View source for Anglican Communion

{{short description|International Christian communion}}
{{About|churches in full communion with the archbishop of Canterbury|the Christian tradition originating in the Church of England|Anglicanism}}
{{Redirect|Anglican Churches||Anglican Church (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox Christian denomination
| name               = Anglican Communion
| icon               = Cantercross.svg
| icon_width         = 25px
| image              = Canterbury-cathedral-wyrdlight.jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = [[Canterbury Cathedral]]
| main_classification = [[Protestant]]{{NoteTag|Referring to itself as the Via Media, or the Middle Way in the English language, Anglicanism encompasses various theological and doctrinal identities, including Anglo-Catholic Anglicanism, Liberal Anglicanism, Evangelical Anglicanism and many others.}}
| orientation        = [[Anglican]]
| polity             = [[Episcopal polity|Episcopal]]
| type               = [[Full communion|Communion]]
| theology           = [[Anglican doctrine]]
| founder            = [[Charles Longley]]
| founded_date       = 1867
| founded_place      = [[Lambeth Conference]], London, England
| leader_title1      = [[Archbishop of Canterbury|Primate]]
| leader_name1       = ''Vacant'' – [[Sarah Mullally]] nominated
| leader_title2      = [[Anglican Consultative Council|Secretary General]]
| leader_name2       = [[Anthony Poggo]]
| leader_title3      = Deputy Secretary&nbsp;General, ACC
| headquarters       = London, England
| separated_from     = [[Roman Catholic Church]]
| scripture          = [[Protestant Bible]]
| branched_from      = [[Church of England]]
| merger             = 
| separations        = [[Continuing Anglican movement]] (1977)<br/>Some participants in the [[Anglican realignment]] (since 2002; partial)<br/>[[Personal Ordinariate]] (2009)
| area               = Worldwide
| congregations      = 
| members            = 85–110 million (2025)
| website            = [https://anglicancommunion.org/ anglicancommunion.org]
| logo               = [[File:Anglican Communion logo.png|70px]]
| footnotes          = 
}}
{{AnglicanCommunion}}

The '''Anglican Communion''' ('''AC''') is a Christian [[Full communion|communion]] consisting of the [[autocephalous]] national and regional churches historically in full communion with the [[archbishop of Canterbury]] in England, who has acted as a focus of unity, recognised as ''{{Lang|la|[[primus inter pares]]}}'' ("first among equals"), but without formal authority in Anglican provinces outside of the [[Church of England]].<ref>{{cite web |date=20 July 2012 |title=St Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church History |url=http://www.stfrancisooltewah.org/id4.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815131203/http://www.stfrancisooltewah.org/id4.html |archive-date=15 August 2012 |access-date=11 August 2011}}</ref> Most, but not all, member churches of the communion are the historic national or regional [[Anglican]] churches.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Anglican Communion |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/about/building-relationships/anglican-communion |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=The Church of England |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-05-12 |title=The Anglican Communion |url=https://www.anglicancentreinrome.org/the-anglican-communion |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=The Anglican Centre in Rome |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chapman |first=Mark D. |date=2015 |title=Anglicanism, Japan, and the Perception of a Higher Civilization in the Early Twentieth Century |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43685136 |journal=Anglican and Episcopal History |volume=84 |issue=3 |pages=298–320 |issn=0896-8039 |jstor=43685136}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Member Churches |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/structures/member-churches.aspx |website=Anglican Communion}}</ref>

With approximately 85–110 million members in 2025,<ref>Multiple sources:
*{{Cite web |date=March 25, 2021 |title=Pubblicati l'Annuario Pontificio 2021 e l'Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2019 |url=https://www.osservatoreromano.va/it/news/2021-03/quo-068/pubblicati-br-l-annuario-pontificio-2021-br-e-l-annuarium-statis.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330004256/https://www.osservatoreromano.va/it/news/2021-03/quo-068/pubblicati-br-l-annuario-pontificio-2021-br-e-l-annuarium-statis.html |archivedate=March 30, 2021 |accessdate=March 29, 2021 |publisher=[[L'Osservatore Romano]] |language=it}}
*{{Cite web |author=Anglican Communion Office |title=What do Anglicans Believe? New study guide published by the Anglican Communion |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/communications/press-and-media/press-releases/what-do-anglicans-believe-new-study-guide-published-by-the-anglican-communion.aspx |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=Anglican Communion Website |language=en}}
*{{Cite news |last=Elgot |first=Jessica |date=2015-09-16 |title=What is the Anglican communion and why is it under threat? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/16/what-is-anglican-communion-why-is-it-under-threat |access-date=2025-04-07 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
*{{Cite news |date=2016-01-14 |title=Anglican communion to restrict US Church over gay marriage |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35318392 |access-date=2025-04-07 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}
*{{Cite web |last=Morgan |first=Timothy C. |date=2022-08-09 |title=Anglican Division over Scripture and Sexuality Heads South |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/2022/08/lambeth-conference-anglican-church-global-south-bishops/ |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=Christianity Today |language=en-US}}
*{{Cite web |title=The Anglican Communion official website – "Provincial Registry" |url=http://www.anglicancommunion.org/tour/index.cfm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150307165129/http://www.anglicancommunion.org/tour/index.cfm |archive-date=7 March 2015 |access-date=9 January 2017}}
*{{Cite web |last=Goodhew |first=David |date=2022-02-22 |title=Is Anglicanism Growing or Dying? New Data |url=https://livingchurch.org/covenant/is-anglicanism-growing-or-dying-new-data/ |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=The Living Church |language=en-US}}
*{{Cite news |title=What is the Anglican Communion? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-35319022 |access-date=2025-05-13 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}
*{{Cite book |last=Zurlo |first=Gina A. |title=Global Christianity: a guide to the world's largest religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe |date=2022 |publisher=Zondervan Academic |isbn=978-0-310-11361-4 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=How much influence does the global Anglican Communion have in choosing the next Archbishop of Canterbury? |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/6-june/features/features/how-will-the-global-anglican-communion-be-represented-in-deciding-the-next-archbishop-of-canterbury |access-date=2025-10-10 |website=www.churchtimes.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bumgardner |first=David |date=2025-10-17 |title=A house divided: The Anglican communion's great reset |url=https://baptistnews.com/article/a-house-divided-the-anglican-communions-great-reset/ |access-date=2025-10-18 |website=Baptist News Global |language=en-US}}</ref> among its 47 member churches,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Anglican Communion Office |title=Anglican Communion: Member Churches |url=http://www.anglicancommunion.org/structures/member-churches.aspx |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=Anglican Communion Website |language=en}}</ref> it is the third<ref>Multiple sources:
*{{cite book |author=Gina A. Zurlo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hdFTEAAAQBAJ&dq=Global+Christianity%3A+A+Guide+to+the+World%E2%80%99s+Largest+Religion&pg=PR1 |title=Global Christianity: A Guide to the World's Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe |date=2022 |isbn=9780310113614 |publisher=Zondervan Academic|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |page=5 |accessdate=January 2, 2025}}
*{{Cite web |date=2024-11-13 |title=What Is the Church of England, and Who Are the Anglicans? |url=https://www.ncregister.com/cna/what-is-the-church-of-england-and-who-are-the-anglicans |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=NCR |language=en}}
*{{Cite news |last=Elgot |first=Jessica |date=2015-09-16 |title=What is the Anglican communion and why is it under threat? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/16/what-is-anglican-communion-why-is-it-under-threat |access-date=2025-05-13 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
*{{Cite web |date=August 9, 2007 |title=Key Facts on the Anglican Communion |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/world/key-facts-on-the-anglican-communion-idUSL1554844/ |access-date=May 13, 2025 |website=Reuters}}
*{{Cite web |date=2019-12-13 |title=Westminster seminar explores 'conflict and reconciliation' in the Anglican Communion |url=https://episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/12/13/westminster-seminar-explores-conflict-and-reconciliation-in-the-anglican-communion/ |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=Episcopal News Service |language=en-US}}
*{{Cite web |author1=Grayson Quay |date=2022-08-09 |title=Have Anglicans reached a compromise on same-sex marriage? |url=https://theweek.com/christianity/1015750/have-anglicans-reached-a-compromise-on-same-sex-marriage |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=The Week |language=en}}
*{{Cite web |author=Anglican Communion Office |title=At the UN |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/mission/at-the-un.aspx |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=Anglican Communion Website |language=en}}
*{{Cite news |last=Goodstein |first=Laurie |date=2008-06-20 |title=Rival Conferences for Anglican Church |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/world/20anglicancnd.html |access-date=2025-05-13 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
*{{Cite news |date=2015-09-16 |title=Archbishop calls talks over divisions in Anglican communion |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34272303 |access-date=2025-05-13 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> or fourth largest Christian communion of churches globally, after the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]], and, possibly, [[World Communion of Reformed Churches]].<ref>Multiple sources:
*{{cite web|url=https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/newsroom/news/121105-wgrk-252170|title=World Communion of Reformed Churches to move to Hanover|date=November 5, 2012| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250325182417/https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/newsroom/news/121105-wgrk-252170|archivedate=March 25, 2025|accessdate=June 20, 2025}}
*{{cite web|url=https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/weltgemeinschaft-reformierter-kirchen-von-hannover-um-die-100.html|title=Weltgemeinschaft Reformierter Kirchen: Von Hannover um die Welt|date=September 26, 2019| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930001616/https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/weltgemeinschaft-reformierter-kirchen-von-hannover-um-die-100.html|archivedate=September 30, 2022|accessdate=June 20, 2025}}
*{{cite web|url=https://www.reformiert.de/nachricht/weltgemeinschaft-reformierter-kirchen-in-hannover-begruesst-1583.html|title=Weltgemeinschaft Reformierter Kirchen in Hannover begrüßt|date=January 12, 2014| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250620215022/https://www.reformiert.de/nachricht/weltgemeinschaft-reformierter-kirchen-in-hannover-begruesst-1583.html|archivedate=June 20, 2025|accessdate=June 20, 2025}}
*{{cite web|url=https://pcusa.org/news-storytelling/news/2019/9/24/world-communion-reformed-churches-leader-visits-church-usa|title=World Communion of Reformed Churches leader visits Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):President Najla Kassab meets with church leadership and staff|date=September 24, 2019|author=Rick Jones|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250428222537/https://pcusa.org/news-storytelling/news/2019/9/24/world-communion-reformed-churches-leader-visits-church-usa|archivedate=April 28, 2025|accessdate=June 20, 2025}}
*{{cite web|url=https://lecsakereke.wordpress.com/about-us/partners/|title=Kereke Ea Evangeli Lesotho e Boroa Ho Afrika: Partners & Associations|work=LECSA |date=25 May 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250217025857/https://lecsakereke.wordpress.com/about-us/partners/|archivedate=February 17, 2025|accessdate=June 20, 2025}}
*{{cite web|url=https://www.globalministries.org/visiting-with-chinese-partners/|title=Visiting with Chinese Partners|date=Aug 19, 2024}}
*{{cite web|url= http://www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/ndhf/37884/Document/1626520/1626520.htm | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20180508020010/http://www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/ndhf/37884/Document/1626520/1626520.htm | archivedate= May 8, 2018 |title=China Government Statistics on Religion | date = April 3, 2018 | accessdate = May 8, 2018}}
*{{cite web|title=Disciples Ecumenical Advisory Council|url= https://disciplesworldcommunion.org/ |accessdate=December 18, 2024}}</ref><ref group="n" name="largest"/> The Anglican Communion considers baptism to be "the traditional gauge" or definition for membership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gledhill |first=Ruth |date=2015-11-12 |title=Anglican membership figures could be out by millions |url=https://www.christiantoday.com/news/anglican-membership-figures-could-be-out-by-millions |access-date=2025-10-18 |website=www.christiantoday.com |language=en}}</ref>

The Anglican Communion was officially and formally organised and recognised as such at the [[Lambeth Conference]] in 1867 in [[London]] under the leadership of [[Charles Longley]], Archbishop of Canterbury. The churches of the Anglican Communion consider themselves to be part of the [[Four Marks of the Church|one, holy, catholic and apostolic church]], with their worship based on the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]''.<ref name="Samuel2020" /> The traditional origins of [[Anglican doctrine]] are summarized in the [[Thirty-nine Articles]] (1571) and ''[[The Books of Homilies]]''.<ref name="Samuel2020">{{cite book |last1=Samuel |first1=Chimela Meehoma |title=Treasures of the Anglican Witness: A Collection of Essays |date=28 April 2020 |publisher=Partridge Publishing |isbn=978-1-5437-5784-2 |language=en |quote=In addition to his emphasis on Bible reading and the introduction to the ''Book of Common Prayer'', other media through which Cranmer sought to catechize the English people were the introduction of the First Book of Homilies and the 39 Articles of Religion. Together with the ''Book of Common Prayer'' and the Forty-Two Articles (which were later reduced to thirty-nine), the Book of Homilies stands as one of the essential texts of the Edwardian Reformation, and they all helped to define the shape of Anglicanism then, and in the subsequent centuries. More so, the Articles of Religion, whose primary shape and content were given by Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Ridley in 1553 (and whose final official form was ratified by Convocation, the Queen, and Parliament in 1571), provided a more precise interpretation of Christian doctrine to the English people. According to John H. Rodgers, they "constitute the formal statements of the accepted, common teaching put forth by the Church of England as a result of the Reformation."}}</ref>

As in the Church of England itself, the Anglican Communion includes the [[Broad church|broad spectrum of beliefs and liturgical practises]] found in the [[Evangelical Anglicanism|Evangelical]], [[Central churchmanship|Central]] and [[Anglo-Catholic]] traditions of Anglicanism; both the larger [[Reformed Anglican]] and the smaller [[Anglican Arminianism|Arminian Anglican]] theological perspectives have been represented.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hampton |first1=Stephen |title=Anti-Arminians: The Anglican Reformed Tradition from Charles II to George I |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/review/anti-arminians-the-anglican-reformed-tradition-from-charles-ii-to-george-i/ |publisher=[[The Gospel Coalition]] |access-date=27 November 2024}}</ref> Each national or regional church is fully independent, retaining its own legislative process and [[episcopal polity]] under the leadership of a local [[Primate (bishop)|primate]]. For many adherents, Anglicanism represents a distinct form of Reformed [[Protestantism]] that emerged under the influence of the Reformer [[Thomas Cranmer]];<ref name="Samuel2020"/> for others, it is a ''[[via media]]'' between two branches of Protestantism—[[Lutheranism]] and [[Calvinism]]; or for yet others, it is a denomination that is both [[Catholic (term)|Catholic]] and [[Reformed Christianity|Reformed]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Anglican and Episcopal History|year=2003|publisher=Historical Society of the Episcopal Church|language=en|page=15|quote=Others had made similar observations, Patrick McGrath commenting that the Church of England was not a middle way between Roman Catholic and Protestant, but "between different forms of Protestantism", and William Monter describing the Church of England as "a unique style of Protestantism, a via media between the Reformed and Lutheran traditions". MacCulloch has described Cranmer as seeking a middle way between Zurich and Wittenberg but elsewhere remarks that the Church of England was "nearer Zurich and Geneva than Wittenberg.}}</ref>{{sfn|Avis|1998|pp=417–419}} Full participation in the [[sacrament]]al life of each church is available to all communicant members.

