Not dead, just inactive. Internal organs functioning and doing their part: heart beating, brain firing, lungs pumping, nerves carrying messages and so on; but like a body slumbering.

The Diocese of Sydney is certainly a giant. Consider our Anglican schools; Anglicare, Youthworks and all our other amazing diocesan organisations big and small; our 270 parish centres; our 400 plus active church sites; our wealth – both the property/capital we have inherited and the vast sums God has put in individual pockets. Overall hundreds of thousands of people are touched by our ministries every year. Add to this the entrée we have as Anglicans, such as chaplains in hospitals, prisons, the armed forces, and SRE in state schools. And most importantly of all, our greatest asset: our people.

God has entrusted us with so much to help build his kingdom. Forgive me, but each time I am reminded of this fact, that same image comes back to my mind: a sleeping giant. Yes, many good things are happening – praise God. But how much more would be possible if we really committed to realising our potential?

In Connect09 there has been a stirring of the giant: a glimpse of what might be. Virtually all our churches (97%) have distributed gospels and/or made new inroads in their local communities. There are indications that up to half of all households in the diocese have been contacted in some way as a result.*

All this, even though only half of our rectors were satisfied with the take-up of the campaign, either in their own parish or parishes generally. Imagine the possibilities under God if we really put our collective shoulder to the wheel?

I hasten to add that when I say “help each other more” I don’t just mean diocesan wide efforts like Connect09. There is so much to be gained by good old cooperation.

The external researcher who did some work for us pre-Connect09 was genuinely astonished by the lack of communication and cooperation he saw between parishes – even neighbouring parishes. To be fair, he was a complete outsider and had no idea how our system works. Perhaps it was that ignorance that made his observation so incisive and disarming: he simply assumed that because we are all part of the one “church” we should work together.

I will never forget him presenting this finding to us. We shuffled our feet and looked sideways at each other. We felt like school kids being called out by the teacher for not working together on a class project. I felt the urge to correct his error and explain that here in the Sydney diocese we are all independent, thus you can’t really expect that kind of cooperation.

As he illustrated his point by sharing how he helped solve a problem in one parish, simply by passing along a solution he had just seen working in the parish up the road, I realised just how silly I would have sounded.

So maybe it’s time to stop making excuses and do much better.

The good news is that since then, Connect09 has helped us along in the right direction.  Rectors report that the number of active partnerships between our parishes, schools and organisations has increased by almost 20 percent over the last 18 months.

I suspect this is due to a common purpose and some tangible goals, but I don’t know for sure.

Perhaps the fact that Synod resolved together to act had a significant effect. Maybe it was because the Archbishop got all of our senior ministers together to pray and plan, and connections just flowed out of that.

Maybe all of the above?

One thing I do know for sure: having stirred, it would be a shame to roll over and go back to sleep.

* Whilst it is impossible to be precise with an anonymous survey, collated estimates from parishes indicate that as many as half of all households in the diocese were contacted in some way during 2009.

10. Our senior ministers are first class people who we have failed to prepare properly for the mission situation we place them in.

You may have heard of the “three-thirds rule”?

When applied to the Sydney Anglican diocese it goes something like: one third of churches are thriving, growing, moving forward; one third are solid, going okay, but static; the final third are struggling, declining, going backwards.

I had the privilege in 2008/09 to attend the two-day “residentials” at Bishopcourt (the now famous “PJs at PJ’s”) attended by (virtually) all of the rectors in the diocese. And I have to say that I came away from every one of those tremendously encouraged.

Having heard the thirds theory, I guess I half expected to meet: one third of brilliant guys; one third of good solid, ordinary fellas; and one third of no-hopers.

Well, that wasn’t the case. And I have to say, having spent some time with them talking about mission, we really do have a fantastic bunch of senior ministers in this diocese. I met men who are passionate and prayerful about the gospel of Jesus, who long for the lost to have a saving knowledge of Him.

