Thinking Anglicans

Lambeth Conference 2022 final report

Updated

For earlier reports of last year’s Lambeth conference, go here.

The Living Church reports on the publication of its final report: Final Tweaks to Controversial Lambeth Calls Released.

The text of the calls is here, in multiple languages.

The electronic text of the complete report is here,  in several languages, but apparently not in English. The latter is available on paper only, it seems.

Update

Although no English language PDF is offered, most of the information can be found by following links from this website page.

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Lambeth Conference 2022 closes

The Lambeth Conference closed yesterday with a Eucharist in Canterbury Cathedral.

Here is our final roundup of news from the Conference. There is earlier news here, here, herehere, here and here.

Lambeth Conference website
The Fifteenth Lambeth Conference closes in song at Canterbury Cathedral
The Closing Service of the Lambeth Conference – Service Programme [There is a recording of the service on YouTube.]
Church must learn to ‘speak confidently and courageously’ on science in changing world – Lambeth conference told
Bishops observe silence for Hiroshima Day as Lambeth Conference remembers violence and conflict around the world

Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop Justin’s sermon at the Lambeth Conference closing service
Archbishop of Canterbury gives final Keynote Address at the Lambeth Conference

Episcopal News Service
In final Lambeth address, Archbishop of Canterbury calls the church to tell, teach and transform
Bishops wrap Lambeth Conference with look ahead to unity, despite persistent divisions
As Lambeth Conference winds down, bishops show solidarity with regions facing crises, from gun violence to climate change

Church Times
Lambeth 2022: Now is time to deepen relationships across Communion, urges Welby
Lambeth 2022: The way ahead, guided by scripture
Lambeth 2022: Global South leaders talk of impaired communion
Lambeth 2022: Revolution is our calling, declares Welby
Lambeth 2022: Bishops pledge support for places in crisis and conflict
Lambeth 2022: New Science Commission launched
Lambeth 2022: everything you need to know about the sexuality row

Vatican News
Cardinal Tagle at Lambeth Conference: ‘Let us dream together’

Lambeth ’22 Resource Group
GSFA Official Communique following Lambeth Conference 2022
Orthodox Bishops at the Lambeth Conference reaffirm Lambeth I.10 as Anglican teaching on marriage & sexuality

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Lambeth Conference 2022 – even more news and comment

There is earlier news here, here, herehere and here

Lambeth Conference website
Christians today can change the world like the original disciples – Lambeth Conference hears
Join with us to fight world crises such as climate change and poverty – Bishops’ invitation to leaders of other faiths
Lambeth Conference Calls for Church Unity amid ‘ecumenical emergency’
Global environmental restoration plan launched at Lambeth Conference

Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop Justin Welby’s second Keynote Address at the Lambeth Conference

Anglican Communion News Service
Anglican bishops from across the world offer their thoughts on the 2022 Lambeth Conference

Lambeth ’22 Resource Group
Orthodox Bishops map out a robust future & hopeful of a re-setting of the Anglican Communion

Episcopal News Service
At Lambeth Palace, bishops and spouses celebrate launch of Anglican Communion forest initiative
Spotlight turns toward ecumenical, interfaith relations in Lambeth Conference sessions
Spouses’ program at Lambeth forges bonds across geographic and ideological divides
Bishops at Lambeth Conference are encouraged to prioritize making disciples centered on Christ
COVID-19 at Lambeth: Few precautions, but also few cases – so far
Archbishop of Canterbury calls churches to be ‘revolutionary’ to meet modern challenges

Church Times
Lambeth 2022: Don’t ignore darker side when engaging with other faiths, bishops told
Lambeth 2022: What unity do you desire, bishops are asked
Lambeth 2022: Anglican Communion has shifted on sexuality, says Bishop Vann
Lambeth 2022: Discipleship — from pew-warmer to Jesus-shaped life
Lambeth 2022: Prayer vigil highlights starvation facing millions in East Africa
Lambeth 2022: Revolution is our calling, declares Welby
Lambeth 2022: Focus on bigger picture, Makgoba tells Lambeth Conference participants

The Living Church
Bishops Set Terms for Post-Lambeth Sexuality Debate
Bishops Focus on Church Unity, Interfaith Relations
Lambeth Launches a Global Forest Project

The Guardian
Justin Welby says it is ‘very difficult’ to hold church together over sexuality

Andrew Goddard
The End of (the) Communion? (i) What has been said?
The End of (the) Communion? (ii): So where are we now?

