The 2018 G20 Interfaith Forum took place 26–28 September 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was the fifth annual event in a series of G20 interfaith fora held to coincide with the meetings of the international Group of Twenty Economic Summit. This year's G20 Summit will take place in Buenos Aires, from 30 November to 1 December. Previous interfaith fora have been held in Gold Coast, Australia (2014), Istanbul, Turkey (2015), Beijing, China (2016) and Potsdam, Germany (2017).

The Charity Commission for England and Wales published an updated list of the questions to be included in the 2018 Annual Return for registered charities. The trustees of charities excepted from registration with the Commission – which include a considerable number of church congregations – are not required to submit an annual return; but an increasing number find that they must do so because when an excepted charity's annual income exceeds £100,000 it loses its excepted status. The previously expressed intention to require every charity trustee to provide an e-mail address has been abandoned; instead, the Commission intends to ask all trustees either to supply an e-mail address or to confirm that they do not have one – which looks very like a welcome climbdown. The Commission's on-line Annual Return Service opened for submissions on 20 August.

This report covers the groups of sessions held in February 2018 and July 2018. Both meetings again saw significant amounts of legislative business, with a number of items giving effect to proposals emerging from the simplification strand of the Archbishops’ Council's ‘Renewal and Reform’ programme or directed in other respects at simplifying or streamlining the Church's substantial body of statute law. Indeed, such has been the level of legislative activity over the last two years that in the course of 2018 no fewer than nine Measures have been enacted – the highest number in a single year since the Church acquired the ability to make Measures having the force and effect of an Act of Parliament under the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919.

The General Assembly met in Edinburgh from 19 to 25 May, with the Rt Revd Susan Brown BD DipMin, Chaplain in Ordinary and Minister of Dornoch in the Presbytery of Sutherland, installed as Moderator. Her appointment as Moderator fell on the fiftieth anniversary of Act XXV 1968 permitting the ordination of women to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament. This year's Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly was the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry.

The Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc.) Bill, originally introduced by Tim Loughton MP as a private Member's bill in the Commons, received Royal Assent on 26 March and came into force two months after it was passed. Section 1 empowers the Secretary of State to amend by regulations the Marriage Act 1949 to provide for a central register of marriages in England and Wales ‘which is accessible in electronic form’. Section 2 requires the Secretary of State to amend the Civil Partnership Act 2004 so that opposite-sex couples become eligible to form a civil partnership in England and Wales – and the amending regulations must be in force no later than 31 December 2019. Section 3 requires the Secretary of State to report on whether the law should be changed to allow the registration of pregnancy losses which cannot be registered as stillbirths under the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 and section 4 requires the Secretary of State to make arrangements for the preparation of a report on whether, and if so how, the law should be changed to enable or require coroners to investigate stillbirths.

The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd John Davies, reminded members that the Church was still addressing challenges and implementing radical changes following the Harries Review in 2012. He reflected that the Church in Wales is planning to celebrate its centenary in 2020 by ‘recognising concrete steps, solid progress and commitment to our core purpose in which everyone has a part to play’. The archbishop went on to remind members that a year ago the Governing Body committed itself to putting evangelism at the heart of the Church, stating that we had more than 1,200 local church buildings in regular use and that they must be places where newcomers and inquirers from communities feel welcome. He emphasised that the Church in Wales is not a private membership organisation existing to provide comfortably familiar services to its members. Nourishing and accessible worship and teaching in a variety of styles and forms must be offered to all who seek it.

This year's General Synod, the first meeting of the triennium, was held in the now familiar venue of a hotel in Armagh City. The Synod considered Bills relating to the Book of Common Prayer, safeguarding trust issues, the governance of St Fin Barre's Cathedral, temporary suspension of episcopal electoral colleges and General Synod membership. During the meeting of Synod a commentary on the Constitution of the Church of Ireland was launched.

The General Synod met at St Paul's and St George's Church in Edinburgh from 7 to 9 June. It was the first General Synod at which the new Primus, the Most Revd Mark Strange, presided. In his charge to Synod, he preached on the love of God and the meaning of ‘loving your neighbour as yourself’. The mission of the Church was about revealing God's love and making life better for all, not just for church members.