The Anglican Consultative Council is one of the four "Instruments of Unity" of the Anglican Communion. It was created by a resolution of the 1968 Lambeth Conference. The council, which includes Anglican bishops, clergy and laity, meets every two or three years in different parts of the world. The Anglican Consultative Council has a permanent secretariat (the Anglican Communion Office), based at Saint Andrew's House, London, which is responsible for organizing meetings of the "Instruments of Unity". The Archbishop of Canterbury serves as the president of the secretariat. According to the 1968 resolution, the council has eight functions:

1. To share information about developments in one or more provinces with the other parts of the Communion
   
   
   
   and to serve as needed as an instrument of common action.
2. To advise on inter-Anglican, provincial, and diocesan relationships, including the division of provinces, the formation of new provinces and of regional councils, and the problems of extra-provincial dioceses.
3. To develop as far as possible agreed Anglican policies in the world mission of the Church and to encourage national and regional Churches to engage together in developing and implementing such policies by sharing their resources of manpower, money, and experience to the best advantage of all.
4. To keep before national and regional Churches the importance of the fullest possible Anglican collaboration with other Christian Churches.
5. To encourage and guide Anglican participation in the ecumenical movement and the ecumenical organisations; to co-operate with the World Council of Churches and the world confessional bodies on behalf of the Anglican Communion; and to make arrangements for the conduct of pan-Anglican conversations with the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, and other Churches.
6. To advise
   
   
   
   on matters arising out of national or regional Church union negotiations or conversations and on subsequent relations with united Churches.
7. To advise on problems on inter-Anglican communication and to help in the dissemination of Anglican and ecumenical information.
8. To keep in review the needs that may arise for further study and, where necessary, to promote inquiry and research.

Past meetings

• Limuru, Kenya (1971)
• Dublin, Ireland (1973)
• Trinidad and Tobago (1976)
• London, Ontario (1979)
• Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England (1981)
• Badagry, Nigeria (1984)
• Singapore (1987)
• Wales (1990)
• Cape Town, South Africa (1993)
• Panama (1996)
• Dundee, Scotland (1999)
• Hong Kong (2002)
• Nottingham (2005)

At this meeting, a narrow majority of members voted to request that “the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada voluntarily withdraw their members from the Anglican Consultative Council, for the period leading up to the next Lambeth Conference".

External link