Traditions
A

Tradition · Protestant

Anglican Communion

Including the Church of England

Followersabout 100 millioncontested scholarly estimate · 2025How countedEnglish Reformation1534The Act of Supremacy made Henry VIII supreme head of the Church in England. The worldwide Communion took shape much later.Read the historyCompare with another tradition

A worldwide family of churches descended from the Church of England.

Relationships with other traditions

How it took shape

Since then

Key timeline

View full timeline (6)
  1. 1534

    Act of Supremacy

    Henry VIII declared supreme head of the Church in England.

  2. 1549

    Book of Common Prayer

    Thomas Cranmer’s English liturgy.

  3. 1559

    Elizabethan Settlement

    Re-establishes the Church of England after the Catholic restoration under Mary I.

  4. 1867

    First Lambeth Conference

    Bishops from around the world meet at Lambeth; the Anglican Communion takes shape.

Classification
Anglican. Often classed as Protestant; many Anglicans describe their tradition as both catholic and reformed.
What this entry covers
A communion of churches. The 42 member churches of the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England. Some Anglican bodies outside the Communion (for example in GAFCON networks) are not covered by its figures.
English Reformation
1534. The Act of Supremacy made Henry VIII supreme head of the Church in England. The worldwide Communion took shape much later.

Relationships with other traditions

Reform1534–1559A gradual process

The English Reformation

Anglican CommunionCatholic Church

Reform: A movement to reform the Western church that, in the 16th century, produced churches independent of Rome.

The Act of Supremacy (1534) made Henry VIII supreme head of the Church in England. The first Book of Common Prayer (1549) and the Elizabethan Settlement (1559) gave the Church of England a reformed liturgy and doctrine while keeping bishops; the worldwide Anglican Communion formed much later.
4 sources
Later developments
Today as of October 2026

Separate, in formal dialogue

Not in communion; in formal dialogue since 1970.
Source

Agreement recordAgreement recordCompare Anglican Communion and Catholic Church

Communion1996

The Porvoo Communion

Anglican Communion (British and Irish Anglican churches)Lutheranism (Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches)

Communion: Churches agree to share communion, often only in some regions or between some member churches.

The Porvoo Declaration, signed in 1996 at Trondheim, Tallinn and Westminster Abbey, brought Anglican churches of Britain and Ireland and Lutheran churches of the Nordic and Baltic countries into the Porvoo Communion.
Source
Today as of October 2026

Varies by church or region

Communion between the Porvoo churches; other Anglican and Lutheran churches have their own, differing arrangements.
Source

Agreement recordAgreement recordCompare Anglican Communion and Lutheranism

Explained on other pages

Full timeline

  1. 597

    Mission to Canterbury

    Augustine of Canterbury arrives from Rome. The Church of England claims continuity with this earlier English church.

  2. 1534

    Act of Supremacy

    Henry VIII declared supreme head of the Church in England.

    Explained below: The English Reformation

  3. 1549

    Book of Common Prayer

    Thomas Cranmer’s English liturgy.

  4. 1559

    Elizabethan Settlement

    Re-establishes the Church of England after the Catholic restoration under Mary I.

  5. 1867

    First Lambeth Conference

    Bishops from around the world meet at Lambeth; the Anglican Communion takes shape.

  6. 1996

    Porvoo Declaration

    Anglican churches of Britain and Ireland and Lutheran churches of the Nordic and Baltic countries form the Porvoo Communion.

    Explained below: The Porvoo Communion

  • Scripture, creeds and sacraments

    Holds Scripture, the historic creeds, two dominical sacraments and the historic episcopate (the Lambeth Quadrilateral, 1888).
    Source

  • Breadth

    Encompasses Anglo-Catholic, evangelical and liberal traditions. The workbook’s “Catholic liturgy with Protestant theology” is a simplification.Not yet sourced

Positions used in comparisons

Short, sourced statements that the Atlas compares across traditions. Where a tradition has no single teaching authority, the record says whose statement it follows.

