Anglican Communion Who we are

There are over 70 million members of the Anglican household of 38 self-governing churches made up of about 475 Dioceses, 30,000 parishes and 64,000 individual congregations in 161 countries. While the Anglican Communion does not rank among the biggest groupings of Christians, it is, after the Roman Catholic Church, arguably the most wide-spread. Fewer than half of the dioceses are in the British Commonwealth.

From it's origins when the Christian church in England became the Church of England, the Anglican Communion has developed in two stages. During the first stage, which began in the 17th century, Anglicanism was established by colonisation in countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Southern Africa, and the USA. In the early days of expansion a somewhat remote control was exercised by the Bishops of London. After the American War of Independence Samuel Seabury of Connecticut, USA, was consecrated in Scotland as the first Bishop of the Anglican Communion outside the British Isles. Soon this precedent was followed by the Church in Canada, and then India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The second stage began in the nineteenth century. During that era Anglican churches were planted all over the world as a result of the missionary work of the churches in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, joined by the churches formed in the previous two centuries. Most of these churches became constitutionally independent in the period following the second World War, usually ahead of the attainment of political independence. In the regions which are large, diverse, and the population of Anglicans is perceived as too small to support a Province, a useful half way house has been found in the development of regional councils such as the Council of the Churches of East Asia.

Anglican churches uphold and proclaim the Catholic and Apostolic faith, based on the Scriptures interpreted in the light of Christian tradition, scholarship, and reason. This process has found expression in the prayer books and ordinals of the 16th and 17th centuries and their modern successors, in the Thirty Nine Articles, and in the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral.

Almost everywhere Anglican Churches are self supporting. Only a small percentage of income is transferred from richer to less affluent churches. Nineteen of the 28 member churches of the Anglican Communion are to be found in the so called "developing" or "third" world. Membership tends to be declining in places where the church has existed for a long time but continues to grow rapidly in the third world. There, it is estimated that 3,000 persons are added to membership each day through birth, baptism, or conversion.

For over 200 years there has been a process of decentralisation which has led to flexibility and a capacity for indigenisation and involvement in local ecumenical negotiations and projects. This leaves open the possibility of disintegration and loss of identity. But to compensate for this, the Anglican Communion has developed a number of institutions which have ensured cohesion and communication. The oldest and most important of these is the Lambeth Conference. The 1968 Lambeth Conference agreed to the formation of the Anglican Consultative Council, which brings together clergy, and lay as well as episcopal representatives once every two or three years. More recently there have been regular meetings of Primates -senior Bishops and Archbishops from each member church.

The churches of the Anglican Communion are linked by affection and common loyalty. They are in full communion with the See of Canterbury and, thus, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his person, is a unique focus of Anglican unity. He calls the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference, is chairman of the meeting of Primates, and is President of the Anglican Consultative Council.

The Secretary General of the ACC, aided by a permanent staff, assists the Archbishop of Canterbury in servicing the Lambeth Conference and meetings of the Primates and thereby exercises a vital co-ordinating role.

During recent years, in addition to local ecumenical negotiations and projects, the Anglican Communion has been engaged in international dialogues with a number of major churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran World Federation, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Through the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, it has also been engaged in a multi-lateral dialogue process which has resulted in the publication of the Faith and Order document, Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry. Anglican Churches are now in the process of studying and preparing official responses to all of these dialogues, and the 1988 Lambeth Conference noted substantial convergence in some areas of faith and practice among many world communions.

• The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
• The Anglican Church of Australia
• The Church of Bangladesh
• The Episcopal Church of Brazil
• The Church of the Province of Burundi
• The Anglican Church of Canada
• The Church of the Province of Central Africa
• The Church of Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
• The Church of England
• Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui - Hong Kong Anglican Church
• The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean
• The Church of Ireland
• Nippon Sei Ko Kai - The Anglican Church in Japan
• The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East
• The Anglican Church of Kenya
• The Anglican Church of Korea
• The Church of the Province of Melanesia
• The Anglican Church of Mexico
• The Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma)
• The Church of North India
• The Church of Pakistan
• The Church of the Province of Nigeria
• The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea
• The Philippine Episcopal Church
• The Lusitanian Church of Portugal
• The Province of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda
• The Scottish Episcopal Church
• The Church of the Province of South East Asia
• The Church of the Province of Southern Africa
• The Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America
• The Church of South India
• The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church
• The Episcopal Church of the Sudan
• The Church of the Province of Tanzania
• The Church of the Province of Uganda
• The Episcopal Church in the United States of America
• The Church in Wales
• The Church of the Province of West Africa
• The Church in the Province of the West Indies
• The Province of the Anglican Church of Zaire

plus the Extra Provincial Dioceses of Bermuda, Taiwan, Cuba, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. Several new provinces are also currently in formation.

Churches in Communion include the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, the Philippine Independent Church, some Lutheran and Old Catholic Churches in Europe. The Church in China is known as a "post denominational" church whose formation included Anglicans.

Complied in part from information supplied by :

The Anglican Communion Office, London, UK
Director of Communications - Canon James M Rosenthal
Tel: [44] (0)171 620-1110 Fax: [44] (0)171 620-1070

and other local sources in the Anglican Communion

© 1998 David J. Wilson.