Three Anglican Events To Be Held Together
Episcopal News Service. February 24, 1983 [83039]
LONDON (DPS, Feb. 24) -- The Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council, the Rev. Samuel Van Culin has announced that three Anglican events will be held together later this year.
Meetings of the Primates of the Anglican Communion, the Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council, and the Mission Issues and Strategy Advisory Group are to be held at St. Paul's Theological College, Limuru, Kenya Oct. 3-12 he said.
The Standing Committee meets from Oct. 3-8. It is hoped that there will be a Workshop on Development sponsored by the Church of the Province of Kenya on Oct. 9. Then the meeting of Primates will begin on Sunday, Oct. 10 with a special service in St. Paul's Cathedral, Nairobi with the Archbishop of Canterbury preaching. The Mission Group will meet at the same time as the Primates.
In announcing the three meetings Van Culin said: "The decision to hold the Primates Meeting end on with the Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and in close proximity to those exploring the Anglican contribution to world mission is quite deliberate. It signals a determination by all concerned to achieve greater cohesion at international level in the Anglican Communion. With the Archbishop of Canterbury present for all three meetings he provides in his office and in his person that central focus which is so essential in our system of 'dispersed authority"'.
This will be the third meeting of Anglican Primates -- principal Bishops and Archbishops representing each of the 27 Provinces of the 64 million strong worldwide Anglican Communion. Regular Primates' meetings were recommended by the Lambeth Conference in 1978 and since that time two have been held in Ely, England (1979) and Washington, DC (1981).
Agenda details for the three meetings are still being worked out. The Primates are likely to continue discussions from their two previous meetings on Authority in the Anglican Communion and will also consider some of the current social questions which affect the life of their Churches. Both they and the Standing Committee will be giving preliminary thought to the next Lambeth Conference. The ACC body will be concerned with the agenda for the next full meeting of the Council which takes place in 1984.
The Standing Committee acts on the Council's behalf between full meetings. It has ten members drawn from Australia, Canada, East Asia, England, Uganda, the Episcopal Church, and the West Indies and includes the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Mission Issues and Strategy Advisory Group is a recent development in Anglican affairs. It was created by the fifth meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (1981), and has met once, in 1982. It brings together representatives of autonomous Anglican Churches and Mission Agencies in a forum which seeks to co-ordinate Anglican efforts in global mission.