Kelvin Holdsworth
Fact checking Sandi Toksvig

Archbishop Cranmer
Sandi Toksvig and her caricature Church of England

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Lambeth Conference 2022 – Call on Human Dignity

The bishops at the Lambeth Conference discussed the  Call on Human Dignity in private yesterday, but there are some reports.

Lambeth Conference website
Bishops at Lambeth Conference discuss the Lambeth Call on Human Dignity

Archbishop of Canterbury
Bishops at Lambeth Conference discuss Lambeth Call on Human Dignity
Lambeth Call on Human Dignity: Read Archbishop Justin’s remarks

Church Times
Lambeth 2022: Fire goes out of sexuality argument

TransEpiscopal
Hope for the Race Before Us: A Reflection on the Lambeth Human Dignity Call

Episcopal News Service
Archbishop of Canterbury’s remarks on human dignity lift up traditional and progressive marriage beliefs
Message from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry on Lambeth Call on human dignity

The Living Church
Sexuality Dispute Ends with Call to Truth and Unity

The Telegraph
Justin Welby: I won’t punish churches that conduct gay marriages

The Guardian
Justin Welby ‘affirms validity’ of 1998 gay sex is sin declaration

This Statement from Anglican Bishops and Primates who are keen to affirm and celebrate LGBT+ People was issued yesterday.

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Lambeth Conference 2022 – yet more news and comment

Updated Tuesday afternoon – scroll down

There is earlier news here, here, here, and here.

Lambeth Conference website
Bishops express support for ‘Anglican Congress’ meeting in the Global South
Lambeth Call – Safe Church Sunday 31 July 2022
United in prayer – bishops from around the world join in global chorus at Lambeth Conference Opening service at Canterbury Cathedral
Lambeth Conference Opening Service – the service programme [There is a recording of the service on YouTube.]

Archbishop of Canterbury
Statement on the Archbishop’s meeting with global South Primates

Lambeth ’22 Resource Group [“The official website of the Resource Group serving orthodox bishops attending Lambeth ’22”]
GSFA to Offer Bishops at the Lambeth Conference An Opportunity To Re-Affirm Lambeth I.10- Text Available August 2, 2pm

Episcopal News Service
At Lambeth, Indigenous Anglicans offer wisdom, heartache and a challenge to ‘sweep our house’
Lambeth Conference shifts to more challenging issues as bishops take up Anglican identity
Bishops advance Lambeth Call adopting guidelines to prevent abuse
Themes of service, hospitality resonate for bishops at Lambeth Conference’s opening Eucharist

Church Times
Lambeth 2022: Global South congress is proposed
Lambeth Conference ‘will not split’ over homosexuality
Lambeth 2022: Multilingual cathedral eucharist in Canterbury puts Anglican diversity on view
Lambeth Conference organisers dump electronic voting

Update

Lambeth ’22 Resource Group
Orthodox bishops reveal text of resolution reaffirming ‘Lambeth 1.10’ as the Anglican Communion teaching on marriage & sexuality
The Call to Reaffirm Lambeth I.10

Archbishop of Canterbury
Letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Bishops of the Anglican Communion

Church Times
Lambeth 2022: Resolution 1.10 is still valid, Archbishop of Canterbury tells bishops
Lambeth 2022: Global South Fellowship offers anonymous voting process on its own sexuality resolution

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Lambeth Calls – An update on the process

This afternoon the Archbishop of Canterbury outlined changes to the Lambeth Calls process; details are on the Conference website and are copied below.

Lambeth Calls – An update on the process

In this afternoon’s Lambeth Calls session on Safe Church, Archbishop Justin outlined some changes to the Lambeth Calls process.

The Bishops will continue to discuss the calls at their tables, recording feedback and observations, and this will be given to the group working on Phase 3 of the Conference so that the voices of bishops will be heard as the process continues. Six groups will have the opportunity to give verbal feedback during each session, on a randomly selected basis.

However, having listened to the bishops, Archbishop Justin advised delegates that electronic recording of choices will not be in place for the remaining calls, an announcement that was greeted with supportive applause.

An opportunity will be given at the end of each session for a verbal indication of agreement. If the calls gain clear assent they will be sent forward for further work.

31 July 2022

For reference the arrangements before today’s changes are here.

