The thing that I have been most struck by when I read the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter inviting his fellow bishops to Lambeth is his insistence that the conference is just that, a conference. It is not going to be a time given to voting up and down pieces of legislation.
I thought I remembered a quote by the Archbishop of Nigeria that seemed to say that he had little interest in attending such an event.
“In a Jan. 14 interview with the Guardian newspaper of Lagos, Archbishop Akinola, the primate of the Communion’s largest province, said sending more than 100 Nigerian bishops to Lambeth would not be an act of prudent stewardship, if the conference was simply going to be an expensive episcopal jamboree.
‘A Lambeth Conference that will not be able to guide the church in a way that the church will embrace’ and ‘comply’ is ‘not worth attending,’ the archbishop said. The Church of Nigeria would be a ‘bad steward, to use God’s resources and waste it on jamboree. God will hold me responsible and accountable for spending money in that way.’”
There’s a pretty big gap between conference to confer and a meeting that issues statement to which others must comply. I don’t think the Archbishop of Canterbury’s words are chosen by accident.
Here’s the source for the quotation: Global South Anglican
