The next meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, ACC-17, will be taking place in Hong Kong from April 28 – May 5. According to the Anglican Communion Office, this gathering
[I]ncludes daily Bible studies; reports and briefings and services at St John’s Cathedral. There will be a presidential address by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a report from the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.
There will also be visits to parishes with an opportunity for members to see local churches and their social ministry work.
ACC-17 will be shorter than previous meetings, lasting just eight days, but with formal opening and closing services on the first and last Sundays. The theme, “Equipping God’s People – Going Deeper in Intentional Discipleship”, builds on the Season of Intentional Discipleship which was launched at ACC-16 in 2016.
The programme is busy: there will be four working sessions most days but there will also be opportunities for ACC members to see Hong Kong and experience the work of the church there first-hand.
According to the Anglican Communion News Service, the draft agenda, which was released yesterday, includes discussions of issues ranging from Safe Church to evangelism and the status of women and indigenous peoples throughout the Communion.
The gathering begins on Sunday 28 April with a Presidential Address by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby at the main ACC-17 venue, the Gold Coast Hotel. It is followed by an opening service at St John’s Cathedral in Hong Kong. Both events will be live streamed on the Anglican Communion’s YouTube channel.
The entire draft agenda is available here.
The Church Times also reports that:
On the fourth day, delegates will have the opportunity to be presented with the consultation of LLF [a project commissioned by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to review the areas of theology, history, Biblical scholarship, and science pertaining to human sexuality]. The Archbishop of Canterbury will be present as the ACC’s president, as well as the Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, the Revd Dr Andrew Atherstone, and the vice-chair of the ACC, Margaret Swinson.
Another item on the agenda is a report from the Safe Church Commission, which was set up to create a set of international guidelines and resources to ensure that churches were safe places for all people, with a focus on children, young people, and vulnerable adults. That will also happen on the fourth day.
The complete membership roster of the ACC – which is the only one of the Instruments of Unity to include lay people – is available here. Notably, both Nigeria and Uganda are listed as lacking representatives.