The 2018 Lambeth Conference, a ten yearly gathering of more than 600 Anglican bishops, has reportedly been cancelled for the first time in it’s history, due to divisions over homosexual clergy.
It is believed the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby fears provoking more rows, following the last meeting in 2008 when African bishops boycotted the conference due to openly gay members attending.
“[The Archbishop] has been very clear that he is not going to call a Lambeth [Conference] until he is reasonably certain that the vast majority of bishops would attend,” explained the head of the Episcopal Church in the US Reverend Katharine Jeffers Schori.
She added: “As he continues his visits around the communion to those primates it’s unlikely that he will call such a meeting at all until at least a year from now or probably 18 months from now. Therefore I think we are looking at 2019, more likely 2020, before a Lambeth Conference.”
Anglican Mainstream’s Andrew Symes said: “My understanding is that no decision has been made about the next Lambeth, but clearly Archbishop Justin would want such a gathering to a) have a clear purpose b) have the support of the majority of Bishops of the Anglican Communion, and especially a good representation from the Global South, and c) be affordable.
“The Archbishop is working hard to bring this about with his marathon schedule of personal visits around the Provinces. But I think that as long as headlines about the Church of England indicate a continuing liberal trajectory, and TEC and the Church of Canada continue to exert their influence over ‘indaba’ initiatives such as the facilitated conversations, Global South church leaders will see no point in committing resources to attending another Lambeth conference when the issues that caused such division.”
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