700 Attend Anglican Prayer Fellowship Meet
Episcopal News Service. May 8, 1980 [80158]
The Rev. David G. Pritchard, Editor, The Connecticut Churchman
New Haven, Conn. -- From every walk of life and every age group they came, nearly 700 strong, to pray and listen, and pray some more at the 1980 International Conference of the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer (AFP), held in the Sheraton-Park Plaza Hotel here May 1-3.
The theme, "Unity Through Fellowship in Prayer," and a desire to share in prayer drew participants from 24 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Canada, and three other countries.
The AFP is an official association of the Anglican Communion, designed to deepen the spiritual life of the Church by encouraging the formation of small groups of persons for prayer and Bible study. Executive Director of the AFP is Harry Griffith of Winter Park, Fla.
This year's conference had three well-known leaders: Bishop Festo Kivengere of Uganda, Bishop Alexander D. Stewart of Western Massachusetts, and Miss Rosalind Rinker, author and lecturer. Each presented at least one address during the conference and led one of the Friday morning workshops.
Miss Rinker described conversational prayer as talking to Jesus "from the child in your heart," She suggested that when one person in a group prays for something that another was planning to pray for too, rather than feeling cheated or upset, the second person should say something like, "That's what I was going to pray about; thank you, Lord, that we can share this concern."
In his opening address on unity, Thursday evening, Bishop Kivengere said that while man is compartmented to disunity, God is the source of all cohesion, that he has penetrated the dividedness that has shattered the human race.
"The unity we talk of is the beginning of Christian faith," he stated. "Christian unity is not a monotonous uniformity," he went on to say. "Each of us is a contributor in the Fellowship, the community of the resurrection. "
The next morning, in his workshop on "The Cost of Renewal," Bishop Kivengere told how the martyrdom, in 1885, of three newly converted young African boys, who sang hymns while being burned alive, had led 40 villagers to seek out the missionary and say, "Having seen the way the boys died, we want to accept your God."
When asked to comment on why there is resistance in a congregation when some are renewed but others are not, the bishop replied, "What did you expect? It's not going to be smooth; remember, what is sweet to you is an embarrassment to many."
He was also asked what is the best way to spread renewal in parishes. "As the beautiful scent of perfume is spread when the bottle is broken, so hearts which have been renewed must be broken," he responded.
Bishop Kivengere's response on being asked how he felt about the Ayatollah Khomeini was, "Don't hate one who has already committed suicide."
For her workshop on "Discovering Your Gifts," Miss Rinker distributed a "Gift of God" sheet which went beyond those gifts listed in the New Testament, and included such gifts as the ability to organize a successful pot-luck supper.
She told her hearers that the better way to share one's faith with another is to say, "Jesus loves you," rather than, "Are you saved?"
Miss Rinker said that there are four requirements for using one's gifts to the best advantage: personal commitment to Jesus, discovery of the gift, training for lay ministry, and support by a group.
On Friday afternoon there were six smaller workshops to choose from, led by persons skilled in their respective fields: "Prayer and Counselling," Miss Hazel Kuhnly; "Youth and the Cults," the Rev. Peter C. Moore; "Healing and Wholeness," the Rev. Robert O. Weeks; "Effective Bible Study," the Rev. Peter Rodgers, who led the Friday morning Bible meditation; "Meditation and Contemplation," Mrs. Polly Wiley and Mrs. Helen Shoemaker; and "Prayer in a World of Action, " the Rt. Rev. Arthur E. Walmsley.
In the last-named workshop, Bishop Walmsley said that, while prayer is the Church's main business, if prayer does not go beyond self if is not the fullness of the Christian faith.
He also said that it is not good that people on the fringe of the Church should take up more of our time; we should nurture the committed community by reflective prayer, reflective Bible study, and covenanted discipline. The natural, necessary outgrowth of these three will be a sense of directive action, he said.
At the dinner on Friday evening, the AFP presented an inscribed pewter plate to the Rev. and Mrs. J. Moulton Thomas for their nearly 20 years of outstanding service in the organization. The presentation came as a surprise to "Mo" and "Andy."
Just before Bishop Stewart made his address, AFP Executive Director Harry Griffith and his wife, Emily, gave a short witness to the value and importance of family prayer in their lives.
Bishop Stewart incorporated the AFP's motto, "Prayer Unites," as a running refrain in his address on "The Anglican Synthesis."
The Social Gospel is Gospel, rather than mere action, because it is rooted and grounded in prayer, and is therefore able to unite, he said.
Prayer can save us from the threefold dangers of elitism and arrogance -- the clubby, oddball cults and demonic powers -- the flaky, and programmed or instant spirituality -- the quickie.
Bishop Stewart maintained that, "The Anglican Synthesis is marked by a comprehensiveness that eliminates the clubby, is characterized by a soundness that diffuses the flaky, and is measured by an enduringness that discourages the quickie."
For the closing Eucharist on Saturday morning, the AFP participants moved across the street to Trinity-on-the-Green Church, with its famous men and boys' choir. Celebrant for the Eucharist was the Rt. Rev. Stephen C. Neill, who also led the Bible meditation that morning.
Immediately following the concluding hymn, Bishop Kivengere delivered the final address of the conference. He pointed out that when the spindle hole of a phonograph is off-center -- eccentric -- anything can happen; similarly, if God is not at the center of a person's life, there is lack of harmony.
Working from Romans 15:1-8 as his text, Bishop Kivengere used the scene of the disciples at the Last Supper as an example of what happens when humans "please themselves."
"The Eucharist," he said, "was established in the tension of mankind. The fellowship, broken and smashed as the bread was broken and the grapes smashed, needed rehabilitation."
The disciples were so busy quarrelling about who was most important that they had forgotten the usual, first action until Jesus took on the role of a servant and washed their feet.
Through the foot washing and the Last Supper they were brought back to the true center; they became unified, so that at the end they were able to go out singing a hymn.
After his address, Bishop Kivengere invited all who wished to do so to join him at the altar to commit, or recommit, themselves to Christ. Virtually the whole congregation crowded into the sanctuary and choir for the brief service.
In addition to the addresses and workshops, response groups of 12 to 15 persons met after each of the first three addresses, and other opportunities for group prayer were provided in healing services and prayer and praise sessions on Thursday and Friday.
Audio tapes of all four addresses, the three Friday morning workshop talks, and the Bible meditations are available from Audio Video Specialty, Avon Park North, Avon, CT 06001.
The 1981 International Conference will be held in Indianapolis, May 7-9.
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