'The Bible in the Life of the Church' project launched by the Anglican Communion

London, UK: January 28, 2010, (PCTV Newsdesk)

'Our engagement with the Bible has several aspects to it - rather likethe different parts of a house. The actual black print on white paper onwhich the words of the Bible are written resembles the front door of thehouse - our point of access and welcome. Then as we enter the house wefind ourselves standing on Christ the Rock, who is the livingfoundation-stone of the whole building in which we are located. Thewalls that separate us room from room can be linked to the differentcontexts which we bring to our study and exploration of the scriptures,which affect the shape and parameters of our reading. But overarchingall, as a roof for the entire building, is the world-wide Church whichboth embraces and offers a generous boundary for our reading.'

This striking image was offered by Archbishop David Moxon of New Zealandas he opened the first meeting of the Steering Group of 'The Bible inthe Life of the Church' which gathered at St Andrews House, London, 30November - 3 December 2009.

'The Bible in the Life of the Church' is a major project beingundertaken over three years by the Anglican Communion, mandated by theAnglican Consultative Council at its Jamaica meeting in May 2009. It isseeking to discover how Anglican Christians read the Bible, recognisingthe very diverse contexts we inevitably bring to this reading. With thesupport of the Anglican Communion Department of Theological Studies, thework of this Bible project will largely take place in a number ofRegional Groups based around theological education institutions inKenya, Southern Africa, South East Asia, Oceania, North America andBritain. Representatives of each of these regions were present at theopening Steering Group meeting in London and together set up the processthat the Regional Groups will seek to follow throughout the coming year.

We are also planning to set up a number of "User Groups" that willenable input from other parts of the Anglican Communion. We also have onthe Steering Group members from Latin America and Nigeria. The "UserGroups" will take part in the project by testing out material thatemerges from the work of the Steering and Regional Groups.

In order to enable the overall task with which this 'Bible project' hasbeen entrusted, it has been agreed to ask those who will beparticipating to undertake first of all some serious biblical engagementwith the Fifth Mark of Mission of the Anglican Communion. The Fifth Markof Mission speaks of the missionary imperative, 'to strive to safeguardthe integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.'We hope that, through exploring together a selection of key biblicalpassages which relate to this theme - widely acknowledged as one of themost crucial challenges facing the Churches and humanity today - we willbe able to offer evidence of the way in which we, as Anglicans, actuallyhandle the Bible and to identify principles of biblical interpretation.

Reflecting on the Steering Group meeting, Stephen Lyon, the project'sadministrator said, 'those involved left London excited by thepossibilities of the project. It will involve the grass roots as well asscholars; encourage an excitement in exploring the Bible; take seriouslythe diversity of our Communion while acknowledging the foundationalplace Scripture has always played in our common life.'

Clare Amos, the Anglican Communion's Director for Theological Studies,echoed this commitment to ensure that the project takes seriously thewidest possible range of Anglican experience. 'At our meeting in Londonwe shared both our high hopes for the task, and a range of creative waysof taking this work forward. We want the people of the AnglicanCommunion as a whole to share the sense of urgency and importance thatthe project is generating. It is vital that different regions of theAnglican world are empowered to make their distinctive contributions.Stephen and I believe that among our responsibilities will be to ensurethat news about the progress of the work is shared widely. One of thetools for this will be a section dedicated to the project on theAnglican Communion website. So watch this space!'

Members of the Steering Group

Chair: Most Revd David Moxon , Archbishop and Co-Presiding Bishop of theAnglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia and Bishop ofWaikato.

Regional Group representatives:

Oceania - Dr Charles Sherlock, Executive Officer, Board of Ministry,Anglican Diocese of Bendigo, Australia.Southern Africa - Revd Dr Jonathan Draper, the academic coordinator ofBiblical Studies at the School of Religion and Theology part of theUniversity of KwaZulu, South Africa. Also involved will be Prof. GeraldWest, Professor in the School of Theology, University of Natal andDirector of the Institute for the Study of the Bible, School ofTheology, University of Natal.East Africa - Revd Dr Kabiro wa Gatumu, Senior Lecturer in BiblicalStudies at St Paul's University, Limuru, Kenya.Europe - Dr David Allen, New Testament lecturer at the Queen'sFoundation, Birmingham, England.North and Central America - Revd Robert MacSwain OGS, Instructor ofTheology and Christian Ethics, School of Theology, University of theSouth, Sewanee, Tennessee, USASouth East Asia - Diocese of Singapore.

Theological Consultants:

The Rt Revd Dr Michael Olusina Fape, Bishop of Remo Diocese, Nigeria anda member of the Steering Group in his capacity as the RegionalCoordinator for TEAC (Theological Education in the Anglican Communion).Dr Ellen Davis, Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible andPractical Theology, Duke University, North Carolina, USA.Dr Clara Luz Ajo Lazaro lives and works in Cuba as teacher in theEcumenical Seminary at Matanzas and will act as a liaison with theCETALC network in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Anglican Communion Office staff:

Mrs Clare Amos, Director of Theological Studies at the ACOMr Stephen Lyon, project manager and administrator.