Anglican churches in parts of the West Midlands are being invited to strengthen their links with churches in Malaysia, South Africa, Canada and Germany ahead of a series of international mission events which will take place in the Midlands before the Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops in 2008.

Through the Cross Talk initiative, churches in the Diocese of Lichfield are being invited to partner with a specific church in the dioceses of Kuching, Sabah or West Malaysia in Malaysia; Matlosane in South Africa; Qu'Appelle in Canada or the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg in Germany. After two years of prayer and preparation the international partners will send mission teams to England in July 2008 for two weeks of prayer, study, outreach and evangelism.

The Revd Dr Michael Sheard, World Mission Officer for the Diocese of Lichfield, said: "Each church taking part in this 'mission-prayer partnership' will exchange news about themselves and their local community so that they can pray with real understanding for each other, compare parish mission programmes and reflect prayerfully together on their strengths and their 'growing points'. E-mail makes this an exciting possibility today as never before. We can swap pictures and even video clips as well as words."

In July 2008 the overseas churches will send teams of missioners to the West Midlands for two weeks of mission. 

The overseas partners, representatives from the West Midlands' churches and the bishops from the partner dioceses will also come together for a three-day international mission conference in Swanwick, Derbyshire, ahead of the 10-yearly Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops.