BARBADOS PREPARES ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 
FOR ANGLICAN WORLD LEADER.
BY LAURENCE SMALL
The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury The Most Reverend and The Right Honourable Justin Welby is scheduled to land in Barbados next Thursday, August 8th 2013.
Archbishop Welby who will be accompanied by his wife Caroline, will preside and preach at Christ Church Parish Church on Friday, August 9th at 7.00 pm.
In response to many who have characterised his tasks ahead as overwhelming, the new Archbishop in a recent BBC interview, acknowledging the enormities before him, made this profound statement.
"If I looked at it as just me facing it, I would be extremely daunted. I know above all that it is the work of God and the grace of God that enables the Church....it's not me-- it's the whole people of God facing the challenges".
Throughout his life the 57year old religious world leader has always felt a sense of God calling him. In another interview with "BBC Religion and Ethics, Welby said "I was unable to get away from a sense of God calling". He told the business publication Money Marketing, last year "I went kicking and screaming but I could not escape it".
In his call to Justin, God as He always does never relented. Our God the Almighty took him through his marriage and through suffering and tragedy.
Justin Welby at that time had been an oil executive earning a six figure salary. This he gave up, still convinced that God's way for him lay in leadership in the Master's ministry, and he entered Cranmer Hall at Durham where he studied from 1989 to 1992.
From Durham he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and Diploma in Ministry (B.A. & Dip.Min.) with his Masters at Cambridge M.A. (Cantab).
God's way has always been, and will ever be the way of and to victory.
According to the record, Welby was rejected by the Bishop of Kensington, John Hughes "You have no place in the Church of England" he said when Welby applied.
But as so often happens with God, "The stone that the builder rejected has become the head of the corner".
On November 9, 2012 (the traditional Peacemakers' Day - Birthday Anniversary of King Edward VII), Justin Welby's appointment to the position was announced.
In January this year Justin Welby said he had regarded it as "a joke" and "perfectly absurd" for him to be appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, because he had only been a Bishop for a short time.
The Archbishop - the 105th of Canterbury - will be the fifth to visit Barbados. Archbishop Arthur Michael Ramsay, Donald Coggan, Ronald Runcie and George Carey have been here during their respective arch episcopate.
Archbishop Welby, Primate of All England, Head of the worldwide Anglican Communion of 80 million Anglicans in 160 countries, was enthroned at Canterbury on March 21st, 2013.
Archbishop Welby and his wife will meet some of the Provincial Bishops, the Barbados clergy and their spouses at Christ Church in separate sessions on August 9th, preceded by a Eucharist service at 7.00 p.m.
The Reverend Fr. Laurence Small M.B.E.
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