SECTION IV RESOLUTIONS
'Called to be one'


Resolution IV.1
Commitment to full, visible unity

This Conference:

  1. reaffirms the Anglican commitment to the full, visible unity of the Church as the goal of the Ecumenical Movement;
  2. encourages the further explication of the characteristics which belong to the full, visible unity of the Church (described variously as the goal, the marks, or the portrait of visible unity); and
  3. recognises that the process of moving towards full, visible unity may entail temporary anomalies, and believes that some anomalies may be bearable when there is an agreed goal of visible unity, but that there should always be an impetus towards their resolution and, thus, towards the removal of the principal anomaly of disunity.

Resolution IV.2
The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral

This Conference:

  1. reaffirms the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral (1888) as a basis on which Anglicans seek the full, visible unity of the Church, and also recognises it as a statement of Anglican unity and identity;
  2. acknowledges that ecumenical dialogues and experience have led to a developing understanding of each of the elements of the Quadrilateral, including the significance of apostolicity, pastoral oversight (episcope), the office of bishop and the historic episcopate; and
  3. commends continuing reflection upon the Quadrilateral's contribution to the search for the full, visible unity of the Church, and in particular the role within visible unity of a common ministry of oversight exercised in personal, collegial and communal ways at every level.

Resolution IV.3
An Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations

This Conference:

  1. while noting that expense will be involved, endorses the proposal of the Ecumenical Advisory Group, endorsed by the ACC-10 in Panama (Resolution 16), that the EAG be replaced by an Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations; and
  2. proposes that the tasks of this Commission should be:
  3. to monitor and enable Anglican participation in multilateral and bilateral dialogues, both regional and international;
  4. to monitor and encourage the process of response, decision and reception;
  5. to ensure theological consistency in dialogues and conversations by reviewing regional and provincial proposals with ecumenical partners and, when an agreement affects the life of the Communion as a whole, after consultation with the ACC, to refer the matter to the Primates' Meeting, and only if that Meeting so determines, to the Lambeth Conference, before the Province enters the new relationship;
  6. to give particular attention to anomalies which arise in the context of ecumenical proposals with a view to discerning those anomalies which may be bearable in the light of progress towards an agreed goal of visible unity, and to suggest ways for resolving them;
  7. to consider, when appropriate, if and how an agreement made in one region or Province can be adopted in other regions or Provinces;
  8. to address issues of terminology;
  9. to facilitate the circulation of documents and ecumenical resources throughout the Communion, as far as possible in the languages of the Communion.

Resolution IV.4
Local Ecumenism

This Conference:

  1. welcomes the initiatives taken in many provinces and dioceses to work together at the local level with Christians of other traditions; especially in the establishment of Co-operating Parishes, Ecumenical Shared Ministries and Local Ecumenical Partnerships;
  2. notes with interest the proposal for an Ecumenical Bishop in Wales and commends this proposal to the first meeting of the proposed Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations for study;
  3. commends joint ministerial and theological formation, wherever appropriate and possible, including both pre-and post-ordination training;
  4. encourages Christians to join together to witness to justice and peace and to moral, social and environmental concerns entailed by life in Christ;
  5. notes with interest the Covenant Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Ministers of the Church Unity Commission in Southern Africa; and
  6. welcomes the continuing work of the Church Unity Commission on the ministry of episcope and requests that the result of the study be reported to the proposed Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations.

Resolution IV.5
Ecclesiology and Ethics

This Conference:

  1. recognising the centrality of ethical obedience and witness to life in Christ and hence to the visible unity of the Church, welcomes the ecumenical work done since the last Lambeth Conference on ecclesiology and ethics (Life in Christ [ARCIC, 1994], Church and World (1990), Costly Unity (1993), Costly Obedience (1996), and Costly Commitment (1995) [WCC]) and encourages the continuation of this work in the multilateral and bilateral dialogue;
  2. rejoices at the emerging consensus that racism, inequality between men and women, global economic injustice and the degradation of the earth's ecology are incompatible with the Christian faith; and
  3. calls for continuing work to identify, study and come to a common mind concerning ethical issues where contention threatens to divide the Anglican Communion and create new division amongst the churches.

