Ecumenical Dialogues

Coming together for dialogue with other Christian world communions is one of the key ways that the Anglican Communion works towards Christian unity.

These meetings are an opportunity to share experience and views, examine differences and seek ways to resolve the issues that have separated us. They provide a forum to develop new understandings, correct misunderstandings and heal divisions.

The Unity, Faith and Order department at the Anglican Communion Office co-ordinate and run these dialogues according to principles set out at the Anglican Consultative Council in 2009.

Dialogue partners

Anglican–Baptist

A series of bi-lateral regional conversations initiated by the General Council of the Baptist World Alliance and the 1998 Lambeth Conference.

There are no active conversations at the moment.

Anglican–Lutheran

Regional agreements of close co-operation (described as either “full communion” or “communion”) exist in Northern Europe and North America. Other regional agreements have also been established.

Anglican–Methodist

A new Anglican-Methodist International Consultation began in November 2007 to build on previous work and discern the next steps for Anglican-Methodist relations through their worldwide constitutional bodies.

Anglican–Oriental Orthodox

The Oriental Orthodox Churches are those ancient Christian Churches who were not able to receive the Christological definition developed at the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. Our theological dialogue with them began in 2001.

Anglican–Orthodox

Recent dialogue with the family of Eastern Orthodox Churches began in 1973 when the Anglican-Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Discussions (A/OJDD) held its first meeting in Oxford.

Anglican–Reformed

Formal dialogue with the Reformed Communion resumed in 2015 after a gap of 31 years. Its mandate includes studying the nature of communion and a wide range of missiological challenges facing the two Communions.

Anglican-Pentecostal

The ACC resolved that the Anglican Communion should initiate formal conversations with Churches in the Pentecostal tradition. The International Anglican-Pentecostal Commission (IPAC) was thus formed and first met in the USA in 2022.

Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

A 20^th Anniversary edition of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification is now available in five languages. This edition contains the original text of the Declaration along with the statements of association by Anglican, Methodist and Reformed bodies and the Notre Dame Statement of the five Communions following a joint consultation in 2019.

Anglican–Roman Catholic

Current dialogue began after the Second Vatican Council ended in 1965. There are two Commissions for Anglican-Roman Catholic co-operation: the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission (IARCCUM).