Fifteenth Lambeth Conference

The fifteenth Lambeth Conference was an assembly of bishops of the Anglican Communion convened by the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, between 27 July and 7 August 2022. It was the first Lambeth Conference to be held since 2008.

The decennial schedule followed since 1948 would have suggested a Lambeth Conference in 2018. In September 2014, Katharine Jefferts Schori, primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States, advised that she had been told by Archbishop Justin Welby that this conference had been cancelled, and that he would not call one until he was "reasonably certain that the vast majority of bishops would attend. It needs to be preceded by a primates meeting at which a vast majority of primates are present" (Schori's words). Welby later responded to reports of cancellation by stating, "As it hasn't been called, it can’t have been cancelled", explaining that he had previously told primates he would not call the Lambeth Conference until he had visited each of them in their own countries, which when added to practical considerations relating to venues precluded a conference as soon as 2018.

The communiqué issued after the primates' meeting in Canterbury in January 2016 said the primates had accepted Welby's proposal that the conference be held in 2020. At the same meeting, the US Episcopal Church was suspended from Anglican Communion decision-making on "issues pertaining to doctrine or polity" for three years because of its support for same-sex marriage, a suspension which would end by the time of the conference.

In 2017 an international organising group chaired by the archbishop of Cape Town set a date (the last week in July 2020) and announced a theme ("God’s Church for God’s world") for the conference. Due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced in March 2020 that the conference would be rescheduled to summer 2021. In July 2020 it was further announced that due to continued uncertainty caused by the pandemic, the conference would be further delayed to 2022.

The 1998 and 2008 conferences were marked by disagreements within the Anglican Communion over homosexuality. The 1998 conference adopted Resolution 1.10, which called for a "listening process" but stated, in an amendment passed by a vote of 389–190, that "homosexual practice" (not necessarily orientation) is "incompatible with Scripture".

The 2008 conference avoided reopening this resolution, which nevertheless remained central to controversy within the communion. Several African provinces, along with other bishops opposed to greater tolerance of homosexuality and the blessing of same-sex unions, boycotted the conference. The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) and Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches emerged as alternative fora for conservative bishops, with GAFCON meeting for the first time in 2008 and several times over the following years.

By the time of the 2022 conference a faultline was evident between provinces of the communion in the Global North and Global South. Many northern provinces are characterised by declining church attendance, a large number of dioceses (and therefore bishops eligible to attend the conference) relative to the size of their congregations, and a greater openness to homosexuality, including the blessing of same-sex unions, recognition of same-sex marriages, and appointment of openly gay bishops in the most liberal provinces. Many southern provinces are characterised by numerical stability or growth, large dioceses with a correspondingly small number of bishops eligible to attend, and a traditional line on sexuality, holding sexual relations outside of heterosexual marriage to be sinful.

The Anglican Communion has not released a list of bishops attending the conference, but media sources estimated attendance at around 660 bishops, 45 ecumenical guests, and 83 bishops' spouses, who participated in a parallel schedule of events. Half of the participants were helped to attend by donations, and many reported difficulty obtaining UK visas.