GAFCON participants hope to go back to Christian roots and affirm traditional Anglican faith as they meet in the Holy Land. Many conservative bishops believe the US Episcopal Church - the American arm of the Anglican Communion - has abandoned Scripture and traditional Anglicanism.
Amid tension surrounding the upcoming meetings, Dr Williams pointed back to the origin of the Lambeth Conference and the reason Archbishop Charles Longley began it.
"He wanted ... those different Anglican communities across the world, to be able to share with one another what their priorities were, their concerns and their hopes, and that has always been at the very heart of the Lambeth Conference," said Dr Williams.
He further stressed that the focus of Lambeth is not to make legislative decisions, but is a time of praying together, reading the Bible together, and learning how to be "better bishops".
"We don't want at the Lambeth Conference to be creating a lot of new rules but we do obviously need to strengthen our relationships and we need to put those relationships on another footing, slightly firmer footing, where we have promised to one another that this is how we will conduct our life together," he said as he called for prayers in his video message.
Bishops will still be considering a proposal for a covenant, designed to articulate the common foundations and set out principles that bind the Anglican Communion. It will also articulate how member churches and provinces should manage related disputes.
"Please pray for the conference and please share in that process of preparation, that reflection of God's word in the Gospel of John that will open up to us the horizons that we need in order to be better bishops for the sake of a better Church," Dr Williams stated.
