Editing Anglican Communion (section)

==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 oldest-surviving Anglican church building outside the British Isles (Britain and Ireland) 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. 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).

===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 country 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 a 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 other cities in present-day Canada. In 1814, a [[Diocese of Calcutta (Church of North India)|bishop of Calcutta]] was made; in 1824 the first bishop was sent to the [[West Indies]] and in 1836 to Australia. By 1840 there were still only ten colonial bishops for the Church of England; but even this small beginning greatly 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 Christians of developing regions, especially, Africa, Asia and Latin America, prevailed over the bishops of more prosperous countries (many from the US, Canada and the UK) who supported a redefinition 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 churches but not others, although all churches 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 within the [[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>