The Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Mission and Evangelism (IASCOME) met at Runaway Bay in Jamaica from Monday 1 December to Thursday 11 December 2003. The Commission is made up of twenty two members from twenty two different provinces/churches of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Our membership includes women and men who reflect the diverse cultures and contexts of the Communion and consists of bishops, lay-people, priests, a sister from a religious community, an archbishop and a representative from a mission society.

We are committed to God's mission of reconciliation, healing and wholeness. The mission of God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, binds us together in the fellowship of love that brings about koinonia - communion with God, communion with one other, and communion with creation as a whole. We understand evangelism to be an integral part of God’s mission that focuses on explicit and intentional voicing of the gospel. In our bible study, worship, prayer, and conversations we explored many of the ways that the Good News of Jesus Christ is being lived and shared across the Anglican Communion today.

As a Commission we heard stories of courage in the face of systemic violence, hope in the face of adversity, joy in the face of sadness, and new life in the face of death. We were particularly moved by stories from members including: the seven Anglican Melanesian Brothers who recently sacrificed their lives to effect reconciliation in the ethnic tensions of the Solomon Islands; the poverty, dislocation and sadness caused by the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where three and a half million people have died as a result; and the re-emergence of civil unrest and violence in Sri Lanka.

We have continued to carry out our mandate given to us by the Anglican Consultative Council particularly in the areas of:

• evangelism
• the journey to wholeness and fullness of life
• justice making and peace building
• developing Anglicanism: a Communion in mission
• leadership training and formation for mission
• Islam and Islamisation

We have identified a wide range of specific tasks related to these areas. In our work together, we discussed the ongoing tensions and difficulties for Christians living under the shadow of war and terrorism, violence, and poverty. Stories from across the Communion testify to the variety of creative responses Anglican churches are making to effect peace, justice, and community development. Our discussions drew particular attention to the challenges posed by HIV/AIDS, globalization, United States led military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Islamisation.

We celebrated the Communion's networking in mission that is being manifested in new ways. We affirmed the importance of the recent Consultation of Provincial Co-ordinators of Mission and Evangelism (Nairobi, May 2002) and the Anglican Mission Organisations Conference (Cyprus, February 2003) both sponsored by IASCOME, as well as the gathering of Anglican Contextual Theologians (Cambridge USA, May 2003). We believe that these conferences and other meetings signal fresh ways of developing mission in the Communion through networking and relationships. These reflect our calling to be a Communion in mission.

We were saddened that the Anglican Communion is currently living with deep tensions and disagreements over certain issues in human sexuality such that there is impaired communion between some of the churches in the Communion. Members spoke honestly about how recent actions by, and reactions to, the Episcopal Church in the United States have caused hurt, anger, and pain to many across the world and the Anglican Communion. We believe, however, that how we relate as a Communion in mission offers hope and healing to this fractured family of churches. We commit ourselves to living together in mission. We offer our stories and relationships in mission to the Anglican Communion as signs of God's transforming love.

We thank the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands in the Church of the Province of the West Indies for gracious hospitality and opportunities to engage with local parishes. We look forward to meeting again in February 2005 to complete our work and the report to the Anglican Consultative Council meeting later in the same year.

IASCOME Members

The Most Revd Joseph Akinfenwa
Anglican Church of Nigeria

The Rt Revd Dr Sebastian Bakare
Anglican Church of Central Africa

Mr John Clark
Church of England

The Revd Canon Tim Dakin
Church of England (CMS)

The Rt Revd Dr Harold Daniel
Church of the Province in the West Indies

The Revd Joseph W Kofi deGraft-Johnson
Church of the Province of West Africa

The Revd Dr Ian T Douglas
Episcopal Church of the USA

The Rt Revd Armando Guerra-Soria
The Anglican Church of the Central American Region

The Very Revd Muhindo Ise-Somo
Province de L’Eglise Anglicane du Congo

Dr Ellie Johnson
Anglican Church of Canada

The Revd Joseph K Kopapa
Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea

The Rt Revd Edward P Malecdan
The Episcopal Church in the Philippines

Ms Pat McBryde
The Scottish Episcopal Church

Ms Shirley Moulder
Church of the Province of Southern Africa

The Revd Richard Naramana
Chruch of the Province of Melanesia

Sister Chandrani Peiris
Church of Ceylon

Mrs Lynlea Rodger
Anglican Church of Australia

The Revd Fareth S N Sendegeya
Anglican Church of Tanzania

Unable to be present

The Rt Revd Maurício J A de Andrade
Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil

The Rt Revd Dr John Chew Hiang Chew
Anglican Church of South East Asia

Mrs Joy Kwaje Eluzai
The Episcopal Church of the Sudan

The Revd Pearl Prashad
Church of North India