From here:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has attacked “self indulgence” within the Church of England as he spoke of how his visit to the eastern Congo left him “wanting to be a Christian”.

Dr Rowan Williams said hearing about the “transforming” work of the Anglican Church in the central African country had helped put into perspective “fashionable sneers” faced by the Church of England in this country.

He added that the dedication of Anglican workers in the eastern Congo has put into a “harsh light” the “self indulgence of so much of our church life” which gives people the excuse not to take God seriously.

Dr Williams said church members had risked their lives to rescue young men and women trapped in militias in the forests of eastern Congo.

The experience had highlighted how the church “mattered so intensely”, he said, and how if it wasn’t for the Church no-one would have cared for these young people.

“It left me wanting to be a Christian,” he said, adding jokingly: “Never too late.”

“It left me thinking that there is nothing on earth so transforming as a Church in love,” he said.

He’s quite right, of course, although I suspect that it was Christ rather than the institution of the church that mattered so intensely.

Considering this, one might expect Rowan Williams to welcome with open arms the Anglican Mission in England, an outreach from Kenya, a country whose Anglicans also take Christ seriously.

But, placing himself squarely in the camp of those who self-indulgently care more for the institution to which they belong than the salvation of men’s souls, he didn’t.