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Who are the Church Commissioners?

 

Who are the Church Commissioners?

• the Archbishops of Canterbury and York;

• three Church Estates Commissioners, who represent the Church Commissioners in General Synod and (Second Commissioner) in Parliament;

• eleven people elected from General Synod: four bishops, three clergy, four lay people;

• two deans or provosts;

• nine people who are appointed by the Crown and the archbishops;

• six ex-officio members: the Prime Minister, the Lord President of the Council, the Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Speakers of both Houses of Parliament.

 

History that spans three centuries

The mission of the Church Commissioners – to support the Church of England's ministry, particularly in areas of need and opportunity – derives from its two founding bodies: Queen Anne’s Bounty and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The two bodies joined in 1948 to form the Church Commissioners.

Queen Anne’s Bounty was a charity founded in 1704 to supplement the incomes of poor clergy and improve their housing. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners were endowed by Parliament with some of the estates belonging to bishops and cathedral chapters and charged with using the income to fund the extension of the Church’s ministry into new urban areas.