Episcopal News Service March 13, 2007
TEAM offers inspiration, hope for a Communion focused on mission, Episcopal delegates say
By Matthew Davies
[ENS] The five official delegates from the Episcopal Church attending the Towards Effective Anglican Mission (TEAM) conference, meeting March 7-14 in Boksburg, South Africa, have spoken passionately about the eight-day gathering, the vitality of the Communion when it's focused on mission, and their commitment to working for the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Episcopal delegation, led by former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, includes President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson; the Rev. Canon Eugene Sutton, canon pastor at Washington National Cathedral and director of its center for prayer and pilgrimage; Laura Amendola, youth delegate and parishioner from St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Duluth, Minnesota; and the Very Rev. Pascual Torres, chancellor of the Diocese of Honduras.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori arrived in Boksburg March 12 to attend the final days of the conference and deliver the closing keynote address March 14.
In addition, several Episcopal bishops and staff of the Episcopal Church Center have joined the more than 400 people who have gathered for a week of Bible study, worship, workshops, plenary sessions, networking and strategizing, all focused on the church's commitment to the MDGs -- an eight-prong declaration that has at its core the eradication of extreme poverty by 2015.
The TEAM conference, Griswold said, demonstrates the true nature of the Anglican Communion and its purpose. "It is not about documents or posturing. This is about people with a genuine sense of Christ's call to serve the world, coming together and finding that their own immediate sense of that call has been expanded by conversation and fellowship with people from other parts of the world."
Anderson said it had been a transformative experience "coming into this setting as a privileged American, sitting down to meals and speaking with people about what their lives are like; looking them in the eye, then greeting them on the grounds and stopping to chat about something that's maybe unfinished."
"It's all about relationships," she added, "[and] when we start to understand the depth of the suffering that is worldwide, it's transformative."
Full story:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_83509_ENG_HTM.htm
-- Matthew Davies is international correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.
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