Welcome

Welcome to No Anglican Covenant. We invite you to explore this site, which we hope you will find both interesting and useful. Below, we answer some of the questions you are likely to have. Contact us if you have further questions or comments.

What is the Anglican Covenant?

All thirty-eight provinces (national and regional churches) of the Anglican Communion have been asked to adopt an agreement, the Anglican Covenant (or Anglican Communion Covenant), which sets out reputedly common doctrine and describes a process for dispute resolution among Communion churches. The idea for a covenant was proposed in the Windsor Report, which was written in the wake of a Canadian diocese’s authorizing a liturgy for the blessing of same-sex unions and an American diocese’s electing a partnered gay bishop. A brief introduction to the Covenant can be found here. To see where churches stand in the adoption process of the Covenant, click here.

Who are we, and why do we oppose the Covenant?

We are an international group of Anglicans, both lay and ordained, who are active in our respective churches and concerned about the future of Anglicanism. (Click here to read more about us.) We want an Anglican Communion comprising churches that are respectful of one another and are united in gospel mission. We have grave doubts that the Covenant will advance this vision. We believe that the drafters of the Anglican Covenant were motivated by a desire for uniformity, as they have favoured the use of coercion over the hard work of reconciliation. To see ten reasons why we think the Covenant is a bad idea, click here.

What is our view of Anglicanism?

We believe in an Anglicanism adapted to local needs and based on a shared heritage of worship, not on specific understandings of church doctrines to which all must subscribe. Our view of Anglicanism leads us to conclude that the Anglican Covenant is profoundly un-Anglican.

How can you help?

Together we can make a difference. Please click on the buttons below to (1) view our Facebook

page, (2) be added to our list of supporters, or (3) follow us on Twitter. You will be joining the campaign to stop the radical transformation of the Anglican Communion that the Covenant threatens to bring about.

What you can find on this site?

No Anglican Covenant is designed to educate Anglicans about the Anglican Covenant and to present the case against its adoption. The site includes useful material for those studying the Covenant or looking for resources to support the campaign against it. You can also find background material here and track the status of the adoption (or rejection) of the Covenant across the Communion. To read our Site Guide, click here.

New Short Introduction
to Covenant Available

London, July 19, 2011 — Seeing a need for a concise introduction to the Covenant, the No Anglican Covenant Coalition has issued “A Short Introduction to the Anglican Covenant.”

“A Short Introduction” is intended for duplication and distribution to Anglicans who need to know about the Covenant but who do not have the time or inclination to wade through the flood of history and commentary available on this Web site and elsewhere. As the Revd. Dr. Lesley Fellows, Moderator of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition put it, “This brief, plain‐language explanation is intended to help ordinary Anglicans worldwide to understand what is being proposed.”

“A Short Introduction” also attempts to give a more balanced view of the Covenant than is available elsewhere. As our Convenor for the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Revd. Canon Hugh Magee, has said, “Many people have complained that the official study material from the Anglican Communion Office has lacked balance and has failed to take seriously the concerns of Covenant critics.”

Read the Coalition’s news release about “A Short Introduction.” A one-page version of the new handout is available as a PDF file for letter-size or A4 paper. An more attractive two-page version is also available as a PDF file for letter-size or A4 paper.

Site Tools

Main pages of the No Anglican Covenant Web site allow visitors to search the site, go directly to our Comprehensive Unity blog, get help with site navigation, or translate the page into another language. Look for these options at the top right  of the page body, just under the menu bar.

Why November 3rd?

Our Web site premiered on 3 November 2010. The selection of that date was no accident. Read about why we chose to roll out our site on that particular date here. You can also read our news release about the No Anglican Covenant Coalition and its Web site.

Updates

The No Anglican Covenant Coalition announced leadership changes 1 May 2012. The news release can be found here.

On 28 April 2012 we updated the status of Covenant adoption in the United States, England, New Zealand, and Wales in our status table.

The Episcopal Church will deal with the Anglican Covenant at its General Convention in July. The No Anglican Covenant Coalition has offered its own resolution rejecting the Covenant for consideration by the American church. It is available here.

We have added a letter to Anglicans in the Diocese of Rupert’s Land. The letter argues that the Covenant is unnecessary and praises the value of “muddling.” You can find the letter here.

On 24 March 2012, three additional Church of England dioceses voted against sending the question of adopting the Anglican Covenant back to General Synod for final Approval. This means that the Church of England will not adopt the Covenant now and may never do so. This is a major victory for the No Anglican Covenant Coalition, which has issued a news release you can find here.

We have added the Presidential Address of Bishop James Jones to the Liverpool Diocesan Synod to our list of resources. Jones offered a number of reasons to vote against the Anglican Covenant. You can find the address in our list here.

More Church of England dioceses voted on the Covenant 17 March 2012. The diocese of Ely, St. Albans, and Liverpool voted no. Norwich and Chester voted yes. The current vote now is 20 dioceses against returning the Covenant to General Synod for final approval and 12 dioceses for it. See the list on our Background page. The No Anglican Covenant Coalition issued a news release commenting on the latest votes,

Today, 16 March 2012, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams announced his retirement. The No Anglican Covenant has issued a news release on this occasion, which you can find here.

The No Anglican Coalition issued a news release 13 March 2012 emphasizing its support for the Communion, but not for the Covenant.

Six more Church of England dioceses voted on the Covenant 10 March 2012. Four voted against it. (See our tally here.)

A slide presentation by Canon Tom O’Brien has been added to our Resources page arguing that the Covenant should not be adopted by his church. Another addition is an essay by the Revd. Dr. Andrew Davison questioning the concept of “covenant” in the proposed Anglican document.

Two new entries have been made to our Resources page, one containing videos pointing out problems with the Covenant, and on questioning the Anglican history asserted by the Covenant. The entries can be found here and here, respectively.

The No Anglican Covenant Coalition has added another three eminent members to its list of patrons. The announcement comes in a 6 March 2012 news release.