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Dear Friends,
As I write, the apparently highly contentious Lambeth Conference of bishops from around the
world-wide Anglican Communion is just about to start; by the time you read this it should be
clearer what the mind of the great majority of our Communion is on certain key subjects.
But it is not just our relations with overseas Churches that may be affected, but also relationships
within the Church of England itself.
It has been very heartening to hear three overseas bishops approached at random by a journalist
all voicing strong support for the Archbishop of Canterbury (who tends to get a rather bad press
in this country, but really does not deserve it), and our own Bishop has reminded us that the
original Lambeth Conference was born out of controversy and that most of the subsequent ones
have followed suit. But that is, in a way, what they are for - to provide a periodic forum
for debate in an immensely varied group of Churches which has no unifying power structure, only
bonds of history and Christian fellowship.
Bishop Christopher (Bishop of Guildford) wrote to his clergy: "Bishop Ian and I now go
to the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury and will there until the end of the month. We
shall be in retreat, prayer, quiet discussion, probable argument and, certainly, debate.
You will see much of the 'media circus' surrounding the Conference. The heart of the Conference
will however largely be invisible: our prayer and group discussion together based on bible
study. I am deeply sorry that some major Provinces of the Anglican Communion will apparently
be hardly present through their bishops. I respect the decisions of such bishops but I
think they are wrong in deciding not to come. Where there is disagreement between brothers
and sisters (there will be, of course, a number of women bishops at the Conference) we need
to meet, pray and listen to each other. I am, therefore, very pleased that a number of
the bishops who attended the Jerusalem Pilgrimage organised by GAFCON (Global Anglican Future
Conference) will also be present at Lambeth. Their theme in Jerusalem and Jordan was Jesus
Christ the Way, the Truth and the Life. As the Archbishop of Canterbury has already said
publicly, the conviction of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Lord and God and of the absolute
imperative of evangelism are not in dispute in the common life of the Communion. I do
not doubt that the Lambeth Conference will be able to sincerely affirm and endorse these central
tenets of orthodoxy as well as listening to sharply differing convictions on how Christians
should respond to contemporary issues of sexual orientation and practice in contrasting world
cultures."
We have been praying for the Conference for some weeks, and I know that an immense amount of
work has gone into organising it and that there are also many `fringe` activities organised
by outside groups in order to support or lobby the bishops. They will certainly not forget
the experience !
It has been said that our significance in the world family of churches lies not in our size
or our theological stance, but in our ability to be a `bridge` between others.
Please continue to pray for the future of that `bridge`, for the worldwide Anglican
Communion.
William Lang.
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