Today’s session was the second Lambeth Call. The first Call (on Mission and Evangelism) was yesterday and details are here. It is interesting to note that 464 Bishops voted responded to the Call. Since there are more than 600 bishops at the conference it appears that a substantial number failed to respond in any of the three ways available.

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Lambeth Conference 2022 – more news and comment

Updated Friday evening

text of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s first Keynote Address (delivered Friday evening)

The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches issued this press release earlier today: Orthodox Bishops to offer their own ‘Lambeth Resolution’ re- affirming Lambeth 1.10 & will not receive holy communion alongside gay-partnered bishops. It starts:

ORTHODOX bishops at the Lambeth Conference – representing 75% of the Anglican Communion – announced today (29JUL) that they will be tabling their own ‘Lambeth Resolution (Call)’. They will invite fellow bishops, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, to re-affirm Lambeth Resolution 1.10 as the Anglican Communion’s ‘official teaching’ on marriage and sexuality.

The bishops also want the Communion to impose sanctions on Provinces which ordain bishops in same-sex relations, and conduct same sex weddings – something which has led to schism in the Church. They have also revealed that at the two Conference’ Eucharists at Canterbury Cathedral, orthodox bishops will not receive Holy Communion alongside gay-partnered bishops, and those who endorse same-sex unions in the Church’s faith and order. They shall remain seated.

There is a Church Times report: Lambeth 2022: Global South Bishops press for re-affirmation of Resolution 1.10.


Official photographs

There is a Live Stream Programme. It starts with a keynote address by The Archbishop of Canterbury at 1945 today (Friday 29 July).

Anglican Communion News Service Anglican Bishops from around the world gather for the 15th Lambeth Conference

Church Times Lambeth Conference is here at last
Bishops join LGBTI+ march through Canterbury campus as Lambeth Conference begins

The Living Church University of Kent Welcomes Gay Bishops to Lambeth
Bishops Divided on Revised Lambeth Calls

The Guardian Divisions in Anglican church on show as Lambeth conference opens

Episcopal News Service With same-sex marriage in the spotlight, where does it stand across the Anglican Communion?

Giles Fraser UnHerd Why is the Church obsessed with gay sex?

Andrew Goddard Psephizo Lambeth ‘Calls’, Lambeth I.10, and the nature of the Anglican Communion
Lambeth ‘Calls’, Lambeth I.10, and the nature of the Anglican Communion (2): the future

St Chrysostom’s Church, Manchester UK Polygamy, Reincarnation, Traditional African Religions and…Lambeth

Religion Media Centre ‘It may be time to pull the plug’ on the Lambeth Conference
report of an interview with Diarmaid MacCulloch

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Lambeth Calls – revised text published

Following the controversy over the text of the Lambeth Calls to be considered at the Lambeth Conference that starts today (see the many links and comments on my earlier post here), a revised version of the Calls was issued today. The press release is copied below. The original Lambeth Calls Guidance and Study Documents is here.

Text of Calls to be discussed at Lambeth Conference published

The Calls which will be discussed by bishops from around the world at the Lambeth Conference 2022, which begins in Canterbury this week, have been published.

The document Lambeth Calls includes revisions to a number of draft Lambeth Calls which were released last week as part of Lambeth Calls: Guidance and Study Documents.

It includes revisions to the Call on Human Dignity, agreed by the drafting group following consideration of widespread responses from bishops and others.

There are also revisions to the draft Calls on Discipleship, Mission and Evangelism and Inter Faith Relations.
Bishop Tim Thornton, Chair of the Lambeth Conference’s Lambeth Calls Subgroup, said:

“We have listened carefully and prayerfully to what bishops and many others have said in response to the draft Calls, especially that on Human Dignity. Archbishop Justin has invited the bishops of the Anglican Communion to come together as a family to listen, pray and discern – sometimes across deeply-held differences.

It is our prayer that these Calls can offer a basis for those conversations – and that all of our discussions will be marked by the grace and love of Jesus Christ.

Please continue to pray for us that we may continue to listen, walk and witness together.”

Please click here to view the Lambeth Calls document.

Notes to Editors:

During the conference bishops will consider each of the Calls together and will then be able to respond with one of three options:

  • ‘This Call speaks for me. I add my voice to it and commit myself to take the action I can to implement it.’
  • ‘This Call requires further discernment. I commit my voice to the ongoing process.’
  • ‘This Call does not speak for me. I do not add my voice to this Call.’

