My overall reflection on the Lambeth Conference, which is concluding as I write, is to affirm that the Anglican Communion is a unique global network of Christians serving Jesus Christ in a myriad of contexts.

 

Nearly 700 Bishops and Spouses gathered at Canterbury from 23rd July for an intensive two and a half weeks of prayer, Bible study and challenging discussions about matters as diverse as global warming, domestic violence, the Millennium Development Goals, Brain MacLaren’s inspired practise of evangelism and the Chief Rabbi’s analysis of Covenant in scripture and society.

 

After over 35 years of world wide Christian fellowship I have recognised for some time that significant members of the Anglican family have grown up and are more than ready to take full responsibility for God’s Mission in their spheres of influence. As we all know, the structures and rules, such as they are, of the family have been strained to breaking point during the rapid growth of the family and the increasing awareness of radically different theologies and cultural settings.

 

Over the next few months and years we will need to transform our haphazard and inadequate arrangements into a system which affirms a Communion of relationships and networks under the authority of God, benefitting from our hard-won Anglican tradition, while working with and through our differences. A great weight is being laid at present on the Covenant Design Group and the Windsor Continuation process, of which more in a future article.

 

Some of you will have heard me say at a recent Diocesan Synod that I approached this Lambeth Conference with limited enthusiasm. I have indeed missed my Ugandan friends yet have enjoyed wonderful fellowship with close colleagues from the Global South, not least from Singapore and Egypt, with women bishops and with many others who are praying and working in conditions of great poverty and danger.

 

I have also appreciated frank and respectful conversations with fellow bishops for example from the United States and Ireland many of whom do their theology from a different standpoint to me.

 

One of the consistent issues from DR Congo to Cuba, from Sri Lanka to Salonika is the challenge of making strong disciples of Jesus Christ. This is not only in clergy formation but especially in developing confident Christians in every walk of life. The joy of the Communion is that, united in the truth of Christ, we have the ability to suffer together, change the world together and proclaim the life-giving Gospel together. Of course, parts of the Anglican family remain poles apart on particular issues and may go on different paths for some time. Such painful disputes are common throughout Church history and will be recognised easily by those who live in extended families.

 

I believe our diocesan and parish links will go on from strength to strength and that meanwhile many of us will continue to work together for the continuation of a world-wide, generous and orthodox Anglican Communion.

 

You can read the Lambeth Indaba reflection paper which is a record of some of the conversations held by Bishops in groups designed to enable purposeful conversation in a way that allowed every Bishop to be heard. The link is to the document is http://www.lambethconference.org/reflections/document.cfm