This past week the Lambeth Conference Design Group has been meeting for the first time. Two things have been set. The 2020 Conference will be during July of 2020 in Canterbury England. The theme of the Conference will be God’s Church for God’s world. The design group is being chaired by the Archbishop of Capetown and Primate of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, the Most Revd Thabo Makgoba. The Group met at the Anglican Communion Offices at St Andrew’s House in London England.
Some serving in the group are: Bishop of Nairobi, Joel Waweru Mwangi; the Bishop of Sabah, Melter Jiki Tais’ the Bishop of Dallas, Dr George Sumner’ the Moderator of the Church of North India and Bishop of Amritsar, Pradeep Samantaroy; the Revd Dr Robert Heaney of Virginia Theological Seminary’ Mrs Josephine Mujawiyera from Rwanda and Ms Cathrine Ngangira, a member of the Community of St Anselm at Lambeth Palace.
The Design group met in a half-day retreat with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby. They also shared Eucharist at midday, helping to set the tone of their meeting. Drawing on the theme of the conference, God’s Church for God’s world, members of the group expressed not only the diversity of the Communion represented among themselves but, hope that the diversity of the Communion will be expressed through the conference.
God is smiling because there is a group of dedicated Episcopalians and Anglicans from all over the Anglican Communion, put together by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Secretary General, who are committed to birthing an innovative, creative Lambeth Conference, where we could listen to each other under God and in our own contexts and commit, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to participate in what God is up to in the world.
– The Most Revd Thabo Makgoba
Archbishop of Capetown & Primate of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa
Read more of the story at the Anglican Communion News Service. The photo is also from the ACNS.