Covid-19 has prompted many thoughts about what life could look like now that we have been forced to abandon, for a while, uninterrupted global travel, foreign holidays, and despite the foreshortened lives and devastated economies, enjoyed with the earth and its airspace a sabbath of sabbaths.
Lambeth 2020 and GAFCON in 2020 postponed gatherings that would have signalled the continuing tear in the fabric of the Anglican Communion. Does this postponement and the pandemic crisis signal a possibility of different opposing groups in the Anglican Communion finding a way of remaining in one Communion both seeking and showing the unity Christ prayed for the church? Seeking the unity of the Church has always been a key commitment of the Anglican tradition. Might there be space for thoughts about what the Global Anglican Communion might look like?
Three groups
There are three distinct groups in the Anglican Communion. The Lambeth group under the Archbishop of Canterbury holds the historic status of leading the Communion. The Instruments of Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Primates Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council (of bishops, clergy and lay people) facilitate its common life and are expected to maintain its unity. They have struggled with the challenges of unity in the light of the break in Communion between provinces that seek to maintain a biblical and historic view of marriage, which is still the teaching of the Communion, and those who have openly flouted this teaching.
