Communiqué of the Primates’ Meeting
Jordan, 13-15 January 2020
Glory be to God on high, peace and good will to all people. Greetings in the name of ourLord Jesus Christ.
1. The Primates of the Anglican Communion met from 13 to 15 January 2020 in Jordan
at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend and Right
Honourable Justin Welby, and hosted by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and their
Archbishop, the Most Reverend Suheil Dawani;
2. Our meeting was grounded in prayer, in the sacrament of the Eucharist and in sharing
through Bible study the treasures of God’s word. We rejoiced in the unity that wasexpressed in our sharing of Holy Communion together and, in our last act of worship
together we will renew our baptismal promises in the River Jordan at the site
associated with the baptism of Christ;
3. The location of our meeting was of profound significance. We gathered in Jordan, inthe lands of the Bible. We were close to Jerusalem where Jesus died and rose again.
At the end of our meeting we will make pilgrimages in groups to places such as
Mount Nebo, where Moses glimpsed the Promised Land, to Jerusalem and toBethlehem. We were conscious in our time together of the long history of Christianity
in this region and the pressures that face Christians in the Middle East today. We werepleased to meet and to receive the greetings of His Beatitude Theophilos III, Patriarchof the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem and we continue to ‘pray for the peace ofJerusalem’ (Psalm 122. 6). It was our privilege to be received in audience by His
Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan. His Majesty spoke powerfully of hiscommitment to enable people of different faiths to live together despite theirdifferences and of his support of the Christian communities in the region. We weregrateful also for the warm hospitality of the Salfiti family, who welcomed us into theirhome in Amman;
4. As we gathered as Primates we were acutely aware of the ongoing tensions within theAnglican Communion. However, we were also profoundly conscious of the Holy
Spirit in our midst, drawing us to walk together. We heard compelling testimony fromthe Primate of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (the Anglican Church in Japan) of the gift ofreconciliation between peoples and nations and we leave the meeting glad that wewere here;
5. Primates from 33 of the 40 provinces were present. We lamented the absence of those
three primates who chose not to attend and those four who, by virtue of vacancy,
illness or other difficulty, were not able to attend. We are always greatly diminishedby the absence of colleagues;
6. We welcomed twelve new primates, attending this meeting for the first time;
welcomed into our midst the primate of the newly formed province of Chile; and badefarewell to those whose term of office was coming to an end. As we gathered together
we received news that the Right Reverend Dharmaraj Rasalam, Bishop of SouthKerala, had been elected as Moderator of the Church of South India. We assure him

of our prayers as he takes up this new ministry and we look forward to welcoming
him to our next meeting. We approved the formation of a new Province ofAlexandria, covering Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa and we noted
progress towards a province in Sri Lanka;
7. When we come together from around the world we bring our varied situations with us
and are able to share, and pray for, the countries and churches from which we come.
In various parts of the world Christians face great pressure that makes Christian lifeand ministry difficult and, sometimes, unbearable. We are, as a body, strengthened by
the resilience and faithfulness of these, our brothers and sisters. As Primates weexpress our heartfelt prayer for peace, justice and reconciliation throughout the world
and remember particularly the people of South Sudan, Sudan, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Hong Kong, Bolivia and Chile. We express our concern for thepeople of Australia in the midst of fire and continue to pray for all those affected bymigration and displacement in Latin America and elsewhere. We note with concern
the taking over by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, of EdwardesCollege: a Christian foundation more than a century old and we urge the Government
to enter dialogue with the Diocese of Peshawar, Church of Pakistan with a view torestoring management of the College by the Church authorities;
8. The safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults remains a topic of acute concern.
The fact of past and present abuse is a matter of lasting pain and regret. We heard areport on the progress of the Safe Church Commission. We repent of those times
when the Church is and has been culpable and has failed to protect those entrusted tothe Church’s care. We reaffirm our commitment to listen to and to work with all
survivors of abuse and our determination to provide a safe environment in ourchurches;
9. We heard about and commend the work of the Anglican Environmental Network,
noting that climate change is not a future threat but, for many in the world today, apresent, lived reality;
10. We reaffirm our commitment to evangelism and endorse the work of the new
Anglican Church Planting Commission;
11. We agreed that all members churches should contribute to the Inter-Anglican Budget
according to their means and we commend the transition to new arrangements fordetermining member church contributions;
12. In 2016 the Primates’ Meeting asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to set up a Task
Group to look at how we might walk together despite the complexities we face. At
this meeting we affirmed our continued commitment to walk together; we received
the work of the Task Group and commended it to the other Instruments ofCommunion – the Lambeth Conference and the Anglican Consultative Council. We
recommended that a group be appointed to continue the work of the Task Group toexplore how we live and work together in the light of the Lambeth Conference. We
invite the Churches of the Anglican Communion to set apart the Fifth Sunday of Lent
(29 March 2020) as a day to focus on the Prayers of Repentance produced by the TaskGroup;13. The Lambeth Conference will take place in Canterbury this year. We were updated onplans for the conference, both practical and programmatic. We discussed how thefruits of our discussions at the Lambeth Conference might be widely communicatedand we explored how the bishops, gathered together in conference, might ‘invite’ thechurch and the world to join us as we collaborate in God’s mission of building God’s
Church for God’s World. As we continue to explore what it means to walk together inour differences we recognise that the Lambeth Conference is a vital part of thejourney, and one for which 650 bishops and 506 spouses have now registered. TheTask Group’s work reminded us of the story of the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24. 13-35)
where the two disciples, walking together, unknowingly meet the risen Christ. In
meeting and, ultimately, recognising him in the breaking of the bread, they arechanged forever. They remain the same people but are transformed and, in their newfound joy return to Jerusalem to proclaim the good news of the resurrection;
14. We are grateful to those staff from the Anglican Communion Office and Lambeth
Palace who provided practical support to our meeting, to the Community of St
Anselm and Chemin Neuf community, who supported and surrounded us with prayer
and to the Archbishop and staff of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem for their
hospitality and support;
15. Throughout our meeting we were strongly aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit
calling us to be together, to walk together and to remain together. We deeply
appreciate the prayers of those throughout the world who prayed for us during thismeeting and commit ourselves, our provinces and the Anglican Communion to thecare and guidance of Almighty God.
Jordan15 January 2020