Anglican leaders have reflected on proposals to reform the Anglican Communion amid concerns that long-running disagreements could threaten its future unity. 

The Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order said it continued to “wrestle in hope”, as members met to consider how the global church might remain united despite deep differences.

The commission met in Rome from the 7th to 11th December to discuss The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals: Renewing the Instruments of the Anglican Communion, a report published in November 2024 by the anglican consultative council.

The report examined possible changes to the communion’s structure and leadership in a post-colonial context and after decades of disagreement over issues including women’s ordination and human sexuality.

The proposals warned of “the real prospect of the fragmentation, or even dissolution, of the Communion” without urgent attention to ecclesiology.

In a communiqué issued after the meeting, the commission said it had pursued its work “conscious of the pain of the Communion’s disagreements”.

It added that it's "Determined to advance our work, for the unity of the Communion within this broken and hurting world of which we are inescapably a part, and for the sake of our calling … to share the good news of Jesus Christ.”

The commission’s chair, Dr Graham Tomlin, said the proposals aimed to create a framework in which anglicans with “deeply different convictions” could remain together.

He said they recognised historic ties to canterbury while suggesting more shared leadership involving primates from the communion’s five regions.

The commission said it had reviewed responses to the proposals and begun preparing further resources ahead of the acc-19 meeting in Belfast next July.