ACNS 4833 2011 Standing Committee Bulletin ? Day 2

From Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>
Date Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:08:38 -0700

Posted On : March 28, 2011 5:00 PM | Posted By : Admin ACO
ACNS: http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2011/3/28/ACNS4833
Related Categories: ACC  ACC - SCAC  ACO
2011 Standing Committee Bulletin ? Day 2

In brief:

·         ACC?s finances given a ?clean bill of health? by external  auditors
·         Committee agree Professor Michael
Wright as Lambeth Conference Company Chair
·         Member-Churches to be asked to review
their representatives on the ACC
·         Interactive online book on interfaith relations to go live soon
·         Committee to encourage a discussion on human dignity at ACC-15


Finance and administration1
Director of Finance Andrew Franklin and ACC
consultant and Vice Chair of the Finance and
Administration Committee Robert Fordham presented
the Report of the Inter-Anglican Finance and
Administration Committee meeting and of the
report of the external auditors Mazars. For new
members Mr Franklin explained that income comes
primarily from Inter-Anglican budget
contributions, from the Compass Rose Society,
from the guest house at St Andrew?s House and
from other sources including publications and
occasional gifts. This year?s income was good he
said. In fact, it was better than expected,
although less than the previous year. Mr Fordham
reported that the auditors had given the finances ?a clean bill of health ?.


Responses from the committee to the presentation
included an agreement to explore the desirability
of employing a professional fundraiser. Another
resolution was passed that the Director for
Communications should find ways of sharing with
the Anglican Communion the Report and Financial
Statements of the ACC, in particular the work
across the Communion facilitated by the Anglican Communion Office.
There was also a presentation on the
Inter-Anglican contributions and it was noted
that the amount of contributions had dropped
overall by 9.6% in 2010 in part because of
financial pressures within Provinces and also
because some Member-Churches failed to pay their
contribution. There was some discussion about how
the contributions from each Member-Church should
best be calculated. It was resolved that several
members should undertake a review of this.
Early in 2010, the external auditors requested
that the Standing Committee should have a Code of
Governance. Since that time Mr Fordham has been
working to produce such a document with the input
of the Standing Committee, the Finance and
Administration Committee and the ACC?s legal
advisor Revd Canon John Rees. The final draft of
the Code, with a slight amendment, was accepted by the Standing Committee.


Lambeth Conference Company


Canon Rees, reported that, to reduce the chance
of a conflict of interest on the Board, two
proposed changes to the company were a) to
appoint two independent directors, with b) one of
those being the Chair of the board. The committee
agreed to appoint Professor Michael Wright CBE
DL, Professor Emeritus of Canterbury Christ
Church University as one of the independent
directors and the Chair of the Lambeth Conference
Company. This appointment will take effect when
the changes have been approved by The Charity Commission for England and Wa les.
Membership

Canon Rees also reviewed for the committee the
guidelines on member representation on the
Anglican Consultative Council. It was agreed
that, due to the pending ACC in 2012, the
Secretary General would write to all
Member-Churches concerning expected membership representation at that meeti ng.

The committee also decided that no additional
member would be co-opted to the replace Bishop
Kumara Illangasinghe of The Church of Ceylon who
has retired from active ministry and therefore
has vacated his place on the committee. This is
because of the close proximity of ACC-15.


Letters to earthquake-affected Provinces


Letters of sympathy and support were drafted,
agreed and will be sent to the Churches of Aotearoa, New Zealand and

Polynesia, Nippon Sei Ko Kai in Japan and the Province of Myanmar.


Network for Interfaith Concerns


Stuart Buchanan began by demonstrating the new
online interactive book on interfaith relations
called Generous Love subtitled The Truth of the
Gospel and the Call to Dialogue for use by
Christian groups. This book that will be hosted on www.anglicancommunion.org

Director for Theological Studies Clare Amos

talked about the pending report and study guide
on Christian Zionism which the ACC had
commissioned. She said that the project was on
target and expected to be completed by early next
year. She and colleague The Revd Rana Youab Khan
also commended to the committee the
Muslim-Christian digest containing ?lots of
useful up-to-date material?. She also said there
is a Communion conference due to be held in
December 2011 celebrating 100 years of Anglican-interfaith engagement.

They also reflected on the Anglican-interfaith
work over the past year (in particular the
Anglican al-Azhar Dialogue Joint Committee
Meeting for Dialogue) and pending meetings such
as the Anglican-Jewish dialogue planned for June 2011 in Jerusalem.

Advocacy for Christians in minority situations

Mrs Amos asked the committee to consider whether
there needed to be wider Communion thinking about
how to support and advocate on behalf of
Christian minorities or Christians in situations
of persecution or discrimination. Committee
members including Bishop Paul Sarker, Archbishop
Paul Kwong, Canon Elizabeth Paver and The Revd
Maria Cristina Borges Alvarez shared their
experiences and challenges of interfaith issues
in their own contexts. After this, the committee
agreed to encourage the holding of a discussion
of the theological principles underpinning human
dignity at ACC-15, perhaps involving
representatives of the International Anglican Networks in that discussion.

1 Financial and administration reports will be
made available on www.anglicancommunion.org