From the Rector
Dear Friends in Christ,
This week the Lambeth Conference convenes. This is a gathering of bishops from across the Anglican Communion. I think it will be helpful to offer some review of what the Anglican Communion is and why it matters to us as the Episcopal Church. Below is a good description of the history and role of the Anglican Communion (taken from the Church of England’s website).
What is the Anglican Communion?
The Anglican Communion is one of the world’s largest Christian communities. It has tens of millions of members in more than 165 countries around the globe. Anglicanism is one of the traditions or expressions of Christian faith. Others include Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, and Baptist.
The Communion is organized into a series of provinces and extra-provincial areas. The provinces are subdivided into dioceses, and the dioceses into parishes.
There are 41 provinces and, since March 2019, five extra-provincial areas. Click here for a full list. Some provinces are national, others are regional. All are in communion—or a reciprocal relationship— with the See of Canterbury and recognize the Archbishop of Canterbury as the Communion’s spiritual head.
However, there is no central authority in the Anglican Communion. All of the provinces are autonomous and free to make their own decisions in their own ways—guided by recommendations from the four Instruments: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’ Meeting, and the Anglican Consultative Council.
Anglican Communion Map
History of the Anglican Communion
The word Anglican originates from the Medieval Latin phrase ecclesia anglicana, which dates from at least 1246. It means the English Church. Over the past two centuries the tradition of that Church has been adopted around the world.
The Church of England (which until the 20th century included the Church in Wales) initially separated from the Bishop of Rome in the 16th century during the reign of King Henry VIII. But it has always considered itself a reformed continuation of the Ecclesia Anglicana.
Anglican worship outside Britain began in 1578 in Canada. The Anglican Communion traces much of its growth to the older mission organizations of the Church of England such as the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (USPG), and the Church Missionary Society (CMS)
They sent missionaries overseas, often to countries colonized by the British. During the 18th and 19th centuries, bishops from the British Isles led dioceses and national Churches in countries including India, Canada, the West Indies, and New Zealand.
One notable exception was in Nigeria, where The Rt Rev’d Samuel Ajayi Crowther, pictured below, became the first African Anglican bishop during the latter part of the 19th century.
In 1783, following the American War of Independence, the parishes of Connecticut elected Samuel Seabury as their bishop. Because the Church of England could no longer ordain him, he turned to the Scottish Episcopal Church—a move seen by some as the beginnings of an Anglican Communion with autonomous member Churches.
Local bishops eventually became Metropolitans—the senior bishop within a specified geographic area—and in 1867, 76 Anglican bishops attended the first Lambeth Conference following an invitation from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Longley.
Over the years, national churches gained independence from the Church of England and the Anglican Communion gradually became a global family of national and regional Churches.
Diverse but together
As well a common ancestry, Anglicans and Episcopalians around the world share many aspects of their traditions and ways of worship. But there is diversity too—often even within a diocese.
Anglicans and Episcopalians have always worked and worshipped together across national borders to support each others' lives and ministry. Communion members from different provinces bring a range of insight, experience, and wisdom to joint endeavors at national and international levels. Such collaboration can be seen in work at the United Nations, in Ecumenical dialogues, in the Communion’s Networks, and in Mission such as the Season of Intentional Discipleship.