ANGLICAN COMMUNION OFFICE ANNUAL REVIEW 2011
The Anglican Communion Office By Jan Butter, Director for Communications
Officially the Anglican Communion Office (ACO) exists as the permanent secretariat for the Instruments of Communion: the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’ Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council. But what does this mean in practice? Well, more than 20 staff from countries including Colombia, Japan, Wales, Zambia and Canada work out of the London office and locations including New York, Geneva, Kenya and Brazil to support the Anglican Communion as it carries out its part in God’s mission. Work supported by ACO staff includes facilitating and co-ordinating meetings, projects, committees, and networks in such areas as ecumenical dialogues; inter faith work; mission and church growth; development, relief and advocacy all at an international level. The ACO is also the place where news and information about the life and work of our global faith is gathered and shared.
Our London office, St Andrew’s House, is a place where members of the Anglican Communion from Nigeria to New Zealand come to stay at our Guesthouse, to take part in meetings, and also to catch up with the staff who are supporting them. You’ll read in the next section about the broad range of work undertaken by this office and will see in the finance section that most of the funding for it comes from inter-Anglican budget contributions. This is money given annually by Member Churches (according to their means) that allows our staff support Anglican Communion groups to carry out work requested by the Standing Committee, the Primates’ Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Committee. We are sure that, as you learn more about the wide range of work we do here and the positive impact it has across the Anglican Communion, you will consider it money well spent.
5