Update on the Lambeth Conference

Photo – Canterbury Cathedral is the mother church of the AnglicanCommunion. Canterbury cathedral’s team has over 300 staff and 800 volunteers.

The Chief Executive of the Lambeth Conference Company, Phil George, provides an update on plans for this significant gathering in the life of the Anglican Communion, which takes place in Canterbury in July and August.

Planning for the Lambeth Conference continues with pace, as we prepare for this once-a-decade meeting of bishops from across the Anglican Communion. Now with over almost 1,200 people so far registered to attend (673 bishops and 521 spouses), the lead up to conference will provide some important opportunities for people to prepare and tune in to the themes of the conference.

With the conference theme of being “God’s Church for God’s World”, the biblical focus is the book of 1 Peter. We are delighted that a new Bible commentary has recently been published with SCM to mark the conference.

The commentary really is a wonderful piece of work that has been created by the St Augustine Seminar – an international team of Bible scholars from around the Anglican Communion. The diversity of this group has enriched the resource, bringing a wide range of perspectives, cultures and Christian traditions.

Phil George

We hope that as many people will access and benefit from the resource as possible. The Lambeth Conference Company are making the first chapter accessible for free on the Lambeth Conference web site, along with a set of videos which explore the themes of each chapter.

The films include the Archbishop of Canterbury sharing his excitement about the book of 1 Peter and why it’s so relevant to the conference theme. Professor Jenn Strawbridge and other Bible scholars from the St Augustine Seminar also feature. Find out more here.

One historic feature of the Lambeth Conferences is for the bishops of the Anglican Communion to confer on matters of shared concern, bringing a diverse range of cultural and ministry perspectives. For this reason, a dynamic engagement and communication process is being developed for the Lambeth Conference in 2020, so that bishops can engage with conference topics before and during the event. It is being described as an ‘invitation’ process.

At the conclusion of the Lambeth Conference, the aspiration is for the bishops’ shared engagement to culminate in a series of calls to action to the wider Anglican Communion – a set of invitations to the wider church, championing what it might mean to be ‘God’s Church for God’s World’ in the decade ahead. The ‘invitation’ process is being shaped by members of the Lambeth Conference Design group in consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury. You can find out more about that here.

We are really looking forward to welcoming our event guests to Canterbury in the summer. For those wishing to pray for the important opportunity of the conference and exploring what it means to be God’s Church for God’s World, we invite you to join our prayer journey.

Important notice on the Lambeth Conference and the coronavirus

The conference organising team are working hard to monitor the constantly changing picture of the impact of the coronavirus.

For the latest information and advice on the Lambeth Conference and coronavirus, visit the conference web site.