During the first week of July, Wycliffe Hall hosted over 100 visitors from around the Anglican Communion for a four-day consultation. Building on the work of a similar venture exactly five years ago, we were able to invite a wide selection of bishops and pastors, theologians and those in mission agencies. They came together to confer on two key matters of common concern: taking forward the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant and examining the challenges and opportunities for Anglican Mission in the ‘First World’.

There were good contingents of visitors from Australia and New Zealand and from the United States and Canada, as well as smaller numbers from Continental Europe, South America and the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East. Each day included worshipping together and hearing from the Scriptures (focused on Ephesians). The consultation concluded with a Communion service in the chapel with a decidedly African feel as it was presided over by Bishop Gideon Githiga (Kenya), with a sermon from Archbishop Mouneer Anis (Egypt) on the theme of covenant renewal.

Wycliffe owes many thanks to those who made this consultation possible—especially our co-hosts in the Anglican Communion Institute. It is hoped that many of the ideas, generated through building good relationships and creative discussion, will bear fruit during the coming months as the Covenant Design Group receives input from around the Communion and as bishops prepare to gather for the Lambeth Conference in July 2008.

For more details, please see the Press Release and the various papers (from both the ‘Mission’ and ‘Covenant’ tracks) presented at the consultation. Summaries of some of the small group discussions will be posted on this website in due course.