“Making room for each other”: IASCUFO paper explores Anglican Communion identity

6 December 2024 • Persistent link: iarccum.org/?p=5115

IASCUFO members and contributors to the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals at All Saints’ Cathedral, Cairo during the plenary meeting of the commission (Dec. 2023). Photo: IASCUFO/Anglican Communion Office

Renewing the Instruments of the Anglican Communion is the focus of a new paper called The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals released by the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO). Commissioned by the 18th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in 2023, a draft of the paper was presented to the Primates’ Meeting in Rome in April 2024, and was revised in conversation with the Primates’ Standing Committee, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the whole of the Standing Committee of the ACC. It has now been published as an offering to the Anglican Communion and for the consideration of the 19th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in 2026.

IASCUFO Propoals Commissioned by the ACC

IASCUFO is supported by the Anglican Communion Office and chaired by The Right Revd Dr Graham Tomlin of the Church of England. Its membership is composed of a diverse group from across the Anglican Communion, incorporating a range of viewpoints from Africa, Asia, South and North America, Europe, and Australia.

The report represents two years of work by the commission. ACC-18 asked IASCUFO to “explore theological questions regarding structure and decision-making in the Anglican Communion.” The ACC resolution underlined “the importance of seeking to walk together to the highest degree possible and learning from our ecumenical conversations how to accommodate differentiation patiently and respectfully.”

The work also carries forward the call of the 2022 Lambeth Conference to review the Instruments of Communion, and to seek to answer two questions: “To what extent are the Instruments fit for purpose? To what extent might some (or all) of the Instruments be reconfigured to serve the Communion of today and the future?”

The Instruments of the Anglican Communion are the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council, the Primates’ Meeting, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Each emerged at a different point in history, as the Anglican family of churches has sought to articulate and deepen its faith and order, in service of wider Christian unity.

The Proposals

The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals urge the churches of the Anglican Communion to reclaim their oldest ideals, founded in Scripture and the ancient faith of the Church, and to respond properly to God’s gift and call of unity in Christ, even when that unity is wounded by disagreement and division. The paper seeks to help Anglicans speak “honestly and directly” and to consider several structural adjustments “to encourage a more sustained equality, mutuality, and flourishing of all member churches.”

The longest section of the paper describes anew the vocation of Anglicanism with reference to the four ancient marks of the Church as One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. This frames the two principal proposals of the paper, which seek “to account for changes of the last century and to encourage a maximal sharing in leadership that reflects [Anglican] identity and ideals.” The proposals are presented together by IASCUFO and the Standing Committee of the ACC.

The first proposal offers an updated statement (for the first time since 1930) of the nature and status of the Anglican Communion, a statement that reflects the “maturing of the 42 sister churches of the Communion.” The proposed hopeful description states that (1) the churches of the Communion seek to uphold and propagate the Catholic and Apostolic faith and order, as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer; (2) they are properly autonomous, rooted in their various localities; and (3) they remain bound together in four respects: “through their shared inheritance, mutual service, common counsel in conference, and historic connection with the See of Canterbury.” The latter four characteristics “capture the present reality and ideals of the churches of the Communion, by which they seek to foster the highest degree of communion” with one another and with all churches and communities of the Universal Church.

The second proposal suggests broadening how the meetings of the Instruments of Communion are called, convened, chaired, and presided over, in order to diversify the face of the Instruments of Communion. In particular, the paper proposes “a rotating presidency of the Anglican Consultative Council between the five regions of the Communion, elected from the membership of the Primates’ Meeting by the same; and an enhanced role for the Primates’ Standing Committee in the calling and convening of both Primates’ Meetings and the Lambeth Conference.” These suggestions “fit with the identity and ideals of the Anglican Communion in a post-colonial era. The leadership of the Communion should look like the Communion.”

This second proposal is partly presented to “assist and broaden aspects of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ministry in the Communion,” especially by drawing on the Regional Primates who form the Primates’ Standing Committee. Since at least 2016, primates have taken turns chairing sessions of the Primates’ Meeting, and the Primates’ Standing Committee has helped to shape the agendas in advance.

