Archbishop of Canterbury introduces new Lambeth Conference feature: ‘Lambeth Calls’

9 June 2022 • Persistent link: iarccum.org/?p=4205

At the Lambeth Conference, bishops will meet for prayer and conversation about the theme 'God's Church for God's World'...

In a message filmed recently in Canterbury, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has shared his hopes for a new process of “Lambeth Calls” that will be an important feature of this year’s Lambeth Conference.

The term “Lambeth Calls” is being used for the bishops’ discussions at the conference, and papers which are shared by the bishops during the event to summarize the outcomes of their conversations.

“Lambeth Calls” will be short written statements that include declarations, affirmations and common “calls” to the church and the world that the bishops want to make. Lambeth Calls will relate to the main themes of the conference program and include: mission and evangelism, reconciliation, safe church, the environment and sustainable development, Christian unity, interfaith relations, Anglican identity, human dignity and discipleship.

The intention is to make each of the calls from the conference public and to ensure that there is a process by which the outcomes included in each call can be received and implemented. Member churches will be invited to consider the calls in their own synods and other bodies. It is expected that several themes from the calls will be on the agenda for the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in 2023.

The Lambeth Conference has published a short booklet about the history of the Lambeth Conference and how the new ‘Lambeth Calls’ process will be an integral part of bishops’ discussions in 2022.
• Download the booklet here
• Read more about the Lambeth Calls here
• Watch the video message from Archbishop Justin Welby

In his message, Welby says: “The Lambeth Conference is a wonderful gathering because it brings people from all over the world. But the reality is that Lambeth Conferences are there to come together and to discern what God is saying to the church… to offer that discernment, that insight, that imagination to the whole church, to every single one of the provinces…. [Lambeth Calls] will call on the Anglican Communion, the whole Communion, to pray, and to think and reflect, and for each province to decide on its response.”