The International Bishops’ Conference
on Faith and Order

Mission Statement

The International Bishops’ Conference on Faith and Order is a fellowship of orthodox Bishops of the Anglican Communion committed to maintaining and propagating the historic faith and order of the catholic church.

It is committed to the Resolutions of the Lambeth Conference 1998, and in particular to those relating to the Eames Commission (III.2 and III.4) and to Human Sexuality (I.10).

It affirms its prayerful support for the bishops and dioceses, together with all faithful Anglicans, clergy and laity, who seek to adhere to those Resolutions, and looks to the Primates of the Anglican Communion firmly to support them by their prayers and teaching and to rebuke and restrain those who formally contravene them.

LAMBETH CONFERENCE, 1998

RESOLUTION III.2

The unity of the Anglican Communion

This Conference, committed to maintaining the overall unity of the Anglican Communion, including the unity of each diocese under the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop,
  1. believes such unity is essential to the overall effectiveness of the Church's mission to bring the Gospel of Christ to all people;
  2. for the purpose of maintaining this unity, calls upon the provinces of the Communion to uphold the principle of 'Open Reception' as it relates to the ordination of women to the priesthood as indicated by the Eames Commission; noting that "reception is a long and spiritual process." (Grindrod Report);
  3. in particular calls upon the provinces of the Communion to affirm that those who dissent from, as well as those who assent to, the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate are both loyal Anglicans;
  4. therefore calls upon the Provinces of the Communion to make such provision, including appropriate episcopal ministry, as will enable them to live in the highest degree of Communion possible, recognising that there is and should be no compulsion on any bishop in matters concerning ordination or licensing;
  5. also affirms that "although some of the means by which communion is expressed may be strained or broken, there is a need for courtesy, tolerance, mutual respect, and prayer for one another, and we confirm that our desire to know or be with one another, remains binding on us as Christians". (Eames, p.119).

RESOLUTION III.4

Eames Commission

Noting that Resolution 1 of the 1988 Lambeth Conference (The ordination or consecration of women to the episcopate) recommended that the Archbishop of Canterbury, in consultation with the Primates appoint a commission
  1. to provide for an examination of the relationships between the provinces of the Anglican Communion and ensure that the process of reception includes continuing consultation with other Churches as well;
  2. to monitor and enumerate the process of consultation within the Communion and to offer further pastoral guidelines;
and noting that the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates having now received the completed work of the commission chaired by the Most Revd Robin Eames:

this Conference
  1. accepts and endorses the report and thanks the members of the Commission;
  2. recognises the ongoing, open process of reception within the Communion;
  3. recommends the guidelines to every Province; and
  4. urges continuing monitoring within the Communion with regular reporting to the Primates' Meeting.

Resolution I.10

Human Sexuality

This Conference:
  1. commends to the Church the subsection report on human sexuality;
  2. in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage;
  3. recognises that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation. Many of these are members of the Church and are seeking the pastoral care, moral direction of the Church, and God's transforming power for the living of their lives and the ordering of relationships. We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ;
  4. while rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex;
  5. cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions;
  6. requests the Primates and the ACC to establish a means of monitoring the work done on the subject of human sexuality in the Communion and to share statements and resources among us;
  7. notes the significance of the Kuala Lumpur Statement on Human Sexuality and the concerns expressed in resolutions IV.26, V.1, V.10, V.23 and V.35 on the authority of Scripture in matters of marriage and sexuality and asks the Primates and the ACC to include them in their monitoring process.