Most members of the churches of the Anglican Communion live in the [[Anglosphere]]: a group of dozens of countries and regions that are predominantly English-speaking, often former British colonies or territories, many of which still voluntarily associate as members of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]].  Because of their historical link to England (''ecclesia anglicana'' means "English church"), some of the member churches are known as "Anglican", such as the [[Anglican Church of Canada]]. Others, for example the [[Church of Ireland]] and the [[Scottish Episcopal Church|Scottish Episcopal]] and [[Episcopal Church (United States)|American Episcopal]] churches, have official names that do not include "Anglican". Conversely, some churches that do use the name "Anglican" are not part of the Communion. These have generally disaffiliated over disagreement with the progress and direction of the broader Communion.

==History==
{{Main|History of the Anglican Communion}}

{{See also|English Reformation}}

The Anglican Communion traces much of its growth to the older mission organisations of the Church of England such as the [[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]] (founded 1698), the [[Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts]] (founded 1701) and the [[Church Missionary Society]] (founded 1799).<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.cms-uk.org/Whoweare/AboutCMS/History/tabid/181/language/en-US/Default.aspx |title = A brief history of CMS |year = 1999 |publisher = Church Mission Society |access-date = 2 December 2012 |quote = Much of what we call the Anglican Communion today traces its origins to CMS work.}}</ref>{{NoteTag|Efforts to grow and develop the church in lands outside the British Isles began with the [[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]] (1698) and the [[Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts]] (1701) but received a significant boost from the [[Church Mission Society]] (1799).{{sfn|Melton|2005|p=28}} }}{{NoteTag|The Church Missionary Society, originally called the Society for Missions to Africa and the East, was founded in 1799... Though later in date than the S.P.C.K. and the S.P.G. it became the first effective organ of the C. of E. for missions to the heathen... Its theology has been consistently Evangelical.{{sfn|Cross|1957|p=305}} }} The Church of England (which until the 20th century included the [[Church in Wales]]) initially separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534 in the reign of [[Henry VIII]], reunited briefly in 1555 under [[Mary I]] and then separated again in 1570 under [[Elizabeth I]] (the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Elizabeth I in 1570 in response to the [[Act of Supremacy 1559]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of the Church of England |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/media-centre/history-church-england |access-date=22 February 2023 |website=The Church of England |language=en |archive-date=16 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416023707/https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/media-centre/history-church-england |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Church of England has always thought of itself not as a new foundation but rather as a reformed continuation of the ancient "English Church" (''Ecclesia Anglicana'') and a reassertion of that church's rights. As such it was a distinctly national phenomenon. The [[Church of Scotland]] was formed as a separate church from the Roman Catholic Church as a result of the [[Scottish Reformation]] in 1560 and the later formation of the [[Scottish Episcopal Church]] began in 1582 (in the reign of [[James VI]]) over disagreements about the role of bishops.<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 February 2010 |title=History |url=https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/about-us/our-faith/history |access-date=22 February 2023 |website=The Church of Scotland |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=11 July 2011 |title=The Origins of the Scottish Episcopal Church |url=https://dcdchurches.org.uk/the-origins-of-the-scottish-episcopal-church/ |access-date=22 February 2023 |website=Dalbeattie & Castle Douglas Churches |language=en-GB}}</ref>

The Church of England was the established church not only in England, but in its trans-Oceanic colonies. Thus the only member churches of the present Anglican Communion existing by the mid-18th century were the Church of England, its closely linked sister church the [[Church of Ireland]] (which also separated from Roman Catholicism under Henry VIII) and the Scottish Episcopal Church which for parts of the 17th and 18th centuries was partially underground (it was suspected of [[Jacobite succession|Jacobite]] sympathies).

The oldest-surviving Anglican church building outside the British Isles is [[St. Peter's Church, St. George's|St Peter's Church]] in [[St. George's, Bermuda]], established in 1612 (though the actual building had to be rebuilt several times over the following century). This is also the oldest surviving non-Roman Catholic church in the [[New World]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Peter's Church |url=https://www.stpeters.bm/ |access-date=22 February 2023 |website=www.stpeters.bm}}</ref> It remained part of the Church of England until 1978 when the [[Anglican Church of Bermuda]] was formed. 

===Global spread of Anglicanism===
[[File:Anglican confirmation in Helsinki.jpg|thumb|Anglican confirmation at the [[Mikael Agricola Church]] in Helsinki, [[Finland]], in June 2013]]
The enormous expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries of the [[British Empire]] brought Anglicanism along with it. At first all these colonial churches were under the jurisdiction of the [[bishop of London]]. After the [[American Revolution]], the parishes in the newly independent United States found it necessary to break formally from a church whose [[supreme governor]] was (and remains) the [[British monarch]]. Thus they formed their own dioceses and national church, the [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America]], in a mostly amicable separation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of The Episcopal Church |url=https://www.episcopalchurch.org/who-we-are/history-episcopal-church/ |access-date=22 February 2023 |website=The Episcopal Church |language=en-US |archive-date=22 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230222183654/https://www.episcopalchurch.org/who-we-are/history-episcopal-church/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

At about the same time, in the colonies which remained linked to the crown, the Church of England began to appoint colonial bishops. In 1787, [[Charles Inglis (bishop)|Charles Inglis]] ([[Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island|Bishop of Nova Scotia]]) was appointed with jurisdiction over all of British North America;<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hebb |first=Ross N. |date=2007 |title=Bishop Charles Inglis and Bishop Samuel Seabury: High Churchmanship in Varying New World Contexts |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42613040 |journal=Anglican and Episcopal History |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=61–88 |jstor=42613040 |issn=0896-8039}}</ref> in time several more colleagues were appointed to sees in other provinces in present-day Canada. In 1814, a [[Diocese of Calcutta (Church of North India)|bishop of Calcutta]] was appointed. In 1824 the first bishop was sent to the [[West Indies]]. And in 1836 Australia received its first Anglican bishop. By 1840 there were still only ten colonial bishops in the Church of England; but this small beginning quickly facilitated the growth of Anglicanism around the world. In 1841, a "Colonial Bishoprics Council" was set up and soon many more dioceses were created.

In time, it became natural to group these into provinces and a [[metropolitan bishop]] was appointed for each province. Although it had at first been somewhat established in many colonies, in 1861 it was ruled that, except where specifically established, the Church of England had just the same legal position as any other church. Thus a colonial bishop and colonial diocese was by nature quite a different thing from their counterparts back home. In time bishops came to be appointed locally rather than from England and eventually national synods began to pass ecclesiastical legislation independent of England.

A crucial step in the development of the modern communion was the idea of the [[Lambeth Conference]]s (discussed above).<ref>{{Cite web |title=History and Impact of the Lambeth Conference – The Lambeth Conference |url=https://www.lambethconference.org/about/history-and-impact-of-the-lambeth-conference/ |access-date=22 February 2023 |language=en-GB |archive-date=22 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230222183701/https://www.lambethconference.org/about/history-and-impact-of-the-lambeth-conference/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> These conferences demonstrated that the bishops of disparate churches could manifest the unity of the church in their episcopal collegiality despite the absence of universal legal ties. Some bishops were initially reluctant to attend, fearing that the meeting would declare itself a council with power to legislate for the church; but it agreed to pass only advisory resolutions. These Lambeth Conferences have been held roughly every ten years since 1878 (the second such conference) and remain the most visible coming-together of the whole communion.

The Lambeth Conference of 1998 included what has been seen by [[Philip Jenkins]] and others as a "watershed in global Christianity". The 1998 Lambeth Conference considered the issue of the theology of same-sex attraction in relation to human sexuality. At this 1998 conference, for the first time in centuries, the primates of churches in many developing regions—including some from Africa, Asia and Latin America—prevailed over the bishops of more prosperous countries (many from the US, Canada and the UK) who had supported a more progressive interpretation  of Anglican doctrine. Seen in this light, 1998 is a date that marked the shift from a West-dominated Christianity to one wherein the growing churches of "the two-thirds world" are predominant.{{sfnm |1a1=Jenkins |1y=2002 |1pp=202–203 |2a1=Miller |2y=2014 |2p=68}}

===21st-century ''de facto'' schisms===
Many of the provinces in developed countries have continued to adopt more liberal stances on sexuality and other issues, resulting in a number of de facto schisms, such as the series of splits which led to the creation of the [[Anglican Church in North America]]. Many churches are now in [[full communion]] with only some other church members of the Communion, but are not with others; however, most churches that have historically been members continue to claim to be part of the Anglican Communion.

On 20 February 2023, following the decision of the [[Church of England]] to allow priests to bless same-sex partnerships, ten communion provinces and [[Anglican realignment]] churches, formed themselves into the new [[Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches]] released a statement stating that they had declared "[[Full communion|impaired communion]]" with the Church of England and no longer recognised [[Justin Welby]] as "first among equals" among the bishops of the communion.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Staff |date=21 February 2023 |title=Anglican group rejects Archbishop of Canterbury as schism widens |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230221-anglican-group-rejects-archbishop-of-canterbury-as-schism-widens |access-date=22 February 2023 |website=France 24 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Lawless |first=Jill |date=20 February 2023 |title=Anglican bishops reject leader Welby over gay marriage |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/anglican-bishops-reject-leader-welby-gay-marriage-97337650 |access-date=22 February 2023 |website=ABC News |language=en |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

On 16 October 2025, the chairman of the [[Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans]], [[Laurent Mbanda]], declared the future creation of a "Global Anglican Communion" independent from the See of Canterbury but also asserted "[they] have not left the Anglican Communion; [they] are the Anglican Communion."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Future Has Arrived |url=https://gafcon.org/communique-updates/the-future-has-arrived/ |website=GAFCON: Global Anglicans |access-date=16 October 2025 |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Michael |first=Mark |date=October 17, 2025 |title=Analysis: GAFCON Creates Global Anglican Communion |url=https://livingchurch.org/news/news-anglican-communion/analysis-gafcon-creates-global-anglican-communion/ |work=[[The Living Church]] |quote=Boldly announcing that "the future has arrived," GAFCON, the Global South-based conservative renewal movement also known as the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, declared the creation of a "Global Anglican Communion" in an October 16 communiqué by its chairman, Archbishop Laurent Mbanda of Rwanda.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Felsbourg |first=Hannah |date=2025-10-17 |title=GAFCON announces new communion |url=https://tma.melbourneanglican.org.au/2025/10/gafcon-announces-new-communion/ |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=The Melbourne Anglican |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-10-17 |title=Orthodox Anglicans create new Communion that rejects leadership of Archbishop of Canterbury |url=https://www.christiantoday.com/news/orthodox-anglicans-create-new-communion-that-rejects-leadership-of-archbishop-of-canterbury |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=www.christiantoday.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Gafcon letter declares that it is the Communion now, minus Canterbury and all related ‘Instruments’ |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/24-october/news/world/gafcon-letter-declares-that-it-is-the-communion-now-minus-canterbury-and-all-related-instruments |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=www.churchtimes.co.uk}}</ref> "The statement outlining that plan was signed by one person, Rwanda Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, who serves as chair of GAFCON’s primate council."<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |date=2025-10-23 |title=Little evidence so far that Anglican leaders plan to join GAFCON in leaving Anglican Communion |url=https://episcopalnewsservice.org/2025/10/23/little-evidence-so-far-that-anglican-leaders-plan-to-join-gafcon-in-leaving-anglican-communion/ |access-date=2025-10-24 |website=Episcopal News Service |language=en-US}}</ref> Following the announcement, Mbanda stated that the announcement of the "Global Anglican Communion" was "closer to a rebrand than a new organization" and that they are reforming the existing Anglican Communion.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wyatt |first=Tim |date=2025-10-22 |title=The Anglican Communion Is Coming Apart |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/10/anglican-communion-gafcon-break-canterbury-archbishop/ |access-date=2025-10-24 |website=Christianity Today |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-10-17 |title=Enough’s Enough! — A Bible-Centred Reordering of Global Anglicanism — with Laurent Mbanda |url=https://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/we-are-the-global-anglican-communion |access-date=2025-10-24 |website=The Pastor's Heart |language=en-GB}}</ref> Bishops affiliated with GAFCON, in Kenya and Congo, responded that their provinces plan to remain a part of the existing structures of the Anglican Communion.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Jenan |date=2025-10-21 |title=GAFCON announcement ‘not the Anglican way’ |url=https://tma.melbourneanglican.org.au/2025/10/gafcon-announcement-not-the-anglican-way/ |access-date=2025-10-24 |website=The Melbourne Anglican |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref name="auto"/>

