Anglican Communion News Service

Decision-makers met last week to continue their planning for progress plans for the Lambeth Conference 2008.

Chairman of the Lambeth Conference Design Group, The Most Revd Ellison Pogo, OBE 

Photo Credit: ACNS

The conference ‘Design Group’, appointed by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spent five days from April 16 to 20 working on looking the conference structures, purposes, issues and programme.

This international group is chaired by the Archbishop of Melanesia, Sir Ellison Pogo.

He said:

“We feel excited as we prepare through prayer and meditation on the time the bishops will spend together in July 2008.

“Perhaps most important will be the many opportunities for encounter, fellowship and conversation that gathering provides.”

He has written on behalf of the group to all Anglican Communion bishops, informing them of plans so far and asking them to pray.

The purpose of the Lambeth Conference 2008 is to enable bishops to discern and share their Anglican identity and become better equipped as leaders in God’s mission.

Archbishop Ellison said:

“We hope that at the conference, bishops will be refreshed, gain deeper knowledge of each other, become more aware of the resources God has given them to meet missionary challenges around the world, continue to address the internal conflicts of recent years, discover a new level of trust and have greater understanding of the special contribution Anglicanism can make to the Church and the world.”

The Lambeth Conference in 2008 will be different: it will not resemble a parliamentary debating chamber with a string of resolutions but aim to provide time and space for spiritual reflection, learning, sharing and discerning.

Amongst the topics it will address are the: Millennium Development Goals, HIV/Aids, Ethical/Green living, Anglican identity and covenant, The Listening Process and relationships with people of other Faiths. A fuller programme will be available on the web site www.lambethconference.org in the near future.

Ends

Notes for editors:

Members of the Design Group are:

• The Most Revd Sir Ellison Pogo, KBE, Archbishop of Melanesia & Bishop of Central Melanesia, Church of Melanesia
• The Most Revd Ian Ernest, Archbishop of the Indian Ocean & Bishop of Mauritius, Province of the Indian Ocean
• The Rt Revd Colin Fletcher, OBE, Bishop of Dorchester, Canterbury, Church of England
  
• The Rt Revd Thabo Makgoba, Bishop of Grahamstown, CPSA
  
• The Rt Revd Miguel Tamayo , Bishop of Uruguay, Province of the Southern Cone, Interim Bishop of Cuba
  
• The Rt Revd James Tengatenga, Bishop of Southern Malawi, Province of Central Africa
  
• The Revd Dr Ian Douglas, Professor of World Mission and Global Christianity at the Episcopal Divinity School in Masachussets, USA
  
• Ms Fung-Yi Wong , a lawyer from the province of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui

• The Lambeth Conference 2008 will take place on the campus of the University of Kent in Canterbury, from July 16 to August 4, 2008.
  
• It will be preceded by the opportunity for bishops and spouses to spend a week-end enjoying the hospitality of churches in Great Britain and Ireland
  
• The Anglican Communion is made up of 44 member provinces, of which the host province for next year’s conference, Canterbury, is one.
  
• Bishops’ spouses convene for a separate but parallel gathering at the same time as the Lambeth Conference. This will be convened by Jane Williams.
  
• For more information, visit the web site www.lambethconference.org or contact the ACO director of communications, Canon Jim Rosenthal, on 020 7313 3909.