Kia ora whānau,

Greetings to you all from the UK. We thought it would be good to offer a few updates from the Lambeth Conference. Technically the Conference proper does not start for another few days but the Bishops have all gathered early for a two day retreat.

The Archbishop of Canterbury opened our time with reminding us how vast the global communion is spanning over 160 countries and thousands of languages. 650 bishops are present at Lambeth.  Overwhelmingly we remind ourselves daily what a privilege it is to be part of this gathering. Some highlights so far:

• I (Justin) have spent a lot of time with ++Stephen and Rebecca Cottrell, +Ellie’s new team. We are incredibly excited about the ministry in York and Hull going forward.

• I (Ellie) have been part of the inaugural gathering of the Anglican Commission of Discipleship and Evangelism, which is a team brought together from the Anglican Church Planting Network and the Jesus Shaped Life Co-ordinating group for Intentional Discipleship. The passion and testimony of Gospel growth and goodness has been deeply inspiring. 

We have both caught up with Bishops we met when we each attended our 'new bishops' courses in Canterbury when we started our Episcopal ministry. Likewise we have enjoyed meeting bishops from around the globe who we have shared Zoom gatherings with in the run-up to Lambeth. It has been a particular joy to pray together in person once more with people who have been holding us and the Diocese of Wellington deeply in their prayers over these last years of physical isolation. We bring many greetings and blessings to you from our global family from all over the world. There is a consistent desire to listen deeply, appreciate our global diversity and in all things recognise Jesus is Lord.

Coming up
We still have another day of retreat and then we start Lambeth proper. This year's Conference is being focused around 11 'Calls' which Bishops are invited to affirm. These include matters of discipleship, global poverty and inequality, mission and evangelism, church unity, our environment, reconciliation and interfaith relations etc.

The drafts of these calls have been circulated to Bishops before Lambeth; they are meant as a starting point for a conversation that will hopefully after discussion lead where possible to a collective calls to action.

These calls, as Archbishop Justin Welby and others have said, have no binding impact on any Diocese or Province.

One of the calls around ‘human dignity’ - specifically relating to same-sex marriage - is already being discussed in different informal places at Lambeth and it has been good to see the initial call’s wording changed to reflect the greater diversity of the global communion. This is a diversity which our own Province and Diocese clearly affirmed following General Synod 2018.

We are deeply aware of the pain that has been generated as a result of this call's earlier content and we re-affirm the commitments made in Motion  29 (2018) to acceptance of each other's diversity and the clear apology given at that time.

We are looking forward to the many conversations and calls to transformational action in our world and, again, practising deep listening, believing the best of all parties and seeking to hear what is the Spirit saying to the global church.

As we serve you in this context we would continue to ask you to pray for Lambeth for Christ's redeeming grace and love, that we will truly be God’s Church for God’s world.

We are thinking and praying for you all this weekend and next as you gather for Training Days - we miss you! 

Ngā mihi
+Justin and +Ellie