==Differences and controversies==
{{See also|Homosexuality and Anglicanism|Anglican realignment}}

Some effects of the Anglican Communion's dispersed authority have been differences of opinion (and conflicts) arising over divergent practices and doctrine in the various parts of the communion.{{sfn|McKinnon|Trzebiatowska|Brittain|2011|pp=355–37}} Disputes that had been confined to the Church of England could be dealt with legislatively in that realm, but as the communion spread into new countries and territories and across disparate cultures, controversies sometimes multiplied and intensified. These controversies have generally been of two types: liturgical and social.{{sfn|Chapman|2006|p=}}

=== Ordination of women ===
Rapid social change and the dissipation of British cultural hegemony over its former colonies contributed to disputes over the role of women, and the parameters of marriage and divorce. In the late 1970s, the [[Continuing Anglican movement]] produced a number of new church bodies in opposition to [[Ordination of women in the Anglican Communion|women's ordination]], prayer book changes, and the new understandings concerning marriage. Currently, seven provinces of the Communion, representing approximately 3% of Anglicans worldwide, do not ordain women as deacons, priests, or bishops; two ordain women only as deacons, 16 ordain women as deacons and priests but not as bishops, and 22 provinces, representing about "two thirds of Anglicanism," ordain women as deacons, priests, and bishops.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Uwaezuoke Chukwuedo |first=Mercy |date=September 2024 |title=Women, Leadership, and Ordination in the Anglican Church in Nigeria |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385339956 |website=Research Gate}}</ref> On 3 October 2025, it was announced that the [[Crown Nominations Commission]] had nominated [[Sarah Mullally]], the [[bishop of London]] as the next archbishop of Canterbury, which will make her the first woman to serve as archbishop of Canterbury and as the "first among equals" within the Anglican Communion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-10-03 |title=Sarah Mullally named as new Archbishop of Canterbury |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2lxyxqzxkdo |access-date=2025-10-04 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2025-10-03 |title=Sarah Mullally Is Named as First Female Archbishop of Canterbury |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/world/europe/uk-archbishop-canterbury-woman-church-sarah-mullally.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251003101458/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/world/europe/uk-archbishop-canterbury-woman-church-sarah-mullally.html |archive-date=3 October 2025 |access-date=2025-10-04 |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref> GAFCON Primates Council chairman (Laurent Mbanda) claimed a predominant reservation against women's ordination in the episcopacy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Canterbury Appointment Abandons Anglicans |url=https://gafcon.org/communique-updates/canterbury-appointment-abandons-anglicans/ |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=GAFCON: Global Anglicans |language=en-AU}}</ref>

===Anglo-Catholicism===
The first such controversy of note concerned that of the growing influence of the [[Catholic Revival]] manifested in the [[Tractarian]] and so-called [[Ritualism in the Church of England|Ritualist]] controversies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.{{sfn|Pickering|2008|p=}} This controversy produced the [[Free Church of England]] and, in the United States and Canada, the [[Reformed Episcopal Church]].

===Abortion and euthanasia===
While individual Anglicans and member churches within the communion differ over the circumstances in which abortion should or should not be permitted, [[Lambeth Conference]] resolutions have consistently held to a conservative view on the issue. The 1930 conference, the first to be held since the initial legalisation of abortion in Europe (in [[Abortion in Russia|Russia]] in 1920), stated:<ref>{{cite web |title=Resolution 16, The Life and Witness of the Christian Community – Marriage and Sex |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/127734/1930.pdf |publisher=Anglican Communion Office |access-date=29 December 2023 |location=London |page=7 |date=2005}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The Conference further records its abhorrence of the sinful practice of abortion.}}

The 1958 conference's ''Family in Contemporary Society'' report affirmed the following position on abortion<ref>{{cite book |title=The Lambeth Conference 1958: Resolutions and Reports |date=1958 |publisher=SPCK and Seabury Press}}</ref> and was commended by the 1968 conference:<ref>{{cite web |title=Resolution 22, Responsible Parenthood |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/127743/1968.pdf |publisher=Anglican Consultative Council |access-date=19 August 2023 |location=London |page=10 |date=2005}}</ref>

{{blockquote|In the strongest terms Christians reject the practice of induced abortion or infanticide, which involves the killing of a life already conceived (as well as a violation of the personality of the mother), save at the dictate of strict and undeniable medical necessity ... the sacredness of life is, in Christian eyes, an absolute which should not be violated.}}

The subsequent Lambeth Conference, in 1978, made no change to this position and commended the need for "programmes at diocesan level, involving both men and women ... to emphasise the sacredness of all human life, the moral issues inherent in clinical abortion, and the possible implications of genetic engineering."<ref>{{cite web |title=Resolution 10, Human Relationships and Sexuality |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/127746/1978.pdf |publisher=Anglican Communion Office |access-date=29 December 2023 |location=London |page=8 |date=2005}}</ref>

In the context of debates around and proposals for the legalisation of [[euthanasia]] and [[assisted suicide]], the 1998 conference affirmed that "life is God-given and has intrinsic sanctity, significance and worth".<ref name=1998life>{{cite web |title=Resolution 1.14, Euthanasia |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/76650/1998.pdf |publisher=Anglican Communion Office |access-date=29 December 2023 |location=London |page=11 |date=2005}}</ref>

===Same-sex unions and LGBT clergy===
More recently, disagreements over homosexuality have strained the unity of the communion as well as its relationships with other Christian denominations, leading to another round of withdrawals from the Anglican Communion.{{sfn|Brittain|McKinnon|2011}} Some churches were founded outside the Anglican Communion in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, largely in opposition to the ordination of openly homosexual bishops and other clergy and are usually referred to as belonging to the [[Anglican realignment]] movement, or else as "orthodox" Anglicans.{{sfn|Brittain|McKinnon|2011}} These disagreements were especially noted when The [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church (US)]] consecrated an openly gay bishop in a same-sex relationship, [[Gene Robinson]], in 2003, which led some Episcopalians to defect and found the [[Anglican Church in North America]] (ACNA); then, the debate reignited when the Church of England agreed to allow clergy to enter into same-sex [[civil partnerships]], as long as they remained celibate, in 2005.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/5236132.stm|title=BBC NEWS {{!}} UK {{!}} England {{!}} Beds/Bucks/Herts {{!}} Gay cleric's 'wedding' to partner|website=news.bbc.co.uk|access-date=21 June 2017|date=August 2006|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115163624/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/5236132.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Church of Nigeria]] opposed the Episcopal Church's decision as well as the Church of England's approval for celibate civil partnerships.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.christiantoday.com/article/revd.akinolas.response.to.church.of.england.civil.partnerships.stance/3642.htm|title=Revd Akinola's Response to Church of England Civil Partnerships Stance {{!}} Christian News on Christian Today|website=www.christiantoday.com|date=8 August 2005 |language=en|access-date=21 June 2017|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115163620/https://www.christiantoday.com/article/revd.akinolas.response.to.church.of.england.civil.partnerships.stance/3642.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to the BBC, "The more liberal provinces that are open to changing Church doctrine on marriage in order to allow for same-sex unions include [[Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil|Brazil]], [[Anglican Church of Canada|Canada]], [[Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia|New Zealand]], [[Scottish Episcopal Church|Scotland]], [[Church of South India|South India]], [[Anglican Church of Southern Africa|South Africa]], the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|US]] and [[Church in Wales|Wales]]".<ref>{{cite news|title=Church split over homosexuality would be a failure – Welby|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35278124|publisher=BBC|access-date=11 April 2016|work=BBC News|date=11 January 2016|archive-date=21 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221143053/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35278124|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2023, the Church of England announced that it will authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Draft prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples published |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/media-and-news/press-releases/draft-prayers-thanksgiving-dedication-and-gods-blessing-same-sex |access-date=21 January 2023 |website=The Church of England |date=20 January 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Church of England says no to gay marriage but Archbishop of Canterbury welcomes blessings for same-sex couples in historic first |author-first1=Reemul|author-last1=Balla|date=18 January 2023|url=https://news.sky.com/story/church-of-england-says-no-to-gay-marriage-but-archbishop-of-canterbury-welcomes-blessings-for-same-sex-couples-in-historic-first-12789291 |access-date=21 January 2023 |website=Sky News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Millard |first=Egan |date=20 January 2023 |title=Church of England releases draft prayers for same-sex blessings; archbishop of Canterbury says he won't use them |url=https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2023/01/20/church-of-england-releases-draft-prayers-for-same-sex-blessings-archbishop-of-canterbury-says-he-wont-use-them/ |access-date=21 January 2023 |website=Episcopal News Service |language=en-US}}</ref> The Church of England also permits clergy to enter into same-sex civil partnerships.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/11/anglican-synod-gay-pension-rights|title=Church of England General Synod extends pension rights for gay partners|last=Bates|first=Stephen|date=11 February 2010|website=The Guardian|access-date=16 June 2016|archive-date=14 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914013555/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/11/anglican-synod-gay-pension-rights|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2024, the Church of England's General Synod voted to support allowing clergy to enter in civil same-sex marriages.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Henderson |first=Cameron |date=2024-07-08 |title=Church takes first steps to allowing gay priests to marry |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/08/church-of-england-votes-to-allow-gay-clergy-to-marry/ |access-date=2024-07-16 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Billson |first=Chantelle |date=2024-07-10 |title=Church of England body approves proposals to allow gay clergy to marry |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/07/10/church-of-england-body-approves-proposals-to-allow-gay-clergy-to-marry/ |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=PinkNews }}</ref> In 2023, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa's bishops approved the drafting of prayers that could be said with same-sex couples and the draft prayers were published for consideration in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-03-14 |title=Domestic Prayers for Same-Sex Couples in South Africa |url=https://livingchurch.org/2023/03/14/domestic-prayers-for-same-sex-couples-in-south-africa/ |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=The Living Church |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bishops in Southern Africa agree to prayers but not blessings for same-sex couples |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2023/10-march/news/world/bishops-in-southern-africa-agree-to-prayers-but-not-blessings-for-same-sex-couples |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=www.churchtimes.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Makgoba |first=Thabo |date=April 25, 2024 |title=Archbishop urges Anglicans to study draft prayers for ministry to same-sex couples |url=https://anglicanchurchsa.org/archbishop-urges-anglicans-to-study-draft-prayers-for-ministry-to-same-sex-couples/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3lF4Yoc5c-mGL9bif5zS89ATlg8RYwPO-beLmjFKwYItiCDaDnpEFvreE_aem_AZWevl5mQlHf9anhsvtl57SyxGQ1HB2EwJ9VL6yn_TTFtjztCsahYAre0cOApod65OvISA4w6VHc4O8lC9EU1lK0 |website=Anglican Church of Southern Africa }}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The [[Church of Ireland]] has no official position on civil unions, and one senior cleric has entered into a same-sex civil partnership.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-14787854|title=Minister Rev Tom Gordon civil partnership 'welcomed' – BBC News|language=en-GB|access-date=16 June 2016|date=5 September 2011|archive-date=11 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111094251/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-14787854|url-status=live}}</ref> The Church of Ireland recognised that it will "treat civil partners the same as spouses".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/listening-process-vital-to-bring-gay-lesbian-clergy-in-from-margins-1.945021|title=Listening process vital to bring gay, lesbian clergy in from margins|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=21 June 2017|language=en-US|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019220254/https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/listening-process-vital-to-bring-gay-lesbian-clergy-in-from-margins-1.945021|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Anglican Church of Australia]] does not have an official position on homosexuality,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/3226753.stm|title=BBC NEWS {{!}} Special Reports {{!}} Anglican Church around the world|website=news.bbc.co.uk|language=en-GB|access-date=21 June 2017|date=15 July 2008|archive-date=19 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719073627/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/3226753.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> and each diocese is allowed to bless same-sex couples if they choose.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Michael |first=Mark |date=2020-11-13 |title=Tribunal Authorizes Same-Sex Blessings in Australia |url=https://livingchurch.org/news/news-anglican-communion/tribunal-authorizes-same-sex-blessings-in-australia/ |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=The Living Church |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2025, the [[Church in Wales]] elected [[Cherry Vann]] as the Archbishop of Wales, making her the first woman to serve as Archbishop in the United Kingdom and the first openly [[LGBTQ people|LGBTQ]] and partnered bishop to be a [[Primate (bishop)|Primate]] within the Anglican Communion.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Swerling |first=Gabriella |date=2025-07-30 |title=UK's first female archbishop appointed |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/30/lesbian-becomes-uks-first-female-archbishop/ |access-date=2025-07-30 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-07-30 |title=Cherry Vann announced as new Archbishop of Wales |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czd057neeljo |access-date=2025-07-30 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Michael |first=Mark |date=2025-07-30 |title=Wales Elects First Female Archbishop |url=https://livingchurch.org/news/news-anglican-communion/wales-elects-first-female-archbishop/ |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=The Living Church |language=en-US}}</ref>

