A
Brief Overview
The churches of the Anglican Communion in Continental
Europe include
 In
1994, five bishops of four jurisdictions formed the College
of Anglican Bishops in Continental Europe (COABICE). Each
became assisting or assistant bishops in one another’s
jurisdictions and the bishops began serious discussions
on how to work more closely together.
The first consultation:
1998
The first consultation of Churches of the Anglican Communion
in Continental Europe, with the bishops and one representative
clergy and one lay delegate from each of the four jurisdictions,
met in Madrid for three days in 1998. The commitment to work
toward a possible European Province within the Anglican Communion
was clear. Delegates were unanimous that any combined jurisdiction
needed to preserve the special character and cultural identity
of the different Anglican Episcopal congregations throughout
Europe, of which there are several hundred, many with centuries
of tradition.
Delegates addressed a letter
to the 1998 Lambeth Conference reiterating their commitment
to resolve the anomaly of parallel Anglican jurisdictions and
their belief that the future would involve the establishment
of an Anglican Province in Continental Europe. The Lambeth bishops
adopted a resolution encouraging ‘continued exploration
towards appropriate provincial structures for Anglican Continental
Europe in partnership with other Churches in the service of
the common mission of the Church’.
The second consultation:
1999
The second provincial consultation of bishops, clergy and
lay delegates took place in Porto, Portugal, in May 1999.
The Consultation was enriched by the presence of bishops
representing the Old Catholic Churches and of the Nordic
and Baltic Lutheran Churches of the Porvoo Agreement, as
well as representatives of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Anglican Consultative Council, and the Presiding Bishop
of ECUSA, serving as consultants. It was agreed that we
should continue building more visible Episcopal collaboration
and actively seek closer bonding by building closer relationships
amongst the jurisdictions and the many parishes.
The consultants were asked to study the possible
forms of a province — to include the Anglican jurisdictions
and the churches in communion — the Old Catholic Churches
and the Lutheran Churches of the Porvoo Agreement. Their
proposals were based on three principles: a) unity in mission
is reflected in unity in structure; b) bishops symbolize
and guard the unity of the church; and c) the particular
gifts and ministry of each jurisdiction should be maintained
and nurtured.
The third consultation:
2000
The third consultation was held in Frankfurt, Germany, in
June 2000, with the same participants as Porto. As the discussions
got underway, it became apparent that it was difficult to
even begin talking about a possible new structure when the
nature of our common mission together was not clear. After
lengthy discussions, the Consultation “agreed on the
task of the consultative process in which we are engaged:
to continue to work for a common ecclesiastical life that
goes beyond cooperation and embodies appropriate structures”.
We established a series of Partners in Mission
(PiM) consultations, involving all the parishes of the various
jurisdictions in a given region to build up and strengthen
our common mission together. A PiM Planning Group was established
for parishes and parishioners to share liturgy and ministry
and to develop a common mission.
To move forward, we’re now exploring
together the mission of our parishes, individually and together,
and of Anglicanism as a whole in Continental Europe. While
the leadership of the bishops is crucial, this cannot be
done by bishops alone nor with participants of the consultations
only. All of the parishes must assist in defining our common
mission, out of which an appropriate structure should also
become clearer.
For more information, see the Provincial
Consultation web site.
« This web page was based on material
prepared by Helena Mbele-Mbong, Geneva, Convocation lay
representative to the Provincial Consultations since 1998.
»
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