God's Church for God's World

Description

Convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2022, the Lambeth Conference was an international meeting of Anglican bishops. The conference discussed church and world affairs and the global mission of the Anglican Communion for the decade ahead. The Lambeth Conference 2022 Report God’s Church for God’s World offers a detailed record of the conference, and full outlines of the major addresses and departmental reports. It also presents the final wording of the Lambeth Calls and Statements.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian Church
• Administration

Informations

• Publié par: Hymns Ancient & Modern
• Date de parution: 25 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780334065524
• Langue: English

Extrait

God’s Church for God’s World
The Lambeth Conference Report, 2022
Edited by
Stephen Spencer






© The Anglican Consultative Council 2023
Published in 2023 by SCM Press
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
978-0-334-06551-7
Typeset by Regent Typesetting
Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd



Contents
Foreword by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Preface by Stephen Spencer
Contributors
Part 1 Listening Together – The Journey to Lambeth 2022
1. Introducing the Lambeth Conference
2. The Listening Phase
3. Bishops’ Conversations 2021
4. Spouses’ Global Conversations
Part 2 Walking Together – The Conference in Canterbury 2022
5. The Welcome
6. Some Facts and Figures About the Conference
7. Retreat
8. Opening Sermon in Canterbury Cathedral
9. Daily Worship
10. Spouses’ Programme
11. Ecumenical Guests
12. Bible Studies on 1 Peter
13. Seminars
14. The London Day and Queen’s Message

Keynote Addresses:
15. God’s World – Archbishop Justin’s First Keynote Address
16. God’s Church – Archbishop Justin’s Second Keynote Address
17. How to be God’s Church for God’s World? Archbishop Justin’s Third Keynote Address

Plenary Addresses:
18. Mission and Evangelism
19. Safe Church
20. Anglican Identity
21. Peace and Reconciliation
22. Christian Unity
23. Hospitality and Generosity (Inter Faith)
24. Discipleship
25. The Decade Ahead
26. Closing Sermon
Part 3 Witnessing Together – The Lambeth Calls
27. Introducing the Lambeth Calls
28. Lambeth Call 1 – Discipleship
29. Lambeth Call 2 – The Environment and Sustainable Development
30. Lambeth Call 3 – Anglican Identity
31. Lambeth Call 4 – Safe Church
32. Lambeth Call 5 – Science and Faith
33. Lambeth Call 6 – Human Dignity
34. Lambeth Call 7 – Christian Unity
35. Lambeth Call 8 – Mission and Evangelism
36. Lambeth Call 9 – Inter Faith
37. Lambeth Call 10 – Reconciliation
38. The Statements of Support
39. Looking Ahead to Phase 3