The conservative Anglican churches encouraging the realignment movement are more concentrated in the Global South. For example, the [[Anglican Church of Kenya]], the Church of Nigeria and the [[Church of Uganda]] have opposed homosexuality.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/14/anglican-church-sanctions-against-liberal-us-church-same-sex-marriage|title=Anglican church avoids split over gay rights – but liberals pay price|last=Sherwood|first=Harriet|date=14 January 2016|website=The Guardian|access-date=16 June 2016|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115164134/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/14/anglican-church-sanctions-against-liberal-us-church-same-sex-marriage|url-status=live}}</ref> [[GAFCON]], a fellowship of conservative Anglican churches, has appointed "missionary bishops" in response to the disagreements with the perceived liberalisation in the Anglican churches in North America and Europe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/28-april/news/uk/gafcon-considers-a-missionary-bishop-for-uk|title=GAFCON considers a missionary bishop for UK|website=www.churchtimes.co.uk|access-date=21 June 2017|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115164140/https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/28-april/news/uk/gafcon-considers-a-missionary-bishop-for-uk|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2023, ten archbishops within the Anglican Communion and two breakaway churches in North America and Brazil from the [[Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches]] (GSFA) declared a state of impaired communion with the Church of England and announced that they would no longer recognise the archbishop of Canterbury as the "first among equals" among the bishops in the Anglican Communion.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rocca |first=Francis X. |title=Conservative Anglican Leaders Call for Break With Church of England Over Same-Sex Blessings |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/conservative-anglican-leaders-call-for-break-with-church-of-england-over-same-sex-blessings-7215b707 |access-date=21 February 2023 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=20 February 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref> However, in the same statement, the ten archbishops said that they would not leave the Anglican Communion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 February 2023 |title=GSFA Demands Anglican Communion Reset |url=https://livingchurch.org/2023/02/23/gsfa-demands-anglican-communion-reset/ |access-date=25 February 2023 |website=The Living Church |language=en-US|author-first1=Mark|author-last1=Michael}}</ref> In 2024, the GSFA met again establishing "a new structure," no longer recognising the Archbishop of Canterbury "as the ''de facto'' leader" of the Anglican Communion, but the GSFA reiterated that they intend to remain in the Anglican Communion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches meets under a new structure |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/28-june/news/world/global-south-fellowship-of-anglican-churches-meets-under-a-new-structure |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=Church Times|author-last1=Thornton|author-first1=Ed|date=28 June 2024}}</ref> In 2025, after the Church in Wales elected the first openly lesbian and partnered Primate in the Anglican Communion, the GSFA criticized the appointment.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Arama |first=Justin Badi |date=2025-07-31 |title=GSFA statement on Cherry Vann election |url=https://anglican.ink/2025/07/31/gsfa-statement-on-cherry-vann-election/ |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=Anglican Ink © 2025 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Debates about social theology and ethics have occurred at the same time as debates on prayer book revision and the acceptable grounds for achieving full communion with non-Anglican churches.{{sfn|Ward|2006|p=}}

==Ecclesiology, polity and ethos==
{{Main|Anglican doctrine}}
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2020}}
The Anglican Communion has no official legal existence nor any governing structure that might exercise authority over the member churches. There is an Anglican Communion Office in London, under the aegis of the [[archbishop of Canterbury]], but it serves only in a supporting and organisational role. The communion is held together by a shared history, expressed in its [[ecclesiology]], [[polity]] and [[ethos]], and also by participation in international consultative bodies.

Three elements have been important in holding the communion together: first, the shared ecclesial structure of the component churches, manifested in an [[episcopal polity]] maintained through the [[apostolic succession]] of bishops and [[synod]]ical government; second, the principle of belief expressed in worship, investing importance in approved prayer books and their rubrics; and third, the historical documents and the writings of early Anglican [[divinity (academic discipline)|divines]] that have influenced the ethos of the communion.

Originally, the Church of England was self-contained and relied for its unity and identity on its own history, its traditional legal and episcopal structure, and its status as an [[established church]] of the state. As such, Anglicanism was from the outset a movement with an explicitly episcopal polity, a characteristic that has been vital in maintaining the unity of the communion by conveying the episcopate's role in manifesting visible catholicity and ecumenism.

Early in its development following the [[English Reformation]], Anglicanism developed a vernacular prayer book, called the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]''. Unlike other traditions, Anglicanism has never been governed by a [[magisterium]] nor by appeal to one founding theologian, nor by an extra-credal summary of doctrine (such as the [[Westminster Confession]] of the [[Presbyterian]] churches). Instead, Anglicans have typically appealed to the ''Book of Common Prayer'' (1662) and its offshoots as a guide to Anglican theology and practise. This has had the effect of inculcating in Anglican identity and confession the principle of {{Lang|la|[[lex orandi, lex credendi]]}} ("the law of praying [is] the law of believing").

Protracted conflict through the 17th century, with radical Protestants on the one hand and Roman Catholics who recognised the primacy of the Pope on the other, resulted in an association of churches that was both deliberately vague about doctrinal principles, yet bold in developing parameters of acceptable deviation. These parameters were most clearly articulated in the various rubrics of the successive prayer books, as well as the [[Thirty-nine Articles]] of Religion (1563). These articles have historically shaped and continue to direct the ethos of the communion, an ethos reinforced by its interpretation and expansion by such influential early theologians such as [[Richard Hooker (theologian)|Richard Hooker]], [[Lancelot Andrewes]] and [[John Cosin]].

With the expansion of the [[British Empire]] and the growth of Anglicanism outside Great Britain and Ireland, the communion sought to establish new vehicles of unity. The first major expressions of this were the [[Lambeth Conference]]s of the communion's bishops, first convened in 1867 by [[Charles Longley]], the archbishop of Canterbury. From the beginning, these were not intended to displace the autonomy of the emerging provinces of the communion, but to "discuss matters of practical interest, and pronounce what we deem expedient in resolutions which may serve as safe guides to future action".<ref>Davidson, R. T. (ed.) (1889). ''The Lambeth Conferences of 1867, 1878, and 1888: With the Official Reports and Resolutions Together with the Sermons Preached at the Conferences''. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.</ref>

=== Chicago Lambeth Quadrilateral ===
One of the enduringly influential early resolutions of the conference was the so-called [[Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral]] of 1888. Its intent was to provide the basis for discussions of reunion with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, but it had the ancillary effect of establishing parameters of Anglican identity. It establishes four principles with these words:<ref>''The Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church'', Seabury Press, 1979, p. 877</ref>
{{blockquote|text=
That, in the opinion of this Conference, the following Articles supply a basis on which approach may be by God's blessing made towards Home Reunion:

(a) The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as "containing all things necessary to salvation," and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith.

(b) The [[Apostles' Creed]], as the Baptismal Symbol; and the [[Nicene Creed]], as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.

(c) The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself – Baptism and the [[Eucharist|Supper of the Lord]] – ministered with unfailing use of Christ's [[Words of Institution]], and of the elements ordained by Him.

(d) The [[Historic Episcopate]], locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the Unity of His Church.
}}

=== Instruments of communion ===
The archbishop of Canterbury's role is strictly symbolic and unifying, while the communion's three international bodies are consultative and collaborative; their resolutions have no legal effect on the autonomous provinces of the communion. However, in combination those four bodies do function as "instruments of communion", because all churches of the communion participate in them. In order of antiquity, they are:

[[File:Canterburycathedralthrone.jpg|thumb|The [[Chair of St Augustine]] (the episcopal throne in [[Canterbury Cathedral]], Kent), seat of the archbishop of Canterbury in their role as head of the Anglican Communion{{NoteTag|The [[Chair of St Augustine]] is the seat of the archbishop of Canterbury in their role as head of the Anglican Communion. Archbishops of Canterbury are enthroned twice: firstly as diocesan ordinary (and metropolitan and primate of the [[Church of England]]) in the archbishop's throne, by the [[archdeacon of Canterbury]]; and secondly as leader of the worldwide church in the Chair of St Augustine by the senior (by length of service) archbishop of the Anglican Communion. The stone chair is therefore of symbolic significance throughout Anglicanism.}}]]

# The [[archbishop of Canterbury]] functions as the spiritual head of the communion.<ref>{{cite web |title = Anglican Communion |url = http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/pages/anglican-communion.html |website = www.archbishopofcanterbury.org |access-date = 4 October 2015 }}</ref> The archbishop is the focus of unity, because no Anglican church has historically claimed membership in the communion without being in communion with the archbishop of Canterbury. The current archbishop-designate is [[Sarah Mullally]].
# The [[Lambeth Conference]]<ref name="Bodies">{{cite web |title = Anglican international bodies|url = http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/pages/instruments-of-communion.html |website = www.archbishopofcanterbury.org |access-date = 4 October 2015 }}</ref> (first held in 1867) is the oldest Anglican international consultative body. It is a forum for bishops of the communion to reinforce unity and collegiality, to discuss matters of mutual concern, and to pass resolutions intended to act as guidelines to the individual churches. It is held roughly every ten years and invitation is by the archbishop of Canterbury.
# The [[Anglican Consultative Council]]<ref name="Bodies" /> (first met in 1971) was created by a 1968 Lambeth Conference resolution, and meets usually at three-yearly intervals. The council consists of representative bishops, other clergy and laity chosen by the 38 provinces. The body has a permanent secretariat, the Anglican Communion Office, of which the archbishop of Canterbury is president.
# The [[Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting|Primates' Meeting]]<ref name="Bodies" /> (first met in 1979) is a forum for international consultation and deliberation, first convened by Archbishop [[Donald Coggan]] for "leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation".<ref>Jeremy Morris, ''The Oxford History of Anglicanism, Volume IV: Global Western Anglicanism, c. 1910–Present'' (Oxford University Press, 2017), 320–22. {{ISBN|9780192518262}}</ref>

Because there is no binding authority in the Anglican Communion, these international bodies are vehicles for consultation and persuasion. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, they have debated issues of conformity in doctrine, discipline, worship and ethics. The most controversial issues have related to [[gender]] and [[sexuality]]: some provinces of the communion (particularly in Africa and Asia) object to the changing acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals (particularly by the North American churches). This has led to disagreements on the churches' differing practices of [[same-sex unions|blessing same-sex unions]], ordaining and consecrating priests and bishops who are (or have been) in [[same-sex relationship]]s, and to the process by which changes were undertaken. Some churches have also objected to the [[Ordination of women in the Anglican Communion|ordination of female priests and bishops]]. This debate is known as the [[Anglican realignment]].

Those who objected condemned these changes as unscriptural, unilateral, and lacking prior agreement from the communion. The [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|American Episcopal Church]] and the [[Anglican Church of Canada]] responded that their actions had been undertaken after lengthy scriptural and theological reflection, were legal according to their own [[canon law|canons and constitutions]], and made after extensive consultation with the provinces of the communion. The Primates' Meeting voted to request those two churches withdraw their delegates from the 2005 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council. Canada and the United States decided to attend the meeting but without exercising their right to vote. They were not expelled or suspended; there is no mechanism in this voluntary association to suspend or expel an independent province of the communion. Because membership is based on a province's communion with Canterbury, expulsion would require the archbishop of Canterbury's refusal to be in communion with the affected jurisdictions. Following the recommendation of the [[Windsor Report]], [[Rowan Williams]] (the then archbishop of Canterbury) established a working group to examine the feasibility of an Anglican covenant which would articulate the conditions for communion in some fashion.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060714012659/http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/41/50/acns4164.cfm|archive-date=14 July 2006|url=http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/41/50/acns4164.cfm |title=Archbishop of Canterbury: address to General Synod on the Anglican Communion|publisher=ACNS|date=7 July 2006}}</ref>{{update-inline|reason=This narrative ends in 2006. Has nothing happened since then?|date=October 2025}}

==Organisation==

===Provinces===
[[File:AnglicanCommunionProvinces2025.png|thumb|upright=3.65|<div class="center">A world map showing the provinces of the Anglican Communion and Global Anglican Communion:

{| border="0" width="100%"
|-
|
{{legend|#128FE2|National churches, present in only one country}}
{{legend|#FFF30A|Episcopal Church of the United States}}
{{legend|#23A63B|Church in the Province of the West Indies}}
{{legend|#1BC66A|Anglican Church in Central America}}
{{legend|#A8E518|Anglican Church of the South America}}
{{legend|#E5001C|Anglican Church of Southern Africa}}
{{legend|#014001|Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola}}
{{legend|#ba9159|Province of the Anglican Church of the Congo}}
{{legend|#FD9BBD|Church of the Province of Central Africa}}
| |
{{legend|#FB00FF|Church of the Province of West Africa}}
{{legend|#903093|Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East}}
{{legend|#411eeb|Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria}}
{{legend|#BCAFE1|Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean}}
{{legend|#FC691F|Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia}}
{{legend|#FEBF10|Church of the Province of Melanesia}}
{{legend|#89D1E5|Diocese of Gibraltar of the Church of England}}
{{legend|#FB006D|Church of the Province of South East Asia}}
{{legend|#A30017|Extra-provincial to the Archbishop of Canterbury}}
{{legend|#DADADA|No organised Anglican presence}}
|}

The ''Church of Ireland'' serves both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the ''Anglican Church of Korea'' serves South Korea and, theoretically, North Korea. Indian Anglicanism is divided into the Church of North India, and the Church of South India. The Diocese in Europe (formally the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe), in the Province of Canterbury, is also present in Portugal and Spain. The Episcopal Church, USA-affiliated Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe has affiliates in Austria, Belgium, France, Georgia, Germany and Italy.</div>|center]]

