Overview of the Anglican Alliance
The Anglican Alliance brings together the Anglican family of churches and agencies to work for a world free of poverty, inequality and injustice, to raise the voices of the vulnerable, to reconcile those in conflict, and to safeguard creation.
The role of the Anglican Alliance is to connect and share capacity, skills, learning and resources across the worldwide Anglican Communion, present in 165 countries, to support its work in development, relief and advocacy. This global reach gives the Anglican Alliance’s work significant scale and potential. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the Patron. The Board Members are drawn from across the global Anglican Communion.
The Alliance’s three pillars of work support the Communion within the context of the Anglican Marks of Mission in:
- Development – identifying examples of good practice; sharing expertise and building capacity for holistic mission and sustainable development; building theological foundations & biblical resources.
- Relief – strengthening capacity in disaster resilience and response; providing a convening platform at times of humanitarian crisis for the local church to connect with agencies and churches across the Communion for prayer and practical support.
- Advocacy – connecting, equipping and resourcing Anglican leadership along with affected communities to speak out on issues of social and environmental justice, including collaborating through wider partnerships.
The work is all grounded in an asset-based approach, whether at community level, or in gathering the assets of the Communion as a whole. Based on regional consultations and resolutions from the Instruments of Communion, with guidance from the Board and Anglican Consultatative Council Standing Committee, the Alliance currently has three strategic global priorities in which it works to support Anglican churches and agencies worldwide:
- Responding to the most vulnerable – supporting disaster resilience and coordinating disaster response with Anglican partners; tackling modern slavery & human trafficking; responding to refugees and migrants.
- Promoting equality – transforming unjust structures and tackling inequalities in different forms; supporting the empowerment of women and youth, including sustainable livelihoods.
- Building a just and sustainable world – advocating for environmental & climate justice, sharing skills and capacity to build resilience and to mitigate/adapt to climate change and promote food security.
The Anglican Alliance is able to leverage outcomes way beyond is modest resources as it brings together the human capacities, church assets and financial means of Anglican churches and agencies across the world, sharing resources and expertise in collaborative effort.
Current Context of the Alliance
The Anglican Alliance was launched in 2011, following the recommendation of Bishops at the 2008 Lambeth Conference. Since that time it has established a strong reputation for connecting and equipping the worldwide churches and agencies to bring about transformational change in the lives of the poor and vulnerable. This reputation was cemented by the Anglican Alliance’s key role in supporting the Communion’s response to the Covid pandemic.
The Anglican Alliance also has an important convening function within the Anglican Communion. The Executive Director leads a small secretariat in the UK and a team of regional and project facilitators around the world, with a Senior Adviser based in Africa. The staff numbers are small, but the range of active participants in the Anglican Alliance’s activities, from churches and agencies around the worldwide Communion, is significant and ever growing. Its regional facilitators play a key role, along with the UK based Secretariat, in gathering forums and communities of practice to guide and support collaborative learning and action.
As a platform for the development, relief and advocacy initiatives of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the Anglican Alliance serves to connect this work at a global level with a range of external partners, including other faith based agencies and UN bodies. This adds value by building relationships and trust globally, which help to broker partnerships for churches to achieve greater impact in sustainable development in their nations and communities, as part of their holistic mission.