Origins
An Anglican
Consultative Council (ACC) was formed following a resolution of the 1968
Lambeth Conference which discerned the need for more frequent and more
representative contact between the churches than was possible through a
once-a-decade conference of bishops. The constitution of the Council was
accepted by the general synods or conventions of all the member churches
of the Anglican Communion. The Council came into being in October 1969
with Bishop John Howe of Scotland as its first Secretary General.
Precursors
Early in the 20th century, Lambeth
Conferences arranged for a continuation committee to be appointed, known
as the Lambeth Consultation Body, to help the Archbishop of Canterbury
deal with any matters he referred to it. The committee was without staff
or budget of its own and because of the difficulty and cost of
international travel seldom met. Lambeth 1958 tried to remedy the
situation by providing for a full-time secretary who would serve both the
Lambeth Consultative Body and a new inter-Anglican agency, the Advisory
Council on Missionary Strategy. This led to the appointment of Stephen
Bayne, Bishop of Olympia, USA to serve as the first Executive officer of
the Anglican Communion (1960-64) with offices in London.
Through tireless travel, speaking and
writing, Bishop Bayne was able to strengthen communications among the
Provinces and to develop a new vision of Anglicanism in the modern world.
This came to a vivid expression in the Anglican Congress held in Toronto
in 1963.
Bishop Bayne was succeeded by Ralph Dean,
Bishop of Cariboo, Canada (1964-69) and then by Bishop John Howe of
Scotland (1969-82). With the formation of the ACC Bishop Howe's title was
changed to Secretary General. The Reverend Canon Samuel Van Culin, USA,
became Secretary General in 1983.
The Role of the ACC
At its inception the Council was given
eight terms of reference and it responsibilities include:
* Sharing information and
coordinating common action
* Developing agreed policies
and initiatives for world mission
* Developing and maintaining
ecumenical relations
* Promoting research and
inquiry
* Creating networks of key
persons involved with social concerns
* Advising member churches on
constitutional matters
The Council does not have legislative
powers. Each self-governing church draws on advice and information from
the ACC and makes decisions in the light of local needs and culture.
The core budget of ACC is supported by all
member churches of the Anglican Communion according to their membership
and means.
Membership
Each member church of the Anglican
Communion, according to size, is represented by up to three members - one
bishop, a member of the clergy, and a lay person. The Council has powers
to co-opt up to six members. Two of these are women and two are young
persons. The united churches of South India, North India, and Pakistan are
full members. Membership currently totals 61.
Meetings
The ACC meets every two or three years (a
Standing Committee meets annually) and its present policy is to meet in
different parts of the world. There have been 7 meetings of the council,
in Limuru, Kenya (1971); Dublin, Republic of Ireland (1973)l Trinidad
(1976); London, Ontario, Canada (1979); Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
(1981); Badagry, Nigeria (1984); Singapore (1987). Some of its chief
activities are as follows:
Partners in Mission
The Anglican Congress in Toronto, 1963,
said that the resources of each church for mission need to be shared. The
congress coined the term MRI-Mutual Responsibility and Inter-Dependence in
the Body of Christ. The second meeting of the ACC at Dublin sought to
develop this further through Partnership in Mission. As a result, from
time to time member churches invite other churches to be their partners in
mission. They call a consultation attended by representatives of their
partner churches. At the consultation they clarify their thinking about
their mission task and identify priorities. Partnership in Mission is
based on the principle that every church can be both a giver and a
receiver to the enrichment of the whole mission of the church.
Consultations often result in new insights as problems are shared. They
also help the churches of the Anglican Communion to share their resources
in the most effective way.
Inter-Church Conversations
The Anglican Communion has important
continuing dialogues with the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Lutheran
Churches. The ACC is responsible for this work on behalf of Anglicans. It
has been set the task of coordinating the response of member churches of
the Anglican Communion to recently completed ecumenical dialogues;
Anglican-Roman Catholic, Anglican-Orthodox, Anglican-Lutheran and
Anglican-Reformed, and Anglican-Oriental Orthodox. It is also encouraging
Anglican churches to study and respond to the document, Baptism,
Eucharist and Ministry, a product of many years of work involving all
major Christian traditions, through the Faith and Order Communion of the
World Council of Churches.
Inter-Anglican Theological and Doctrinal
Commission
This commission, consisting of fifteen
members, clerical and lay, from twelve churches, met for the first time in
1981. Its first report, For the Sake of the Kingdom, has been
prepared for the Lambeth Conference of 1988. It is a study of the
relationship between the church and the Kingdom of God and of the impact
of different cultures on theology.
The Anglican Center in Rome
This Center was set up in 1966 following
the historic visit of Archbishop Michael Ramsey to meet Pope Paul VI. It
aims to help Roman Catholic Church leaders and seminarians to develop a
better understanding of Anglicanism. It serves as a base for ecumenical
contact and maintains a unique resource library in Rome. Through seminars
it helps Anglicans to a better understanding of the Roman Catholic Church.
Networks
The ACC encourages and facilitated the
work of a number of informal, international networks, composed of
provincial specialists in Ecumenical Relations, Peace and Justice issues,
Family questions, Mission, Development, Communications, Publishing and
Youth Work. They share information and increase collaboration in their
various fields of specialization and often called upon to give advice or
undertake research of behalf of the Anglican Communion. The networks are
funded by the participants themselves and by grants outside the regular
budget of the ACC. Several of the networks have prepared study books for
the agenda of the 1988 Lambeth Conference.
Primates and Provinces
Primates meet together every two or three
years and represent another important links of partnership in the period
between Lambeth Conferences. In their own countries primates are titled
variously as Archbishop, Presiding Bishop, Primus or Metropolitan and by
similar terms in other languages. Each is the head of an independent
branch of Province of the Anglican Communion. It has been helpful to
consult regularly about responsibilities peculiar to their office and
about matters of concern to the whole Communion. Primates Meetings have
taken place in Ely, England, 1979; Washington, USA, 1981; Limuru, Kenya,
1983, Toronto, Canada, 1986, Oporto, Portugal, 2000, Kanuga, North
Carolina, USA, 2001 and Canterbury, England, 2002.
It is sometimes confusing to learn that
the dioceses of larger Provinces, such as Canada, Australia and the USA
often are organized regionally with internal 'Provinces,' each of which is
also under the leadership of an 'archbishop' or, in the USA, a
'president.'
There are occasional inter-provincial
Anglican meetings, not always restricted to bishops, in larger
geographical regions, such as Africa, Southeast Asia or Latin America.
Such regional bodies may either bring together existing Provinces for
common planning or represent stage in the formation of new Provinces.
(Taken from “Who Are the Anglicans?” -
Charles Henry Long, Editor)
