Young persons from all parts of the Anglican Communion traveled to Great Britain early in September in the hopes of having their concerns and ideas shared with the Lambeth Conference next year. Lambeth, a once-a-decade meeting of Anglican bishops, takes place in Canterbury in July 1998.

The young participants form what is known as the International Youth Network of the Anglican Consultative Council. They participated in the opening Eucharist celebrated by the Rt. Rev. John Sentamu, Bishop of Stepney in the Church of England.

Part of the gathering took place in Wales, as meetings and lectures were held at Lampeter University. Pete Ward, the Archbishop of Canterbury's youth officer, and the Rt. Rev. Lindsay Urwin, Bishop of Horsham, England, met with the group. Both will be part of the presentation on youth at Lambeth.

Archbishop Alwyn Rice Jones of Wales welcomed the young persons and said, "We are coming together in the presence, the strength and the company of Christ himself."

Many of the delegates were invited to various dioceses for work in parish churches. The gathering closed Sept. 10 with a Eucharist in St. Margaret's Church at Westminster Abbey, and a visit with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. George Carey, at Lambeth Palace.

Anglican Communion News Service contributed to this article.