WHAT IS THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION?
The Anglican Communion is one of the world’s largest Christian communities. It has tens of millions of members in more than 165 countries around the globe. Anglicanism is one of the traditions or expressions of Christian faith. Others include Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran and Baptist.
The Anglican Communion is a family of 42 autonomous and independent-yet-interdependent national, pan-national and regional churches in communion with the see of Canterbury. See here for a full list. The provinces are subdivided into dioceses, and the dioceses into parishes.
There is no central authority in the Anglican Communion. All of the provinces are autonomous and free to make their own decisions in their own ways – guided by recommendations from the four Instruments: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’ Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council.
WHO IS BEHIND THE COMMUNION FOREST?
The Communion Forest is an initiative of the Anglican Communion. It is facilitated by the Anglican Alliance and the Anglican Communion Environmental Network, with the support of an advisory group drawn from across the Communion.
The Communion Forest has two part time facilitators: Irene Sebastian-Waweru for Africa and Nicholas Pande for the rest of the world. Both are based in Nairobi, Kenya. They are supported by Elizabeth Perry (Anglican Alliance) and Rachel Mash (ACEN).
The Communion Forest was inspired by the extensive creation care work that has been happening for many years across the whole Anglican Communion. It was developed by a working group of bishops and lay people from across the Communion, the Anglican Communion Environmental Network and the Anglican Alliance. We are very grateful for the consultancy work of Alison Prout.
WHAT DOES THE COMMUNION FOREST TEAM DO?
The initial focus of the Communion Forest team is on connecting, equipping and inspiring churches across the Anglican Communion to:
- take practical action
- weave creation care further into the spiritual life of the Church
- speak against environmental injustice
- share their stories and contribute to the Communion Forest community
This is happening through:
- the facilitators reaching out to provinces and making connections
- webinars
- informal pray, share and connect sessions online
- resources on the Communion Forest website
- web stories
- newsletters
- social media posts
- presentations and talks
We are working towards the Communion Forest being able to broker funding for local projects.
HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?
Please join our community by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on our social media platforms: Facebook and Twitter.
To get started on a project, click here
WHERE CAN I SEE WHAT IS ALREADY HAPPENING?
At the moment, stories about the Communion Forest are in the Stories section of the website. We are currently piloting use of a mapping tool and hope to roll this out further in due course.
WHERE CAN I GET FUNDING?
At present, there is no funding available for projects through the Communion Forest initiative itself. We are working towards the Communion Forest being able to broker funding for local projects and will share details when we have them.
HOW DOES MY PROJECT BECOME PART OF THE COMMUNION FOREST?
If you are engaged in Christian-motivated creation care for landscapes (forests, grasslands, wetlands, peatlands etc) then you can be part of the Communion Forest. To enable full participation and to allow for locally appropriate solutions there are no specific criteria to meet. However, Communion Forest initiatives should be able to demonstrate these characteristics:
Communion Forest initiatives…
- Are about ecosystem conservation, protection or restoration and/or tree growing.
- Have a strong on-going connection to an Anglican community. This could be a church, diocese, province, school, college, church agency, recognised project or other institution.
- Articulate the Christian motivation for their action.
- Connect with other Marks of Mission, such as serving community food needs or peace building.
- Are brought into the spiritual and liturgical life of the church community (for example, services are held there; there is a connection with baptisms, weddings and/or confirmations).
- Help deepen and challenge people’s theology of creation care away from harmful, extractive world views and theologies of domination towards mindsets and theologies of relationship, interdependence and care for the natural world.
If you would like your activity to be part of the Communion Forest, please get in touch with one of the facilitators:
Irene Sebastian-Waweru for Africa: irene.sebastian@anglicancommunion.org
Nicholas Pande for the rest of the world: nicholas.pande@anglicancommunion.org
ARE THERE ANY COSTS INVOLVED IN JOINING THE COMMUNION FOREST?
No, there are no registration fees or any other associated costs.
I HAVE A QUESTION
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