Of course, we only sat round a table and talked and prayed about mission. I could not judge their skills and abilities to actually do the things we discussed. Nevertheless, I am confident in saying that the thirds rule – even if it is true – most certainly does not translate simply into: a third of our senior ministers are brilliant, a third are okay, and a third are hopeless.

There are many factors other than the minister that influence how a church is doing: demographics of the suburb is huge, but also the history of the parish, other staff, lay leaders, the building, geography etc. That said, the leader is certainly a crucial factor, especially in our system of church governance. So let’s stick with this one aspect for the moment.

My background is in vocational education and training, specifically in the Royal Australian Navy, and for several years, in leadership training. One of things the military does is recruit young men and women – very early in life, before they have had a chance to do or be anything – and train them to be officers. Officers are fundamentally leaders, but also managers and specialists in various areas.

Yes, there is entry screening, such as education level and aptitude; and some specialised testing, like colour-sight for engineers, or hand/eye coordination for pilots. But the basic working principle is this: leaders are made not born. Let’s face it, how much can you really tell about a person’s leadership potential at 18 years of age? (They were class captain? Hall monitor?)

Everything that an officer needs to perform – be it knowledge, skills, even attitudes – is provided via what we called “training”. Hence, when problems arise the question is obvious: “How have we failed to train sufficiently in this area?” Closely followed by, “How do we fix it?” The responsibility is corporate. The solution is corporate. And so it should be.

In addition to teachers and preachers, our senior ministers are expected to be: leaders of staff, pastors to people, volunteer coordinators, counsellors, communicators, small business operators, building custodians, dispute mediators, social workers, money managers… the list goes on. And above all else, I hope, missionaries to their parish.

I am sure I have missed some things, but in the Navy, we called this “job analysis”. We then made sure that the training matched up in every area. We took it all pretty seriously as the consequences of poor performance were pretty serious.

What are the consequences of poor performance of our ministers?

I suspect that to some this question is uncomfortable, if not downright offensive. But I humbly submit that the eternal consequences are far more significant than anything we ever dealt with in the Navy.

Do we believe that? If so, can we apply some of these basic secular principles to ensure we are properly equipping our 267 mission leaders for the job we are asking them to do?

Yes, mission is God’s work. He is building his kingdom soul by soul. But that doesn’t let us off the hook doing our part well does it? 

Brian*, 55, shift-worker, nervously took responsibility for 30 houses as part of a ministry to a tough area in his parish. There were no Christians there, but he began to pray and visit house to house. For the first year, he could get around all 30 houses in less than an hour.

He almost gave up on the whole thing, but stuck at it. Then slowly, doors started opening (literally).  It now takes him a week to get round the houses and he jokes he may need a bladder operation as he drinks so many cups of tea. People are sharing, talking, trusting as he listens and shares. He has daily opportunities to talk to people about Jesus. Several have become believers – praise God.

When asked recently how it is going Brian said, “Beats the heck out of handing out hymn books”.

In 20 years of church life, that is all he had ever been asked to do.

Bob*, 68, semi-retired, joined a team of 8 to plant a church in a new area. Despite some (not insignificant) medical problems and difficulty hearing, he has taken to door-to-door visiting with gusto and now devotes 3 days a week to it. He says he has had a massive learning curve, but now reports that as many as 1 in 4 people are not only happy to talk about God, but are happy to meet up again.

In fact, there are so many wanting to find out more that he, and others on team, struggle to keep up with the follow-up. But Bob still leads the way in finding new doors to knock on where people don’t know Jesus yet.

By God’s grace, dozens have become believers so far and Bob says, “I am not sure what I was doing sitting in the pew all those years!”

Let me just wonder out loud for a minute…

If our church meeting/s is/are at the centre of all our thinking and activity then the church’s programs (and the staff who are immersed in church) will of course be at the heart of all the church’s endeavours. The regular members of the church will need to – indeed be expected to – fit in with that if church is their number one priority (aka the rosters).

But what if we moved the focus away from the church such that the local community (missionfield) was the focus of more of our prayers, thinking and activity? Then it would be the church members (who are immersed in the wider world) who are at the centre of the action: be it in their street, their workplace, their club, sporting team etc.

Now this is just a thought, but perhaps then more of the church’s programs would revolve around the people – and places – where there is maximum “surface area” with the unchurched.

Rather than the staff being the “home team”, with the church members as helpers; the members would become the “home team” and the staff would become the helpers. Imagine if the staff had to be rostered to spend time helping the members with their ministries!

Oops, have we just turned church upside down? Or is that, in fact, right-side up?

* Names and some details have been changed.

8. Regional or ‘mega’ churches have a place, but they can never be a substitute for multiple local congregations engaging with local communities. 

A good friend told me excitedly how his church had 2,500 people through the doors at Easter. And that is exciting. I didn’t ask how many services that included, but there is no doubt that big churches do have a special buzz and it is brilliant to see gospel proclaiming churches grow.

Big churches are reassuring. It is comforting to know that evangelical churches can pull a big crowd too. And it “feels” like God is at work and things are really happening.

For some demographics, big church, big services, big events are especially appealing. Youth are one such group.* And as the father of one “youth” (and 3 more getting there) I am very sympathetic indeed.

Special cases aside, are “mega” churches the way forward for mission in greater Sydney? This may be a brave call, but I think not.

First, they give us a false sense of how we are doing in an area. With only a couple of percent of the population in evangelical churches, simple stats say a church of 2 or 3 thousand is drawing from across an area supporting a population of 100,000. It might feel awesome being there – as evidenced by my friend’s excitement re Easter – but what about the other 98,000 people?

Second, the hard yards of mission in a post-Christian society need to take place “house-to-house” (in urban combat speak) not via “shock-and-awe”. It may be possible for a mega-church to coordinate house-to-house mission across the huge area they draw from… but I reckon (healthy) local churches are more likely to: (1) actually do it (see previous point) and (2) do it more effectively.

Third, we know that people love local community. Regardless that they are not so good at it (see Hard Truth # 7), they love the idea. To them, being part of a local church is much more appealing.

Finally, mega-churches seem to be a bit “on the nose” to unbelievers. In my own area, the outcry against Hillsong’s proposed new campus in Rosebery was fierce. From conversations, it is not that people hate Jesus; they just hate heaps of cars and people being bussed in for “rock-concerts” every weekend. I would seriously not like to be inviting neighbours to that (had it gone ahead).

A couple of people have suggested to me that in some places, where little churches are struggling, we ought to close them and put resources into one bigger regional church. I’d not want to dismiss anything without looking at each actually situation carefully. But as a broad concept, this is pretty hopeless isn’t it?

It is akin to pulling back sparse troops from the front line, in order to feel good about how many of us there are at the command post. That is no way to win a war.

I appreciate that there certainly are times for regrouping, but it must be with a view to getting back to the front line ASAP. So do we really want to close up buildings (and let them out? Sell them?) in order to work on regional churches for a while, before “re-planting” back where we were before?

At the end of the day, mission will generally be best served by local churches (and local people) engaging with local communities. Exactly what that looks like on the ground will vary of course, and I know there will be exceptions. But by and large, 10 local churches of 100 are a better platform for mission than one church of 1000 – even if being at that one feels fantastic.

Good news is, that is us! We have over 400 centres in communities across Sydney and the Illawarra. We are working on planting more. Let’s get on the front foot and make the most of what we have!

* The LOUD event held at the Entertainment Centre as part of Connect09 was a recognition of just this point. Heaps of smaller churches with tiny youth groups benefited enormously from coming together, and around 50 kids made commitments to Christ on the night.

Shane Rogerson asked whether Connect09 was simply a “new way to ring the church bell”. It wasn’t meant to be.

The whole point of “connect” was us out there in the community – whether as individuals in the day-to-day or churches and groups actively loving the local area – making new contacts.

And this happened to varying degrees.

So to be fair, Shane has a point. In many places, local Connect09 campaigns did revolve entirely around church services and church-based events.

