The 19th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) received proposed reforms to structures of the global Anglican Communion, known as the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, as “resources for continuing discernment” and called for further conversation, during a gathering in Belfast, Northern Ireland which Canadian delegates said centred relationships and reconciliation—and which saw the election of a Canadian lay Anglican to the ACC Standing Committee.
Hosted by the Church of Ireland, the latest ACC meeting, known as ACC-19, took place from June 28 to July 4. The ACC—which includes clergy and lay delegates as well as bishops—is one of four Instruments of Communion, along with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Conference and Primates’ Meeting, that make up the Anglican Communion. The Communion consists of 42 member churches in more than 165 countries.
A key agenda item at ACC-19 was discussion of the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, created by the Inter-Anglican Standing Committee on Faith, Unity and Order (IASCUFO) in 2024 based on direction from the Lambeth Conference and ACC. These consist of two main proposals.
The first proposal would change the definition of the Communion from provinces “in communion with the See of Canterbury” to provinces “in conference and connection with the See of Canterbury, by which they seek interdependently to foster the highest degree of communion possible one with another.” The second initially called for a rotating presidency of the ACC, a role formerly held by the Archbishop of Canterbury; a 2026 supplement recommended eliminating the role of ACC president entirely.
ACC-19 passed a resolution that received the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals and called for further dialogue on the relationship between the four Instruments of Communion—both through the Instruments themselves and engagement within member churches. Participants in the dialogue will report back at the next ACC meeting, ACC-20, which will make any decisions based on this feedback.
Delegates and observers from the Anglican Church of Canada to ACC-19 expressed their support for the resolution. Canon (lay) Anita Gittens, lay delegate, told the Anglican Journal that she agreed with the need for further discussion. Bishop Riscylla Shaw, suffragan bishop in the diocese of Toronto, called the resolution an “appropriate response” to the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals.
‘We need to continue to know one another’
The resolution welcomed Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally’s plan, following consultation with regional primates, to call a Primates’ Meeting on collaborative ways of working and sharing responsibility among member churches of the Anglican Communion.
It also called for a deep consideration of “primacy and synodality” across the Communion to learn from previous theological commissions and existing ecumenical agreements; noted agreement among ACC-19 delegates that “communion with the See of Canterbury remains vital to any rearticulation of Anglican identity,” and requested that IASCUFO consider how the Instruments contribute to the Five Marks of Mission.
General Secretary Andrea Mann, who attended ACC-19 as an observer, said there was some trepidation and discomfort early on regarding the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals. But, she said, disciplined, rational conversations followed, with delegates showing respect for each other’s opinions. Each day of the gathering included designated time to discuss the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals.
Through these conversations, Mann said, delegates realized that restructuring alone would not restore unity to the Anglican Communion, which has faced division in recent years over issues from human sexuality and women’s ordination to the relationship of member provinces to the See of Canterbury.
“Foundational in the work of reconciliation and reunification are relationships,” Mann said. “We need to continue to know one another, gather with one another, listen to one another more before we can call the question again, and people seemed in agreement with that.”
Council elects Canadian lay Anglican to Standing Committee
Gittens, the Anglican Church of Canada’s lay delegate to the ACC since 2023, was one of five new members elected to the Standing Committee, the ACC’s executive arm and trustee body. The election took place on July 3 via paper ballot, with results announced on July 4.
A lay leader in the diocese of Toronto and founding member of Black Anglicans of Canada, Gittens is the first Canadian elected to the ACC Standing Committee since former bishop Jane Alexander, who served on the committee from 2016 to 2023. She will serve a three-year term with the possibility of renewal at ACC-20. The five newly elected members join 10 remaining members still serving their terms of office.
Being nominated for a position on the Standing Committee, Gittens says, “was not on my radar” when she arrived in Belfast.
“It really was a very pleasant surprise,” she says of her election. “But I consider it to be an honour and certainly a privilege to have been elected by folks from across the world, representatives from all those different countries, and with the trust in me that I would be able to do what I’m supposed to do. So I accepted all of that and then I became quite excited about the prospect of what I could probably do and my contribution to the committee.”
Northern Irish backdrop spurs focus on reconciliation
Furthering the theme of reconciliation at ACC-19 was a July 1 pilgrimage through the city of Derry/Londonderry, where delegates reflected on the ministry of Christians through the history of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. A July 2 session on the church’s response to the global migration and refugee crisis took place less than a month after anti-immigrant riots in Northern Ireland, which The Irish Times called a “race-based pogrom.”
Shaw noted that thousands of counter-demonstrators in Belfast rallied after the June riots to denounce racism. Reflecting on her time at ACC-19, she saw parallels between Ireland and Canada in the impact of colonial settlement on original populations, as well as ongoing processes of truth and reconciliation.
Preaching at a noon Eucharist on July 3, Shaw recounted ACC-19 delegates’ walk across the Peace Bridge in Derry, which opened in 2011 with the aim of improving relations between unionist, Protestant residents on the east bank of the River Foyle and the nationalist, Roman Catholic population on the west bank. Walking across the Peace Bridge, she told the Anglican Journal, was a “deeply moving experience … recognizing that building bridges is the way we’re going to come together.”
In addition to receiving the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals and electing a new Standing Committee, ACC-19 delegates heard about a proposal titled Vision36. The proposal from the Anglican Communion Commission for Evangelism and Discipleship calls for Anglicans to plant or restore 1 million churches across the Communion.
Other sessions saw ACC members discuss topics including safe church, the environment, education and interfaith relations.
