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What holds the Anglican Communion together?
by Jack Iker
July 15, 2005
We are a diverse, global communion of autonomous churches, sharing a common heritage of faith and practice, as expressed in the Book of Common Prayer. However, amid many cultural differences, in a rapidly changing world, how do we keep the 38 self-governing Provinces of the Communion united and working together in a shared life and ministry?
This is the purpose of what are called The Four Instruments of Unity, sometimes called The Four Instruments of Communion. They are:
1. The Archbishop of Canterbury - He is the successor to the first Archbishop of Canterbury, St. Augustine, and is regarded as the "first among equals" by the 900 or so Anglican Bishops around the world. He is the "symbolic head" of the Anglican Communion and being in full communion with him is what makes a Bishop a recognized part of this Communion.
2. The Lambeth Conference - This is the gathering of all Anglican Bishops that takes place once every 10 years, convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He decides who is to be invited. Usually, it has been all diocesan bishops in good standing in the Communion who are asked to attend, but in 1998 the invitation also went to all suffragan and assisting bishops. No decision has been made for the 2008 Conference. Though the Lambeth Conference has no legislative authority, it has immense moral authority and is recognized as expressing the "mind of the Communion" on various issues or controversies.
3. The Primates Meeting - Each of the 38 Provinces selects a Bishop to serve as the Primate or Archbishop. In the Episcopal Church, he is the Presiding Bishop. The Archbishop of Canterbury periodically convenes all the Primates at a meeting for deliberation and consultation, and such meetings issue policy statements and Pastoral Letters, stating "the mind of the Communion" on various subjects and concerns. In recent years, it has been meeting annually.
4. The Anglican Consultative Council - These days the ACC is sometimes called the Anglican Communion Council. Its membership is comprised of clergy, lay and bishop representatives from each of the 38 Provinces, and it usually meets once every three years. As its name indicates, it is for consultation and conversation, and it usually works by adopting resolutions on matters of concern. At its most recent meeting in Nottingham, the proposal was made that the Primates be included in the membership of the ACC, and this proposal has now gone to the Provinces for approval.
Given the divisions and broken relations the Communion has suffered concerning the issue of homosexual practice in recent years, the above Instruments have become increasingly important in keeping us together. An emergency Primates Meeting and a special panel appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury have addressed the issues of the election of a practicing homosexual as a Bishop in the Episcopal Church and the blessing of same-sex unions, both here and in the Anglican Church of Canada. It is significant to note that all Four Instruments of Communion have now affirmed the official teaching of the Anglican Communion, as expressed in Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference.
Because "homosexual practice is incompatible" with the teaching of Holy Scripture, the Anglican Communion is opposed to the ordination of practicing homosexuals and to the blessing of same-sex unions. The Windsor Report has called upon the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada to halt these practices, if they want to remain a part of the Anglican Communion. Until these two Provinces decide these questions, they have been asked to withdraw their representatives to official meetings of the Anglican Communion.
The Episcopal Church will have to decide in June 2006 at the General Convention if we will comply with the teaching of the Communion or if we will "walk apart" (as the Windsor Report expresses it) and leave the Communion. The Anglican Church of Canada will have to make the same decision at their General Synod in 2007. After these decisions are made, the Archbishop of Canterbury will have to decide which Bishops are to be invited to the Lambeth Conference and which Bishops will not be participants.
One way or another, a decision will have to be made that will affect us all. It is expected that General Convention will try to "fudge" the issue and have it both ways: to say that we intend to remain in the Anglican Communion, but continue to ordain active homosexuals and bless same-sex unions. I doubt that the Primates of the Communion will be willing to accept that. Already more than half of them are in broken or impaired communion with the Episcopal Church because of all this.
I repeat what I said in addressing this at our Diocesan Convention last year. If the Episcopal Church decides to walk away from the Anglican Communion, this Diocese will not depart with them.
Pray for the Church, for our unity and witness. Pray for our leaders, that we will comply with the mind of the Anglican Communion and the historic teaching of the Church of God throughout the world.
The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker is Bishop of Fort Worth
