The Anglican Communion’s Director for Communications, Adrian Butcher, is stepping down after three years. Adrian, who worked for BBC News for 25 years before coming to the Anglican Communion Office (ACO), took up the post just before the last meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC-16) in Zambia. He will leave in May after ACC-17 in Hong Kong.

“It’s been an interesting and challenging time and I believe considerable progress has been made,” he said.

“We have refreshed the ACO website, introduced weekly news in French, Spanish and Portuguese, dramatically increased our video and blog output and beefed up our social media presence although there is always more to do.

“I have been fortunate to have a talented and highly committed team and I am very proud of the work they have done. For example, our daily news service, ACNS, has gone from strength to strength in spite of the challenges of gathering news from around the world.

Adrian also launched a 12-month internship programme, which is now in its second year. Under the scheme, interns from across the Communion have the opportunity of spending a year working and training with the communications team.

“It has been a memorable three years,” Adrian continued. “I have had the privilege of attending some extraordinary events and have met many wonderful people all over the world. But I feel the time has come for me to move on to fresh opportunities.”