Anglican Communion News Service - Digest News

Bishops from dioceses as far apart as Hong Kong, Jamaica and Toronto gathered last week to discuss the next steps of the Anglican Communion’s Continuing Indaba project.

The bishops had been asked to participate in the initial planning Pilot Conversation as part of the Continuing Indaba project that was launched in 2009 following a request by the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC-14) in Jamaica. Four of the five Pilots Conversations proper have been finalised and a fifth will be announced later in the year.

“The bishops were committed to ensuring that the Communion continues. As Anglicans we always believe in unity in diversity,” said Tanzanian Bishop John Simalenga, a lead facilitator for the project. All were clear that the consultation was not itself the Indaba, but rather that they were there to shape and guide future process.

Pilot Conversations will involve typically a mix of eight lay and ordained participants from three dioceses all visiting the other dioceses to learn first-hand the challenges and opportunities of those contexts. They will also engage in facilitated conversations on a whole range of topics that have the potential to cause disunity in the body of Christ.

The ultimate aim of these visits is to enrich local and global mission in all three participating dioceses.

The four Pilot Conversations so far agreed are taking place between the dioceses of:

• Hong Kong, Jamaica and Toronto;
• Delhi, Mumbai, New York and Derby;
• Western Tanganyika, Gloucester and El Camino Real; and
• Peru, Mexico and Southeast Florida.

Bishop Prakash Patole of Mumbai described the event as a “good experience”. “It was good to share and we became clear on Indaba and how it can assist our mission in India,” he said.

The bishops of Western Tanganyika, Gloucester and El Camino Real will be meeting later in the year.

ENDS

For more information on Continuing Indaba contact Phil Groves or Angharad Parry Jones on phil.groves@aco.org or angharad.parry.jones@aco.org. Also visit http://www.anglicancommunion.org/ministry/continuingindaba/

Notes to Editors

• Continuing Indaba is a project focusing on developing the relational bonds of affection in the Anglican Communion. Its aim is to make real a common bond of working in mission as equal partners in the Gospel. The use of the term ‘Indaba’ indicates a desire to use non-Western models of working and ‘continuing’ indicates an unfinished task.
• The Anglican Communion Office serves the Anglican Communion, comprising around 80 million members in 44 regional and national member churches around the globe in more than 160 countries. http://www.anglicancommunion.org/