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In the earliest days of Christianity, Christian people gathered together in order to try to identify God’s will for them as individuals and as a community of people. Those early assemblies became an important part of the heritage of Christianity. The Synods of the modern Anglican church derive from that tradition. They represent the belief of the early Christians that God gave gifts to each and that God’s Spirit guided the whole community. So the whole church was to meet together to seek God’s will. In modern times that has happened by Synods which have been made up of representatives of the generality of the church.

Our Synod is a coming together of the people of God.

In Anglicanism there is a strong tradition that the authority to decide belongs to the whole church. This is sometimes called the conciliar element in our church. That is why lay and ordained are both included.

The Synod is a way for us to come together as a group of Anglican Christians to share the concerns that we have about our Christian faith and practice and to discern God’s will for us as a Christian community.

Historically the Church of England has used parliamentary models of decision making because for many centuries parliament was the way in which decisions were made in the established Church of England. In Australia, that has not been our relationship with the state and we have taken over parliamentary models almost by accident.

At the 1998 Synod in Adelaide we tried some different methods. We tried to use more group discussion on contentious issues. We also tried to identify what those issues were beforehand and to have speakers introduce them to us in a way which sought to draw out what were the real issues of principle for members of our church. The Synod in Adelaide voted this to be a great success and it added to the sense that what we are is a community of people gathered together to seek God’s will.

Thus when we come to Brisbane we come:

• for worship;
• for fellowship; and
• to discern how we may be faithful.

Our Constitutional Obligations

In 2001 we are not meeting for the first time. We come on the basis of the Constitution of our Church. We therefore come on the basis of:

• shared commitments;
• shared beliefs; and
• shared priorities.

According to our Constitution we come as a community which holds the Christian faith as professed by the Church of Christ from primitive times. We receive all the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as being the ultimate rule and standard of faith, given by inspiration of God. We are committed to obey the commands of Christ to teach his doctrine, to administer his sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion and to uphold and preserve his discipline and preserve the three orders of bishops, priests and deacons in the sacred ministry. These represent not only our shared heritage but our shared commitment.

So we come to the Synod in faithfulness, for guidance as we seek to fulfil our vocations as Christians in Australia.

In Chapter 5 of the Constitution of our Church, the powers of the General Synod clearly indicate that the Synod has the power to arrange for the order and good government of the Church. It does this by making canons, rules and resolutions. That order and good government affects our shared ritual, ceremonial and discipline.

The Constitution then makes it clear that the General Synod has power to make statements as to the faith of this Church and to declare its view on any matter affecting this church, or affecting spiritual, moral or social welfare, and may take such steps as may be necessary or expedient in the furtherance of union with other Christian communions.

In other words, the General Synod exists in order to shape how we relate to each other as a Christian community and how we might be faithful in this society, in terms of its spiritual, moral and social welfare and how we may relate in this society and to other Christian bodies.

All of the particular ways in which we do things, such as making canons and having Standing Orders, are simply the means for achieving these three ends:

• being Christian with each other in an appropriate fashion;
• being faithful and active in this society; and
• relating positively to other Christian bodies.

Those are the heart of our Constitutional commitments and of the General Synod’s obligations when it meets together as a group of Christian people.