At the anniversary of the fifteenth Lambeth Conference, an official conference report has been published. Meeting in July – August 2022, 634 bishops and 464 spouses attended. The report is called: ‘God’s Church for God’s World’ after the theme of the conference.
The publication is a compilation of Reports, Addresses and Calls from the Lambeth Conference. Edited by Reverend Canon Stephen Spencer at the Anglican Communion Office, it features contributions from members of the conference planning teams, guests and speakers.
Readers can chart each stage of the conference journey, which was designed to run in three phases: The pre-conference ‘listening together’ phase (a series of online meetings for bishops and spouses); a ‘walking together’ phase (the in-person event in Canterbury), and the current ‘witnessing together’ phase, focused on sharing the Lambeth Calls with the Anglican Communion.
Transcripts of all the major speeches and sermons given during the event are featured, including three Keynote Addresses given by The Archbishop of Canterbury. The final wording of the Lambeth Calls are also listed, which incorporate bishops’ feedback on the Calls made during the conference. These can also be downloaded from the conference website.
In the foreword, Justin Welby, The Archbishop of Canterbury, reflects on the conference and the value of the report which: “…offers an opportunity to read and reflect on the insights of the bishops in the pre-conference conversations; it provides access to the immense wisdom that was shared by the invited speakers at the conference; and it allows us to relive and rejoice again in the movement of God’s Spirit among bishops and spouses over those 12 days in Canterbury. … I now look forward to the next phase of the Lambeth journey, Phase 3, in which bishops and the wider church are invited to be caught up, once more, in the adventure of being “God’s Church for God’s World”.
Stephen Spencer, who compiled the publication says: “The first anniversary of the 2022 Lambeth Conference is a good moment to look back on the whole journey, from the pre-conference phase through to the conference itself and forward to what lies ahead. The publication of this report offers an opportunity to do this, providing windows on to the journey, allowing reflection on what it all means, and especially, on what it reveals of the way God is leading the Churches of the Anglican Communion forward in the mission of Christ.”
“God’s Church for God’s World” has been published by SCM Press. An electronic copy will be shared with every bishop that attended the conference.
Other resources have also been made available, for those that want to access material from the conference. The first, ‘Celebrating our Journey’ – is an online magazine-type overview of what happened each day of the conference, providing photos and links to online recordings of the main services, Bible Studies and plenary sessions.
An online resources zone has also been launched by the Lambeth Conference team, which shares filmed recordings and papers from all the major sessions at the conference.
