Retired Anglican priest and former journalist, Lawrence Small arriving at Congress.
The 2013 Provincial Congress of the Anglican Church in the West Indies got underway at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus today, with Archbishop John Holder declaring that the family would be the primary focus of discussion over the next two days.
In a brief speech before a gathering that included Governor-General, Sir Elliott Belgrave, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson and retired Archbishops of the West Indies, Drexel Gomez and Rufus Brome, Holder said the church had set itself the task of confronting some of the critical matters facing the province and the region as a whole.
The minister, who is also Anglican Bishop of Barbados, said the congress would be looking at ways to strengthen the church’s mission in the Caribbean.
“We have identified the issues relating to family, as primary; and this focus, no doubt, would keep us all grounded. It can help us to anchor what we discuss, what we think, what we hope for, in the primary expedience that hold us all together: the family,” he added.
“Of course we will do it all in the context of our Anglican faith. We will be working as Christians who have an understanding of faith — that allows us to engage the world in creative ways.”
Holder said, as Anglicans, they do not engage the world as the enemy, but as a place where the love of God is to be shared and the hope of the Kingdom is proclaimed. (EJ)