He observes that churches are growing in numbers in some areas of the world at a staggering pace. In other parts of the world, ideas are being articulated and debates are taking place with a dizzying energy. We all know that relations - within Anglican churches and among them - are charged, confusing and re-ordering themselves everyday with unexpected direction and even ferocity. How does this experienced picture of the Anglican Church match the image of the stodgy and tempered parochial life of rural England we still carry in our imaginations, he asks.

"By the 1960's, as the Ghanaian historian Lamin Sanneh has recently written (Whose Religion is Christianity?), most students of world Christianity were giving Africa and parts of Asia up to Islam. They were predicting the rapid disappearance of the many churches founded by Anglicans (among others) that were, over the decades, seemingly stuck in the rut of unenthusiastic formalism.

But here, as well, other things were happening, perhaps in a hidden way. The East African Revival, little noticed in the 1920's and 1930's, had quietly planted the seeds of vital Christian faith within the Anglican church throughout the Great Lakes region of the Rift valley, through mainly lay evangelism. And in the 1960's, after independence and the rise of indigenous church leadership, and in the 1970's and to this day, its fires spread rapidly. As with similar movements and attitudes in West Africa, these fires have so aroused the witness of the church as completely to overturn the dismal predictions of just 40 years ago. Rather than waning in the face of a modern surge in either secularism or Islam, Christianity in its Anglican tradition has instead awakened to the power of the Gospel to change and be taken in by local Christians, within the order and structure of the church's life, quietly erected and nurtured over decades.

What is new is the dissemination of power among different churches and their leadership. What we today call globalisation in the church assumed its face at the last two Lambeth Conferences, when the change in numbers and representations and complexions among the bishops assembled was to many both inescapable and shocking. That there are now gatherings such as the Global South Encounter and a host of new affiliations and relationships formed across national boundaries among Anglican churches follows this dynamic. What comes, perhaps, as most of a surprise to many who have only recently become conscious of these changes, is that this or that person in the church, this or that leader or bishop or theologian, can actually be heard within this proliferating set of relationships, can actually exert influence and organize. We hear complaints and laments over supposed "conspiracies" that have led to "manipulation" of primates and councils. But what these allegations are really reacting to is the diversification of connections within the church, and to their effective use. And this reality has nothing to do with secrecy and malice, and everything to do with the opening up of interconnectedness, of catholicity, to the surging energies of Christian believers and the churches that have ordered and directed their receipt of and witness to the Gospel around the world."

One such Anglican leader whose influence is a threat to some is Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria. He has been demonised in the West for not opposing the proposed legislation to outlaw the promotion of homosexuality in Nigeria. What has to be realised is that the alternative to the proposed legislation is the draconian punishments of the Sharia Law. With the closure of Parliament for the presidential elections, the proposals have been shelved.

As if to illustrate Archbishop Gomez's point about ideas and debates, in his Easter Sermon Archbishop Rowan spoke of reconciliation. He called for all parties in conflicts to realise that none of them were wholly right. His assumption appears to be that since we cannot come to the truth of anything, all we can hope for is a measure of agreement between diverse views. Archbishop Hutchinson of Canada immediately replied: "Like me the Archbishop is a liberal and the tendency of liberals is to think that if you put people in a room together [akin to the listening process in the communion? cs] they will eventually agree. We know that is not true but that is what we believe." Archbishop Hutchison said that if current trends continued "we are looking at a parting of the ways".

These current trends include the rejection already by the Episcopal Church in the United States of the terms of the Primates Communique. The General Synod of the Church of Canada is also meeting from June 19 and is voting on proposals to give the go-ahead to same-sex blessings. Dr Andrew Goddard from Wycliffe Hall will be addressing a meeting of the Conservative Essentials Grouping in Canada immediately prior to the Synod.

Vibrant and unstable indeed. But certainly not dead. Archbishop Gomez sees life, growth and debate in a global family where others mourn an ending to a sort of global Church of England all in supposed agreement with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

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