"I do feel that federation, loose parallel processes, are less than we've got, less than we could have and, in the very long run, less than what God wants in the Church"
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Rowan Williams pushes back against the idea that the Church can settle for being a set of semi-detached parts that run on their own timetables and priorities. By calling federation and loose parallel processes less than we have, he points to the real, inherited bonds the Anglican family already shares: a common prayerful tradition, sacramental life, bishops in communion, and habits of mutual recognition. Less than we could have names the unrealized depth of communion available through shared discernment, common discipline, and structures that make us answerable to one another. And less than what God wants appeals to a theological horizon in which the Church is called to be a visible sign of reconciliation, one body with real, costly ties, not merely a coalition of local preferences.
The phrase loose parallel processes evokes provinces acting independently while maintaining polite relations. Williams sees that as institutionalizing fragmentation. His vision is not for centralized control or uniformity by decree, but for covenantal accountability: consent to be shaped by others, to bear with differences through processes of reception, to decide together in patience, and to accept limits for the sake of communion. The point is evangelical as much as administrative. A Church that cannot hold together across wounds and disagreements undermines its witness to the reconciling power it proclaims.
The context is the Anglican tensions over doctrine and ethics, where a looser federation looked like an easy truce. Williams warns that such an arrangement would be a retreat from catholicity and from the hope of deeper unity with one another and with other churches. His mention of the very long run signals an eschatological patience: the Church is called to embody now, however imperfectly, the unity God wills ultimately. The summons is toward a thicker common life that requires imagination, humility, and mutual sacrifice, trusting that the hard work of communion is itself a participation in God’s purpose for the Church.
The phrase loose parallel processes evokes provinces acting independently while maintaining polite relations. Williams sees that as institutionalizing fragmentation. His vision is not for centralized control or uniformity by decree, but for covenantal accountability: consent to be shaped by others, to bear with differences through processes of reception, to decide together in patience, and to accept limits for the sake of communion. The point is evangelical as much as administrative. A Church that cannot hold together across wounds and disagreements undermines its witness to the reconciling power it proclaims.
The context is the Anglican tensions over doctrine and ethics, where a looser federation looked like an easy truce. Williams warns that such an arrangement would be a retreat from catholicity and from the hope of deeper unity with one another and with other churches. His mention of the very long run signals an eschatological patience: the Church is called to embody now, however imperfectly, the unity God wills ultimately. The summons is toward a thicker common life that requires imagination, humility, and mutual sacrifice, trusting that the hard work of communion is itself a participation in God’s purpose for the Church.
Quote Details
| Topic | God |
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