[Anglican Communion News Service] A gathering for French-speaking bishops and their spouses from across the Anglican Communon is meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss mission, leadership development and community transformation. Recognizing the shared values, traditions and customs of those who identify with the Francophone world, the event is an opportunity for bishops to serve as a resource to one another as they develop their Francophone Anglican identity.
The gathering, which takes place Sept. 3-10, is being facilitated by three Anglican groups: the Francophone Network of the Anglican Communion, the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa, and the Episcopal Ministry team at the Anglican Communion Office. Representatives from the charity Tearfund also is supporting the event.
It is being led by a number of French-speaking contributors, including the Most Rev. Ian Ernest, the former archbishop of the Indian Ocean and former director of the Anglican Centre in Rome.
The Anglican Francophone Network connects French-speaking bishops across the Anglican Communion, providing mutual support and resources for mission and education across their diverse cultural and economic contexts. The network plays a crucial role in supporting Anglican ministry in French-speaking regions worldwide.
Delegates are attending from six provinces of the Anglican Communion. Many serve and represent communities from some of the church’s most vulnerable regions, including Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar.
A major focus at the gathering will be exploring how churches can take an “asset-based” approach to mission, church and community transformation, especially in areas facing extreme poverty. Asset-based development takes a community-led approach to driving change. Starting with the strengths, skills and resources within a community, local congregations identify the needs and opportunities of an area, and work together to take action on what’s most important to them. It is a major focus in the work of international development charity Tearfund.
During the opening service, words of welcome were shared by the Most Rev. Jackson Ole Sapit, archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya and regional primate for Africa. He said, “We are coming together as an Anglican family. Journeying together we make it stronger than walking individually…God has given us one shared identity, Christ is a unifier. The Anglican communion is our common heritage. It brings us together globally as a family and despite what separates us like language or cultural barriers we have one identity in Christ. That is our greatest joy is the way we have a shared identity, a shared humanity.”
Ernst said, “I am deeply grateful to God that the mission of the Francophone Network is being considered as important to the life and witness of the Anglican Communion. Its influence over the past decades is significant, as it shows how much the process of inculturation in terms of theological training and liturgy has helped in widening the comprehensiveness of our worldwide church.”
Additional information about the gathering is available here.