Canterbury

By David Skidmore
Lambeth Conference Communications

Archbishop George Carey brought the Lambeth Conference to its feet with a call for "a more radical discipleship shaped by God's transforming power" in his presidential address Monday before more than 1,000 bishops and spouses gathered in the two plenary halls.

In his hour-long address-delivered live in the smaller of the halls and via a closed circuit simulcast on a screen in the larger hall-Archbishop Carey stressed the need for renewal in the Anglican Communion's vision, its faith and order, its mission, and in the bishops' understanding of their vocation as church leaders. It is a daunting call in an era assailed by political persecution and social traumas, he admitted. But when the church stays true to its mission, it prevails. In the wake of the last Lambeth Conference, the Berlin wall came down, apartheid was dismantled, and the Anglican Communion launched the Decade of Evangelism which brought millions of new Christians into the church, he said.

Church confronted with blessings and challenges

But with blessings come more challenges, he noted, such as in Rwanda where civil war spawned genocide claiming 800,000 lives, and in Sudan where continuing civil war has displaced hundreds of thousands, sowing a new crop of widows and orphans. AIDS has become a pandemic in Africa, and mounting debt has bequeathed a lifetime of poverty to millions in the Third World. Despite these problems, "this is our world," said Archbishop Carey. "This is the world in which we live and work; the world in which we are called to serve and witness."

While it is important for Anglicans to share the stories of their struggles and to seek solace from each other, that falls short of what the conference is about, stressed Archbishop Carey. "Even when evil seems to prevail in so many places, and in so many ways, the challenge before us is to bring to the world an authoritative vision of the God of love and justice who is the beginning and end of all things."

The vision of the Anglican church as a witnessing community should be driven not by the issues on its plate but by an Irenaean theology that stresses God's goodness and generosity. Solutions to the host of issues before the Communion "will only emerge from a real encounter in gratitude with our living God," he said.

Flexibility balanced with firm faith

The renewal of the church needs to follow that same prescription, he said. Criticism should be given "in the spirit of truth" and not get locked in a campaign of denigration and polarization. Truth has always been sought, and found, through a variety of perspectives in the Communion, but that flexibility should not be misconstrued as equivocation on the fundamental principles of faith, cautioned Archbishop Carey. "I am not arguing for some kind of Anglican comprehensiveness that is vague and woolly or is uncertain about the foundations of our faith," he said, noting that there are clear boundaries to Anglican faith and moral behavior "which we cross at our peril."

Citing the Virginia Report-the pre-conference paper on Anglican theology and structure prepared by the InterAnglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission-Carey acknowledged that while scripture is the medium for divine revelation, its meaning must be grasped "through a continuing process of interpretation." Since the 17th century, Anglicans have understood scripture through the lens of tradition and reason, he noted.

Yet, he admitted, that also raises the question of whether a communion of interdependent churches can remain together in the absence of a binding, doctrinal force. "If we meet as a fellowship of self-governing, national churches, in what realistic form can we claim to be a Communion?" he asked. The answer, he said, is in the common heritage of doctrine, faith, liturgy and spirituality, and a government expressed through "dispersed" authority. Although admittedly untidy, he added, it is a better than the alternative: authoritarianism and a muffling of individual expression.

Links between mission and evangelism underscored

Archbishop Carey also stressed the need to end a "puzzling divide" between mission and evangelism. "People need to be fed physically as well as spiritually," he said "and a church that exists for God in this world must be prepared not only to spread the Gospel but also to press for action on the great issues confronting our world."

There is no single template for an evangelistic mission, he said. On his visits to provinces in Africa, Asia and the South Pacific, he has encouraged church members to be "less English," and to incorporate their own traditions and music in their worship. "By empowering and celebrating the local, we enrich the whole," he said.

While aggressive or "insensitive" evangelism has never been the Anglican style, this does not mean Anglicans should entertain any compromise of the Gospel message, he said. "We hold Jesus Christ as the one Saviour of the world and we invite all to honor him as Lord for it is a faith given us to share with all."

As for episcopal leadership, bishops should adopt a "simplicity of discipleship" and strive for openness to all views. "If we are not transformed, corporately and individually, through that constant practice of a loving, sovereign Lord," he said, "his vision for his church and his people will never become a reality."

Archbishop Carey concluded by observing that "the fundamental conviction" guiding the conference is the power of the Gospel that transforms the world, the church "and all of us gathered here."

Address meets with enthusiastic response

Despite the stifling heat, the bishops and spouses responded with a standing ovation. Bishop Clark Grew of the Diocese of Ohio in the United States said he was "deeply moved" by Archbishop Carey's call for a renewed church. "I found it to be a gracious reminder of what the Anglican Communion is and needs to continue to be, and of what we need to recover," he said.

Bishop Mano Rumalshah of the Diocese of Pesharwar in the Church of Pakistan, who testified last month before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on religious persecution in Pakistan, was encouraged by Archbishop Carey's sensitivity to Third World concerns, and his emphasis on mission and evangelism.

For Bishop Catherine Waynick of the Diocese of Indianapolis in the United States, the emphasis on the Communion's diversity was also a strong point. "That is one of the best gifts of the Anglican Communion," she said. "When we are doing that well, we are offering the world a particular kind of witness it otherwise might not get."

Bishop Waynick also was struck by Archbishop Carey's message that church renewal begins with personal transformation. She said that she agrees with him that a transformed church "begins with our attitudes and our determination to be loving."