Final preparations are underway for the 17th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council – ACC-17 – which begins this Sunday (28 April) in Hong Kong. Staff from the Anglican Communion Office in London are working alongside colleagues and volunteers from the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui – the Hong Kong Anglican Church – and with support from elsewhere in the Communion – to welcome around 115 ACC members from around the Communion to the week-long meeting, which begins on Sunday (28 April).

The ACC, one of the Anglican Communion’s four Instruments of Communion, includes archbishops, bishops, priests, and laity from 40 autonomous Churches. The ACC is the only Instrument that includes laity. They will meet from the 28 April until 5 May. Opening and closing services will take place in St John’s Cathedral.

Members of the ACC are appointed by their provinces to serve for three meetings of the ACC. The largest provinces are entitled to three members: a bishop, priest and lay person. Other provinces are entitled to two members: one ordained person (deacon, priest or bishop) and one lay person. In addition, five members of the ACC are elected from amongst the primates of the Anglican Communion; and the ACC can appoint “up to six additional Members in order to achieve balanced representation and to assist the work of the Council in achieving its Object.” This year, the ACC will also be joined by eight youth members from five regions across the Anglican Communion.

For the first time, a number of ACC events will be live streamed on the Anglican Communion’s YouTube Channel. These include opening and closing services, the Presidential Address by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the report by Secretary General Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon and two press conferences.

The agenda for the ACC-17 meeting can be found here.

The schedule for live streaming is:

Saturday 27 April, 5 pm HKT (9 am GMT)

Press Conference with 
Archbishop Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury and President of the ACC,
Archbishop Paul Kwong, Archbishop of Hong Kong (host) and Chair of the ACC,
Canon Margaret Swinson, Member of the Church of England and Vice Chair of the ACC, and
Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Secretary General of the ACC.

Sunday 28 April, 11.45 am HKT (3.45 am GMT)

Presidential Address by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

Monday 29 April, 11.00 am HKT (3.00 am GMT)

Report by the Secretary General, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon.

Sunday 28 April, 5 pm HKT (9 am GMT)

Official Opening of ACC-17 with a Eucharist at St John’s Cathedral
Presiding: Archbishop Paul Kwong; Preaching: Archbishop Justin Welby

Saturday 4 May, 5.30pm HKT (9.30 am GMT)

Press Conference with
Archbishop Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury and President of the ACC,
Archbishop Paul Kwong, Archbishop of Hong Kong (host) and Chair of the ACC,
and others

Sunday 5 May, 4 pm HKT (8 am GMT)

Official Close of ACC-17 with a Eucharist at St John’s Cathedral
Presiding: Archbishop Justin Welby; Preaching: Archbishop Paul Kwong

Recorded videos of the live streams will be available on the YouTube channel after the live stream for later playback.

The Anglican Communion News Service will be reporting throughout the ACC-17 meeting.

• Join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #ACC17HK.

First Posted on ACNS: April 26, 2019