Anglican Church of Australia General Synod
Media Release
For immediate release 22 September 2010
Anglicans vow to reclaim “missionary heritage”
The Anglican Church of Australia today pledged to reclaim its “missionary heritage” by going out into wider Australian society to introduce non-Church-goers to Jesus.
The Church backed a call to “be missionaries in a changing culture” during the gathering of its supreme decision making body, the General Synod, in Melbourne.
Bishop Trevor Edwards, from the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, urged Synod to support a “mixed economy of existing and Fresh Expressions of Church working in partnership as the most promising mission strategy in a fast-changing culture”.
Bishop Edwards said that while many Australians were still attending Churches across the country, “many more in our culture no longer come to us”.
“They don’t even know the Christian story. And the challenge is for us to go to them. Embody the Gospel where they are and allow Fresh Expressions of Church to emerge.”
Bishop Stuart Robinson, also from Canberra and Goulburn, stressed the importance of developing pioneer missionary leaders in every Anglican Diocese.
“Pioneer leaders are not simply Gen Y people with a good idea. They are visionary risk-takers from every generation who are capable of breaking new ground by forming Church in places and communities where it has never been before or where it has been absent for some time,” he said.
“We are learning about how to be missionaries in a changing culture together.”
The General Synod heard from Rev Lynette Bullard, from the parish of Forbes who has been involved in the development of Church in the Schoolyard, a program that engages local residents through gatherings in a schoolyard in Forbes North in the Diocese of Bathurst.
Rev Bullard said Forbes North was known for its drug dealing, domestic violence, child neglect and unemployment and crime. She said Church in the Schoolyard program had helped locals with food, cooking classes, prison visits and through courses in depression, grief and loss and suicide prevention.
“They are warming to the love that we offer to them, our honesty, the boundaries that we put in place for them which they are not used to. We are now seeing people becoming givers rather than takers and even serving others in the community that they may well have been in conflict with in the past.”
Rev Bullard recounted the case of one mother who had attended the program. The woman’s partner, a heroin addict for 17 years, gave up after saying to her “I have seen how God has changed your life”.
Some Synod members underlined that Fresh Expressions should not be seen as a silver bullet solution to missionary work while others amended the motion to place emphasis on work within schools and remote rural areas. Synod members unanimously backed the motion.
Media contact: Leigh Arnold, General Synod Media Coordinator*
Mobile: 0428 022 270 Email: media@anglican.org.au
* Leigh Arnold is the Communications Manager with AngliCORD, an overseas relief and development agency of the Anglican Church of Australia. The Media Officers at General Synod 2010 are Michelle Low, Marketing and Communications Manager, and Lisa Cowell, Media and Public Relations Coordinator, with Benetas, an Anglican aged care provider in Melbourne and Victoria.