Handling the Lambeth Talk

Every ten years the Bishops of the 38 Provinces of the Anglican Communion gather for the Lambeth Conference. This year's Lambeth Conference will be held between 16th July and 3rd August. However, perhaps up to 200 Bishops have refused to attend, representing 5 complete Provinces from the Global South and including also several English Bishops. This Conference is so controversial because at the previous Lambeth Conference in 1998 the Bishops agreed a definitive Anglican position on matters of sexuality which has since been disregarded in the churches of the west, particularly in the USA and Canada. The newspapers will no doubt be full of talk of schisms and splits and we wanted to give you some resources and reflections to help you in any conversations that you may have.

Social attitudes and moral standards are changing faster than ever, but is change always progress and, most importantly, who decides anyway? Consider for a moment your grandparents generation; they probably held views that were quite different from yours on matters such has race, class, family roles or morality. If you consider yourself a modern-thinking person you might find many of those views outdated. Now pause for a moment and think about this: Your grandchildren will probably find your views equally, if not more, embarrassing! Will that make them right, not us?

Christians have always believed that the Bible is a revelation from God, giving us a reliable witness to His supreme revelation of Himself in Jesus. How else would we know that the "Jesus" that we are talking about is the one who really lived, died and rose again for us? We are not at liberty to treat the Bible like any other human book. One implication of this is that, if the Bible is a revelation from another reality, it will always challenge every human culture in a profoundly uncomfortable way. The Bible will be a controversial book until we live in a perfect society when Jesus returns. Until then, we are called to pray "Your kingdom come; Your will be done" and align ourselves with what God has revealed.

The presenting issue in this current controversy is over sexuality. That's not surprising when you consider how our culture is saturated with sexual imagery. It's not that the Church is obsessed with sex - rather, our culture is, and so those who tend to allow culture to dictate their theology are trying to change what Christians have traditionally believed."

As well as the authority of the Bible, there is another truth at stake in these debates which not only affects our theology but should be central to our message. Unfortunately it seems that it is a truth few today believe - namely that God can change us through an encounter with Jesus Christ and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Modern people tend to say "I must be allowed to have what I desire"- but not everything is ultimately good for us (see 1 Corinthians 6). The message of the Gospel is the offer of a new life in Jesus which alone is truly satisfying. Apart from God, we want to turn to our own way but in His service is perfect freedom.

We believe that the Bible teaches clearly that sex belongs in a faithful marriage between a man and a woman. Pray for the Bishops who will be attending the Lambeth Conference. Amongst them are many who remain faithful to the traditional Anglican understanding even as others like them feel in conscience that they should not attend. As Anglicans, we are merely part of God's Church and if one structure falls apart, another will emerge.