Community of the Sisters of the Church

The Community of the Sisters of the Church is a religious order of women in various Anglican provinces who live the vowed life of poverty, chastity and obedience, founded in Kilburn, northwest London, by Mother Emily Ayckbowm, who had created the Church Extension Association in 1864 and became the order's first novice in 1870. As of 2012 the community counted 105 sisters living communally, supported by a network of international associates, across four provinces in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the Solomon Islands. Under the patronage of St Michael and All Angels, the sisters engage in parish ministry, retreat work and counseling, and operate Tenaru, the only centre in the Solomon Islands for abused women and children, having also founded schools and orphanages throughout England in the late nineteenth century.