The bishops of the Church in Wales are calling for Anglicans to focus on environmental issues, rather than sexuality, at the Lambeth Conference, which begins next week.

They want to see a commitment from church leaders to address urgent global needs in the next crucial decade.

They say, "There are many issues dividing the Anglican Communion at the moment and we fully support the Archbishop of Canterbury as he works tirelessly to heal rifts. But there is one major issue that we should all unite behind and to which all our efforts should be directed now - the safe-keeping of the world's environment.

"Jesus' ministry was full of concern for God's world for he proclaimed and embodied God's love for it.  The real challenges, therefore, are not about sexuality but about eradicating poverty, injustice, violence and tackling climate change.  These are the fundamental issues of our age and that concern for the world and the environment is referred to repeatedly in the Scriptures.  If Christians are to be true to the gospel of Jesus, they ought to be devoting their energies to solving them for God's sake and for the sake of our planet.

"Let this be the Lambeth Conference where Christians are called to demonstrate their commitment to global needs with plans that will drive programmes of action in each province for the next 10 crucial years."

The Welsh bishops, who will all be attending the Lambeth Conference, are:

The Archbishop of Wales, Most Rev Dr Barry Morgan;
The Bishop of St Asaph, Rt Rev John Davies;
The Bishop of Monmouth, Rt Rev Dominic Walker OSG;
The Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, Rt Rev John Davies
The Assistant Bishop of Llandaff, Rt Rev David Yeoman

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