The Church of England's (CofE) General Synod voted on Wednesday to "recognize and affirm" a breakaway Anglican body in North America, but stopped short of offering the group full communion with the mother church.

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), who broke away from the mainline Episcopal Church (TEC) in 2009 over issues of gay and women clergy, gained recognition by the CofE's Syond by a majority vote of 240 after nearly three hours of debate on the issue.

The vote also affirmed the CofE's desire to recognize "the distress caused by recent divisions within the Anglican churches of the United States of America and Canada."

The amendment was a toned down version of the ACNA's original motion, which had asked the CofE to express desire to "be in communion" with the North American church.

Commenting on the original motion, the Bishop of Bristol, the Rt. Rev. Mike Hill, said the measure would "commit the Church of England to too much too soon," and noted that the "anger and bitterness in the schism within TEC…should invite caution from [the CofE] over formally taking sides however much our sympathies may be with one side or the other."

Members of the ACNA, who had not expected to be recognized by the Anglican Communion for another five years, were pleased by the decision.

"We are deeply thankful that we were given the opportunity to tell the Synod about our church, and our vision for reaching North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ. This chance to speak directly to our Anglican family was very rewarding. We look forward to working with the friends we made and reaching out to others in the years ahead," Bishop Donald Harvey told the synod.

Founded in June 2009, the ACNA claims a membership of about 100,000 Anglicans in 800 congregations. The group's mission statement is to reach North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ.