Vowing to serve as an instrument of community in the Anglican Communion, the newly created Inter-Anglican Telecommunications Commission held its inaugural meeting in January at the Canterbury Cathedral International Study Centre in England.

The commission adopted a vision statement to focus its work: To share the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and to further extend the mission and ministry of the Anglican Communion in the world by using telecommunications technologies, and through that to encourage an environment in which people may find meaning and significance in community with one another.

Almost two decades of international exploratory consultations and the experience of introducing and utilizing telecommunications at two Lambeth Conferences pointed to the need for a cooperative and comprehensive look at the current and potential uses of telecommunications for mission and ministry.

Recognizing the growing technical convergence of digital technologies that will have church information sharing implications, the commission is using the term “telecommunications” in a broad sense to mean office and wider area networks, multimedia, online collaboration tools and other Internet and web-based services.

The commission was established by the Anglican Consultative Council, with members nominated by Anglican Primates and appointed by the Secretary General of the ACC as representatives of Anglican “Regions”. The commissioners will liaise with staff and other telecommunications leaders within the Anglican Provinces (national churches) of their regions.

Commissioners and ex-officio members came to the inaugural meeting from England, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, the United States, and Wales.

While the commissioners discussed myriad ways of funding and using emerging technologies it was always in the context of an overarching mission, to co-operatively enable Provinces and dioceses to use or enhance the use of telecommunications. “Distance Learning” for theological education and statistical data gathering were two examples cited by the commission as significantly benefiting from the use of telecommunications.

The Archbishop of Canterbury sent a greeting to the commission: “I have just returned from a visit to the Holy Land, where the effects of poor and non-existent communication between communities could not be more tragically demonstrated. In helping the Anglican Communion to explore new technological possibilities, the work of this Telecommunications Commission is warmly appreciated and eagerly anticipated. ‘Telling the good news’ is central to the life and witness of the Church. Unless we manage to reach those around us with the light of Christ we are as good as hiding it under a bushel.”

The Revd Dr Philip Sallis, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Computer Science at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, moderated the enthusiastic meeting and by consensus the group forwarded his name to the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion for consideration by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who names commission chairpersons.

As an initial project, the commission will conduct a comprehensive survey across the Anglican Communion to ascertain the ways telecommunication is being used or planned and to create a roster of leaders and managers of those efforts with whom the commission will consult and explore future co-operative work. The survey will also gather data about the systems and telecoms tools presently being used. Dr Sallis is arranging with academic and industry specialists to provide some pro-bono service to facilitate the online gathering of survey data.

During several days of intensive meetings, commission members recognized the daunting task they face but agreed that telecommunication tools are growing, diversifying and spreading at a remarkable rate, and the potential for building community - for sharing information and expanding understanding in order to strengthen relationships, mobilize advocacy or deliver emergency relief - simply cannot be ignored by the Communion.

In addition to serving those “inside” the Church, the commissioners frequently noted the evangelistic possibilities of online resources and publishing to reach those “outside”, especially younger generations, many of whom are already keenly involved with various communication technologies.

The Revd Clement W K Lee, director of telecommunications of the Anglican Communion Office, demonstrated the current framework of the Anglican web portal (www.anglicancommunion.org), which has four distinct parts: 1) Web links to pages of all Anglican Provinces (with pages created for those Provinces that do not have their own web sites); 2) The Anglican Communion Secretariat, which serves the Primates’ Meetings, Lambeth Conferences, Anglican Consultative Council, Anglican Consultative Council ministries, departments, and ministry networks; 3) Anglican Communion News Service and Anglican World; and 4) Anglican Communion Information Services, which includes the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, a Communion-wide events calendar, background materials about the Communion, an online photo archive, and email discussion groups.

Canon James M Rosenthal II, director of communications of the Anglican Communion Office and editor of both Anglican World and the Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS), reported the good news that use of the Anglican Cycle of Prayer around the world has skyrocketed since it became an online publication only a few weeks ago.

The Revd Jonathan Jennings, press secretary for the Archbishop of Canterbury, demonstrated how he facilitated a digitally recorded BBC interview of Archbishop Rowan Williams at the Sea of Tiberias, used a laptop computer for audio editing on an airline flight and filed the radio news segment with the BBC via the Internet.

Mr John Allen, convener of the Anglican Portal Task Group, led the group through an overview of the 21 Provinces that currently have official web sites and/or online news services, noting that in the remaining regions there are some excellent diocesan or congregational web sites.

He said that the global imbalance so often seen in economic terms holds true for Internet use as well. Of 11 Provinces in the industrialized regions of the world, 11 have web sites. Of 27 in the global South, only 10 have web sites. In Africa particularly, where there are 12 provinces and easily half the Anglicans worldwide, there are only four sites.

The Revd Canon Richard Marsh, Canterbury Cathedral Canon Librarian and a telecommunications specialist, pointed out in an address to the group that the average Anglican in demographic terms is African, female, under the age of 30, mother of 3, walks four kilometres a day for water, lives on less than US$1.50 a day, and is related to someone with HIV/AIDS. Probably 80% of the world’s population has never used a telephone, much less accessed the Internet, he pointed out.

The imbalance, often called the “Digital Divide” is being addressed in dramatic ways by the Trinity Grants Program, in New York City, represented at the meeting by the Revd Canon James G Callaway and the Revd Canon Ogé Beauvoir. Trinity Grants has had a special focus on strengthening telecommunications in the Anglican Communion since 1984 and has been “leveling the playing field” through a series of telecommunication grants, notably in the global South.

Most recently the Church of Nigeria was assisted in creating its own internal provincial computer network and to become an internet service provider linking together its dioceses with each other as well as with the provincial headquarters in Abuja. The church also operates a cyber café (with 30 workstations) as an income-producing project.

Looking ahead, the Commission issued an alphabetical list of its aims:

• Advise the Anglican Communion on the use of appropriate technologies for communications;
• Bridge Communion Commissions, Networks, Provinces, dioceses and parishes by facilitating access to knowledge resources;
• Channel conversation among Provinces, dioceses, parishes and central structures;
• Develop lateral communication connections for advocacy on political, environmental or other issues confronting the Communion;
• Establish an infrastructure and methodology for the Telecommunications Commission itself to achieve its vision and accomplish its work;
• Foster cooperative use of telecommunications within the Anglican Communion.

The commission will carry out its work without regular “in-person” meetings, not only because of budget constraints, by almost daily contact through online methodologies for meetings, such as web conferencing, “virtual private networks” and email discussion groups.

At the close of its sessions, the Revd Canon John L Peterson, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, preached at a special Eucharist for the Commission in the Jesus Chapel at Canterbury Cathedral and Fr Sallis was the celebrant.

Funding support for the initial meeting and online meetings of the commission is provided by the Trinity Grants programme of the Parish of Trinity Church, New York City.

For further information about the commission, write to:

the Revd Clement W K Lee, cwkl@anglicancommunion.org

or the Revd Philip Sallis, frphilip@anglicancommunion.org

The Inter-Anglican Telecommunications Commission

Representatives of Anglican Regions

Africa

The Very Revd Professor Bayo Akinde, Nigeria
The Ven Beni B Bataaga, Congo (unable to attend)

Asia

Mr Joey Fan, Hong Kong
The Revd Timothy Keiichi Fujii, Japan
Mr Andrew Khoo Chin Hock, Malaysia

Europe

Mrs Janet Maxwell, Ireland

North America

Ms Margaret S Larom, USA

Pacific Rim

The Revd Prof Philip Sallis, New Zealand (meeting moderator)

Church and Industry Telecommunications Specialists

Mr Siôn Brynach, Wales
The Revd Canon Joan Butler Ford, USA
The Revd Michael Graham, Ireland
Mr Tom Lopez, USA (unable to attend)
Mr Bern Mebane, USA (unable to attend)

Ex-Officio Participants

Anglican Consultative Council - The Rt Revd John C Paterson (unable to attend)
Anglican Communion Office - The Revd Clement W K Lee
Anglican Communion Office - Canon James M Rosenthal
Anglican Portal - Mr John Allen
Lambeth Palace - The Revd Jonathan Jennings
Trinity Parish, New York - The Revd Canon James G Callaway Jr
Trinity Parish, New York - The Revd Canon Ogé Beauvoir

ENDS

(Commissioner Margaret S Larom, representing Anglican Provinces in North America, contributed to this article. A former missionary in Uganda, she is on the Presiding Bishop’s staff of the Episcopal Church in the USA and has served on various mission commissions and working groups of the Anglican Communion.)