Christians communities in the middle of conflict need to stand for hope, forgiveness, and reconcilation, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said on Tuesday.

Dr Rowan Williams is currently visiting Sri Lanka as part of a longer visit to South East Asia.

The cathedral church of Christ the King in Kurunegala was packed to hear Dr Williams' sermon in which he said that Christians have to feed those around them by bringing hope.

"When we find ourselves in the middle of conflict, of suffering, and even of despair, we as Christians have to say 'we have food to give'. And the food that we have to give is the promise that forgiveness is possible, that reconciliation is possible".

He also said that trust could be built through generosity and service.

"Communities begin to change when people see one another as those who may give them hope, not those who make them afraid. Often indivuduals look at one another and say to one another 'you are going to take my life away', but a community that has heard the good news that God gives is a community where people look at one another and say 'you are going to help me live'."

He said "real peace" does not necessarily come when the fighting has stopped but comes rather when people "have learnt to look each other with hope and expectation".

"It happens when I can turn to a person of another race, another faith, another party 'I need what you have to give, help me to live'," he said.

He reminded the congregation that this was the key to the promise given to Abraham. "God says to Abraham 'because of you every community in the world will be blessed'. May that be said of us. So let us allow ourselves to be fed by God day by day, may God give us the strength and the courage to feed one another, to build each other up in hope, and may God give us the strength to build up the whole of our society and community with the same hope, the same power of forgiveness."

Over the weekend, the Archbishop of Canterbury preached at the consecration of the new Bishop of West Malaysia, telling congregation that bishops needed to make time for "stillness and silence" in order to find the strength to show leadership in the church.

He said, "No bishop's ministry will survive more than 24 hours without that silence, that blessed 'doing nothing' which is at the centre of what God is doing in us."

The Archbishop of Canterbury's visit to Sri Lanka continues until Thursday.