A Tanzanian bishop called evangelism "our guiding principle" when he addressed the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops Sunday July 19.

Preaching at the opening Eucharist in Canterbury Cathedral, the Rt. Rev. Simon E. Chiwanga, Bishop of Mpwapwa and chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council, told about 740 bishops representing 37 provinces of the Anglican Communion that "what is essential for every participant to be aware of is that we have to look for the Christ in each other and to turn the other cheek when we have been offended."

He said the church, in order to be effective, needs to turn itself inside out. "The Decade of Evangelism was a call to turn the church inside out, that is to move from being primarily a pastoral community, looking inward, to being a missionary community looking outward. This call to evangelism must remain our guiding principle as we develop the next step after the decade."

Bishop Chiwanga spoke of the "majestic transcendence of God which rises above our divisions both in the church and society and draws us together in Christ as a pilgrim people.

"Many within the Anglican Communion are living and serving in places where there is both physical and spiritual deprivation," he said, mentioning tribal conflicts in Africa, violence in Northern Ireland and "the terrorism that strikes at literally every person in the Western world."

Among the more than 2,000 worshipers at the opening service were His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales, representatives of the Anglican Consultative Council and several dozen ecumenical and other guests. Former Archbishops of Canterbury Donald Coggan and Robert Runcie also were present.

The opening Eucharist, celebrated by Archbishop Carey, included Panamanian liturgical dancers and percussionists, African American spiritual songs, and hymns from the Russian Orthodox Church and other traditions. The eucharistic prayer was a Kenyan text and the lessons were read in Portuguese and Arabic. Bishop Chilton Knudsen of Maine led the Prayers of the People in English, and Bishop French Chang Him of Seychelles in French.