Resolution IV.6
Churches in Communion

This Conference:

  1. recommends that the proposed Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations reflect upon the implications of being in communion with the See of Canterbury with particular reference to the United Churches and Churches in Communion;
  2. welcomes the fact that the International Bishops' Conference of the Union of Utrecht and the ACC have agreed to the establishment of an Anglican—Old Catholic International Co-ordinating Council;
  3. recommends that consideration be given to ways of deepening our communion with the Old Catholic Churches beyond the Bonn Agreement, including means of taking counsel and making decisions together; the anomaly of overlapping jurisdictions; the implications of wider ecumenical relationships, particularly with the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Lutheran Churches; and the importance of work together on issues of mission and common witness;
  4. welcomes the adoption by both churches of the Concordat between the Episcopal Church in the Philippines and the Philippine Independent Church (1997), which establishes a relationship of full communion;
  5. welcomes the relationship of communion established in Northern Europe between six Lutheran churches (Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden) and four Anglican churches (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) by the signing of the Porvoo Declaration in 1996, and recognises the enrichment brought through the presence of Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish bishops at this Conference as bishops in communion; and
  6. welcomes the decision by the Porvoo Church Leaders Meeting in 1998 that the Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church of Portugal and the Spanish Episcopal Reformed Church should be regarded as being covered by the Preamble to the Porvoo Declaration subject to their Synods' approval of the Declaration.

Resolution IV. 7
World Council of Churches

This Conference:

  1. greets the 8th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Harare and congratulates the Council as it celebrates its Fiftieth Anniversary in 1998;
  2. expresses its gratitude to the WCC, which has enriched the Anglican Communion not least through the work of the Faith and Order Commission;
  3. commends the achievements and insights of the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women;
  4. affirms the importance of the study Towards a Common Understanding and Vision of the WCC as a first step in the renewal of the Council's life and work;
  5. recommends that the Assembly mandate the incoming Central Committee to undertake more focused work on:

    1. the vision of unity the Council should seek to nurture, building on the Canberra Statement adopted by the Seventh Assembly;
    2. renewed structures of the Council which would most effectively promote that vision;
    3. a radical reassessment of the basis and categories of membership in the WCC and what changes in the WCC would be required to make it possible for the Roman Catholic Church to be a full member;
    4. the nature of the fellowship shared by members of the Council;

  6. invites the Joint Working Group between the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church to consider what changes in the WCC would be required to make it possible for the Roman Catholic Church to be a full member; and
  7. requests that the Harare Assembly makes provision for a consideration of the concerns of the Orthodox Churches, expressed at the meeting at Thessaloniki (May 1998).

Resolution IV.8
A Common Date for Easter

This Conference:

(a) welcomes the work of the WCC on a common date for Easter, recognising that in the year 2001, according to calculations by both the Eastern and Western Churches, the date of the Easter/Pascha observance will coincide; and

(b) recommends:

(i) that the following procedures for achieving a commonly recognised date for the annual celebration of Easter, as the day of resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, should be agreed upon by all Christian Churches:

    • maintain the Nicene norms (that Easter fall on the Sunday following the first vernal new moon);
    • calculate the date of the vernal equinox from the data provided by the most accurate scientific and astronomical methods;
    • use as the basis of reckoning the meridian of Jerusalem, the place of Christ's death and resurrection.

(ii) that each province of the Anglican Communion be invited to endorse the above resolutions and to report its endorsement to the Secretary of the Anglican Consultative Council by the Feast of the Nativity, AD 2000 and that these responses be reported to the WCC.

Resolution IV.9
The Virginia Report

This Resolution was not moved, having been conflated with Resolution III.8.

Resolution IV.10
Eames Commission

This Resolution was not moved, having been conflated with Resolution III.4.

Resolution IV.11
'Continuing' Churches

This Conference:

  1. believes that important questions are posed by the emergence of groups who call themselves 'continuing Anglican Churches' which have separated from the Anglican Communion in recent years; and
  2. asks the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates' Meeting to consider how best to initiate and maintain dialogue with such groups with a view to the reconciliation of all who own the Anglican tradition.

Resolution IV.12
Implications of Ecumenical Agreements

This Conference:

  1. encourages a fuller embodiment of the spirit and content of accepted agreed statements in the life and teaching of the Provinces; and
  2. urges that new Provincial liturgical texts and practices be consonant with accepted ecumenical agreements reached in multilateral and bilateral dialogues, for example BEM and ARCIC, and requests the Primates to consider appropriate ways for encouraging this in consultation with the International Anglican Liturgical Consultation.

Resolution IV.13
Unity within Provinces of the Anglican Communion

This Conference:

  1. notes with gratitude the ministry of support which the Archbishop of Canterbury has been able to give in Sudan and Rwanda, and recognises that he is called upon to render assistance from time to time in a variety of situations;
  2. in view of the very grave difficulties encountered in the internal affairs of some Provinces of the Communion, invites the Archbishop of Canterbury to appoint a Commission to make recommendations to the Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council, as to the exceptional circumstances and conditions under which, and the means by which, it would be appropriate for him to exercise an extra-ordinary ministry of episcope (pastoral oversight), support and reconciliation with regard to the internal affairs of a Province other than his own for the sake of maintaining communion within the said Province and between the said Province and the rest of the Anglican Communion.