Calls chosen by the bishops at the conference will be formally issued in the report of the Lambeth Conference 2022.

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Lambeth Conference 1998 resolution I.10 revisited

In view of the references now being made to the 1998 conference, and in particular to the adoption then of Resolution I.10, I thought it might be helpful to reproduce the commentary on the latter that I wrote at the time.

The full extent of those reports can still be found on the web, here: Unofficial News from the Lambeth Conference. But to save you ploughing through all of that, I have extracted those parts which relate specifically to the debates on sexuality, and put them into a PDF, which is available here. As you can see, if you are bothered to look, it was far from a straightforward process to agree what emerged.

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Lambeth Conference 2022 – news and comments

The 2022 Lambeth Conference opens on 26 July.

Anglican Communion News Service A message from the Archbishop of Canterbury to bishops attending the Lambeth Conference

Religion Media Centre
Explainer: The Lambeth Conference
Sexuality and schism: do bishops have to agree on everything to stay in the Anglican family?

Church Times
Guide to the Lambeth Conference
Draft Lambeth Conference ‘call’ threatens to reignite 1998 row over homosexuality
Lambeth ’22 can resolve divisions if you are gracious and bold, Anis tells Global South bishops

Andrew Goddard The Living Church Lambeth in Retrospect: Part One Part Two

John Harvey Taylor Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles The Bishop’s Blog: Bait-and-switch Lambeth Conference
Church of England press release Living in Love and Faith Next Steps Group Statement on the Lambeth Calls
clarkinholyorders The Commonwealth of Heaven The mind of the Anglican Communion?
Kirk Petersen The Living Church Bishops Object to Lambeth Proposal on Sexuality
Mary Frances Schjonberg Episcopal News Service After LGBTQ+ resolutions smoothly moved through #GC80, Anglicanism’s human sexuality debate returns ahead of Lambeth Conference
Jennifer A Reddall Episcopal Diocese of Arizona The Lambeth Calls for Whom?
Marcus Green The Possibility of Difference Lambeth Walking?
Kelvin Holdsworth The Lambeth Conference: Homophobic by Design

Updates

David Hamid Eurobishop The mind of the Communion
Stephen London Anglican Diocese of Edmonton Bishop’s Statement on Lambeth Calls
Susan Brown Snook Episcopal Diocese of San Diego Lambeth Calls
Bishops of the Church in Wales Draft Lambeth Call “undermines and subverts” LGBT+ people – Bishops
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love An Open Letter to the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England
Mark D W Edington The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe Lambeth Stuff
Andrew Nunn Reflections from the Dean of Southwark Lambeth calling … London calling
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Lambeth Call on Human Dignity draft didn’t include Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10 [includes statement by Bishop Kevin Robertson]
Bishop of Ely and Bishop of Huntingdon Lambeth Conference 2022 – Pastoral Letter to the Diocese of Ely
Religion Media Centre Fury at inclusion of same sex marriage ban on Lambeth conference agenda
Affirming Catholicism Open letter to the archbishops and bishops attending the 2022 Lambeth Conference
Church Times Lambeth Resolution 1.10 ‘was not discussed’ in human dignity drafting group
Barbara Gauthier Anglican Mainstream Lambeth Calls: Can a Church truly deal with the brokenness of the world if she herself is broken?
The Guardian The Guardian view on the Lambeth conference: don’t make it about sexuality
The Guardian Motion to oppose same-sex marriage forces rethink of Anglican summit
Michael Curry The Episcopal Church Statement from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry on Lambeth Calls
Bishop Tim Thornton Chair of the Lambeth Calls Subgroup Statement on Lambeth Calls
Church Times Lambeth attempts to head off sexuality row in Canterbury with new draft
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Revisiting the Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10 plenary session
Modern Church The Lambeth Conference: Modern Church’s Response

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Lambeth Conference: invitations still open to Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda

Updated 14 June

 The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has written to the Primates of Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda to tell them that his invitation to bishops from their provinces to attend the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops remains open. In a joint letter with the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Archbishop Justin said: “God calls us to unity and not to conflict so that the world may know he came from the Father. That is the very purpose of the church globally.”

Read the whole press release, dated 27 May, and read the full text of the letter here.

Read the text of the letter from the three primates dated 6 May, to which it is a response.

Read the 31 March Communiqué of the Primates’ Meeting to which they were responding.

Update

Read the further response from the three primates, dated 10 June, or download a pdf copy here.

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