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ACNS 3062 - AUSTRALIA - 17 July 2002

Helping Anglicans grow new and creative forms of Community

NATIONAL ANGLICAN CONFERENCE 19-23 JULY

Anglicans from all around Australia will be travelling to Sydney this week
to attend the second National Anglican Conference, to be held over next
weekend at the University of New South Wales.

Organisers say it will provide an unparalleled opportunity for Anglicans
from the widely diverse Church to share ideas and stories about what it
means to be a Christian in a changing world.

Major speakers include the Rev Dr John Stott, the world-renowned evangelical
preacher, Archbishop David Gitari, the Primate of Kenya, noted social
commentator Hugh Mackay and former Olympic Gold medallist Shane Gould.

International Anglican leader, the Revd Canon John L. Peterson, who is
Secretary General of the Anglican Communion will present a challenging
address on Christian-Muslim relations, and US feminist theologian Phyllis
Trible will present a lecture on the topic "Making the Connection between
Scripture and Violence".

The presence of Archbishop Gitari will add a special dynamic to the
conference discussions as an African church leader who has struggled all
through his ministry to take his Church into the forefront of caring for the
Kenyan people in their social situation of poverty and burdensome debt.

With recent news stories telling of the global crisis highlighted at the UN
World Conference on HIV/AIDS in Barcelona, and the accompanying
humanitarianism crisis reported by the UN World Food Program which says that
13 million people in southern African states are facing starvation, he will
have much to share with the mostly affluent Australians.

Anglicanism has been experiencing remarkable growth on the African continent
in contrast to Western countries. Archbishop Gitari will also be able to
share the clues to this growth as it has occurred in Kenya.

The conference will allow participants to spend much of their time in a wide
range of specially organised workshops.

"Workshops, a particularly strong and exciting feature of this conference,
will develop conference themes of making connections between the Church and
a changing world by growing new forms of community. Participants will have
the opportunity to work together on such matters as initiatives for lay
leadership, finding creative ways of solving, connecting with survivors of
sexual abuse, connecting in a consumer world, and with war and terrorism,"
said Archbishop Harry Goodhew, the Conference chairman.

An exciting conference feature will be the Anglican Festival on the
afternoon of Sunday 21st July from 12:30pm in Sydney Square, George Street,
between St Andrew's Cathedral and the Sydney Town Hall. There will be food
and family entertainment, led by well-known artist Colin Buchanan.

A special Conference service will be held on Sunday 21 July in St Andrew's
Cathedral at 4:30pm, when the preacher will be the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr
Peter Jensen.

"As Australia embarks on an uncertain future, this conference will give
participants a new vision for sharing the Christian life in their Church and
connecting with their local community as we experience the opportunity to
meet with other Anglicans to connect with the issues of today," Archbishop
Goodhew said.

For more information check the special conference website which will be
updated daily during the conference:

www.anglican.org.au/connections

Speakers are available for media interviews

CONTACT: Wayne Brighton
+61-2 9265 1632 (W)
+61-2 9385 1819 (during the conference)
0407 408 333 (mobile)

For media accreditation at the Conference also contact Wayne Brighton

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