We come now to the central part of this book. What kind of house was built and is being built on the foundations which we have just described? Is it gothic in shape, or perhaps English perpendicular, or, like St Albans Abbey in England, a bit of a mixture, as bits have been added on from time to time? Or is it the case that an architectural image is really not adequate to characterise this religious tradition as it sorties out into the third millennium? The reality is that this is a communion of people who are working out the terms of their Anglicanism in quite different ways.

The practices described here are those of a church tradition committed to the engagement of the faithful with their neighbours. That witness is set in the particular local context, in the concrete activities of living. It is also at the same time a life in the presence of God in Christ. The practices are thus practices of the mission of God.

There is a vast array of particular practices among Anglicans worldwide. The following are chosen because they are generally what are practised by most: they are the public element of the tradition. They are also those which occupy the attentions of worldwide Anglicans and emerge in relations between provinces. Inevitably this means they are more focused on the judicature of the church and the ministerial orders. That focus is unavoidable because of the role they play in the tradition.