“A New Conversation”: IASCUFO Presents Historic Nairobi-Cairo Report To ACC-19, Proposing to De-Center Canterbury And Diversify Anglican Leadership

Date: June 29, 2026
By: Cyril Jones-Okai , Adoa News Ghana

On day 2 of the 19th Anglican Consultative Council (ACC-19), the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) formally presented the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals to the international assembly, calling for a historic restructuring of the global Anglican Communion. The proposals offer what commission members describe as “an offer” to the Communion’s 42 member churches as a framework to navigate deep divisions over issues such as sexuality and governance while transitioning the church into a genuinely post-colonial era.

Addressing the assembly in Belfast’s Presbyterian Church Assembly Buildings, IASCUFO Chair, the Rt Revd Dr Graham Tomlin, unveiled a comprehensive theological response to a mandate first issued at ACC-18 in Ghana in 2023 . The proposals represent the culmination of two years of work by a diverse commission representing the theological breadth of the Communion, from Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Australia .

The commission presented two principal proposals designed to reimagine Anglican identity and governance for the twenty-first century .
The first proposal offers an updated description on the identity of the Anglican Communion, the first since the 1930 Lambeth Conference. Rather than anchoring identity primarily through “communion with the See of Canterbury,” the new framework defines membership through a shared scriptural inheritance, mutual service, common counsel, and a historic connection with Canterbury that no longer serves as the defining marker .
Anglicans “now recognize that fullness of communion with the Church of England or the See of Canterbury are not requisite for any church of the Communion,” the proposals state . This responds directly to the 2023 declaration by 10 Global South primates who said they could no longer recognize then-Archbishop Justin Welby as “first among equals” due to his endorsement of same-sex blessings .
The second proposal addresses the distribution of global power. Acknowledging that the demographic center of gravity has shifted rapidly away from the West, IASCUFO called for a “maximal sharing in leadership” . A supplement paper published in March 2026 refined the original proposal, suggesting the Archbishop of Canterbury might convene a “collegial council” composed of regional primates to share pastoral and representational responsibilities .
Commission member Sarah Rowland Jones emphasized to the council that the document is not meant to be a rigid mandate. “This is a resource for you,” Jones stated. She encouraged delegates to “take what we have done and move it forward and develop it and deepen it and strengthen it” .

Lay member Andrew Khoo followed by outlining the specific legislative recommendations that the council will debate in the coming days.

The council formally assented to a resolution thanking IASCUFO for its theological labor, explicitly affirming the fundamental resolve of all member churches “to seek to walk together to the highest degree of communion possible one with another” .
The proposals come at a vital moment, at a time of profound strain. In her opening address, Archbishop Sarah Mullally called for “deepened hope in God and trust in one another” . She acknowledged that “trust is fragile” and that “structural decisions alone cannot heal what is relational and spiritual” .
The Scottish Episcopal Church, in its official response to the proposals, expressed “serious reservations,” fearing that de-centering Canterbury could lead to “the formation of a two-tier Anglican organisation” . The Scottish church also noted the England-centric perspective in the proposals, pointing out that “the SEC is unusual among the Churches of the Anglican Communion in that it lacks any direct historical connection with the Church of England”.

IASCUFO emphasized that the proposals are offered “not as an end but as the beginning of a new conversation” . The council has dedicated multiple sessions for table-group discussions to ensure every member has a voice in the process .
As ACC-19 continues its business sessions in Belfast, the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals will form the bedrock of the council’s legislative focus. The outcome of these discussions will likely shape how the global Anglican family governs itself, handles internal conflict, and projects its shared mission to the wider world for decades to come.