Lambeth Conference Planning Under Way
Episcopal News Service. April 2, 1987 [37076]
LONDON (DPS, April 2) -- The Twelfth Lambeth Conference will be held at the University of Kent, Canterbury, July 16 to Aug. 7, 1988.
In announcing the Conference, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is traditionally host and president, said its aim will be to "promote fresh initiatives and renewal in four areas in the life of the Church: mission and ministry, dogmatic and pastoral matters, ecumenical relations, and the transformation of the social order."
The Lambeth Conference is the senior body for consultation among the member churches of the world-wide Anglican Communion. It has no legislative authority over the Churches but has been highly influential in the formation of Anglican mission policy. Through the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral (1888), it has contributed to clarification of the nature of the Church. Through the "Appeal to All Christian People" (1920), it made a significant contribution to the beginnings of the ecumenical movement. It has always been a forum for discussion of social issues.
Preparations for 1988 have already begun. The Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council, the Rev. Canon Samuel Van Culin, is in charge of arrangements.
Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie has named the Chairmen and Vice Chairmen for each of the major agenda areas, who will assist him in planning. One of the Archbishop's hopes is that the Conference will stimulate a Communion-wide study process. In announcing the Conference, Runcie has said he hoped that "each bishop will bring his diocese with him." Bishops are being encouraged to discuss the themes with their clergy and laity, and several regional conferences and consultations have already taken place.
In the Episcopal Church, in addition to the area studies, the Presiding Bishop and House of Bishops have launched a major study on the continuing role of the Quadrilateral in the life of the Communion. This will culminate in Chicago next fall at a conference preceding the annual House of Bishops meeting and at the House meeting itself.
The symbol of the Quadrilateral -- which was first proposed in 1886 at an Episcopal House of Bishops meeting in Chicago -- decorated the medal that the Presiding Bishop gave brother primates and Church leaders on his recent world tour.
Each of the 450 dioceses of the Anglican Communion is represented at the Lambeth Conference by its bishop. Some suffragan and assistant bishops, including 11 from the United States, will also be present. In 1988, members of the Anglican Consultative Council -- which includes clergy, lay men and women and youth -- will also take part for the first time. There will be participants from Churches in Communion with the Churches of the Anglican Communion and consultants and observers from other major Churches. Approximately 700 people will take part.
The first Lambeth Conference was held in 1867 under the Presidency of Archbishop Charles Thomas Longley. Since that time, Lambeth Conferences have taken place about every ten years, except during the two World Wars. The composition of the Conference reflects the growth and changing nature of the Anglican Communion. For example, of the 76 bishops attending the first Lambeth Conference, only Samuel AdJai Crowther of Nigeria was a non Anglo-Saxon. By 1978, 102 (or 25 percent) of the bishops attending were Africans.
Section Chairmen and Vice Chairmen are: Mission and Ministry, Chairman, the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Nwankiti, Bishop of Owerri, Church of Nigeria; Vice Chairman, the Rt. Rev. David Sheppard, Bishop of Liverpool, Church of England; Dogmatic and Pastoral Concerns, Chairman, the Most Rev. Keith Rayner, Archbishop of Adelaide, Church of Australia; Vice Chairman, the Rt. Rev. James Yashiro, Bishop of Kita Kanto, Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Japan); Ecumenical Relations, Chairman, the Most Rev. Michael Peers, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada; Vice Chairman, the Rt. Rev. Edward Buckle, Assistant Bishop of Auckland, Church of New Zealand; Christianity and the Social Order, Chairman, the Most Rev. John Habgood, Archbishop of York, Church of England; Vice Chairman, the Most Rev. Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town and Primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa.