Lambeth
By HUGH MONTEFIORE
So far it is Archbishop Makarios who has hit the headlines about the coming Lambeth Con- ference, but its real importance consists not in the notoriety of its guests but in the results of its members' deliberations on the long-term issues which confront the Anglican Communion. In the first week of July some 350 Anglican diocesan bishops will converge from most parts of the world on Lambeth Palace for 'summit talks,' and their conversations will be domestic and private. These numbers mark only a modest increase on the last Lambeth Conference in 1948, but when one reflects that, in order to reduce the con- ference to a manageable size, suffragan bishops have had to be excluded for the first time, the growth of the Anglican Communion is under- lined. At the first Lambeth Conference in 1867 only seventy-six out of a possible 144 bishops were present.
The Lambeth Conference is a typically Angli- can affair. The intention is that it should meet every ten years. It is summoned by the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, and Dr. Fisher, as prim us ruler pares, will preside for the second and pre- sumably for the last time over the assembly. Although the Lambeth Conference provides the only point of assembly for the whole Anglican episcopate, it has no legislative, administrative or coercive power whatsoever. The bishops meet and invoke the aid of the Holy Spirit : they give solemn advice : their decisions have spiritual authority, which is ultimately the only proper form of authority in the realm of religion. It is LIP to those Churches which are in communion With the See of Canterbury to accept or to reject their decisions. In practice they almost always accept them, and the Lambeth Conference, each decade, sets the tone of and gives spiritual leadership to the whole Anglican Communion. The agenda of the conference has been divided into five main topics, each with its representative committees, and much preparatory work has been done already, some of which has been published in the form of reports. The first subject is 'The Authority and Message of the Bible.' In past conferences specific aspects of the Bible have been considered, but this is the first occasion on which the conference will pronounce upon the Bible as a whole. The last decade has seen a re-
markable resurgence of Biblical studies which has risen above denominational differences. The old liberal approach was concerned primarily with sources and with the development of doc- trine, and it tended to be negative in its outlook. This has now given way to what is often called 'Biblical theology,' with its renewed respect for what the Bible actually contains. Yet there is a danger here that the searching questions which the Liberals used to ask—and which laymen still do ask—may be forgotten by scholars who have rediscovered the unity and inspiration of Scrip- ture. Sometimes they. seem to be playing an in- genious game with counters that can no longer be cashed. How can the message of the Bible be faithfully 'translated' into the thought world of a `scientific' age? This is a question on which the Church badly needs guidance.
On 'Conflicts Between Nations' it is to be hoped that the Anglican Fathers will pronounce about nuclear weapons in terms of principles, not platitudes. As for 'Conflicts Within Nations,' it may be assumed that the conference will speak about racial barriers with customary forthright- ness. What is needed here, however, is practice as well as pronouncement, and it is for lay mem- bers of the Churches to give their witness in action. On 'Progress Within the Anglican Com- munion' the bishops have to deal with some urgent domestic matters. Insufficient numbers of men and women are prepared to meet the mis- sionary needs of the Church overseas, while the manpower situation in England grows more serious each year. The average age of our clergy is over fifty. Is there not a case for a part-time ministry to supplement the professional clerisy? And what of the services they take? The bishops will also be considering the principles of revision of the Book of Common Prayer, a matter of particular relevance for Anglican Churches set in a non-Western culture. The report of an Indian commission on this subject ends with questions like this : 'Have Mattins and Evensong, which were designed for the congregational use of English people, been found capable of pro- viding a pattern of worship suitable for other races?'
Another of the main topics of the conference will be 'The Family in Modern Society.' A report on this theme has been produced by a group of people convened by Dr. Fisher : it is notable for the inclusion of lay men and women who are experts in economics or sociology at home or overseas. Their report is competent, well documented, farsighted, honest and courageous : in fact, it is one of the most exciting documents which the Church of England has yet produced. As the signatories confess, they have been obliged `to offer some things which the bishops might understandably not have chosen for them- selves, some from which their first inclination might have been to turn away.' The report is concerned with problems of overpopulation and with the effects of rapid social change upon the family. In the course of a wide-ranging and searching analysis, there are two striking passages about family planning and marriage discipline. Despite three different approaches to contracep- tion, all signatories agree that 'a conscientious decision to use contraceptives would in certain circumstances be justified.' As for marriage discipline, they question the use of excommuni- cation as a penalty for polygamy in the present state of African society, and they ask why Infant Baptism is some:imes denied to children who have been born from African marriages which have not been blessed by the Church. What moral leadership will the bishops be able to give on these literally vital issues?
In 1920 the Lambeth Conference issued a famous 'Appeal to all Christian People' to heal the divisions within Christendom, and in sub- sequent conferences the theme of reunion has played a considerable part. Today the ecumenical movement has reached a critical stage. There are the voices of those who favour federal union and who would regard organic unity as an im- possible or even an undesirable goal. Church leaders have, in general, advanced far ahead of the lay members of their Churches. The result of conversations between the Church of England and the Methodist Church has not yet been made public, but the so-called 'Bishops Report' has been received in England with general in- difference and has met with some bitter oppo- sition in Presbyterian Scotland, and that not merely in the irresponsible columns of the Scottish press. It seems that organic unity (the only proper goal of ecumenism) will have to start among the younger Churches overseas until such time as the parent Churches are shamed into forgiving the sins of the past.
The Lambeth Con- ference must consider two reunion schemes from Churches in Asia; one from the Churches of Ceylon and the other a plan of Church Union for North India and Pakistan. For the first time Baptist Churches are partici- pating in reunion plans. The Anglican Churches in the areas concerned have played their full part in preparing both these schemes, and they now await the judgment of Lambeth. Both plans attempt to integrate within a national Church Episcopal, Presbyterian and Congrega- tional elements. The Lambeth Conference has long had the vision of merging the Churches of the Anglican Communion into something more comprehensive: what the bishops must decide is whether these present schemes preserve those elements which many Anglicans believe to have been specially entrusted to their communion. For Anglicans the main difficulty seems to be one of order : how to introduce episcopacy without, on the one hand, denying the reality of former non-episcopal ministries and without, on the other hand, acquiescing in a dishonourable compromise.
For the Free Churches, however, the decisive issue lies elsewhere. The uniting Churches rightly insist on remaining in communion with their parent Churches, whether these be episcopal or non-episcopal. No Free Churchman can com- promise on this issue without denying his own spiritual heritage.
Does Lambeth give this its blessing or not? In the case of the Church of South India the con- ference hedged, and now it is being asked once again. The decision must be based on principle, but on sound principle, and there are terrible dangers in excessive scrupulosity. Time is run- ning out, in Asia and elsewhere. There are signs that non-episcopal Churches are losing confidence in the Anglican Communion. So far it has played its full share in the ecumenical movement: will it now bring that movement to a standstill? In the great 'missionary' areas of the world it is not the Churches of the ecumenical movement which are on the attack, but the extremists : the Roman Catholics, the Biblical fundamentalists, the Pentecostal assemblies. Will those Churches which preserve the primitive balance of Scrip- ture, tradition and reason be able to lead the world back to Christ? Will the ecumenical move- ment develop into an interesting and irrelevant Church party, or will it go forward in hope? Humanly speaking, the answers to these questions depend largely on the decisions of the coming Lambeth Conference, and the Anglican bishops need the prayers and the sympathy of all Christian people.
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