TLC: Bishops Briefed on Lambeth Conference
09/25/2007

The Lambeth Conference of Bishops in England next July will bear a striking organizational resemblance to a recent pan-Anglican consultation underwritten by Trinity Church, Wall Street, last July in Madrid.

“I assure you there is no collusion,” said the Rev. Ian Douglas, professor of world mission at Episcopal Divinity School and a member of the Lambeth Planning Committee. “The idea was to create a space for many voices to speak.”

Prof. Douglas addressed the House of Bishops during a plenary session Sept. 24. He said the Lambeth Conference will be radically different in design from any other Lambeth Conference in recent memory.

It will begin with a three-day retreat designed to help bishops become more mission minded. After the conclusion of the retreat, bishops will be assigned to two Ubuntu table groups: a more intimate one of eight and a larger one involving five groups of eight combined. They will discuss about one dozen issues of common interest before the Anglican Communion, including economics and poverty, gender inequality and violence, human sexuality and identity. the rest