Welby Says Lambeth Conference Will Focus on Unity and Outreach Over Division

Ahead of the 15th Lambeth Conference this summer, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is seeking to unite the Anglican Communion around shared expressions of faith and social engagement, rather than focusing on debates over human sexuality that have divided bishops at past conferences, according to Episcopal News Service.

At a press conference with conference organizers on June 22, Welby said the gathering’s aim is to encourage Anglicans around the world to look outward. He said the church should express its mission and discipleship through engagement with the challenges of the coming decades, especially for Anglicans in areas affected by climate fragility and political and other instability.

The Lambeth Conference, a gathering of bishops from across the Anglican Communion that has been held about every 10 years since 1867, is scheduled for July 26 to Aug. 8 at the University of Kent in Canterbury, Canterbury Cathedral, and Lambeth Palace in London. The conference is one of four Anglican instruments of communion, alongside the Primates Meeting, the Anglican Consultative Council, and the office of the archbishop of Canterbury. It was originally scheduled for 2020 but was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous conference was in 2008.

Bishops are expected to discuss themes including Christian unity and interfaith dialogue, evangelism, migration, the persecution of Christians, and the challenges of the climate crisis and a rapidly evolving tech-based global economy. The conference’s overarching theme is “God’s Church for God’s World,” and 1 Peter will be the focus of a Bible study series throughout the gathering, according to Janet Miles, head of communications for the Lambeth Conference Company.

As of June 22, organizers said, 658 bishops and 480 bishops’ spouses were registered to attend in person, and more were registering to take part virtually because of COVID-19 concerns and travel visa issues. All currently serving bishops in good standing in any province of the communion are invited, Bishop Tim Thornton, the archbishop of Canterbury’s adviser on the conference, said. Bishops’ spouses are also invited, except those in same-sex marriages, of which there are several in The Episcopal Church and other provinces. Four gay Episcopal bishops met with Welby in January to discuss this, but no changes have been announced. Welby said the decision was made because the 1998 Lambeth Conference issued a resolution stating that it does not recognize same-sex marriage. He acknowledged that many in the communion, not only bishops, consider that decision to have been wrong, and said he could not pretend otherwise given his role as a focus of unity.

Archbishop Josiah Idowu Fearon, secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, said in his remarks opening the press conference that the conference “does not have any legal authority, but it does have heavy and serious moral authority.” In May, the primates of the Anglican provinces of Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda announced in an open letter that they would boycott the conference, as they did in 2008, primarily over the ordination of gay bishops and the acceptance of same-sex marriage in The Episcopal Church and several other provinces. Welby said the primates’ invitation remains open. Thornton said about 300 bishops are from those three provinces.

Phil George, chief executive of the Lambeth Conference Company, said the conferences “are not cheap, but we’re not in it to make a profit. We’re in it to cover our costs.” Thornton could not give a total cost, since registration was still changing, but said his office was “currently projecting a tiny surplus.” He said the cost is a major burden in many provinces, and more than half of the currently registered bishops are attending for free on a full bursary.

Welby has planned for the bishops to issue “Lambeth Calls” rather than resolutions, as at previous conferences. Thornton’s office described these as short written statements of declarations, affirmations and common calls to the church and the world, intended to move the conference away from statements of doctrinal agreement and toward dialogue among autonomous provinces. Welby said the change reflects that the conference “is not a synod” and cannot resolve matters in a binding sense. While the bishops disagree on many things, he said, they can agree that Jesus is Lord. He prayed that the process would continue “the slow process of learning, first of all, to disagree well,” and, second, to recognize that although questions of human sexuality are of enormous significance, “the heart of being a Christian, is that we love Jesus Christ as God” (John 17:21).

Source: Read the original report