THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE 2008

As I write this, 650 Bishops of the worldwide Anglican Communion convene at the University of Kent in Canterbury for the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference hosted by the figurative head of the Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev'd Rowan Williams. The first Lambeth Conference was held in 1867 convened by Archbishop Longley.

Archbishop Longley said in his opening address, however, that they had no desire to assume "the functions of a general synod of all the churches in full communion with the Church of England," but merely to "discuss matters of practical interest, and pronounce what we deem expedient in resolutions which may serve as safe guides to future action." The resolutions of the Lambeth Conferences have never been regarded as synodical decrees unlike the General Conferences/Assemblies of other denominations, but their weight has increased with each conference. Each of the subsequent conferences has been first received in Canterbury Cathedral and addressed by the archbishop from the chair of St. Augustine, believed to be the first pastor of the cathedral church of Canterbury.

The Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England, the mother church of Anglicanism

What's so special about this decade's Lambeth Conference that even the Roman Catholic pontiff, Benedict XVI expressed concern for it?

Well, 230 Bishops representing a quarter of the world's Anglicans including the Archbishop of Sydney (AU) and the Archbishops of Africa are boycotting the 2-week-long conference as the Communion experiences a slow but steady rift between conservatives and liberals over the church's stance on sexuality which first sparked at the Episcopal Church's 2003 consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. Gene Robinson is openly gay. Since then, the Episcopal Church (ECUSA) has experienced mass exodus of its members, parishes and even dioceses.

These large conservative, growing parishes and dioceses have started coming under the bishopric of Anglicans in Africa. The African branch of the Communion is said to be the most theologically conservative, orthodox and fastest-growing of all Anglican provinces.

Truro Church, a historic congregation in Fairfax, VA- a church in which George Washington and his father served as Vestry men (the equivalent of an elders council), withdrew from the ECUSA and joined the Nigerian-supported Convocation of Anglican in North America (CANA); Falls Church, Falls Church, VA, one of the largest ECUSA congregations in the East has joined the same group. Christ Church Plano, said to be the largest congregation in the whole US diaffilliated with the ECUSA in 2006. The Dioceses of San Joaquin (CA), of Pittsburgh and of South Carolina are at the either at the brink or have left the larger church.

Conservative Anglican leaders staged their own conference in Jerusalem last month at which they pledged to form a council of bishops to provide an alternative to churches who they say are preaching a "false gospel" of sexual immorality.

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) said member churches would continue sponsoring breakaway conservative parishes in the liberal western member countries and called for a separate conservative province in North America.

Abp. Rowan Williams, the titular head of the Anglican Communion addressing the Lambeth Conference 2008

Archbishop Rowan Williams, leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, said the GAFCON plans were "fraught with difficulty." Pope Benedict XVI en route last Saturday to World Youth Day in Australia, told reporters: "I am praying so that there are no more schisms and fractures among Anglicans."

But splitting is nothing new to Anglicanism. It is a part of the DNA of the Communion! Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon for Anne Boleyn. The Pope would not approve it, so he separated the Church in England from the See of Rome, and thus begun the Church of England as we know it. The Wesley brothers who initially begun revival movement within the Church but ended up splitting away and establishing the Methodist Church.

Now the Anglican Church is on the brink of another split, this time over an issue that has been debated (which should not be) among Protestants for nearly two decades now, sexuality. But the issue is a classic example of culture clashing or more like dominating the Church, as against the Church influencing culture. For some people, the culture is fast becoming the deciding factor, while the theologically conservative ones fight for orthodoxy's claim to redeem culture.

For a great number of loyal Anglicans, unity is more important than doctrine. But for many orthodox Anglicans, the unifying factor of the Church is its confessional faith in Christ and the Bible as traditionally understood by the Reformers.

The Episcopal Church begun as a result of the American revolution when England lost control of America, the Church of England made the national church as province of the Anglican Communion.

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