Archbishop Peter Jensen has announced that Sydney will not be attending the Lambeth conference, the Anglican Communion’s peak meeting held every 10 years.
"With regret, the Archbishop and Bishops of the Diocese of Sydney have decided not to attend the Lambeth Conference in July,” Archbishop Jensen announced in a statement issued shortly after the ordination of 48 men and women at St Andrew’s Cathedral on Saturday.
Attendance at this year’s Lambeth conference has become fraught with difficulty for Anglican bishops internationally because of invitations issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.
American and Canadian representatives who have stood out against Lambeth’s 1998 affirmation of Bible-based sexual ethics have been invited to attend.
Last year the Diocese’ Standing Committee urged Archbishop Peter Jensen and his five regional bishops to make crystal clear Sydney's protest at Lambeth's guest list if they decided to accept the Archbishop of Canterbury's invitations to attend next year's conference of the world's Anglican leaders.
Archbishop Jensen has stressed that the bishops’ decision not to attend this year’s conference does not represent a split with the international Anglican communion.
“They remain fully committed to the Anglican Communion, to which they continue to belong,” his statement reads.
“But [they] sense that attending the Conference at this time will not help heal its divisions. They continue to pray for the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lambeth Conference.”
Archbishop Jensen is hoping to see Sydney Anglicans support the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) which will discuss the future of mission and relationships within the churches of Anglican Communion.
“I am hoping that we will also see Sydney laypersons and clergy in attendance with our bishops,” he writes in his column to the Sydney Diocese this month.
“We must look to the future, and network with Anglican Christians from around the globe who share our fundamental trust in the authority of God's word.”
