• ACC (Minutes & Reports)

• Anglican Communion Office

Resolution 14.01: Ecumenical Affairs (Ecumenical)

Resolved, 09.05.09, 11.05.09 (clause b)

The Anglican Consultative Council:

a. thanks the members and staff of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission for Ecumenical Affairs (IASCER) for their fruitful labours over the last ten years, and commend the Report “The Vision Before Us”, compiled on behalf of the Commission by the Revd Sarah Rowland Jones, for study as a benchmark ecumenical volume in the Provinces of the Anglican Communion;

b. endorses the “Four Principles of Anglican Engagement in Ecumenism” set out in that Report as a key description of the Anglican approach towards ecumenical activity and goals, adopts the following shorthand to describe them, and commends them to the Churches of the Communion;

1. The Goal: the full organic unity of the Church
2. The Task: recognising and receiving the Church in one another
3. The Process: unity by stages
4. The Content: common faith, sacraments and ministry

c. welcomes the Resolutions of IASCER set out in the Report, and endorses those relating to the administration of the “the two sacraments ordained by Christ himself – Baptism and the Supper of the Lord”(Lambeth Quadrilateral) and urges their adoption throughout the Anglican Communion in the light of the importance of convergence on the administration of these sacraments in ecumenical relations;

d. reaffirms the “Guidelines on Ecumenical Participation in Ordinations” set out in the report of IASCER as describing the best practice for Anglicans in this area;

e. requests the Standing Committee to commission a review of the processes for the reception of ecumenical texts, as recommended in the Resolution 02.08 of IASCER;

f. welcomes the continuing work of the various dialogue commissions of the Anglican Communion at present operating, namely the Anglican Old Catholic International Co-ordinating Council, the Anglican Lutheran International Commission and the Anglican Methodist International Commission for Unity in Mission;

g. looks forward to the Report of the ARCIC Preparatory Commission, and the commissioning of a third phase of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission, and the resumption of the work of the International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission and the International Commission for Anglican Orthodox Theological Dialogue;

h. urges the resumption of the work of the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Commission along the lines set in IASCER Resolution 04.04 point 4

i. noting the favourable response recorded in the Lambeth Indaba Reflections to the reports “The Church of the Triune God” of the International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue and “Growing Together in Unity and Mission” of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, commends them to the Provinces of the Communion for study and response as detailed in IASCER Resolutions 07.08 and 08.08, and requests that Provincial responses be submitted to the Anglican Communion Office by the end of June 2011 for consideration by the subsequent meeting of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission for Unity, Faith and Order;

j. welcomes the IASCER Report with respect to the World Council of Churches and urges the Churches of the Anglican Consultative Council to continue their support of, and their participation in, the life of the WCC;

k. urges Anglican Christians around the world to gather informally with other Christians around God’s Word, in prayer and in service.