Anglican ordained ministry consists of three orders: deacon, priest, and bishop. The Thirty-Nine Articles (Article XXXVI) and the Ordinal of the Book of Common Prayer (1662) specify ordination rites for each order, presupposing episcopal ordination as the standard. Anglo-Catholic Anglicanism understands the priesthood as a sacramental office with a distinct identity from the laity, participating in the priesthood of Christ; evangelical Anglicanism emphasizes the functional aspects of preaching and pastoral leadership.

The ordination of women has been one of the most significant recent controversies. The Episcopal Church (TEC) began ordaining women as priests in 1976 and as bishops in 1989; the Church of England introduced women priests in 1994 and women bishops in 2015. Many provinces of the Global Anglican Communion now ordain women to all three orders, while a minority of theologically conservative provinces (and the Traditional Anglican Communion) restrict ordination to men. This disagreement is a major source of tension within the Anglican Communion.