A group commissioned by the Anglican Consultative Council has updated its suggestions for leadership in the denomination, in a bid to diversify how power is held and redefine what it means to be “Anglican”.

A new supplement to the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals has suggested inviting regional Anglican primates to form a leadership council, which would work alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury to share their duties. It has also suggested defining Anglican churches as those with a “historic” connection to the See of Canterbury.

The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals were first launched during Advent 2024, by the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO). They originally suggested a revolving-door style of leadership for the global Anglican church, wherein the duties of the Archbishop of Canterbury would be shared between primates from different regions.

The plans were described as an effort to “decolonise” power within the Anglican Communion and “help address differences” on issues such as same-sex relationships, where the Church of England may broadly foster a different perspective from churches in the Global South.  

The Anglican Consultative Council, which commissioned IASCUFO to draft the NCPs and the latest update, is one of four “key bodies” within the Church, known as the Instruments of Communion. They include the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, and the Primates’ Meeting.

Two primary updates are now on the table. Firstly, that the Anglican Communion should update the way it describes itself. Rather than defining its churches as “a fellowship… of dioceses, provinces or regional Churches in communion with the See of Canterbury,” it could define itself as a collective of churches which: “emphasise the Anglican bonds of (i) shared inheritance in faith and order, including liturgy and canon law, (ii) mutual service in mission, (iii) a commitment to taking common counsel together, and (iv) a historic connection with the See of Canterbury, both past and present.”

The word “historic” is key – but the new papers insist this descriptor is not derogatory. “This is a living connection,” the IASCUFO states, “[not] just history.”

The second suggestion is that rather than rotating the Archbishop of Canterbury’s role between primates, the primates would instead work as a small team and assist the ABC in their duties. This could include representing the Anglican Communion on the world stage, or chairing Synods.

The proposals are intended to “better reflect the global diversity of Anglicanism.” 

"This is about freeing the ministry of the Archbishop of Canterbury, not shrinking it," the papers state. "Making it more collegial doesn’t reduce its significance, it makes it more sustainable and more genuinely Communion-wide."

The papers' authors insist that their goal is not to prevent the church from splitting, but to move it forward, noting that “the majority of the Anglican Communion is in the Global South”.

At present, the Church of England is yet to respond to the proposals.