Nearly a year in the crafting, a new collection of essays and reflections by Episcopalians includes diverse responses to proposed changes in the Anglican Communion’s governance structure. “The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals: Voices in Response from The Episcopal Church” is intended to stimulate discussion and help prepare church representatives, known as Anglican Consultative Council members, for the group’s next meeting in June.
The 157-page document, available for download and sharing, features 11 essays and two pastoral reflections from current and retired bishops, a seminary professor, a university professor, two parish priests, and a member of Church Center staff. Contributors include members of the Ecclesiology Committee of the House of Bishops and the General Convention’s Task Force on the Anglican Communion and Countering the Colonial Mindset, among others.
In March 2025, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe asked the Ecclesiology Committee of the House of Bishops to respond to the proposals. At the same time, the task force began its work directed by General Convention Resolution A041. The two groups collaborated to produce the essays, which respond to a report issued in December 2024 by the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith, and Order (IASCUFO) that suggests several changes to the governing structure of the Anglican Communion, as well as altering the definition of the nature of the Anglican Communion. A supplement to the report was published by IASCUFO earlier this month.
“What this volume reveals is deep reflection on the part of leaders in the church in both episcopal and parochial ministry, as well as in academe, to a newly envisaged Anglican Communion as described in the proposals,” reads the foreword. “The reader will quickly find that there is no common mind among the contributors here. There are, however, some themes that emerge from the differing perspectives.”
The essays examine the theological and ecclesial implications of enacting the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, which will be a primary focus of this summer’s 19th Anglican Consultative Council meeting, hosted by the Church of Ireland. The council—comprising two or three members from each of the Anglican Communion’s 42 churches—meets approximately every three years to help facilitate the work of the churches in the communion, share information, and advise on organization and structure.
The elected Anglican Consultative Council members of The Episcopal Church are Bishop Rafael Morales Maldonado of Puerto Rico, the Rev. Ranjit Mathews of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, and Yvonne O’Neal of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.