God
Faith in the Holy Trinity (Article I).
Source

Provisional: broadly supported, but awaiting fuller checking.

Thirty-nine Articles; their authority differs between provinces.

Creeds and councils
The creeds 'ought thoroughly to be received'; general councils 'may err'.
Source

Thirty-nine Articles (the US Episcopal revision omits Article XXI).

Scripture and authority
'Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation.'
Source

Thirty-nine Articles.

Sacraments and ordinances
Two sacraments ordained of Christ; five other rites 'commonly called sacraments'; infants are baptised.
Source

Thirty-nine Articles.

Varies Article XXVIII speaks of receiving Christ 'after an heavenly and spiritual manner'; Anglo-Catholic and evangelical Anglicans interpret Christ's presence very differently.

Church and ministry
Forty-two autonomous member churches led by bishops, joined in a communion.
2 sources
Mary and the saints
Article XXII calls the invocation of saints 'a fond thing'; Anglo-Catholic practice differs.
Source

Varies Practice ranges from evangelical rejection to Anglo-Catholic invocation of the saints.

Compare these positions with another tradition

  • Common prayer

    Worship follows authorised prayer books descended from the Book of Common Prayer, centred on the Eucharist and the daily office.
    Source

    The Book of Common Prayer (1549, 1559) is checked; present-day prayer books are not.

    Provisional: broadly supported, but awaiting fuller checking.

The follower figure

about 100 million contested scholarly estimate

What is counted
Members of churches affiliated to a world body
As of
estimate to 2025 from 2020 data
Reported by
David Goodhew (Durham), using the World Christian Database
Type
Estimate
Coverage
The Anglican Communion's 42 member churches. The Communion's own website gives no total ('tens of millions').
Do not add
Nominal membership is counted very differently between provinces.
This entry is
A communion of churches. The 42 member churches of the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England. Some Anglican bodies outside the Communion (for example in GAFCON networks) are not covered by its figures.
The Anglican Communion Office gives no total, describing 'tens of millions' of people; the historian David Goodhew estimates roughly 100 million, extrapolated from 2020 World Christian Database figures. Figures are contested.
Contested2 sources

Replaces the starting figure. Workbook: 85,000,000 (no source or date).

Figures from different traditions measure different things and must not be added together or ranked against each other.

About the image · Editorial placeholder

Editorial initial. The Anglican Communion has an official emblem (the compass rose), which is not reproduced here.

Editorial status

Editorial draft. Built from the starting workbook with editorial corrections and framing. It has not yet been checked against independent sources.

References

  • Workbook linkNot yet checked

    anglicancommunion.org

    Link supplied in the source workbook (“Christian Denominations”, row 21). It has not been checked to confirm that it supports every claim in that row.

Original workbook record

Imported unchanged from “Christian Denominations”, row 21. Values here are the starting dataset, not verified facts; where the Atlas differs, the reason is noted below.

Denomination / Tradition
Anglican Communion (Church of England)
Broader Tradition
Protestantism / Anglicanism
Date Established / Split
1534 AD
Origin / Location
Canterbury, England
Forming Event / Schism
English Reformation
Approx. Practitioners
85,000,000
Broke Away From
Roman Catholic Church
Primary Reason for Split / Core Doctrine
Act of Supremacy under King Henry VIII breaking with Rome; combines Catholic liturgy with Protestant/Reformed theology (Via Media).
Reference / Information Link
https://www.anglicancommunion.org

Editorial notes on this record

  • Denomination / Tradition: Row combines the Anglican Communion (from 1867) with the Church of England (separate from Rome from 1534).
  • Approx. Practitioners: 85 million has no source or date; counts of nominal Church of England members inflate such figures.
  • Forming Event / Schism: Primary event relabelled “English Reformation” (brief §7) rather than “Break with Rome”; 1534 is the Act of Supremacy.

Research sources for this entry

Every relationship, position and figure above cites these. Each links to the Atlas’s single source register, which shows what each source supports and whether it was read.