Resolution IV.14
Assyrian Church of the East

This Conference:

encourages regional conversations between Anglicans and members of the Assyrian Church of the East in areas where their communities coincide.

Resolution IV.15
The Baptist Churches

This Conference:

recommends as a priority the implementation of resolution 10(3) of Lambeth 1988, by developing, in partnership with the Baptist World Alliance, co-ordinated regional and local discussions leading to the establishment of a continuing forum between Anglicans and Baptists at the world level.

Resolution IV.16
The Lutheran Churches

This Conference:

  1. welcomes the remarkable progress in Anglican-Lutheran relationships during the last decade in many parts of the world;
  2. commends for study the report of the Anglican-Lutheran International Commission, The Diaconate as Ecumenical Opportunity (1996);
  3. noting the approval by the Episcopal Church in the United States of America of the Concordat of Agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the narrow vote against the Concordat by the ELCA, hopes that the draft revision of the Concordat, currently being undertaken by the ELCA in consultation with representatives from ECUSA, will provide a firm basis for the two churches to move to full communion;
  4. commends the progress toward full communion between the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada as set forth in the Waterloo Declaration (1997) for consideration by both churches in 2001;
  5. encourages the continuation of close relations with the Lutheran Churches of Denmark and Latvia, which participated fully in the Porvoo Conversations but have not so far become signatories;
  6. welcomes the development of dialogue in Australia, and of dialogue and collaboration in the search for justice and human rights and the joint pastoral care of scattered Christian communities in Africa;
  7. affirms the growing fellowship between churches of the Anglican and Lutheran Communions in other regions of the world, and encourages further steps toward agreement in faith, eucharistic sharing and common mission on the way to the goal of full, visible unity;
  8. rejoices not only in the Porvoo Common Statement between the Anglican Churches of Britain and Ireland and the Lutheran Churches of the Nordic and Baltic region, but also in the Meissen Common Statement with the Evangelical Church in Germany, which includes Lutheran, Reformed and United Churches, and looks forward to the proposed agreement between the Anglican churches of Britain and Ireland and the French Lutheran and Reformed churches; and
  9. recommends consultation with the Lutheran World Federation about the continuation of the work of the Anglican-Lutheran International Commission.

Resolution IV.17
The Methodist Churches

This Conference:

(a) greets with appreciation the report of the Anglican-Methodist International Commission, Sharing in the Apostolic Communion, and the unanimous adoption of paragraph 95 of this report by the World Methodist Council meeting in Rio de Janeiro in August 1996;

(b) invites member Churches of the Anglican Communion to study the report and, where appropriate, to develop agreements of acknowledgement that

  1. both churches belong to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ and participate in the apostolic mission of the whole people of God;
  2. in the churches of our two communions the Word of God is authentically preached and the Sacraments duly administered;
  3. our churches share in the common confession and heritage of the apostolic faith; and

(c) recommends the establishment as soon as possible of a Joint Working Group with the World Methodist Council to promote, encourage and monitor regional developments and when appropriate to

  1. consider ways of celebrating regional agreements of mutual acknowledgement;
  2. prepare, in full accordance with the principles set out in the report of the Anglican-Methodist International Commission, guidelines for moving beyond acknowledgement to the reconciliation of churches and, within that, the reconciliation of ordained ministries and structures for common decision-making.

Resolution IV.18
The Moravian Church

This Conference:

  1. welcomes the Fetter Lane Agreement between the Church of England and the Moravian Church in Great Britain and Ireland;
  2. welcomes the adoption of the Agreement by the Church of Ireland; and
  3. commends the Common Statement for study in provinces of the Anglican Communion which overlap with Moravian provinces, and invites those provinces to consider whether the Common Statement offers a basis for similar agreements in their regions.

Resolution IV.19
The Oriental Orthodox Churches

This Conference:

  1. reaffirms resolution 5(9) of Lambeth 1988 that the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Forum should be upgraded to an International Theological Commission to seek an agreement on Christology*in the light of the Christological agreements between the Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, between the Roman Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and between the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Reformed World Alliance*and to consider other theological and ecclesial issues; and
  2. encourages bilateral discussions with individual member Churches of the Oriental Orthodox family on a regional basis.

