Against the background that a sizeable percentage of the bishops represented at the Global Anglican Future Conference are not at Lambeth 2008, the question remains, will whatever is achieved at be too little too late? Or will Lambeth 2008 succeed where Lambeth 1998 failed. Will Rowan Williams avert the seemingly looming fate of being the Primate who presided over the disintegration of the Anglican Communion? Or will he be remembered as the one who pulled the Communion back from the brink?
By the time you read this, Lambeth Conference 2008, the once-a-decade gathering of Anglican Bishops from across the globe would have entered its fifth day in the beautiful ambience of the University of Kent in Canterbury.
Depending on what time of day you are reading, this assortment of clergy men and their from diverse climes would have had or are about to have breakfast, a drive in coaches to the Canterbury Cathedral for the official Lambeth Conference Service; returned from the service just in time for lunch; spend a free afternoon followed by a conference session during which they are introduced to the programme of the conference as put together by the so-called Design Group; have their evening meal and relax at a concert to be given by the Korean Choir.
The atmosphere would have been largely calm and tension-free on the surface. But underlining this would be the nagging question of the effect that recent events in the communion might have on the future of Anglicanism. And that would simply be euphemism for the effect of GAFCON on the Anglican Church and, I daresay, the Church in general.
The calmness, however, though a deliberate design of the chief host of the conference, might not necessarily be a put-on. This writer recognises the place of the hand of God on matters such as this when he is given the place of primacy that rightly belongs to Him. And irrespective of anyone’s perception of the Most Rev Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the Anglican Church, he is a deeply spiritual man, who seems to have put together his first Lambeth Conference with absolutely no personal agenda. He comes across as totally and absolutely depending on the Holy Spirit to speak clearly and unequivocally on the key issues – and not just to him, but to as many of his colleagues as He might chose. These much are discernible from the structuring and programme of the conference, as well as, the rhetoric of the man.
In a video message he sent across the Anglican commonwealth in April, the archbishop revealed his heart and his expectation of the conference which opened on Thursday, the bishops having arrived the day before.
“What I would really most like to see in this year’s Lambeth Conference”, he said, “is the sense that this is essentially a spiritual encounter. A time when people are encountering God as they encounter one another, a time when people will feel that their life of prayer and witness is being deepened and their resources are being stretched. Not a time when we are being besieged by problems that need to be solved and statements that need to be finalised, but a time when people feel that they are growing in their ministry. And for that to happen once again, we are going to need the prayers and the support of so many people around the world.”
He continued: “And that is why I have encouraged people across the Communion to prepare for the Lambeth Conference not only by praying for Bishops as they gather but also by sharing some of the material that has been provided for Bible study at the Conference - sharing in reflection on St John’s Gospel - so that Bishops and their people and their clergy will in the Gospel that will lay the foundations for what we hope to achieve at the Lambeth Conference. So please pray for the Conference and please share in that process of preparation, that reflection of God’s word in the Gospel of John that will open up to us the horizons that we need in order to be better Bishops for the sake of a better Church.” months ahead be going through the same kinds of processes of thinking and praying around St John’s.
All of these explain the structure of the Conference, made up of many small group meetings or “indaba” which in the words of the archbishop, are “groups where in traditional African culture, people get together to sort out the problems that affect them all, where everyone has a voice and where there is an attempt to find a common mind or a common story that everyone is able to tell when they go away from it. This is how we approached it. This is what we heard. This is where we arrived as we prayed and thought and talked together.”
It also explains why between Thursday and Sunday, the bishops would have spent considerable time at retreats praying and worshipping and generally just seeking the face of God for direction. Of course, in spite of Dr Rowan’s position that “Lambeth” is not a legislature, the Conference won’t be shying away from taking on the key issues, namely the threatened split of the Anglican Church which GAFCON forebode.
In the same April video, which predated GAFCON, he said: “At the heart of the whole Anglican Communion is relationship. We have never been a body that is bound together by firm and precise rules and that is often, as it is at the moment, a matter of some real concern and some confusion in our life as a communion. We don’t want at the Lambeth Conference to be creating a lot of new rules but we do obviously need to strengthen our relationships and we need to put those relationships on another footing, slightly firmer footing, where we have promised to one another that this is how we will conduct our life together. And it is in that light that at this year we are discussing together the proposal for what we are calling a covenant between the Anglican Churches of the world. A covenant. A relationship of promise. We undertake that this is how we will relate to one another; that when these problems occur, that this is how we will handle them together, that this is how advice will be given and shared and that this is how decisions and discernment can be taken forward.”
Emphasising the crucial role of a covenant within the Communion and therefore how it is arrived at, the Archbishop continued: “That is a very a big part of what we will be looking at this year but it is not everything because no covenant, no arrangement of that sort is worth the paper it is written on if it doesn’t grow out of the relationships that are built as people pray together and share their lives together over tow and a half weeks. And to try and underline, we have also decided that this year we are going to begin the Lambeth Conference with a couple of days of retreat, of quiet prayer and reflection. There will be addresses. There will be a lot of open space and open time where people can just be alone with God, to think deeply about what they want from the conference and perhaps have the opportunity to talk quietly with one of two others about their hopes and fears.”
The journey to a covenant would therefore take the bishops through such routes as reflecting on themes like: God's Mission and the Bishop's discipleship; Listening to God and each other; Celebrating Common Ground; Proclaiming the Good News; and Transforming Society. Other themes are: Discerning our shared calling; Safeguarding Creation; Engaging with a Multi-Faith World; Equal in God's sight; Living under scripture; and Listening to God and each other.
Against the background that a sizeable percentage of the bishops represented at the Global Anglican Future Conference are not at Lambeth 2008, the question remains, will whatever is achieved at be too little too late? Or will Lambeth 2008 succeed where Lambeth 1998 failed. Will Rowan Williams avert the seemingly looming fate of being the Primate who presided over the disintegration of the Anglican Communion? Or will he be remembered as the one who pulled the Communion back from the brink? We shall examine all the ramifications as this serial progress next week.
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