The president of Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), Dr. Robert W. Radtke, met with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams earlier this month to discuss the church’s disaster and development relief agency’s work in the developing world.

“ERD and local partners throughout the Anglican Communion are working together to create stronger communities by serving suffering people worldwide,” Dr. Radtke said following the March 10 meeting.

The Lambeth Palace meeting was part of a larger roundtable discussion on microenterprise development convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury in preparation for the 2008 Lambeth Conference. Representatives from ERD, Five Talents International, and 20 other aid and development agencies from across the Anglican Communion met with the Rev. David Peck, secretary for international development at Lambeth Palace to coordinate poverty reduction efforts in the developing world.

Microenterprise development focuses on job creation through small-scale enterprises. It provides poor entrepreneurs with training and loan capital to start and expand small businesses. Craig Cole, president of Five Talents International, told The Living Church the Lambeth Palace gathering was the first time “that all the players” focusing on Anglican development were brought together in one room.

Mr. Cole said the group “discussed the Church’s role in effective change,” addressing “different ways and approaches” to combat poverty with market solutions. He characterized the meeting as “very productive” and said it fostered a “sense that there is a way to rally the Church’s global work.”

At the February World Council of Churches gathering in Brazil, Archbishop Williams said the Anglican Communion has a unique role in "giving people the tools for civil society.” He told Anglican representatives at the event that the 2008 Lambeth Conference would address these issues because “we have skills and traditions which are important internationally” to combat poverty.

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