Young people and bishops to talk faith ahead of Lambeth

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, and the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, will head a delegation of archbishops and bishops from all over the world coming to Leicester ahead of the Lambeth Conference.

They will hear the hopes and aspirations of a group of over 40 young people drawn from across the worldwide Anglican Communion as part of the Diocese of Leicester's programme before the Lambeth Conference.

The consultation event, organised by the Diocese of Leicester's Department of Youth Ministry with help from The Children's Society, will give the invited young people a chance to air their views on issues of faith, life and power, and influence the bishops of the Anglican Communion's discussions.

Topics to be discussed include family and relationships, education and employment, poverty and wealth, the environment and economy, and why they feel the Church won't take young people seriously.

The Lambeth Talk will take place from 10 to 14 July at the Peepul Centre in Leicester. The first two days are for the young people to meet, talk and plan, and the final day will see the results delivered to three archbishops and more than 40 bishops from all over the world. This will be followed by a meeting open to all at the Lambeth Conference itself.

Other bishops attending sessions during the event include Simon Makundi from Tanzania, Francis Mori from Japan, Carolyn Irish from the USA and Michael Baroi from Bangladesh.

The event's themes have been specially designed to echo those of the Lambeth Conference, to enable the bishops to amplify the voices of the representative young people within the main conference programme, which begins a few days after the Lambeth Talk weekend.

The key findings of the consultation will also be fed in to the conference through a dedicated session on 22 July, where the 600 bishops attending the Lambeth Conference will get the opportunity to hear directly from some of the young people who attended the earlier event.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has written in support of the event, commenting: "I'm delighted to commend The Lambeth Talk. It will be a welcome opportunity to bring youth perspectives to topics for discussion at the Lambeth Conference."

Robin Rolls, Director of Youth Ministry for the Diocese of Leicester, comments: "The Lambeth Talk presents an amazing opportunity for us to hear young people's views on a range of issues.

"We're hoping it will act as a megaphone for young people's concerns and dreams about the future of our communities, our churches and our world, that the bishops will ignore at their peril."

Gracie Walsh, 17, a member of the Bishop's Youth Council in Leicester will be just one of the young delegates at the talk. "I'm so looking forward to the Lambeth Talk. Knowing so many young people are travelling so far to meet and talk with us is mind blowing. Often we feel as though we can't do or change anything, but now perhaps we can."