Episcopal News Service March 6, 2007
TEAM will build shared vision, energy around MDGs, Archbishop of Canterbury says
Anglican Church of Southern Africa to host Towards Effective Anglican Mission conference March 7-14
By Matthew Davies
[ENS] The Towards Effective Anglican Mission (TEAM) conference, meeting March 7-14 in Boksburg, South Africa, will provide the churches and provinces of the Anglican Communion with "a shared vision and a shared energy" for the tasks outlined in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)(http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals), Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said during a March 6 media briefing.
Williams joined Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and Bishop David Beetge of the host Diocese of the Highveld in addressing media gathered at the Birchwood Conference Centre near Johannesburg on the day before the TEAM conference is scheduled to commence with an opening eucharist at All Souls Anglican Church in Tsakane.
Williams, one of the conference's keynote speakers, will preach at the eucharist, which will be webcast from 5 p.m. local time (3 p.m. GMT, 10 a.m. EST) at http://www.team2007.org.
The Mayor of Ekurhuleni, Counselor Dumankosi, and Canon Delene Mark, TEAM coordinator who has been instrumental in organizing the conference, also joined the media briefing.
Williams emphasized that the worldwide Anglican Communion -- composed of 38 provinces in 165 countries -- is trying to address the questions of the MDGs "in a more coordinated, better motivated, more reflective way."
In the days ahead, he said, "we will ask questions like: what are the resources that the Anglican Churches worldwide can bring to bear on these challenges; how do we better coordinate the provision of the help we can offer; how do we build effective relationships with government and voluntary organizations worldwide; and how do we keep our motivation in combating the scourge of poverty and disease sharp and focused?"
The meeting is expected to draw more than 350 people from across the Anglican Communion. "I hope that it can really pull us together, give us a shared vision and a shared energy for the tasks" outlined in the MDGs, Williams said.
Although his first official visit to South Africa as Archbishop of Canterbury, Williams and his wife, Jane, had spent some time in the country in the mid '80s during the apartheid years.
Full story and photo:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_83157_ENG_HTM.htm
-- Matthew Davies is international correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.
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