The Anglican Communion, which currently is experiencing impaired communion and division, consists of forty-two autonomous [[Ecclesiastical Province#Anglican Communion|provinces]] each with its own [[primate (bishop)|primate]] and governing structure and of five extra-provincials under the metropolitan authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury. These provinces may take the form of national churches (such as in Canada, Uganda, or Japan) or a collection of nations (such as the [[West Indies]], Central Africa, or Southeast Asia). The ''Church of England Yearbook'' reported 93,511,730 members of the Anglican Communion in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anglican Communion Listing |url=https://www.crockford.org.uk/anglican-communion-listing |access-date=2025-11-18 |website=www.crockford.org.uk}}</ref> Excluding the United churches in South Asia, the [[World Christian Encyclopedia|World Christian Database]] estimated that the Anglican Communion had 94,613,000 members in 2020 with 63,497,000 in Africa, 23,322,000 in Europe, 3,698,000 in Oceania, 2,219,000 in North America, 958,000 in Latin America, and 909,000 in Asia.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Goodhew |first=David |date=2025 |title=How much influence does the global Anglican Communion have in choosing the next Archbishop of Canterbury? |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2025/6-june/features/features/how-will-the-global-anglican-communion-be-represented-in-deciding-the-next-archbishop-of-canterbury |access-date=July 20, 2025 |website=Church Times}}</ref> The United Churches in South Asia include over 4,500,000 in South India, 2,300,000 in North India, 1,900,000 in Pakistan, and 22,600 in Bangladesh.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wayback Machine |url=https://www.cwmission.org/church-of-south-india-celebrates-75th-anniversary-calls-for-an-end-to-discrimination/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250513212319/https://www.cwmission.org/church-of-south-india-celebrates-75th-anniversary-calls-for-an-end-to-discrimination/ |archive-date=2025-05-13 |access-date=2025-10-26 |website=www.cwmission.org}}</ref><ref name=northindia/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fasse |first=Christoph |title=Address data base of Reformed churches and institutions |url=http://www.reformiert-online.net/adressen/detail.php?id=1310&lg=eng |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002004344/http://www.reformiert-online.net/adressen/detail.php?id=1310&lg=eng |archive-date=2022-10-02 |access-date=2025-10-26 |website=www.reformiert-online.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1971-01-01 |title=Church of Pakistan {{!}} World Council of Churches |url=https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/church-of-pakistan |access-date=2025-10-26 |website=www.oikoumene.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-02-01 |title=Structure |url=https://churchofbangladesh.org/congregations/structure/ |access-date=2025-10-26 |website=Church of Bangladesh |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":8" />

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 100%;"
|-
! '''Provinces'''
! '''Territorial Jurisdiction'''
! data-sort-type="number"| '''Membership (active members)'''<ref group="n" name="ActiveMembers"/>
! data-sort-type="number"| '''Membership (Self-identified members)'''<ref group="n" name="Self-identifiedMembers"/>
! data-sort-type="number"| '''Membership (baptized members)'''<ref group="n" name="BaptizedMembers"/><ref name=numberanglicans/>
! '''Year'''
|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Alexandria"| [[Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Algeria]], [[Djibouti]], [[Egypt]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Eritrea]], [[Libya]], [[Somalia]], Tunisia
| colspan="3" | 50,000
| 2022<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/the-episcopal/anglican-province-of-alexandria |title=Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria |website=World Council of Churches|date=January 2022 |accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="New Zealand" | [[Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | New Zealand, [[Cook Islands]], [[Fiji]], [[Samoa]], Tonga
|colspan="2" | 253,631<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":6" />
| 630,000
|2010–2023<ref group="n" name="NewZealand"/><ref name=":7">{{cite web|url=https://stpaulspapanui.org.nz/census-2023-more-christians-than-anglicans-in-new-zealand/|title=Census 2023 – More Christians than Anglicans in New Zealand|date=14 November 2024 |accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref><ref name="StatsNewZealand">{{Cite web|url=http://www.anglican.org.nz/About|title=About / Home – Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia|author=Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia|website=www.anglican.org.nz|access-date=6 January 2019|archive-date=15 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115054313/http://anglican.org.nz/About|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Muñoz |first=Daniel |date=May 2016 |title=North to South: A Reappraisal of Anglican Communion Membership Figures |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1740355315000212/type/journal_article |journal=Journal of Anglican Studies |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=71–95 |doi=10.1017/S1740355315000212 |issn=1740-3553}}</ref><ref name=":6" />

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Australia"| [[Anglican Church of Australia]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | Australia
|colspan="2" | 2,496,273
| 4,865,328
|2001 – 2021<ref group="n" name="Australia"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/community-profiles/2021/AUS/download/GCP_AUS.xlsx|title=Census of Australia|accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/8978/1/LLF%20Report%20for%20NSG.pdf|title=Research for the Living in Love and Faith project:The impact on Churches of decision-making regarding questions of sexuality and marriage|accessdate=May 7, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/community-profiles/2021/AUS/download/GCP_AUS.xlsx|title=2021 Australian Census|accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref><ref name="StatsAustralia">{{cite web |url=http://tma.melbourneanglican.org.au/news/anglicans-fall-in-census-280617 |title=Number of Australian Anglicans falls by 580,000 in five years: Census 2016 |publisher=tma.melbourneanglican.org.au |date=28 June 2017 |access-date=6 January 2019 |archive-date=20 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180320190525/http://tma.melbourneanglican.org.au/news/anglicans-fall-in-census-280617 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":4"/>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Bangladesh"| [[Church of Bangladesh]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Bangladesh]]
| colspan="3" | 22,600
|2022<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819042542/https://churchofbangladesh.org/congregations/structure/ | archivedate=August 19, 2022 |url=https://churchofbangladesh.org/congregations/structure/ |accessdate=August 19, 2022|title=Church of Bangladesh Statistics| date=February 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-of-bangladesh|title=Church of Bangladesh – World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1975 |language=en|access-date=June 14, 2016|archive-date=June 24, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624013655/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-of-bangladesh|url-status=live}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Brazil"| [[Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | Brazil
| colspan="2" |19,400 
|120,000
|2012<ref group="n" name="nA"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abhr.org.br/plura/ojs/index.php/anais/article/viewFile/617/520|title=The evangelicals in numbers in Brazil|author=Daniel Rocha and Paola La Guardia Zorzin|date=2012|accessdate=March 23, 2018|archive-date=4 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404030938/http://www.abhr.org.br/plura/ojs/index.php/anais/article/viewFile/617/520|url-status=dead|page=7}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/episcopal-anglican-church-of-brazil|title=Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil|website=World Council of Churches|date=January 1966 |accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Burundi"| [[Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Burundi]]
| colspan="3" | 1,000,000
|2019<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.e-n.org.uk/world-news/2019-07-burundi-the-advancing-role-of-the-anglican-church/ |title=Burundi: the advancing role of the Anglican Church|date=July 1, 2019|author=Seth Ndayirukiye|access-date=November 3, 2025}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite web |title=Anglican Communion Detail |url=https://www.crockford.org.uk/anglican-communion/5/04%20eglise%20anglicane%20du%20burundi |access-date=2025-10-31 |website=www.crockford.org.uk}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite book |title=Church of England Year Book 2020 : A Directory of Local and National Structures and Organizations and the Churches and Provinces of the Anglican Communion |publisher=Church House Publishing |year=2019 |isbn=9780715111574}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Canada"| [[Anglican Church of Canada]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | Canada
| 294,931 
| colspan="2" | 1,134,315
|2022<ref group="n" name="n3"/><ref name="acc-stats-dioceses-2022">{{cite web |last1=Elliot |first1=Neil |title=Dioceses of the ACC – by numbers |url=https://numbersmatters.ca/2024/03/15/dioceses-of-the-acc-by-numbers/ |website=Numbers Matters |quote=(Neil Elliot is the statistics officer for the Anglican Church of Canada.) |access-date=17 March 2024 |date=March 15, 2024}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Central Africa"| [[Church of the Province of Central Africa]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Botswana]], [[Malawi]], [[Zambia]], Zimbabwe
|  colspan="3" | 900,000
|2016<ref group="n" name="n4"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-of-the-province-of-central-africa|title=Church of the Province of Central Africa – World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1956 |language=en|access-date=14 June 2016}}</ref><ref name=PEW>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/files/2010/04/sub-saharan-africa-full-report.pdf|title=Religion in Sub-Saharan Africa|accessdate= November 9, 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430133219/http://www.pewforum.org/files/2010/04/sub-saharan-africa-full-report.pdf |archivedate=2018-04-30}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Central America"| [[Anglican Church in Central America]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Costa Rica]], [[El Salvador]], [[Guatemala]], [[Nicaragua]], Panama
| colspan="2" | 35,000 
| 126,000
|2010 – 2022<ref group="n" name="CentralAmerica"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Michael |first=Mark |date=2022-05-02 |title=Juan David Alvarado Elected Central American Primate |url=https://livingchurch.org/news/news-anglican-communion/juan-david-alvarado-elected-central-american-primate/ |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=The Living Church |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book |title=Growth and decline in the Anglican communion: 1980 to the present |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-4724-3364-0 |editor-last=Goodhew |editor-first=David |edition=1st |series=Routledge contemporary ecclesiology |location=London New York}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Chile"| [[Anglican Church of Chile]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | Chile
|colspan="3" | 20,000
|2010–2018<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref name="iach.cl">{{Cite web |url=http://www.iach.cl/2018/11/05/iglesia-anglicana-de-chile-se-convierte-en-la-provincia-40o-del-mundo/ |title=Iglesia Anglicana de Chile se convierte en la provincia 40º del mundo, Anglican Church of Chile Official Website (Spanish) |accessdate=7 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107225133/http://www.iach.cl/2018/11/05/iglesia-anglicana-de-chile-se-convierte-en-la-provincia-40o-del-mundo/ |archive-date=7 November 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":6" />

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Congo"| [[Province of the Anglican Church of the Congo]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], Republic of Congo
|colspan="3" |500,000
|2016<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-of-christ-in-congo-anglican-community-of-congo|title=Church of Christ in Congo – Anglican Community of Congo – World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1961 |language=en|accessdate=14 June 2016}}</ref><ref group="n" name="n5"/><ref name=PEW/>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="England"| [[Church of England]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | England, [[Crown Dependencies]], [[Diocese in Europe|Europe]]
| 1,019,000
|15,291,182<ref name=":0" />
|26,000,000<ref name=":8" />
|2004–2025<ref group="n" name="nB"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/media/press-releases/church-england-attendance-rises-fourth-year|accessdate=July 15, 2025 |date=May 16, 2025|title=British Social Attitudeshurch of England attendance rises for fourth year}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.natcen.ac.uk/news-media/press-releases/2018/september/church-of-england-numbers-at-record-low/|accessdate=July 7, 2025|title=data from the British Social Attitudes survey|page=5|archive-date=7 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207155325/https://www.natcen.ac.uk/news-media/press-releases/2018/september/church-of-england-numbers-at-record-low|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=statistics2004AnglicanCommunion/><ref name=statistics2005AnglicanCommunion/><ref name="StatsEngland">{{cite web |url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521008662&ss=exc|title = A History of Global Anglicanism – Cambridge University Press|website=www.cambridge.org|access-date=3 May 2016}}</ref><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Europe's religious landscape: Faith and religious diversity in an era of rapid change |url=https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/PicturePark/2023-10/ST-DZ_Factsheet_Europe_s_religious_landscape_2023.pdf |access-date=September 29, 2025 |website=BertelsmannStiftung}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Hong Kong"| [[Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | Hong Kong, Macau
|colspan="3" | 29,000
|2004<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref name=statistics2004AnglicanCommunion/><ref name=statistics2005AnglicanCommunion/><ref name=est2007>{{cite web|url=http://churchsociety.org/issues_new/communion/iss_communion_howbig.asp|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024064221/http://churchsociety.org/issues_new/communion/iss_communion_howbig.asp| archivedate=October 24, 2007 |accessdate=October 24, 2007|title=Church of England}}</ref><ref name="How Big?">{{cite web|url=http://churchsociety.org/issues_new/communion/iss_communion_howbig.asp|title=Church Society – Issues – Anglican Communion – How Big?|website=churchsociety.org|access-date=3 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811225118/http://churchsociety.org/issues_new/communion/iss_communion_howbig.asp|archive-date=11 August 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Indian Ocean"| [[Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Madagascar]], [[Mauritius]], Seychelles
|colspan="3" | 505,000
|2016<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/church-of-the-province-of-the-indian-ocean|title=Anglican Province of the Indian Ocean|website=World Council of Churches|date=January 1975 |accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Ireland"| [[Church of Ireland]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Republic of Ireland]], Northern Ireland
| colspan="3" | 343,400 
|2023<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofireland.org/about/about-us|title=Church of Ireland|accessdate=28 March 2025}}</ref><ref group="n" name="n6"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cpsv/censusofpopulation2022spotlightseriesvolunteeringinireland/diversity/ |title=Republic of Ireland Census 2022|date=February 2024 |accessdate=28 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nisra.gov.uk/system/files/statistics/census-2021-ms-b21.xlsx|title=2021 Northern Ireland Census|accessdate=28 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title = The Church of Ireland – About Us |url = https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/about-us |website = The Church of Ireland |accessdate = January 7, 2020 |archive-date = 9 August 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190809200439/https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/about-us |url-status = live }}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Japan"| [[Anglican Church in Japan]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | Japan
| colspan="2" | 22,000 
|58,000
|2010–2022<ref group="n" name="Japan"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nskk.org/province/en_index.html|title=Anglican Church in Japan|accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nskk.org/province/en_index.html |title=About Nippon Sei Ko Kai |website=nskk.org |accessdate=January 9, 2020}}</ref><ref name=":6"/>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Jerusalem"| [[Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Bahrain]], [[Cyprus]], [[Iran]], [[Iraq]], Israel, [[Jordan]], [[Kuwait]], [[Lebanon]], [[Oman]], [[Palestine]], [[Qatar]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Syria]], [[United Arab Emirates]], Yemen
|colspan="3" | 39,882
|2016<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/episcopal-church-in-jerusalem-and-the-middle-east|title=Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East – World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1976 |language=en|accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Kenya"| [[Anglican Church of Kenya]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Kenya]]
| colspan="3" |5,860,000 
|2017<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ackenya.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/DECADE-STRATEGY-2018-2027.pdf |title=ACK Decade Strategy 2017|page=2|accessdate=June 19, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-95072020000300002 |title=Equiping Law Leaders for Christian Ministry in the Anglican Church of Kenya through Theological Education by Extension. Prospects and Challenges|author1=George Kiarie|author2=Mary Mwangi|journal=Missionalia |publisher=Southern African Journal of Missiology, Department of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology, University of South Africa|year=2025|volume=48 |issue=3 |location=Pretoria |doi=10.7832/48-3-374 |issn=2312-878X|accessdate=June 19, 2025|doi-access=free}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Korea"| [[Anglican Church of Korea]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[South Korea]], North Korea
|colspan="2" | 65,000 
| 80,100
|2010-2017<ref group="n" name="Korea"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/anglican-church-of-korea|title=Anglican Church of Korea|date=January 1999 |accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref><ref name="StatsKorea">{{cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/anglican-church-of-korea|title=Anglican Church of Korea – World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1999 |language=en|access-date=3 May 2016|archive-date=30 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530064241/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/anglican-church-of-korea/|url-status=live}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Melanesia"| [[Anglican Church of Melanesia]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[New Caledonia]], [[Solomon Islands]], Vanuatu
|colspan="2" | 200,000 
| 409,000
|2016<ref group="n" name="n8"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/church-of-melanesia |title=Church of Melanesia |date=January 1977 |accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://sdd.spc.int/digital_library/vanuatu-2020-national-population-and-housing-census-analytical-report-volume-2 |title=2020 Vanuatu Census|accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/solomon-islands |title=Report on Religious Freedom|website=United States Department of State|accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-of-melanesia|title=Church of Melanesia – World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1977 |language=en|accessdate=June 14, 2016}}</ref><ref name=":6" />

