Anglican Conciliarism - The Church Meeting to Decide Together

This book is about how Anglicans can find each other around a common confession of faith and doctrine in a coherent way that is Biblical, apostolic, catholic and classically Anglican. Its premise is simple: Conciliar decision making (placing final ecclesiastical authority in church councils) has never been practiced at the international level of the Anglican Communion, where governance developed through “bonds of affection” while there was still a shared faith and doctrine. That consensus collapsed during the 20th Century, so that survival of the Anglican Communion is now in question. What would it look like if, at the international level, Anglicans were to make decisions together in the same conciliar way of decision-making that is found among the national Anglican Churches and their sub-jurisdictions? Such an extrapolation “From below” begins by examining the laws of various Anglican Churches to identify the common principles and practices of the “Church meeting to decide together.” 

Phil Ashey of Atlanta, Georgia

Phil Ashey grew up in a Christian home, his father a priest in the Episcopal Church and both his father and mother involved in Charismatic renewal and healing ministries within the Church. Phil gave his life to Christ in 1968 at St.James Episcopal Church in Newport Beach, California. In 1981 Phil married Julie Einarsson and they now have four children who have also given their lives to Christ. Phil leads the American Anglican Council (AAC), a missionary society devoted since 1996 to developing Biblically faithful leaders, equipping local congregations and their leaders to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission (Matthew 18:16- 20), and the renewal of Anglican Churches at every level within the Church. From 1987 to 2008 he served fulltime as a parish priest and church planter in congregations of all sizes in California, Virginia and Pittsburgh. In 2008 he joined the AAC, but he continues to serve as a pastor, preacher, teacher and discipler in local Anglican congregations and across North America. Before his ordination Phil was a Deputy District Attorney in Orange County, California. He completed his undergraduate degree at Stanford University, law degree at Loyola Law School (Los Angeles), his Master of Divinity at General Theological Seminary in New York, and received his LLM in Canon Law from Cardiff University (Wales).