by James MacIntyre, Church Times
Migration and the refugee crises, environment, and safeguarding among items on the agenda
THE Archbishop of Canterbury has called the next Primates’ Meeting, to be hosted from 28 February to 5 March 2027 in Johannesburg by the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. The last was held in Rome in 2024 (News, 3 May 2024). Next year’s will be the first during Archbishop Mullally’s archiepiscopate, although she met many of the Primates at her installation (News, 27 March).
Lambeth Palace has sent out formal notification of this gathering of one of the Anglican Instruments of Communion. It will explore mission, service, and advocacy, and will be developed in consultation with the regional Primates in the months ahead, Lambeth Palace says.
The agenda is expected to include items on peace and reconciliation, migration and the refugee crises, the environment, and safeguarding.
The 19th Anglican Consultative Council (ACC-19), held in Belfast in July, rejected a proposed change of governance in the Anglican Communion under which shared Primatial leadership would replace that of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The proposal was rejected by 72 votes to eight (News, 10 July).
Resolutions and outcomes of ACC-19 will also be discussed at the Primates’ Meeting, including the next steps in conversations about the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, of which that change was a part, and the church-planting initiative Vision36.
Archbishop Mullally said: “I am delighted that the Primates’ Meeting will take place in Johannesburg in 2027. I look forward to gathering with fellow Primates in prayer, worship, and conversation. Together, we will share in the hope of the gospel, learn from one another’s ministry, and discuss matters of common concern in the life of the Anglican Communion.”