Archbishop of Canterbury Issues Call for Next Lambeth Conference
Episcopal News Service. April 7, 1994 [94074]
Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey has issued an invitation to all Anglican bishops around the world to meet in Canterbury in July 1998 for the 13th gathering of the Lambeth Conference.
The conference, held approximately every 10 years since 1867, is expected to bring many of the nearly 800 Anglican bishops to the campus of the University of Kent in Canterbury, site of the 1988 conference. In addition to all diocesan, suffragan and assistant Anglican bishops, bishops of the United Churches of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh will be invited to the conference, as well as the lay and clerical members of the Anglican Consultative Council.
Noting that the conference will occur near the end of the 20th century, Carey expressed his prayer that it "will herald a new vitality of mission in the Anglican Communion." He added that the conference "will strengthen our capacity to serve our provinces and develop our ministry in an expanding Communion. It will encourage prophetic leadership which can speak both to the Communion and to the world as we approach the second millennium."
Carey has appointed 12 bishops from around the world to plan the conference, including Bishop Mark Dyer of Bethlehem (PA). In addition, a director of development will be hired to assist in fundraising for the conference estimated to cost nearly $3 million. Some observers had speculated that the conference might be postponed for financial reasons, but Carey has been resolute in his conviction that a conference is needed to discuss many pressing issues facing Anglicans around the world.
Carey expressed determination that the agenda for the conference will "respond to the real issues facing the people in the dioceses so that [it] can be a source of inspiration for the church in years to come."