The conference theme is ‘God’s Church for God’s World – walking, listening and witnessing together.’ The conference is exploring what it means for the Anglican Communion to be responsive to the needs of a 21st Century world.
Meeting around every ten years since 1867, the Lambeth Conference is one of the four Instruments of Unity in the Anglican Communion. The 2022 meeting was the 15th Lambeth Conference.
The Lambeth Conference Journey – The phases of the conference
The fifteenth Lambeth Conference has been designed to run in phases.
- Phase 1 – Listening Together: Bishops met pre-event for online conversations(2021-2022).
- Phase 2 – Walking Together: The conference community met in Canterbury. (2022)
- Phase 3 – Witnessing Together: Taking the outcomes of the conference forward. (2023-2026)
Where did Phase 2 of the conference meet?
The conference took place across venues at the University of Kent, Canterbury Cathedral and Lambeth Palace during July – August 2022.
Who is it for?
For the in-person event in Canterbury, over six hundred bishops (and their wives or husbands) travelled to the conference. They represented dioceses and Christian communities from around 165 countries of the Anglican Communion – one of the largest Christian communities in the world.
The Lambeth Conference aims to resource, inspire, and encourage Bishops in their local ministries; supporting their pastoral and leadership roles in church life and mission. For many of the bishops attending, this was a rare opportunity to meet with their peers from around the world.
There was also be a joint programme for bishops’ wives and husbands that ran in parallel – to equip and support them in their vital roles too. This saw the participation of many spouses from across the Anglican Communion, and provided a key opportunity for spiritual reflection, growing connections and sharing stories about their vocation and ministry experiences.
Phase 3 will explore the themes of the Lambeth Calls discussed by the bishops at the Lambeth Conference. The journey welcomes the wider participation in the calls by churches and communities around the world. They are offered as invitations and calls, to strengthen our life together as an Anglican Communion. Lambeth Calls will be released in May.
