Following the respectful and constructive conversations at our meeting in Adelaide in March, the bishops of the Anglican Church of Australia agreed that the work of deepening and strengthening relationships and trust across the national church required more regular opportunities to be together: to that end the Primate invited us to meet in Melbourne, 10-12 October.

At the beginning of our time together we were able to spend a number of hours with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop shared quite candidly with us some of his reflections on the recent Lambeth Conference and each of us was able to share with him something of the context and challenge of ministry in the Anglican Church of Australia.

We spent time in prayer, and with biblical scholar Dr Bob Derrenbacker we reflected on 1 Peter 1:10-17, a passage that seeks to encourage "its suffering readers to stand fast in the grace of God."

Much of our time together was given to careful listening to each other as we wrestled with many of the complex issues we face as a church: this was done with respect and a genuine desire to understand one another better.

We resolved to continue a pattern of meeting together more than once each year and set in place some processes to continue conversations between meetings as a further way of strengthening our relationships. The bishops recognise the need to build trust with each other following the strains placed on our fellowship at this time.

Our discussions were frank and open as we sought the grace of God in our life together.

We value the prayers of the church as we do this work, just as we continue in prayer for Christ's church.

The next meeting of bishops will be held in Tasmania in March 2023.

The Australian Bishops