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Mexico"| [[Anglican Church of Mexico]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | Mexico
|colspan="2" |22,000 
| 100,000
|2016<ref group="n" name="nC"/><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-anglican-studies/article/abs/north-to-south-a-reappraisal-of-anglican-communion-membership-figures/2DE9B1D5B85A164090A393735AACA1FB |title=De North to South: A Reassessment of Membership in the Anglican Communion 2009|journal=Journal of Anglican Studies |date=May 2016 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=71–95 |doi=10.1017/S1740355315000212 |accessdate=December 19, 2020|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201219205914/http://www.cronica.com.mx/notas/2009/467560.html | archivedate=December 19, 2020 |last1=Muñoz |first1=Daniel }}</ref><ref name="StatsMexico">{{cite web|url=http://www.cronica.com.mx/notas/2009/467560.html|title=Anglicanos mexicanos rechazan unirse a la Iglesia católica|website=www.cronica.com.mx|access-date=3 May 2016|archive-date=19 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201219205914/http://www.cronica.com.mx/notas/2009/467560.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Mozambique and Angola"| [[Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Angola]] and [[Mozambique]]
| colspan="3" | 768,200
|2019-2022<ref group="n" name="AngoMozam"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mozambique/ |title=Report on Religious Freedom|website=United States Department of State: Mozambique|date=2022|accessdate=March 31, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.almalink.org/news/newsiamainaug.htm |title=ALMA Link &mdash; IAMA: Igreja Anglicana de Mocambique e Angola, New Province for Angola and Mozambique inaugurated|accessdate=October 13, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=ALMA - Diocese of Angola |url=https://www.almalink.org/dioceses/dioang.htm |access-date=2025-06-27 |website=www.almalink.org}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Myanmar"| [[Church of the Province of Myanmar]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Myanmar]]
| colspan="3" | 62,000
|2016<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-of-the-province-of-myanmar|title=Church of the Province of Myanmar – World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1971 |language=en|accessdate=June 14, 2016}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Nigeria"| [[Church of Nigeria]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Nigeria]]
| colspan="2" | 7,400,000<ref name=":1" />
| 25,000,000
|2010-2025<ref group="n" name="nD"/><ref name=PEW/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-of-nigeria-anglican-communion|title=Church of Nigeria |date=January 1980 |accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref><ref name="StatsNigeria">{{cite web|url=http://anglican-nig.org/anglican-heritage-with-emphasis-on-the-church-of-nigeria-anglican-communion/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507025754/http://anglican-nig.org/anglican-heritage-with-emphasis-on-the-church-of-nigeria-anglican-communion/|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 May 2016|title=Anglican Heritage With Emphasis on The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)|date=15 August 2013|website=anglican-nig.org|publisher=Church of Nigeria|access-date=3 May 2016}}</ref><ref name="What is the Anglican Communion">{{Cite news |title=What is the Anglican Communion? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-35319022 |access-date=2025-05-13 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=McKinnon |first=Andrew |date=2021 |title=Growth of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion): fishing for converts, but are there holes in the net? |url=https://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/2164/17059/McKinnon_JET_Growth_of_the_AAM.pdf;jsessionid=DDDAFFB86EBD95AAFB4125EAF7D43634?sequence=1 |access-date=May 13, 2025 |website=University of Aberdeen}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) |url=https://gafcon.org/prayer-updates/the-church-of-nigeria-anglican-communion/ |access-date=2025-09-30 |website=GAFCON: Global Anglicans |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=McKinnon |first=Andrew |date=2020 |title=Demography of Anglicans in Sub-Saharan Africa: Estimating the Population of Anglicans in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-anglican-studies/article/abs/demography-of-anglicans-in-subsaharan-africa-estimating-the-population-of-anglicans-in-kenya-nigeria-south-africa-tanzania-and-uganda/833CD17ACFB3823B2F43DBA4FCBE1B1F |journal=Journal of Anglican Studies |language=en |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=42–60 |doi=10.1017/S1740355320000170 |issn=1740-3553|hdl=2164/14774 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="North India"| [[Church of North India]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Bhutan]], India
| colspan="3" | 2,300,000 
| 2025<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref name=northindia>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250713181807/https://cnisynod.org/brief-demography/ |archivedate=July 13, 2025|url=https://cnisynod.org/brief-demography/|title=Demographics of the Church of North India|accessdate=October 22, 2025}}</ref><ref name="StatsNorthIndia">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-of-north-india|title=Church of North India – World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1948 |language=en|access-date=3 May 2016|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115164157/https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/church-of-north-india|url-status=live}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Pakistan" | [[Church of Pakistan]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Pakistan]]
|colspan="3" | 1,900,000<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":9" />
|2020<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref name=CMM>{{cite web|url=https://worldmethodistcouncil.org/statistical-information/|title=Statistics of the World Methodist Council|date=9 November 2019 |accessdate=July 8, 2020 | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20200710163106/https://worldmethodistcouncil.org/statistical-information/ | archivedate=July 10, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-of-pakistan|title=Church of Pakistan – World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1971 |language=en|accessdate=June 14, 2016|archivedate=January 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107025911/https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-of-pakistan|url-status=live}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Papua New Guinea"| [[Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Papua New Guinea]]
|colspan="3" | 233,228
|2011<ref group="n" name="n1"/><ref>{{Cite web |author=Roko. Hajily Koloma. Kele |title=Papua New Guinea 2011 National Census Report - National Statistical Office |url=http://sdd.spc.int/en/resources/document-library?view=preview&format=raw&fileId=218 |website=sdd.spc.int |accessdate=2 September 2016|archivedate=August 12, 2017 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812174041/http://sdd.spc.int/en/resources/document-library?view=preview&format=raw&fileId=218 }}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Philippines"| [[Episcopal Church in the Philippines]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Philippines]]
|colspan="3" | 179,007
|colspan="3" | 2020<ref group="n" name="n1"/><ref name=CensusPhilippines2020>{{cite web |title=2020 Philippine Census|url=https://psa.gov.ph/system/files/phcd/3_Statistical%20Table%20for%20Religious%20Affiliation%20%28for%20Posting%29_RML_12082022_PMMJ_CRD_1.xlsx |publisher=Philippine Statistics Authority |accessdate=October 9, 2024|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310184554/https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/attachments/ird/pressrelease/3_Statistical%20Table%20for%20Religious%20Affiliation%20%28for%20Posting%29_RML_12082022_PMMJ_CRD_1.xlsx|archivedate=March 10, 2023}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Rwanda"| [[Anglican Church of Rwanda]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Rwanda]]
| colspan="2" |383,904 
| 1,500,000
|2004-2017<ref group="n" name="nF"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.igihe.com/spip.php?page=mv2_article&id_article=56079|title=1.5 million followers, 1,300 schools and hospitals: The Anglican Church’s century in Rwanda|date=October 27, 2025|accessdate=November 4, 2025}}</ref><ref name=PEW/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://repository.globethics.net/bitstream/handle/20.500.12424/166431/n83_Gatwa_rwanda.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=Christianity in Rwanda|page=2 |accessdate=July 15, 2025}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Scotland"| [[Scottish Episcopal Church]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Scotland]]
| 22,990
| colspan="2" |72,359
|2022 - 2024<ref group="n" name="Scotland"/><ref>{{cite web|accessdate=August 4, 2025 |title=42nd Annual Report of Scottish Episcopal Church|page=88 |url=https://www.scotland.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/42nd-Annual-Report.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250531124040/https://www.scotland.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/42nd-Annual-Report.pdf|archivedate=May 31, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Census 2022: Detailed ethnic group, Scotland, 2022|url=https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/media/mcoacltm/census-2022-detailed-ethnic-group-country-of-birth-national-identity-main-language-and-religion-data-for-scotland-1.xlsx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241004030430/https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/media/mcoacltm/census-2022-detailed-ethnic-group-country-of-birth-national-identity-main-language-and-religion-data-for-scotland-1.xlsx |archivedate=October 4, 2024 |accessdate=May 31, 2025|page=4}}</ref><ref name=":4" />

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="South America"| [[Anglican Church of South America]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Argentina]], [[Bolivia]], [[Paraguay]], [[Peru]], Uruguay
| colspan="2" | 22,500 
|46,100
|2010-2023<ref group="n" name="Argentina"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/anglican-church-of-south-america|title=Anglican Church of South America – World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1995 |language=en|accessdate=April 2, 2025|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115163607/https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/anglican-church-of-south-america|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":6" />

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="South East Asia"| [[Church of the Province of South East Asia]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Brunei]], [[Cambodia]], [[Indonesia]], [[Laos]], [[Malaysia]], [[Nepal]], Singapore, [[Thailand]], Vietnam
|colspan="2" | 98,000 
| 168,079
|2004-2017<ref group="n" name="SouthEastAsia"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://scispace.com/pdf/north-to-south-a-reappraisal-of-anglican-communion-4tqnapsp8r.pdf|title=How many Anglicans are there in the Anglican Church in North America?|accessdate=March 28, 2025}}</ref><ref name=statistics2004AnglicanCommunion>{{cite web|url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/100345/The-Lambeth-Commission-on-Communion.pdf|title=The Lambeth Commission on Communion|date=October 1, 2004|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313061728/https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/100345/The-Lambeth-Commission-on-Communion.pdf|archivedate=March 13, 2022 |accessdate=March 13, 2022|page=283}}</ref><ref name=statistics2005AnglicanCommunion>{{cite web|url=https://www.daleappleby.net/index.php/anglican-theology-history-a-worship/247-anglican-organization7|title=Anglican Organization|accessdate=July 1, 2025|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20250420191458/https://www.daleappleby.net/index.php/anglican-theology-history-a-worship/247-anglican-organization7|archivedate=April 20, 2025 |date=March 20, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://anglican.ink/2017/11/07/singapore-and-east-asia-the-fastest-growing-anglican-churches-in-the-world/ |title=Church of the Anglican Province of South-East Asia |date=7 November 2017 |accessdate=April 2, 2025}}</ref><ref name=":4"/>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="South India"| [[Church of South India]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | India, Sri Lanka
|colspan="3" |4,500,000
|2022<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cwmission.org/church-of-south-india-celebrates-75th-anniversary-calls-for-an-end-to-discrimination/|title=Church of South India Celebrates 75th Anniversary, Calls for an End to Discrimination Against the Outcast|date=October 11, 2022|accessdate=April 25, 2025|archive-date=19 May 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250519061033/https://www.cwmission.org/church-of-south-india-celebrates-75th-anniversary-calls-for-an-end-to-discrimination/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=CMM/><ref name="StatsSouthIndia">{{Cite web|url=http://www.csimichigan.org/ChurchofSouthIndia.html|title=CSI Christ Church – Location Map|website=www.csimichigan.org|access-date=6 January 2018|archive-date=20 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220160917/http://www.csimichigan.org/ChurchofSouthIndia.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="South Sudan"| [[Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[South Sudan]]
| colspan="3" |5,000,000
|2020<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref name=SouthSudan>{{cite web |url=https://www.casss.org.uk/about-south-sudan/|title=About South Sudan|accessdate=November 3, 2025|archivedate=September 25, 2020|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20200925042043/https://www.casss.org.uk/about-south-sudan/}}</ref><ref name=":8"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Anglican Communion Detail |url=https://www.crockford.org.uk/anglican-communion/28/28%20the%20church%20of%20the%20province%20of%20the%20sudan |access-date=2025-10-31 |website=www.crockford.org.uk}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Southern Africa"| [[Anglican Church of Southern Africa]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[eSwatini|Eswatini]], [[Lesotho]], [[Namibia]], [[Saint Helena]], South Africa
|colspan="2" | 2,300,000 
|4,000,000
|2016<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/anglican-church-of-southern-africa|website=World Council of Churches|title=Anglican Church of Southern Africa |date=January 1948 |accessdate=April 2, 2025}}</ref><ref name="StatsSouthernAfrica">{{Cite web|url=http://www.anglicanchurchsa.org/view.asp?pg=about|title=Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA)|website=www.anglicanchurchsa.org|access-date=3 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321235240/http://anglicanchurchsa.org/view.asp?pg=about|archive-date=21 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":6" />