Afterword by Phil George, Chief Executive of the Lambeth Conference Company



Foreword
The Archbishop of Canterbury
The Lambeth Conference has been and continues to be a wonderful opportunity to understand what it means to be God’s Church for God’s World. The delay in the conference, from 2020 to 2022, allowed bishops and spouses to begin to grapple with this question in Phase 1, which the conference (Phase 2) itself built on in all kinds of ways. This period following the conference, Phase 3, allows all of this to continue across the Churches of the Anglican Communion.
Looking back at global and national events over the last two years it is clear there was a window of opportunity, in July and August last year, for bishops and spouses to travel in large numbers to Canterbury, enjoy the hospitality of Canterbury Cathedral and the University of Kent, and then return home safely afterwards. The Covid-19 pandemic, which had dominated our lives for the last two years, was in retreat and global travel had become possible once again.
Meanwhile, the Lambeth Conference Company, working from its base at the Anglican Communion Office in London and guided by the Design Group chaired by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Southern Africa and supported by a Working Group chaired by Bishop Emma Ineson of the Church of England, had put in place meticulous and comprehensive plans for the smooth running of the conference, from recruiting those who gave bishops and spouses a friendly welcome at the airport to those who arranged connections, accommodation, meals and all manner of events in and around the conference. Through great skill and commitment these careful preparations came together, and 635 bishops, 464 spouses, 45 ecumenical guests, 177 volunteers, 356 staff and event crew, and 42 interpreters assembled for the once-in-a-decade event. I thank God profoundly for all of this.
Lambeth 2022 was a high-risk conference. The cost was significant and many individuals and bodies had contributed generously towards this. There was the risk that not enough bishops and spouses would come to make it credible. The whole event could so easily have been disrupted or cancelled by the Covid pandemic. But the conference took place as planned from start to finish. Many of those who attended have communicated their appreciation for all that happened, not least for the forging and renewing of friendships across provinces and regions. It has energised the Anglican Communion in an extraordinary way.
There were many who came to Canterbury with foreboding about divisions within the Anglican Communion, especially over same-sex marriage. These divisions found expression at certain points in the conference with some, for example, choosing to forgo communion in the opening and closing services in the Cathedral. This was sad but also simply reflected divided opinion across the Communion. However, the listening and speaking that took place within the conference hall allowed bishops to come to acknowledge one another’s views. A particular point of tension was on the Tuesday afternoon over the Human Dignity Call but, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, I was able to find the words to show that no one could or would be excluded from the room. I was gratified by the warm reception of my statement and deeply grateful that we were able to move on to the rest of the business of the conference with open ears, hearts and minds. I thank God for this.
I also thank God for the spouses’ programme within the conference. In my view this was the most effective and maybe the most transformative part of the conference in terms of building relationships and spiritual confidence. It went superbly and I am delighted that there is now follow-up including the setting up of an Anglican Communion Spouses’ Network.
The 2022 Conference broke new ground with the Calls process, replacing the passing of resolutions at earlier conferences. I must confess that I had questions about it beforehand, and there were some teething problems with gathering feedback at the conference, but having seen the way the discussions took place over the week as a whole I am now completely committed to it as a structure that needs to be continued. I look forward to the revised Calls being disseminated across the Anglican Communion and their specific requests being received and implemented by provinces, dioceses, parishes, the Anglican Consultative Council and by its commissions and networks and other agencies across the world. Some have commented that with the launch of this process we may have taken a major step forward in our ecclesiology, which will offer material for much reflection as we move towards visible, organic unity, based on subsidiarity and solidarity.
I am very grateful to Stephen Spencer of the Anglican Communion Office and the other contributors for producing this report. It offers an opportunity to read and reflect on the insights of bishops in the pre-conference conversations; it provides access to the immense wisdom that was shared by the invited speakers at the conference; and it allows us to relive and rejoice again in the movement of God’s Spirit among bishops and spouses over those 12 days in Canterbury. Also, it allows me once more to express my huge appreciation and gratitude to all those who helped to turn the dream of having another Lambeth Conference into the rich reality of the actual event last summer.
I now look forward to the next phase of the Lambeth journey, Phase 3, in which bishops and the wider church are invited to be caught up, once more, in the adventure of being God’s Church for God’s World.
+ Justin Cantuar



Preface
Stephen Spencer
The first anniversary of the 2022 Lambeth Conference is a good moment to look back on the whole journey, from the pre-conference phase through to the conference itself, and forward to what lies ahead. The publication of this report offers an opportunity to do this, providing windows on to the journey, allowing reflection on what it all means and, especially, on what it reveals of the way God is leading the Churches of the Anglican Communion forward in the mission of Christ.
This report is to be read in conjunction with two other publications. The first is Celebrating our Journey , the magazine-type overview of what happened each day of the conference, with many evocative photographs and links to online recordings of the services and plenary sessions. This was produced by Janet Miles of the Lambeth Conference Company and published online in February 2023. 1 The second is Now You Are God’s People , a collection of the Bible studies and expositions of 1 Peter drawn from the conference and including the retreat addresses. Edited by Justin