisions carry no legal weight, but the meeting is useful in finding ‘the mind of the communion’ as it is assumed that the heads of the different churches will be able to speak with authority about where their church stands on particular issues.

The Anglican Consultative Council is a wider group which brings together some primates, together with bishops, clergy and laity from across the Communion. It too has no legal powers other than to advise the primates.

All these three Instruments of Unity defer to the fourth Instrument, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop of Canterbury is described as the ‘focus for unity’ for the other three Instruments and is seen as a unique focus for Anglican unity. He calls the Lambeth Conference, chairs the Primates Meeting and is President of the Anglican Consultative Council.

Despite having this central focus, the Archbishop of Canterbury does not have authority over the Anglican Communion in the same way that the Pope has authority over Roman Catholics. He is recognised as ‘primus inter pares’ or ‘first among equals’.

Last week the Chair of the Windsor Continuation Group, the former bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Most Revd Dr Clive Handford, said efforts to seek a solution using the existing informal frameworks had been unsuccessful, claiming that ‘relationships in the Communion continue to deteriorate; there is little sense of mutual accountability and a fear that vital issues are not being addressed in the most timely and effective manner.’

His report to bishops last week suggested the setting up of a ‘Faith and Order Commission’ which could act globally to decide matters of orthodox Anglican doctrine. Yesterday he described in more detail how such a commission could work and how this would fit into what is being described as a fifth instrument of unity for the Anglican church.

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