Anglican Communion and ecumenism

Anglican interest in ecumenical dialogue can be traced back to the time of the Reformation and dialogues with both Orthodox and Lutheran churches in the sixteenth century. In the nineteenth century, with the rise of the Oxford Movement, there arose greater concern for reunion of the churches of "Catholic confession". This desire to work towards full communion with other denominations led to the development of the Chicago–Lambeth Quadrilateral, approved by the Third Lambeth Conference of 1888. The four points (the sufficiency of scripture, as the "ultimate standard of faith", the historic creeds, the two dominical sacraments, and the historic episcopate) were stipulated as the basis for church unity, "a basis on which approach may be by God's blessing made towards Home Reunion".

Although they are not considered members, some non-Anglican bodies have entered into communion with the Anglican Communion as a whole or with its constituent member churches, such as the Old Catholic Church, the Lutheran Churches (including those within the Porvoo Communion, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada), as well as the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church.