by E.T. Malone Jr. & Allan Reeder
Lambeth Conference Communications
The Lambeth Conference section considering mission and evangelism may suggest that the world's Anglican bishops be challenged to meet with a set number of young people who do not go to church.
Bishops leading the working groups on Section Two (Called to Live and Proclaim the Good News) and Section Three (Called to be a Faithful Church in a Plural World) outlined the major themes emerging from their discussions at a press conference Thursday. Other current topics include suggestions for an expanded role for the Archbishop of Canterbury and for improved effectiveness of the church in urban areas.
The challenge of urban ministry
"The urban crisis and how the church is to respond" is a key issue for Section Two, according to Bishop Rowan Williams of Monmouth (Wales). "We've heard a lot of success stories but these tend to come from areas that are fairly rural," Bishop Williams said.
The Anglican Church's "Decade of Evangelism," begun at the Lambeth conference in 1988, has "not been a success in the north as it has in the south" for a range of complex reasons, Bishop Williams told journalists. "The gospel seems to be most vividly heard where there are the least material possessions around."
Bishop Williams said the church in developed urban nations has been slow to think strategically about how to respond to new patterns of ministry.
Practical suggestions to keep Anglican bishops in touch with the younger generation are also emerging as possible resolutions from the Lambeth conference.
Bishop Williams said that one suggestion has been to challenge every bishop "to meet with a concrete number of young people in their own diocese, . . . and also to meet with the unchurched young."
He added that "however difficult and embarrassing, it is important for the bishop to be in touch with youth, communicating and sharing."
New role suggested for Anglicans' international head
The growth of the international role of the Archbishop of Canterbury is also under discussion as bishops work on the international structures which form the framework of the Anglican church.
"The Archbishop of Canterbury is not the Pope of the Anglican Communion, but his role as spokesman has grown greatly in the last two or three decades," said Los Angeles' Bishop Frederick Borsch (USA), the chair of the group dealing with pluralism. Increased ease of air travel has made the archbishop a more familiar figure, Bishop Borsch said.
According to discussion amongst the bishops, feeling is also growing in support of a stronger decision-making role for the primates, the national heads of the 37 Anglican provinces worldwide.
"There is thought to give them more authority in matters of common interest and that they might be the body that has the flexibility to meet more often," Bishop Borsch said.
Addressing a plural world
"Christianity was born into a plural world. Today Christianity seeks to be part of the culture in which it finds itself. The gospel has to be heard in more than just the language of the people, it has to be interpreted into the entire culture of a people," he said. "But at the same time Christianity is by its nature going to be counter-culture, to be opposed to things in the culture such as unbridled capitalism and extreme nationalism, that it considers wrong."
Responding to a question from a reporter, Bishop Borsch said that his section "did discuss" the topic of lay presidency, the practice where lay people preside at Communion services. "The feeling of the section is not to recommend it," he said.