The Archbishop of Hong Kong has been elected chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council. On 15 April 2016 delegates to the Anglican Consultative Council’s meeting in Lusaka elected the Most Rev. Paul Kwong, Primate of the Hong Kong Sheng Hung Kui to lead the communion advisory council in succession to the former bishop of Southern Malawi, the Rt. Rev. James Tengatenga. On 18 April the Church of England’s lay representative to the council, Margaret Swinson, was elected as vice-chairman in succession to Elizabeth Paver of the Church of England. She was unopposed. Five members of the Standing Committee were also elected: The Rt. Rev. Jane Alexander, Bishop of Edmonton of the Anglican Church of Canada, Mr. Alistair Dinnie of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Mr. Jeroham Melendez of the Anglican Church of Central America, The Rev. Nigel Pope of the Church of North India, and the Rt. Rev. Joel Waweru, Bishop of Nairobi of the Anglican Church of Kenya. They join the Rt. Rev. Eraste Bigirimana, Bishop of Bujumbura of the Anglican Church of Burundi, and Louisa Lette-Mojela of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa whose terms have not expired. The ACC standing committee consists of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the ACC chairman and vice chairman, seven members elected by the ACC, and five members elected by the primates. Following his election, Archbishop Kwong told the ACC’s press office he was “deeply honoured and humbled” by his election. “I think the most important issue that we have to work towards is to hold the Communion together,” he said, “and also to bring all the people of differences – people who are of different views of different matters – together, to work together and to serve together.”