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Sudan"| [[Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Sudan]]
|colspan="3" | 1,000,000
|2014<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref name=SUDAN>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2014/07/celebrations-in-sudan-as-new-internal-provincial-archbishop-enthroned.aspx |title= Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan and South Sudan | date=July 28, 2014|accessdate=October 16, 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181016135108/http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2014/07/celebrations-in-sudan-as-new-internal-provincial-archbishop-enthroned.aspx |archivedate=October 16, 2018}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Tanzania"| [[Anglican Church of Tanzania]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Tanzania]]
| 2,000,000 
| 2,685,600
| 3,318,000
|2010-2017<ref group="n" name="n9"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/anglican-church-of-tanzania|website=World Council of Churches|title=Anglican Church of Tanzania |date=January 1948 |accessdate=2 April 2025}}</ref><ref name=PEW/><ref name="StatsTanzania">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/anglican-church-of-tanzania|title=Anglican Church of Tanzania – World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1948 |language=en|access-date=3 May 2016|archive-date=10 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310022247/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/anglican-church-of-tanzania|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":6"/>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Uganda"| [[Church of Uganda]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Uganda]]
|colspan="3" | 13,311,801
|2024<ref group="n" name="n1"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ubos.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/National-Population-and-Housing-Census-2024-Final-Report-Volume-1-Main.pdf |title= 2024 National Population and Housing Census: Final Report, Volume 1 |accessdate=20 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/church-of-uganda |title=Church of Uganda |date=January 1961 |accessdate=28 March 2025}}</ref><ref name="StatsEngland"/>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="United States"| [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[British Virgin Islands]], [[Colombia]], [[Cuba]], [[Dominican Republic]], [[Ecuador]], [[Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe|Europe]], [[Guam]], [[Haiti]], [[Honduras]], [[Northern Mariana Islands]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Taiwan]], United States, [[United States Virgin Islands]], Venezuela
|1,547,779 
| colspan="2" | 2,405,000
|2016-2023<ref>{{cite web|url= https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/32589 |title=2023 Episcopal Church Statistics| accessdate=November 9, 2024}}</ref><ref name="StatsUSA">{{cite web |url=https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/30697 |title=Table of Statistics of the Episcopal Church (2020) |publisher=generalconvention.org |access-date=26 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407001431/https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/30697 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Muñoz |first=Daniel |date=2016 |title=North to South: A Reappraisal of Anglican Communion Membership Figures |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-anglican-studies/article/abs/north-to-south-a-reappraisal-of-anglican-communion-membership-figures/2DE9B1D5B85A164090A393735AACA1FB?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=bookmark |journal=Journal of Anglican Studies |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=71–95 |doi=10.1017/S1740355315000212 |issn=1740-3553}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="Wales"| [[Church in Wales]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Wales]]
| colspan="2" | 45,759 
| 84,000
|2016 - 2018<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/church-wales-spend-10m-breathe-14681635 |title=Church of Wales |date=20 May 2018 |accessdate=28 March 2025}}</ref><ref>[https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/church-wales-spend-10m-breathe-14681635 Church in Wales will spend £10m to 'breathe new life' into its churches] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115163604/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/church-wales-spend-10m-breathe-14681635 |date=15 January 2023 }} 20 May 2018 WalesOnline</ref><ref name=":4" />

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="West Africa"| [[Church of the Province of West Africa]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Cameroon]], [[Cape Verde]], [[Gambia]], [[Ghana]], [[Guinea]], [[Liberia]], [[Senegal]], Sierra Leone
| colspan="3" | 1,565,000<ref name=":8" />
|2020<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref name=statistics2004AnglicanCommunion/><ref name=statistics2005AnglicanCommunion/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://livingchurch.org/news/news-anglican-communion/ben-smith-to-serve-as-west-african-primate/| title=Ben-Smith to serve as primate of West Africa| date=May 11, 2022|accessdate=June 20, 2025|author=Mark Michel| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240920025822/https://livingchurch.org/news/news-anglican-communion/ben-smith-to-serve-as-west-african-primate/| archive-date=20 September 2024}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="West Indies"| [[Church in the Province of the West Indies]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Anguilla]], [[Antigua and Barbuda]], [[Aruba]], [[The Bahamas|Bahamas]], [[Barbados]], [[Belize]], [[Cayman Islands]], [[Dominica]], [[Grenada]], [[Guyana]], [[Jamaica]], [[Montserrat]], [[Saba (island)|Saba]], [[Saint Barthélemy]], [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]], [[Saint Lucia]], [[Saint Martin (island)|Saint Martin]], [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]], [[Sint Eustatius]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]], [[Turks and Caicos Islands]]
|colspan="3" |770,000
|2004<ref group="n" name="n2"/><ref name=statistics2004AnglicanCommunion/><ref name=statistics2005AnglicanCommunion/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/church-in-the-province-of-the-west-indies|title=Church in the Province of the West Indies – World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1948 |language=en|accessdate=June 14, 2016|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115163608/https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/church-in-the-province-of-the-west-indies|url-status=live}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="West Indies"| '''Anglican Communion''' 
| style="vertical-align: top;" | '''Global''' 
| '''59,175,442'''<ref group="n" name="ActiveMembers"/><ref group="n" name="extraprov"/>
| '''75,879,198'''<ref group="n" name="Self-identifiedMembers"/><ref group="n" name="extraprov"/>
| '''111,061,209'''<ref group="n" name="BaptizedMembers"/><ref group="n" name="extraprov"/><ref name=numberanglicans>{{cite web|url=https://www.christiantoday.com/news/anglican-membership-figures-could-be-out-by-millions?|title=Anglican membership figures could be out by millions|date=November 12, 2015|author=Ruth Gleuth Gledhill|accessdate=July 15, 2025}}</ref> 
| '''2004-2024'''
|}

===Extraprovincial churches===

In addition to the forty-two provinces, there are five extraprovincial churches under the [[metropolitan bishop|metropolitical]] authority of the archbishop of Canterbury.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 100%;"
|-
! '''Provinces'''
! '''Territorial Jurisdiction'''
! data-sort-type="number"| '''Membership (active members)'''<ref group="n" name="ActiveMembers"/>
! data-sort-type="number"| '''Membership (Self-identified members)'''<ref group="n" name="Self-identifiedMembers"/>
! data-sort-type="number"| '''Membership (baptized members)'''<ref group="n" name="BaptizedMembers"/>
! '''Year'''
|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="West Indies"| [[Anglican Church of Bermuda]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Bermuda]]
|colspan="2" |9,647 
|14,000 
|2010-2017<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/bermuda/|title=Bermuda |accessdate=April 2, 2025}}</ref><ref name=":6" />

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="West Indies"| [[Church of Ceylon]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Sri Lanka]]
|colspan="2" |50,000 
| 54,200 
|2006-2017<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/church-of-ceylon|publisher=World Council of Churches|title=Church of Ceylon |date=January 1948 |accessdate=April 2, 2025}}</ref>

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="West Indies"| [[Parish of the Falkland Islands]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Falkland Islands]]
| colspan="3" | 810
| 2010-2017<ref name=":6" />

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="West Indies"| [[Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Portugal]]
|colspan="2" |2,700 
| 5,000 
|2010-2017<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.igreja-lusitana.org/index.php/sinodo100/1260-entrevista-de-d-jorge-pina-cabral-igreja-lusitana-recebe-arcebispo-de-cantuaria-para-abertura-do-100-sinodo|title=Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church |accessdate=April 2, 2025}}</ref><ref name=":6" />

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" data-sort-value="West Indies"| [[Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Spain]]
|colspan="2" | 5,000 
|11,800 
|2010-2017<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/spanish-reformed-episcopal-church|title=Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church |date= January 1962 |accessdate=April 2, 2025}}</ref><ref name=":6" />

|}

===Former provinces===

{{Incomplete list|date=January 2019}}

{| class="wikitable" style="width: 100%;"
|-
! Province
! Territorial Jurisdiction
! Year Established
! Year Dissolved

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui]] {{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | 1912
| style="vertical-align: top;" | 1949 (1958)

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Church of Hawaii]] {{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
| style="vertical-align: top;" | Hawaii
| style="vertical-align: top;" | 1862
| style="vertical-align: top;" | 1902

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top; | [[Church of India, Burma and Ceylon|Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Bangladesh]], India, [[Myanmar]], [[Pakistan]], Sri Lanka
| style="vertical-align: top;" | 1930
| style="vertical-align: top;" | 1970

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top; | [[Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America]]<ref name="Bearden">{{cite journal| last =Bearden| first =Robert E. L. Jr.| title =The Episcopal Church in the Confederate States | journal =The Arkansas Historical Quarterly| volume =4| issue =4| pages=269–275| date =Winter 1945| doi=10.2307/40018361| jstor =40018361}}</ref>
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Confederate States of America]]
| style="vertical-align: top;" | 1861
| style="vertical-align: top;" | 1865

|- valign="top"
| style="vertical-align: top;" | [[Church of Ireland#19th to 20th centuries|United Church of England and Ireland]] {{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
| style="vertical-align: top;" | England, [[Wales]], Ireland
| style="vertical-align: top;" | 1800
| style="vertical-align: top;" | 1871

|}

===New provinces in formation===

In September 2020, the archbishop of Canterbury announced that he had asked the bishops of the Church of Ceylon to begin planning for the formation of an autonomous province of Ceylon, so as to end his current position as [[Metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]] of the two dioceses in that country.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://livingchurch.org/2020/09/30/in-rare-move-welby-appoints-sri-lankan-bishop/ |title = In Rare Move, Welby Appoints Sri Lankan Bishop |author-first1=Mark|author-last1=Michael|date = 30 September 2020 |publisher = The Living Church |location = |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230115163622/https://livingchurch.org/2020/09/30/in-rare-move-welby-appoints-sri-lankan-bishop/ |archive-date = 15 January 2023 |url-status = live |access-date = 9 February 2021}}</ref>

In 2023, the Church of the Province of Central Africa approved a plan to subdivide into three new national provinces, so that churches in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe would become independent of each other, while churches in Botswana could form a fourth national province or be integrated into one of the other three national provinces being formed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.anglicannews.org/news/2023/11/growing-the-church-central-africa-synod-concludes-with-plans-for-more-dioceses-and-provinces.aspx|title=Growing Church: Central Africa agrees women’s ordination, more dioceses and new provinces|accessdate=October 30, 2025|date=November 6, 2023|website=www.anglicannews.org}}</ref>

In relation to the Church of the Province of West Africa, it was announced that "the process is in motion for Ghana to become an autonomous province, once it has fulfilled the conditions and guidelines set by the Anglican Communion."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/church-of-the-province-of-west-africa|title=Church of the Province of West Africa|accessdate=October 30, 2025|website=www.oikoumene.org/}}</ref>

===Churches in full communion===

In addition to other member churches, the churches of the Anglican Communion are in [[full communion]] with the [[Old Catholic]] churches of the [[Union of Utrecht (Old Catholic)|Union of Utrecht]] and the Scandinavian [[Lutheran]] churches of the [[Porvoo Communion]] in Europe, the India-based [[Mar Thoma Church|Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian]] and [[Malabar Independent Syrian Church|Malabar Independent Syrian]] churches and the [[Philippine Independent Church]], also known as the Aglipayan Church.

