World Anglicanism is such a diverse and scattered community that it is often difficult to see how decisions are made and indeed if they are made. The variety of cultural contexts within which such judgements occur makes the task of elucidating the jurisdictional and decision-making fabric of this far-flung community all the more difficult. This is compounded by the fact that the decision-making details actual differ significantly within the various parts of Anglicanism, and those differences often arise out of the different cultural and legal contexts in which Anglicans have had to find their way. However, in general terms Anglicanism has shown a distinct conciliarist tendency in the way in which decisions and jurisdiction have emerged. In many ways we come here to one of the touchstone issues in Anglicanism which marks it out from some other Christian traditions. While holding to a ministerial order of bishops, priests and deacons inherited from early Christianity, Anglicans have fairly consistently developed patterns of decision-making which involve the whole church community. Such a principle obviously implies a notion of representativeness where those decisions are related to more than immediately local matters.

The notion of representation arises because of size and distance. The community cannot all gather together. Furthermore the organisational structures we are concerned with here are not the only ways by which the Anglican community sustains its life. These structures provide for a disciplined ministry of word and sacrament in the church.