The Church of England’s recent decision to move its model of mission from one of dependency to mutuality has been warmly welcomed by the Anglican Communion’s Continuing Indaba team.
The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Michael Perham, the Bishop of El Camino Real, the Rt Revd Mary Gray-Reeves and the Bishop of Western Tanganyika, the Rt Revd Sadock Makaya, have written to the Archbishop of Canterbury reflecting on their Indaba process, stressing the importance of the project and the hope that it will be expanded within the Anglican Communion.
An initiative to enable mission by strengthening relationship between parishes, dioceses and Provinces has been celebrated by participants and evaluators as “an important tool” and “wonderful gift” for the Anglican Communion.
Anglicans from the Diocese of Toronto who participated in the Anglican Communion’s one-year indaba process believe it can have a transforming effect upon the church if it is used more broadly.
An informal link that has existed for the past few years has now been made official after the Diocese of Llandaff was “twinned” with the Church of Bangladesh.
Ghanaian bishop Festus Yeboah-Asuamah told a recent meeting of Ghanaian theologians that while the challenges facing the Communion were “complex”, and that the answers may yet be “far away” there was hope in unity. Speaking at the latest Continuing Indaba ‘hub’ meeting, Bishop Festus said, “There is hope! We should try as much as possible to keep the Anglican Communion together – we are one family.”
Last week the bishops of Ho in Ghana, Mbeere in Kenya and Saldanha Bay in South Africa gathered at St Julian’s in Limuru, Kenya, to discuss their and their dioceses' involvement in the Anglican Communion’s Continuing Indaba project. After a dynamic and vibrant three days the bishops said they were returning to their dioceses with "excitement and hope for the future of the Communion".
The arrival of Continuing Indaba on the Internet as part of the Anglican Communion web site makes visible the preparatory work already in hand for the series of pilot conversations between dioceses from different parts of the Communion to take place during 2010 and 2011.
