THE LAMBETH Conference 2008 ended in Canterbury Cathedral last night on a far more optimistic note than many would have thought possible three weeks ago.
In his sermon at the concluding Eucharist, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams urged the 670 bishops who attended to "go back to their apostolic ministries and tell the story of the Lambeth Conference in such a way that makes things happen".
At a press conference earlier he said that quite surprising results had emerged from the conference, in particular a shared willingness to stay together.
There was also agreement on what might make that happen (a covenant) and also "a wide degree of agreement" that moratoriums should remain on both sides.
This was a reference to moratoriums agreed by North American Anglicans not to ordain any more gay bishops or perform same-sex blessings for now, and by more traditional Anglican churches that they will not intervene in liberal dioceses to offer affiliation to local conservatives.
Archbishop Williams said there had also been "a strong level of support for more coherent, co-ordinated attempts by the Communion, where justice and international developmental issues were concerned".
He hoped provinces would be asked to sign up to an agreed covenant "within 12 months" and expected the covenant process to be completed, "ideally by 2012 or 2013". Again he emphasised that the covenant was "not meant to be a punitive or exclusionary device" and that failure to sign it "would not mean absolute separation".
He also said that a "covenanted future . . . has the potential to make us more of a church; more of a 'Catholic' Church in the proper sense, a church, that is, which understands its ministry and service and sacraments as united and interdependent throughout the world".
He continued that "the global horizon of the church matters because churches without this are always in danger of slowly surrendering to the culture around them and of losing sight of their calling to challenge that culture".
He intends calling a primates' meeting "as early as possible in 2009" and within two months hopes to have details on the task and composition of a new pastoral forum, which was called for at the conference as a support for minorities within the Communion.
He also said he would be preparing a pastoral letter to which he hoped those Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) bishops who did not attend this conference might respond.
In his final presidential address to the conference he said that "in the months ahead it will be important to invite those absent from Lambeth to be involved in these next stages. Much in the GAFCON documents is consonant with much of what we have sought to say and do, and we need to look for the best way of building bridges".
At the conclusion of the conference he felt "we may not have put an end to our problems" but the pieces are on the board.
