THE Church of England will be “a little less central to the common life [of the Anglican Communion]” if proposed changes in its leadership and structure are approved, Bishop Graham Tomlin, who chairs the Inter-Anglican Standing Committee on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO), acknowledged at a webinar on the Lambeth Call on Christian Unity.
Discussions focused on the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals from IASCUFO, which would mean that the 42 Churches of the Communion would no longer be described as “in communion with the See of Canterbury”, but as having “a historic connection” with it (News, 6 December 2024).
Further reinforcing the autonomy and equality of each, the presidency of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), traditionally held by Archbishops of Canterbury, would rotate around the Communion, a move made “in service of a de-centred, polycentric understanding of the mission of the Church. . . The leadership of the Communion should look like the Communion,” the report suggests.
Professor Katherine Sonderegger, who holds the William Meade Chair in Systematic Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary, and is a IASCUFO member, said that the foundation of the document was the confession and search for unity which might be expressed as a longing for catholicity, as confessed in the Nicene Creed.
“It’s not something that is transparent and self-evident in the world and particularly in our Communion, where we feel keenly the deep divides, morally, ethically and culturally, in our Church — and yet in our creed, we confess that we are one as members of Christ’s Church,” she said.
“There are no borders to Christ’s Church. We have an extended commission to be witnesses of Christ in every place, in every tongue and in every heart. It is something that we pray for, not something we have achieved, but [something] that God summons us to.”
The proposals acknowledged fractures within the Communion on critical issues such as marriage, sexuality, and governance — “concerns that are at the heart of maintaining faithfulness to God’s word”, the Archbishop of Alexandria, Dr Samy Fawzy Shehata, reflected.
“The shift to a polycentric model highlights the growing influence of the global South in the Communion by giving greater voice to Churches like ours. The concept of intensified communion allows for varying degrees of relationship among the Provinces or for a practical approach to fostering fellowship without requiring uniformity.”
But, he concluded, “The emphasis on working together amid disagreements is both necessary and challenging. Divisions over marriage and sexuality remain profound. In Lambeth Resolution 1.10, we are affirming marriage as a lifelong union between a man and a woman. These teachings are non-negotiable, and any new definition of marriage must be resisted, to uphold the authority of scripture.
“As someone who has been actively involved in shaping these proposals, I believe they can foster unity while maintaining theological integrity. This unity must always restore firm commitment to scripture and the historic faith of the Church”
Angie Anjum, from Pakistan, a member of the Community of St Anselm, reflected that Christian unity in her home context was about love and relationship. “Living in a culture where we have the challenges of blasphemy, forced conversion, fears for your life, your possessions, your community, your churches — you are not secure all the time; so you always live in that fear of death,” she said.
“But in such a situation I have seen God working. Fear is overcome through the love of God. That’s the only hope we have in that context. God is giving us his love to hold in such situations, and that love is bringing people together, Churches together, to stand together for unity and for justice as well. That’s the beauty that resurrects in such a situation.”
A questioner from the Church of South India asked: “Unity is not uniformity, and oneness is not sameness. So what is the distinct contribution of the Anglican Communion to the wider unity movement?”
Dr Tomlin reflected that, after the Reformation in England and the British Isles, Anglicanism was something that had tried to hold together different forms of the Christian faith. “Here, we’re both Catholic and Protestant, and whereas on the Continent and in the rest of Europe those Churches tended to divide, here we try to hold them together within the one Church. Ever since then, it’s always been a struggle to hold that together,” he acknowledged.
“We always tried to hold together different forms and expressions of worship and prayer; so we have a bit of experience in that business. . . I think that’s perhaps one of the contributions we can make to the ecumenical movement, because that’s always been part of our calling as Anglicans.”
The Director of Unity, Faith and Order at the Anglican Communion Office, Dr Christopher Wells, reflected that Roman Catholics, too, were seeking a unity without uniformity. The “very difficult work” of the Nairobi Cairo proposals was to “try and figure out [as best] we can what are the essentials of the faith and what legitimate diversity is. That’s a lifetime’s work, but it’s a discernment with the whole body of the Church. I think Anglicans are bound to discern the essentials with all Christians.”
Caroline Bauerschmidt, an Episcopalian from Tennessee, who was prominent in the Spouses group at the Lambeth Conference, and Tracy De Beer, a Good Shepherd Catechist in the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Cape Town, spoke of the contribution of children to ecumenism. Born with a natural belonging with God, they perhaps had a special part to play and could “teach the Church new pathways to God”.
The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals will be put to the next meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, to be held in Belfast in June 2026.