The paper argues that the See of Canterbury, the first see of the Anglican Communion, “stands as a symbol of the apostolic character of the Anglican Communion and serves as a touchstone of Anglican unity, for which reason the Archbishop of Canterbury is rightly understood as an Instrument of Communion.” The archbishop’s ministry is personal and pastoral, as he or she seeks to “serve, encourage, and persuade, as a brother or sister among siblings and peers, particularly in the college of the Lambeth Conference and the Primates’ Meeting.”

The paper observes that “the binding character of historic connection to Canterbury that all Anglicans share is experienced in countless contexts and relationships.” For this reason, constitutions and canons of churches of the Communion are free to specify their own commitment to “communion with the See of Canterbury.” Such communion “ought not be expected in any provincial constitution or canon nor need it be affirmed univocally by all member churches. Some degree of latitude is fitting and appropriate.”

Beginning a new conversation

IASCUFO emphasizes that the proposals are offered “not as an end but as the beginning of a new conversation.” They provide “suggestions for next steps to all four Instruments of Communion for their consideration and wise response.”

They are also written in direct address of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican (GSFA) Churches, the contributions of which are encouraged as “outworkings both of provincial autonomy and the mutuality of ‘common counsel,’ in hopeful service of the unity and faithfulness of the Anglican Communion.” The communiqué of the 2024 Primates’ Meeting addressed the GSFA when it expressed a “desire for conversation and mutual discernment of the way forward together,” including “discernments about the faith and order of the Communion.”

In the Foreword to the paper, The Right Revd Dr Graham Tomlin writes: “The varied input that we have received has reflected the breadth of perspectives that may be found in the Anglican Communion on the issues that divide us, and the composition of our own Commission reflects the same breadth. Accordingly, we have sought in our meetings to speak frankly, to protect one another’s conscience, and to cultivate a patient charity in discerning next faithful steps. All together, we present the following paper as the product of deep listening and honesty across theological and cultural difference. It proposes a way forward that all members of the Commission are able to commend. I am grateful to the members of the Commission for the generosity of spirit and resilience that they brought to our discussions.”

The Most Revd Dr Samy Shehata, Primate of the Province of Alexandria and a member of the commission, said: “As we navigate the complexities of our future as Anglicans, we will do well to remember the importance of empathy, understanding, and collaboration. IASCUFO’s Nairobi-Cairo Proposals is a historical document for such a time as this. It lays the groundwork to continue in fellowship. Even in moments of disagreement, there is always an opportunity for dialogue and mutual respect. I pray for open hearts and minds in seeking common ground and solutions that benefit us all.”

The Revd Dr Katherine Sonderegger, Professor of Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary and a member of the commission, said: “The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals exhort us as churches and as a Communion to ‘wait for one another,’ and to seek, under the Spirit’s guidance, the highest form of communion possible among us. The proposals give us the next steps forward, a glimpse of a new, more diverse Communion that will nurture our churches in the midst of serious division. May it be a sign of healing, of reconciliation, and renewal!”

The Right Revd Anthony Poggo, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, said: “The Anglican Consultative Council commissioned IASCUFO’s work in 2023. The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals are the result of international collaboration, representing diverse voices from around the Communion. They are offered to strengthen our global Anglican family. I pray that they will be received with prayerful consideration in the months ahead.”

The paper anticipates the election of a new Archbishop of Canterbury, which will happen through the Church of England’s usual Crown Nominations Commission.

With reference to the proposed revision to the Constitution of the Anglican Consultative Council, which will be presented to ACC-19, IASCUFO and the Standing Committee express a “hope that the next Archbishop of Canterbury will welcome the development, and that the Primates’ Meeting will take up the proposal to elect from among its membership a first President of the ACC, from one of the five regions of the Communion.” They also express a “hope that the next meeting of the Lambeth Conference will devote sustained attention to the identity and vocation of the Anglican Communion, to advance our shared understanding and deepen our collective commitment.”

In the lead up to the 2024 Primates’ Meeting, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: “I welcome the proposals that will be discussed by the primates in Rome. I have long called for the structures of the Anglican Communion to be reimagined for the 21st century — as have my recent predecessors as Archbishop of Canterbury. This is an ongoing conversation, and I pray it will lead to greater unity — and to a more accurate reflection of the diversity of global Anglicanism.”

For more information

To find out more and download the report, visit the Anglican Communion office website here.