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Anglicans: Christians shaped by the English Reformation as well as the theology and worship of the Church of England. There are currently 38 autonomous Anglican member churches, or provinces, of the Anglican Communion – which spans 164 countries with 77 million members. Anglicans represent many ethnic and cultural heritages. A shared way of worship, called common prayer, is shared by all Anglicans. The various Books of Common Prayer give expression to a comprehensiveness found within the churches, which seek to chart a via media, or middle way, in relation to Catholic and Protestant Christian traditions.
Archbishop of Canterbury: The Archbishop of Canterbury convenes the Primates Council of the Anglican Communion and is the “first among equals” of its 38 primates (heads of the independent Anglican provinces). He calls the Lambeth Conference and is president of the Anglican Consultative Council.
Anglican Communion: The Anglican Communion is a fellowship of Anglican provinces (churches) based on an acknowledged commonality of Christian faith expressed in documents like the Chicago/Lambeth Quadrilateral and the 39 Articles, as well as on their historic relationship with the Church of England and adherence to Anglican practice – most poignantly symbolized by the style of worship reflected in The Book of Common Prayer.
Diocese: An ecclesial (church) jurisdiction comprised of parishes under the authority of a bishop.
Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans: Out of the GAFCon movement, grew the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, “a fellowship of people united in the communion of the one Spirit and committed to work and pray together in the common mission of Christ. It is a 'confessing fellowship' in that its members confess the faith of Christ crucified, stand firm for the gospel in the global and Anglican context, and affirm a contemporary rule, the Jerusalem Declaration, to guide the movement for the future. We are a fellowship of Anglicans, including provinces, dioceses, churches, missionary jurisdictions, para-church organisations and individual Anglican Christians whose goal is to help reform, heal and revitalise the Anglican Communion and expand its mission to the world.”
Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCon): Over 1000 Anglicans from 25 nations, including 288 bishops and representing more than 35 million practicing Anglicans worldwide, met in Jerusalem, 22-29 June 2008 for Bible teaching, worship and fellowship – and as a principled response to the crisis in the Communion. GAFCon issued the GAFCon Statement and Jerusalem Declaration. The GAFCon meeting initiated the call for a new Anglican Province to be established in North America to unite Biblically-faithful Anglicans, saying, “In particular, we believe the time is now ripe for the formation of a province in North America for the federation currently known as Common Cause Partnership to be recognised by the Primates’ Council.”
Global South: In the Anglican context, this generally refers to provinces (churches) in Africa, Asia and South America. Over the past century, these churches have been growing at a much faster rate than in the historically Christian nations in the “western world.”
Holy Eucharist: The service of communion; Greek for “thanksgiving.”
Instruments of unity: In recent years, the Anglican Communion is said to be served by four "Instruments of Communion":
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The Primates meetings – irregular meetings of the Primates of all the Provinces in the Communion |
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The office of the Archbishop of Canterbury |
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The Anglican Consultative Council – a small international council which includes laity, priests and bishops in its ranks and meets every few years |
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The Lambeth conferences – the once per decade meeting of Anglican bishops |
Lambeth Conference: The Lambeth conference is a meeting of the bishops of the Anglican Communion called every 10 years at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Prior to the 2008 Lambeth conference, the bishops discussed and reached decisions on important issues pertaining to the Communion.
Parish: A defined, self-supporting community or congregation with a priest as its pastor. A diocese is comprised of a number of parishes.
Primate: The archbishop, or presiding bishop, who serves as the head of a province.
Primates meetings: One of the “instruments of unity” in the Communion, meetings of primates take place irregularly to discuss concerns. The primates meetings over the past decade and more have called on the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church (USA) to return to Biblical teaching and traditional Anglican practice.
Province: The worldwide Anglican Communion is made up of 38 provinces, each comprised of a number of dioceses, which in turn are comprised of parishes.
Southern Cone: The Anglican Province of the Southern Cone is one of the provinces in the Anglican Communion. It includes the South American countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. The Most Rev Gregory Venables is the Primate.
For more information see: www.anglicanchurch.net
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