Archbishop calls talks over divisions in Anglican communion

The Archbishop of Canterbury has invited the leaders of the world Anglican communion to a meeting in January to discuss its future.

It comes amid divisions over female priests and same-sex relationships.

Talks could lead to a looser communion in which cultural differences are respected, BBC religious affairs correspondent Caroline Wyatt said.

The Most Rev Justin Welby's spokesman said the gathering would allow primates to look at fresh ways of working.

In recent years, splits between liberals and conservatives in the communion have become more pronounced.

If talks fail, it could lead to a permanent schism in the third largest Christian body in the world, our correspondent added.

Analysis

Caroline Wyatt, BBC religious affairs correspondent

The worldwide Anglican communion has become an increasingly fractious and divided body over the past decade, with many of the heads of the national Anglican churches no longer on speaking terms.

Some churches in Africa support legislation against homosexuality, while bishops in the US have voted to allow clergy to solemnise same-sex marriages.

So the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is now deploying a high-risk strategy.

A source at Lambeth Palace described this meeting of the "Anglican family" not as discussions over divorce, but more a possible move into separate bedrooms.

A spokesman for the archbishop said the meeting would be an opportunity for the 38 leaders of national churches to talk face to face and decide together their approach to the next Lambeth Conference - a once-a-decade gathering of the worldwide Anglican bishops in Canterbury.

The archbishop himself added: "I have suggested to all primates that we need to consider recent developments but also look afresh at our ways of working as a communion and especially as primates, paying proper attention to developments in the past.

"The difference between our societies and cultures, as well as the speed of cultural change in much of the global north, tempts us to divide as Christians: when the command of scripture, the prayer of Jesus, the tradition of the church and our theological understanding urges unity."

The meeting's agenda is likely to include the issues of religiously-motivated violence, the protection of children and vulnerable adults, the environment and human sexuality.

The consecration in November 2003 of Canon Gene Robinson, a divorced man in a gay relationship, as bishop of New Hampshire in the United States is one factor which has led to divisions within the communion.

In July 2008 the Lambeth Conference passed largely without mishap after a boycott by around a quarter of the bishops who objected to the presence of US bishops responsible for the consecration of Bishop Robinson.