Lambeth, Part 2

Rubrics Expanded continues its rare summer appearance with a series of articles on the Lambeth Conference. Last week we focused on the history of the Lambeth Conference; this week we take a look at the current conference.

Contention is nothing new to the church: ever since the disciples argued who would be the greatest, we’ve had difficulty playing nice. And it certainly is no stranger to Anglicanism; we were born out of conflict and have rarely had a moment’s peace since. Therefore, we should not be surprised that the Anglican Communion is once again strained by painful disagreements. Amid heated rhetoric, boycotts, and fears of schism, the majority of the world’s Anglican bishops have gathered in Canterbury for the once every decade Lambeth Conference. The Design Group, which has been planning the Lambeth Conference for the past four years, is hoping that a different kind of Lambeth Conference from previous years will help provide a much needed balm to the current crisis.

While Lambeth has no legislative power over the various provinces that comprise the Anglican Communion, previous conferences have passed resolutions articulating the opinions of a majority of bishops in the hope of influencing and leading the Church. Though non-binding, a number of these resolutions have become fodder by various factions as we attempt to sort through the difficult issues of interpretation of scripture, sexuality, leadership, and Anglican identity. The structure of this year’s Lambeth endeavors to shift the climate by providing an opportunity for study, reflection, and conversation. Titled ‘Equipping Bishops for Mission’, the conference aims to develop greater understanding and appreciation of our life together in the Anglican Communion, deepen trust, and highlight both the challenges and resources as the Church seeks to minister to a broken world.

To this end, there will be far fewer plenary sessions compared to previous years. Rather, the conference will begin with a three day retreat before moving into the more rigorous working sessions, termed ‘ordinary days’. The structure of the ordinary days will be split among small group Bible study, more expanded reflection groups called ‘Indaba’ groups, and self-selecting workshops and seminars, with optional ‘fringe’ events for evening entertainment. ‘Indaba’ is a SiZulu word meaning a small group that meets to ‘chew over’ important issues. Each day will focus on a different topic, with each Indaba group discussing the same issue; the self-selecting workshops are designed to delve deeper into aspects of the day’s topic. The topics the bishops will be wrestling with include biblical interpretation, Anglican identity and the role of bishops, the proposed covenant, evangelism and mission, gender and sexuality, HIV/AIDS, the Millennium Development Goals, among others.

Will this be sufficient to provide the much needed breathing space for the Communion? It is certainly a model that embraces the old Anglican pattern of ‘cuss and discuss’. However, the more radical conservatives have already met and thrown down the gauntlet with their proposal to establish a competing North American Anglican province separate from the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. A number of these primates and bishops have chosen to boycott the Lambeth Conference, thus diminishing the opportunity for healing. Time will only tell. The majority of bishops attending Lambeth, though, have gathered with the hope and expectation that, with God’s help, their time together will be a start.

Please keep the Church in your prayers. You can follow the events of Lambeth at www.lambethconference.org and www.episcopalchurch.org. You may also get some interesting commentary at www.anglicansonline.org and www.thinkinganglicans.org.