Where do we go from here?

This is where we are at. Lambeth 2008 seems to be suggesting a 5th Instrument of Communion.

Instruments of Communion

The Anglican Communion uses the compass rose as its symbol, signifying its worldwide reach and decentralized nature. It is surmounted, like ecclesiastical coats of arms, by a bishop's mitre; in the centre is a cross of St. George recalling the communion's origins in the Church of England. The Greek motto, Ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει ὑμᾶς ("The truth will set you free") is a quotation from John 8:32. It was designed by Edward Nason West, Canon of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

The Anglican Communion has no international juridical organisation. The Archbishop of Canterbury's role is strictly symbolic and unifying; and the Communion's three international bodies are consultative and collaborative, their resolutions having no legal effect on the independent provinces of the Communion. Taken together, however, the four do function as "instruments of communion", since all churches of the communion participate in them. In order of antiquity, they are:

The Archbishop of Canterbury (ab origine) functions as the spiritual head of the Communion. He is the focus of unity, since no church claims membership in the Communion without being in communion with him. The present incumbent is Dr Rowan Williams.

The Lambeth Conference (first held in 1867) is the oldest international consultation. It is a forum for bishops of the Communion to reinforce unity and collegiality through manifesting the episcopate, to discuss matters of mutual concern, and to pass resolutions intended to act as guideposts. It is held roughly every ten years and invitation is by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Anglican Consultative Council (first met in 1971) was created by a 1968 Lambeth Conference resolution, and meets usually at three year intervals. The council consists of representative bishops, clergy, and laity chosen by the thirty-eight provinces. The body has a permanent secretariat, the Anglican Communion Office, of which the Archbishop of Canterbury is president.

The Primates' Meeting (first met in 1979) is the most recent manifestation of international consultation and deliberation, having been first convened by Archbishop Donald Coggan as a forum for "leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation."

Since there is no binding authority in the Communion, these international bodies are a vehicle for consultation and persuasion. In recent years, persuasion has tipped over into debates over conformity in certain areas of doctrine, discipline, worship, and ethics. The most notable example has been the objection of many provinces of the Communion (particularly in Africa and Asia) to the changing role of homosexuals in the North American churches (e.g., by blessing same-sex unions and ordaining and consecrating gays and lesbians in same-sex relationships), and to the process by which changes were undertaken. Those who objected condemned these actions as unscriptural, unilateral, and without the agreement of the Communion prior to these steps being taken. In response, the American Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada answered that the actions had been undertaken after lengthy scriptural and theological reflection, legally in accordance with their own canons and constitutions and after extensive consultation with the provinces of the Communion.

The Primates' Meeting voted to request the two churches to withdraw their delegates from the 2005 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, and Canada and the United States decided to attend the meeting but without exercising their right to vote. They have not been expelled or suspended, since there is no mechanism in this voluntary association to suspend or expel an independent province of the Communion. Since membership is based on a province's communion with Canterbury, expulsion would require the Archbishop of Canterbury's refusal to be in communion with the affected jurisdiction(s). In line with the suggestion of the Windsor Report, Dr Williams has recently established a working group to examine the feasibility of an Anglican covenant which would articulate the conditions for communion in some fashion.


The Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) is making waves at Lambeth. Essentially they have proposed that the trajectory of the Covenant idea lead to a form of Covenant that will include a process of punitive or coercive judgment. The end result would be the development of an Instrument of Communion with teeth.

The Windsor Continuation Group has been making reports to the bishops at Lambeth. Reports I and II are now in hand. They are billed as "preliminary observations" as if that would cushion the blow, but the content has been anything but preliminary. Additionally a report on principles of canon law has been added to the mix.

On the Windsor Continuation Group

I have just had a brief look at reports about the report of the Windsor Continuation Group to the Lambeth Conference.The important thing is to put this in perspective — going right back through all the Primates' meetings at Dar es Salaam, Dromantine and so on, to the very last Lambeth Conference and the American response to that, and then projecting forward from what has been happening to what will therefore most likely happen in the future.Then consider the Group's proposal that disaffected (or, if you will, traditionalist and faithful) dioceses and parishes in North America should be put in a kind of safe 'holding pen', isolated from outside interventions (or, to put it another way, sat on the 'naughty step' without help) until they are ready to return to their revisionist parent bodies.As a response to what has been happening, this is beyond the realms of self-delusion into 'La La Land'.The only phrase I can think of to describe it is, 'as much use as a chocolate ladder at a house fire'.The sooner this whole farce comes to an end, the better for all concerned.
(John Richardson, The Ugley Vicar)