Support for the Archbishop
Delegates attending the annual conference of USPG: Anglicans in World Mission have written to Archbishop Rowan Williams assuring him of their full support as he grapples with threats of a split in the Anglican Communion.
‘The USPG Annual Conference, including members of our Council and partners from over 15 countries, has been meeting at Swanwick. We send to you, our President, our warm greetings and the assurance of our prayers as the bishops and their spouses begin to gather ready for the Lambeth Conference.‘We have heard at first hand how our fellow-Anglicans are responding to human suffering in Myanmar and Zimbabwe, in the Philippines and Sri Lanka. We have celebrated the way that USPG’s supporters in Britain and Ireland are helping to fund theological education and health care all around the world.
‘But we have also been saddened by some recent statements, including those from GAFCON last week, which can only deepen the divisions in our Communion, and particularly those which have attacked your own leadership.
‘We know that among our partners around the world, and among our supporters here in Britain and Ireland, there is a wide variety of views, held with integrity, on the issues which currently threaten the unity of our Communion. But we also believe that these partners and supporters have an overwhelming commitment to stay travelling together, they are praying for the Lambeth Conference to be a time of deep listening to God and to each other, and they thank God for the careful and often sacrificial leadership which you are offering.
‘This letter, greeted with acclaim at our final plenary, comes with our love and prayers as you prepare to welcome the bishops and their spouses to Canterbury. May the conference be a time of growth and healing; may it be a sign of the reconciliation and hope which we know in Jesus Christ, and which our world so desperately needs.’