==Ecumenical relations==
{{further|topic=the ongoing dialogue between Anglicanism and the wider Church|Anglican Communion and ecumenism}}

==Historic episcopate==
The churches of the Anglican Communion have traditionally held that ordination in the [[historic episcopate]] is a core element in the validity of clerical ordinations.{{sfn|Whipple|Gilbert|Nichols|Wright|1896|p=}} The Roman Catholic Church, however, does not recognise Anglican orders (see ''[[Apostolicae curae]]'').{{sfn|O'Riordan|1907}} Some [[Eastern Orthodox]] churches have issued statements to the effect that Anglican orders could be accepted, yet have still reordained former Anglican clergy; other Eastern Orthodox churches have rejected Anglican orders altogether. In 1922, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, [[Meletius Metaxakis|Meletius IV]], issued a statement recognising Anglican Holy Orders as valid through apostolic succession.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |last=Michael |first=Mark |date=2022-09-01 |title=Archives: Constantinople Recognizes Anglican Orders (1922) |url=https://livingchurch.org/history/archives-anglican-orders-recognized-by-constantinople-1922/ |access-date=2025-11-05 |website=The Living Church |language=en-US}}</ref> By 1946, five autocephalous Orthodox jurisdictions recognised the validity of Anglican Holy Orders, including [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople|Constantinople]], [[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria|Alexandria]], [[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem|Jerusalem]], [[Church of Cyprus|Cyprus]], and [[Romanian Orthodox Church|Romania]].<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last=Monks |first=James L. |date=1946-09-01 |title=Relations between Anglicans and Orthodox: Their Theological Development |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/004056394600700303 |journal=Theological Studies |language=EN |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=410–452 |doi=10.1177/004056394600700303 |issn=0040-5639|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This recognition was conditional.<ref name=":10" /> The [[Church of Greece]] also recognised the validity of Anglican Orders; these recognitions have "not been rescinded."<ref name=":11" /> However, in 1948, the Russian Orthodox Church responded that it would not recognise Anglican Orders unless recognition was given by a council of autocephalous Orthodox churches.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Monks |first=James |date=1948 |title=The Orthodox Churches on Anglican Orders |url=https://theologicalstudies.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/10.1.4.pdf |website=Theological Studies}}</ref> Orthodox bishop [[Kallistos Ware]] explains this apparent discrepancy as follows:

{{blockquote|Anglican clergy who join the Orthodox Church are reordained; but [some Orthodox churches hold that] if Anglicanism and Orthodoxy were to reach full unity in the faith, perhaps such reordination might not be found necessary. It should be added, however, that a number of individual Orthodox theologians hold that under no circumstances would it be possible to recognise the validity of Anglican Orders.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/history_timothy_ware_2.htm |title=Excerpts from the Orthodox Church by Bishop Kallistos Ware |publisher=Fatheralexander.org |access-date=20 July 2012 |archive-date=17 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717012001/http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/history_timothy_ware_2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

==See also==
{{col div|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Acts of Supremacy]]
* [[English Reformation]]
* [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]]
* [[Ritualism in the Church of England]]
* [[Apostolicae curae]]
* [[Affirming Catholicism]]
* [[Anglican ministry]]
* [[Anglo-Catholicism]]
* [[British Israelism]]
* [[Church Society]]
* [[Church's Ministry Among Jewish People]]
* [[Compass rose]]
* [[Evangelical Anglicanism]]
* [[Flag of the Anglican Communion]]
* [[Liberal Anglo-Catholicism]]
* [[List of the largest Protestant bodies]]
* [[Reform (Anglican)]]
* [[Anglican Use]]
{{col div end}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=n|refs=
<ref group="n" name="largest">The Anglican Communion (AC) claims approximately 85 million members. The denominations that make up the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), with their full members, collectively claim over 100 million members. Therefore, according to self-reported figures, the WCRC is larger than the AC, considering only full members. However, some sources indicate that the total membership of the AC churches is actually 110 million. This would make the AC larger than the WCRC, if only the WCRC's full members are counted. Among the WCRC's associate members are the [[China Christian Council]] and the [[Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council]], which together represent over 40 million people. Therefore, if the WCRC's associate and affiliate members are counted, the WCRC has approximately 140 million members and surpasses any Protestant communion in the world. Therefore, the position of WCRC and AC as the third or fourth largest Christian communion depends on the number considered for the AC, as well as whether or not the associate and affiliate members of WCRC are included in the count.</ref>
<ref group="n" name="Australia">The Anglican Church of Australia last published statistics in 2001, when it reported having 4,865,328 members. The 2021 Census reported that only 2,496,273 people self-identified as Anglican in the country.</ref><ref group="n" name="NewZealand">The Anglican Church of New Zealand and Polynesia reports on its own website its 2013 Census membership figure of 459,711. However, the 2021 Census, the most recent, reported only 245,301 Anglicans in the country. This is, therefore, the number of self-identified Anglicans in the country. Goodhew (2017) reported that there are still Anglicans linked to the church in Fiji (6,600), Tonga (1,300), Samoa (340) and the Cook Islands (90). The combined number corresponds to 253,631 people. On the other hand, the book "Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion: 1980 to the Present," published in 2010, estimated that the church has approximately 630,000 baptized members.</ref><ref group="n" name="n1">This province does not publish its own statistics. Data from the latest national census.</ref><ref group="n" name="n2">The national census does not report the number of members of this province. Data released by the denomination itself.</ref><ref group="n" name="n3">The 2021 Canada Census reported that there were 1,134,315 Anglicans in the country. The denomination's official statistics, however, reveal a much lower number. For this reason, the denomination's own statistics are considered reliable data.</ref><ref group="n" name="n4">The 2018 Malawi Census reported that there were 410,633 Anglicans in the country. In 2010, according to a report by the Pew Research Center, 87% of Botswana's population was Christian and 2% of Christians in this country (35,380) were Anglicans. The same survey reported that 98% of the population of Zambia was Christian and 4% of the Christians in that country (547,624) were Anglican. Therefore, the sum of the independent statistics is higher than the number released by the denomination itself. For this reason, the statistics of the denomination itself are considered reliable.</ref><ref group="n" name="AngoMozam">According to the U.S. National Institute of Statistics, in 2022, an estimated 2 percent of Mozambique's population, or 615,600 people, are Anglican. The Diocese of Angola reported that it had 115,000 members in 2019. Therefore, the estimated total membership is 768,200 people.</ref><ref group="n" name="n5">In 2010, according to a report by the Pew Research Center, 80% of the population of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was Christian and 2% of the Christians in that country (1,055,456) were Anglican. This number is higher than that released by the denomination itself. For this reason, the statistics of the denomination itself are considered reliable.</ref><ref group="n" name="n6">The 2022 Republic of Ireland Census reported that there were 126,658 Anglicans in the country. The 2021 Northern Ireland Census reported that there were 219,788 Anglicans in the country. The numbers reported by the denomination itself are slightly lower. For this reason, the denomination's own statistics are considered reliable.</ref><ref group="n" name="n8">The Anglican Church of Melanesia reported 200,000 members in 2006, its last published statistics. According to the 2020 Vanuatu Census, there were 35,923 Anglicans in the country, or 12.02% of the population. In 2019, the United States Department of State published a report on religious freedom in the Solomon Islands. It was estimated that 32% of the country's population was Anglican, or 231,026 people. For this reason, the denomination's own statistics are considered reliable. On the other hand, the book "Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion: 1980 to the Present," published in 2010, estimated that the church represents approximately 409,000 baptized members.</ref><ref group="n" name="n9">The Anglican Church of Tanzania reported 2,000,000 members in 2006. In 2010, according to a Pew Research Center report, 60% of Tanzania's population was Christian, and 10% of the country's Christians (2,685,600) were Anglicans. This number is higher than that reported by the denomination itself. For this reason, the denomination's own statistics are considered reliable. On the other hand, the book "Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion: 1980 to the Present," published in 2010, estimated that the church has approximately 3,318,000 baptized members.</ref><ref group="n" name="SouthEastAsia">The Church of the Province of South East Asia estimated that it had 168,079 members in 2005. In 2017, new statistics were released, reporting 98,000 members.</ref><ref group="n" name="CentralAmerica">The Anglican Church of Central America reported having only 35,000 members in 2022. On the other hand, the book ''Growth and decline in the Anglican communion: 1980 to the present'', published in 2010, estimated that the church represents about 126,000 baptized members.</ref>
<ref group="n" name="nA">The Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil claimed to have 120,000 members in 2006. However, an independent study, carried out in 2009, published in 2012, reported that only 0.01% of the Brazilian population was Anglican in 2009, which corresponded, in that year, to 19,400 Anglicans. This number corresponds to just 16.16% of what the denomination declared to have in 2006.</ref>
<ref group="n" name="nB">The Church of England claims 26 million baptized members. Of these, however, according to its 2024 statistics, only 1,019,000 are active members. According to data from the British Social Attitudes survey, in 2018, 14% of the UK population, or 9,304,400, identified themselves as members of the church. In 2023, the Bertelsmann Foundation estimated that 43% of the British population (whose total number was 68,490,000 that year) was Christian, and 53% of Christians identified as Anglican. According to this survey, 23% of British people were Anglican, corresponding to 15,752,700 people that year. Subtracting the number of self-identified Anglicans in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, leaves 15,291,182 in England.</ref>
<ref group="n" name="nC">The Anglican Church of Mexico claimed to have 100,000 members in 2009. However, an independent survey in 2015 reported that there were only 20,000 Anglicans in the country.</ref><ref group="n" name="Japan">The Anglican Church in Japan reported having only 22,000 members in 2022. On the other hand, the book ''Growth and decline in the Anglican communion: 1980 to the present'', published in 2010, estimated that the church represents about 58,000 baptized members.</ref><ref group="n" name="Korea">The Anglican Church of Korea reported having only 65,000 members in 2006. On the other hand, the book ''Growth and decline in the Anglican communion: 1980 to the present'', published in 2010, estimated that the church represents about 80,110 baptized members.</ref><ref group="n" name="Argentina">The Anglican Church of South America reported having only 22,500 members in 2006. On the other hand, the book ''Growth and decline in the Anglican communion: 1980 to the present'', published in 2010, estimated that the church represents about 46,100 baptized members.</ref><ref group="n" name="nD">The Church of Nigeria claims to have 18,000,000 members. However, in 2010, according to the Pew Research Center, 46% of the population of Nigeria was Christian and 9% of Christians in that country (6,897,240) were Anglicans. According to Andrew (2021), the number of people who self-identify as Anglican and practice would be 7,400,000. Another survey, by the University of Aberdeen, estimated in 2021 that the Church of Nigeria had 22,000,000 in 2015. In 2025, GAFCON reported that the Church of Nigeria had 25 million members.</ref><ref group="n" name="nF">The Anglican Rwanda Church claims to have 1,500,000 members in 2025. However, in 2010, according to a report by the Pew Research Center, 93% of the Rwanda population was Christian and 4% of the Christians of this country (383,904) were Anglicans. According to Globethics, the denomination had 1,240,000 members, or 12% of the country's population.</ref>
<ref group="n" name="Scotland">In 2025, according to statistics from the Scottish Episcopal Church itself for the year 2024, the denomination had 22,990 members (16,124 Communicant and 6,866 non-Communicant members). In the 2022 Scottish Census, 72,359 people identified as Anglican, including 45,063 who reported their religion as "Church of England," 15,735 who responded "Scottish Episcopal Church," 5,600 who responded "Episcopalian," 4,161 who responded "Anglican," 1,374 who responded "Church of Ireland" and 426 who responded "Church of Wales".</ref>
<ref group="n" name="ActiveMembers">Active members are those who regularly attend worship services.</ref>
<ref group="n" name="Self-identifiedMembers">Self-identified members are those who identify as Anglican when asked about their religion. They include all active members, as well as those who, while not active members, still have some connection to Anglicanism.</ref>
<ref group="n" name="BaptizedMembers">Baptized members are those who have received Anglican baptism. This number includes active members, self-identified members, and also those who '''do not identify as Anglican in national censuses and independent surveys''' when asked about their religion. Some Anglican provinces continue to count as members people who have changed churches, changed religions, abandoned Christianity, and even deceased individuals in their baptized number.</ref>
<ref group="n" name="extraprov">Include membership figures for Extraprovincial churches.</ref>
<!-- unused 
<ref group="n" name="CATHOLIC">According to statistics from the 2021 Pontifical Yearbook, the Roman Catholic Church had 1.345 billion members in 2019.</ref>
<ref group="n" name="ORTHODOX">According to ''Global Christianity: A Guide to the World’s Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe'', in 2020, there were 220,266,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians.</ref>
<ref group="n" name="AG">According to statistics from the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, in 2023, member churches had 86,143,293 individual members.</ref>
<ref group="n" name="WCRC">In 2025, the statistics of the member churches of the [[World Communion of Reformed Churches]] added together correspond to 85,695,383 (when considering only full members) and 124,765,174 if considering individual members. Statistics at: [[World Communion of Reformed Churches#Member churches]].</ref> 
unused -->
}}

'''Subnotes'''
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|25em}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin|40em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book
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* {{cite journal
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* {{cite book
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* {{cite book
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* {{cite book
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* {{cite journal
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|last3=Brittain
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|title=Bourdieu, Capital, and Conflict in a Religious Field: The Case of the 'Homosexuality' Conflict in the Anglican Communion
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|title=Encyclopedia of Protestantism
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|archive-date=15 January 2023
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{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}}
* Buchanan, Colin. ''Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism'' (2nd ed. 2015) [https://www.amazon.com/Historical-Dictionary-Anglicanism-Dictionaries-Philosophies/dp/1442250151 excerpt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401183815/https://www.amazon.com/Historical-Dictionary-Anglicanism-Dictionaries-Philosophies/dp/1442250151 |date=1 April 2019 }}
* {{cite book|last1=D'Arcy|first1=Charles Frederick|last2=Jayne|first2=Francis John|last3=Paige Cox|first3=W.L.|title=Anglican Essays: A Collective Review of the Principles and Special Opportunities of the Anglican Communion as Catholic and Reformed : with Extracts from the Pastorals of the Late Bishop Jayne &#91;Francis John Jayne&#93;|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bi0LSQAACAAJ|year=1923|publisher=Macmillan}}
* {{cite book|editor1-first=Erwin|editor1-last=Fahlbusch|editor2-first=Geoffrey William|editor2-last=Bromiley|title=The Encyclopedia of Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=znyunAEACAAJ|volume=1|year=1999|publisher=Eerdmans|isbn=978-90-04-11316-9|pages=57–59}}
* Hebert, A. G. ''The Form of the Church''. London: Faber and Faber, 1944.
* Wild, John. ''What is the Anglican Communion?,'' in series, ''The Advent Papers''. Cincinnati, Ohio: Forward Movement Publications, [196-]. ''Note''.: Expresses the "Anglo-Catholic" viewpoint.
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{official website}}
* [http://www.anglicansonline.org/ Anglicans Online]
* [http://anglicanhistory.org Project Canterbury] Anglican historical documents from around the world
* [http://www.anglicannews.org/news/1997/01/aco-the-anglican-communion.aspx Brief description and history of the Anglican Communion] 1997 article from the Anglican Communion Office

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