Resolution IV.20
The Orthodox Churches

This Conference:

  1. invites the bishops of the Anglican Communion to study and respond to the Interim Agreed Statements of the International Commission of the Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue, June 1998, and to forward these responses to the Anglican co-chair of the International Dialogue by 31 December 1999, namely The Trinity and the Church; Christ, the Spirit and the Church; and Christ, Humanity and the Church;
  2. notes that there is a continuing concern on the part of the Orthodox Churches in dialogue with the Anglican Communion about the issue of the ordination of women to the presbyterate and episcopate;
  3. requests that the Dublin Agreed Statement 1984 be circulated to all provinces of the Anglican Communion for study as requested by resolution 6.3 of Lambeth 1988 and that responses be sent to the proposed Inter-Anglican Standing Commission for Ecumenical Affairs for collation and for forwarding to the Primates' Meeting and the ACC; and
  4. welcomes the emerging Christological agreement between the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches and requests that the provinces study this potentially major Christological agreement.

Resolution IV.21
Pentecostal Churches

This Conference:

in the light of Resolution 11 of Lambeth Conference 1988 and noting that the Roman Catholic Church, the Baptist World Alliance and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches respectively have been involved in bilateral conversations with some Pentecostal churches, invites the proposed Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations to explore the possibility of such conversations between the Anglican Communion and the Pentecostal churches, at an appropriate level.

Resolution IV.22
The Reformed Churches

This Conference:

  1. encourages, in the light of resolution 7 of the Lambeth Conference 1988, regional initiatives and dialogues with the Reformed Churches on the basis of the convergence recorded in God's Reign and Our Unity (1984), the report of the Anglican-Reformed International Commission; and
  2. looks forward to the completion of the studies commissioned by the Joint Working Group of the Anglican Communion and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, particularly a study of the exercise of personal episcopacy in the Reformed tradition and case studies of local Anglican-Reformed sharing in mission, justice issues and congregational life.

Resolution IV.23
The Roman Catholic Church

This Conference:

  1. continues to be grateful for the achievements of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission and, recognising that there are a number of outstanding issues which still need to be addressed, strongly encourages its continuation;
  2. welcomes the proposal for a high-level consultation to review Anglican-Roman Catholic relationships in the light of the agreements reached and the 'real though imperfect communion' already existing between the churches of the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church. The Conference requests that the consultation should include different local situations, including the movement of clergy from one Church to another; the experience of Christian solidarity under persecution [e.g., in the Sudan]; discussions of the implications of having agreed statements on Eucharistic Doctrine and Ministry and Ordination, and the status of Apostolicae curae in the new context brought about by the work of ARCIC;
  3. recognises the special status of those Agreements which have been affirmed by the Lambeth Conference 1988 as 'consonant in substance with the faith of Anglicans' ('Eucharistic Doctrine, Ministry and Ordination, and their Elucidations') and urges the provinces to receive them into their life;
  4. encourages the referral of 'Salvation and the Church' (1987), 'Church as Communion' (1991), 'Life in Christ' (1994), and the anticipated completion of ARCIC's work on authority in the Church to the provinces for study and response back to the proposed Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations and (through the Primates' Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council) to the next Lambeth Conference; and
  5. welcomes warmly the invitation of Pope John Paul II in his Encyclical Letter Ut unum sint (1995) to consider the ministry of unity of the Bishop of Rome in the service of the unity of the Universal Church, strongly encourages the provinces to respond and asks the proposed Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations to collate the provincial responses.

Resolution IV.24
WCC Faith and Order Commission

This Conference:

  1. welcomes the Canberra Statement: 'The Unity of the Church as Koinonia: Gift and Calling' (WCC 1991) and commends it to the Provinces as an important statement on the unity of the Church;
  2. expresses gratitude for the insights of the 5th World Conference on Faith and Order in Santiago de Compostela (1993) on the theme 'Towards Koinonia in Faith, Life and Witness';
  3. looks forward to the publication of the convergence text on 'The Nature and Purpose of the Church: A Step on the Way to a Common Statement' and the study 'A Treasure in Earthen Vessel--An Instrument for an Ecumenical Reflection on Hermeneutics'; and
  4. supports the widespread use of the study guide 'Towards a Sharing of the One Faith'.

Resolution IV.25
New Churches and Independent Church Groups

This Conference:

  1. encourages the development of relationships between members of Anglican Churches and members of New Churches and Independent Christian Groups bilaterally, multilaterally, locally and informally, where this is appropriate and possible; and
  2. asks the Primates to investigate ways and means of monitoring the development of New Churches and Independent Christian Groups, studying their characteristics, and offering advice to provinces and dioceses about initiating and developing relationships with them.

Resolution IV.26
Kuala Lumpur Statement

This Resolution was not voted upon, as the Conference agreed to move to next business.


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Appendix