Archbishops and bishops of the Great Lakes Region of Africa met in Kampala, Uganda, June 2-5, for a pre-Lambeth conference. The bishops made clear resolutions concerning the relationship between church and state, the debt burden, and the need for regional unity and cooperation.

The bishops also issued a document "concurring fully with the Kuala Lumpur and Dallas Statement regarding the authority of the scriptures and their orthodox interpretation regarding sanctity of Christian marriage and celibacy."

The resolution continues, "The holy scriptures are clear in teaching all sexual deviation and promiscuity is sin ... include[ing] homosexual practice as well as heterosexual relationships outside of marriage.

"It is therefore the responsibility of the church to lead to repentance all those who deviate from the teachings of the scriptures and live in sin. Those who practice such things, as well as those bishops who ordain them or encourage these practices, have automatically cut themselves from the Anglican Communion.

"However, as the church we have a pastoral responsibility to them, loving and counseling them to follow the traditional biblical teachings on sexual ethics."

The Great Lakes conference had been planned for March but had been unable to secure funding until the clergy and laity of the First Promise movement undertook sponsorship. (This movement in the Episcopal Church has been described as one adhering to the first promise made at ordinations to be "loyal to the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ as the church has received them.")

Although many of the African bishops had attended the Ekklesia gathering in Dallas last September, it was the first time these bishops from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo had come together for a regional meeting.

At the closing Eucharist, the Martyrs of Uganda (feast day, June 3) were honored for their uncompromising stand for Jesus Christ.

(The Rev.) Thaddeus Barnum