Anglican Communion News Service

The Tenth Meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) will take place in Panama beginning October 10 and running through to October 20. The meeting theme is Witnessing as Anglicans in the Third Millennium. The work of the Council will be fourfold:

1. Looking to the future in worship;
2. Looking to the future in ministry;
3. Looking to the future in relating to society;
4. Looking to the future in communicating our beliefs.

The Most Revd and Rt Hon George Carey, the103rd Archbishop of Canterbury, is the President of the ACC and will be on hand, with the Revd Canon John L Peterson, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, for the meeting which brings together people from the 36 Provinces of the Anglican Communion worldwide. Each member church appoints delegates including lay people, the clergy and bishops. The Chairman of the ACC is from the Church of England, Revd Canon Colin Craston, and the Vice Chairman is from the Church of the Province of Tanzania, the Rt Revd Simon Chiwanga, Bishop of Mpwapwa. Hosting the meeting will be the Bishop of Panama, the Rt Revd Clarence Hayes and members of his staff. Panama has been busy preparing for this meeting and especially for a special Mass which will be held on October 13 at 9am at which the Archbishop of Canterbury will preach the sermon.

A communications team of people from around the Communion will help facilitate the meeting. For many this will be the first meeting as delegates to the ACC. The Council meets every two to three years and looks at issues facing the church and the world and seeks ways to address the same.

No trip to Panama would be complete without a visit to the Panama Canal and that is planned by the delegates during the meeting and also various delegates will visit churches around the diocese on the final Sunday. It is the hope of Canon Peterson that this meeting will help set the direction for the work and witness of Anglicans in the next millennium. Among the projects that will be presented to the delegates will be a proposal from the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East about a millennium project in Bethlehem and news of the expansion of the communications work. There will also be hearings during the Council on the themes of human sexuality and Islam.

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Related News Entries

• ACC: Anglicans Set Millennium Theme (April 29, 1996)