Page 4 - FSB 2020 God's Church for God's World

PASTORAL INTRODUCTION
The Lambeth Conference is a decennial gathering of Anglican bishops from around the world. The theme for the 2020 conference, and indeed for this Festival Service Book, is God’s Church for God’s World – a sentiment that could not be more topical.
In a world that can sometimes seems politically, economically and environmentally out of control we would do well to remember that God is expressed as the source and inspiration of unity. God’s activity and presence is discerned and identified as three persons. Yet that diversity of operation does not detract from God’s oneness and the unity that variety of action finds in the Godhead.
It follows that the Church, if true to its calling, will not distance itself from the complexity of the world’s people and places. Instead, it will hear in competing voices the whisper of God expressing a love that can bring sense and harmony to an anxious and divided world.
If God’s Church is to be for God’s world, then it must confess that the world may have a better grasp of God’s plan than it does. The Church must regain the boldness of the Gospel message in challenging the world to tune its ear and open its heart to justice and community, just as God would wish.
The first letter of Peter is the defining text for Lambeth 2020 and this Festival Service. There are, however, alternative readings provided, taken from inspirational speeches from some of the great voices of the last century. These speeches are also available online (url addresses provided) for those who wish to try something a little different. We encourage you to use at least some of the non- scriptural material, ideally read by a good orator. It is by listening to those outside the Church who have grasped the radicalism of the Gospel that the Church can, with broader understanding and compassion, maintain her right to have a voice and truly be God’s Church for God’s world.
The Very Reverend Simon Aiken Dean of the Highveld, South Africa
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