Episcopal and Anglican bishops and their spouses filled Canterbury Cathedral on July 31 for the opening Sunday Eucharist of the Lambeth Conference.
The service spanned several hours and was marked by prayer and pageantry in a worship space with more than 1,400 years of history that was described in a welcoming message as “the heart of our communion.”
More than 600 bishops representing an estimated 165 countries are attending the July 26-Aug. 8 conference.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, head of the Anglican Church, convened the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops. Standing just inside the cathedral door, Archbishop Welby offered an opening prayer, seeking unity among bishops in their shared faith despite individual differences.
“Let us pray earnestly for God’s blessing upon those who are gathered here,” the archbishop said, “that through our discussions and our walking together we may grow into a deeper understanding of one another and a deeper love for the world Jesus Christ came to save.”
The Lambeth Conference is a decennial assembly of bishops of the Anglican Communion convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first such conference took place at Lambeth in 1867.
As the Anglican Communion is an international association of autonomous national and regional churches and is not a governing body, the Lambeth Conferences serve a collaborative and consultative function, expressing “the mind of the communion” on issues of the day.
Lambeth is a riverside area home to Lambeth Palace, the residence of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury.
This is the 15th Lambeth Conference and the first in 14 years, after past conferences typically were held once a decade. Welby initially postponed calling his first Lambeth Conference by two years due to theological divisions between some of the provinces, and his plans to hold the conference in 2020 were delayed by another two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The last Lambeth Conference was in 2008.
The bishops displayed a broad spectrum of colour, nationality and dress, reflecting the diversity of the Anglican Communion’s 42 provinces – four more provinces than existed in 2008.