The Archbishop of Canterbury has failed to overturn the Anglican Church of Kenya’s boycott of the 2020 Lambeth Conference. On 26 Jan 2020 the Kenyan press reported the Most Rev. Jackson Ole Sapit reaffirmed that he would not be attending this summer’s gathering of Anglican bishops in Canterbury, and that there would not be an official Kenyan delegation. Individual Kenyan bishops would be permitted to attend the gathering, but they would be doing so in their personal, not corporate capacity.
In May Archbishop Ole Sapit told the Religion News Service, “I will not be at the Lambeth Conference … Others are also boycotting.”
“God’s plan of marriage is between a man and woman for procreation. Homosexuality is a sin before God,” he added, in explanation for his decision about not attending the meeting with bishops from the American and Canadian churches.
On 21 January 2020 the Most Rev. Justin Welby met with the Kenyan bishops at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi and urged them to attend Lambeth. After the meeting the Kenyan archbishop told reporters “We had very fruitful discussions with the Archbishop of Canterbury. That is how we arrived at the point that those who will be going will be doing so in their own capacities since bishops are invited individually …” Those going to Lambeth will take a “memorandum” stating the Kenyan church’s position on human sexuality, he added.
In 2008 the Archbishop of Kenya, the Most Rev. Benjamin Nzimbi did not attend the Lambeth Conference and less than a dozen Kenyan bishops attended the gathering. It is not known how many Kenyan bishops will attend Lambeth 2020. Archbishop Ole Sapit joins the primates of Rwanda, Uganda and Nigeria in boycotting the 2020 conference.
So then was the main reason for this re-affirmational statement to encourage as many as possible to attend the Lambeth 2020 beanfeast? Could it have been a cynical ploy to avoid a widely anticipated collapse in attendance figures?
TEC and Canterbury are working over-time to pick off Kenyan bishops one-by-one through partnerships with individual dioceses and often very generous gifts. They also sponsor key clergy for further studies in the US and UK and care for them generously while they are abroad. These are gifts that no normal human could be expected to refuse. Plus the people of their dioceses are greatly blessed by the tainted generosity, though the construction of schools and clinics. I am so grateful for the Archbishop’s courageous stand, not only in the face of pressure from England but also a growing progressive lobby at home.
Anglicanus Invisus, I presume?
If the Church and God disagree – I know whom I going with!