In 1994, a Commission was established by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York 'to review the machinery for central policy and resource direction in the Church of England, and to make recommendations for improving its effectiveness in supporting the ministry and mission of the Church to the nation as a whole'. The following year, the Commission, chaired by the Rt Revd Michael Turnbull, the then Bishop of Durham, produced a report entitled Working Together as One Body '.

The need for change

The Commission looked at the constituent parts of the central structures of the Church of England - essentially the Offices of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the House of Bishops, the General Synod and its Boards and Councils, the Central Board of Finance, the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board. Its conclusion was that more coherence and coordination was needed in order to give the Church an enhanced capacity to consider policy and resource issues together.

The Archbishops' Council

Amongst the Commission's recommendations was the establishment of a new Council to provide a focus for leadership and executive responsibility and a forum for strategic thinking and planning. Within an overall vision for the Church set by the House of Bishops, the Council would propose an ordering of priorities in consultation with the House of Bishops and the General Synod and take an overview of the Church's financial needs and resources. Not all of the details of the Turnbull model were accepted, but the General Synod endorsed the main thrust and agreed to the creation of the Archbishops' Council. It came into being at the beginning of 1999 under the terms of the National Institutions Measure 1998.