But far from being a bad thing, such activities raised the profile of the local church, gave positive reasons for church members to get out and make contact with new people, visit door-to-door and so on. And in many cases, such activity helped re-connect people back into church.

I say “re-connect” because, as far as I can tell, those who will enter a church as adults (whether under their own steam, or with a church-going friend) have been before at some stage.

Please don’t get me wrong, if you can get them through the door, that’s brilliant. No point leaving the low-hanging fruit on the tree! The thing is not to think that by doing this work, we are doing the whole job of mission.

If, as Shane reminds us, our only evangelistic strategy is “ringing the church bell” (by which he means calling people to church), then we are only going to reach one slice of our local community. The rest, possibly even the majority, just won’t come.

You might as well invite them to the moon. Even offering to “go with”, which may help get some across the line, for others just ratchets up the pressure on an un-imaginable outing – no matter how well intentioned we may be. There must be other strings to our bow.

Generally speaking, people far from God and Christian faith must make many, many small steps on the road. A contact. A billboard. A conversation. A helping hand. The right word at the right moment. It may take many years; it may be more immediate. It is unlikely to involve church until a fair way along the track.

Question is, how are we (both as Churches and individuals) providing for those small steps? As we consider the many steps from “initial awareness of Christianity” to “front pew as baptised believer” what are we doing that God can be using?

We won’t be able to provide every step for every person – life’s not like that. But if all of our effort is focussed on strategies involving invitations to church/events we need to take another look at our whole mission strategy. 

Not so hard this one… or is it?

One of the first things we did in preparation for Connect09 was some investigative qualitative research amongst the general community. We learnt plenty.

For me, one surprising fact was that what Sydneysiders long for deep down is… belonging.

It surprised me because I am a Sydneysider, and I don’t. This just didn’t resonate with me, and I never would have guessed how significant it was.

This taught me a few things. Firstly, don’t assume. If you want to know about someone, you need to ask. It also showed me that a lifetime of knowing Jesus has made me very different from the society I live in – much more so than I realised.

I would have expected people to long for a nicer house, or a European holiday, or the latest TV, car, etc. That is what the TV tells me people long for.

And also, I have to admit, I often do – especially when I watch TV!

So how am I different? Well, whilst it may be hard to pick me out in a line-up of materialists, I don’t long for belonging… because I have it already.

I was raised by my birth parents in a stable home. I suffered no abuse. I live with one wife and kids that are ours. I have life-long friendships. Statistically, all this makes me pretty unusual. And just a few minutes online searching the impact of divorce on kids, or the long term effects of abuse, or the prevalence of loneliness among adults, show how incredibly blessed I am as a result.

But as important as the things above are, I suspect the chief reason for the difference is that I know I am loved by and belong to God; I belong to Christ because he bought me; and I belong to a “real” community (a family in fact) of believers who love one another.

Once I was made aware of the fact that Sydneysiders long to belong, I started seeing symptoms of it everywhere. The idea of community – especially local community – is revered.

And yet, as our researcher also noted, all forms of community involvement are in decline – be it in sports, local clubs, community activities, volunteer organisations, or church. The irony of the situation was not lost on him: as a society we are withdrawing from all forms of community, yet we long to belong.

Why is this? Are we too time-poor? Over-worked trying to makes ends meet? Are we just swamped by easier and more attractive options?

Or is it an unwillingness – or inability – to commit ourselves to others? Maybe some of those deeper social issues are coming into play…

Perhaps a bit of all the above? The more I think about it, the more complex it becomes.

The wonderful news is that as Christians we have in spades what “the community” longs for which is… community!

Whatever the reason, Sydneysiders really want the one thing that we should be able to offer them. Even if they are reluctant – and we should expect that – it seems the desire is there. That is great news!

And even beyond the attractiveness of community, churches (or more accurately God!) can also address their deepest needs: forgiveness, acceptance, relationship, love, hope – real belonging.

Thank God that he can heal broken people!

But we ought not to expect the process to be comfortable, or easy, or quick – or uncomplicated! Are we up to this massive task?

This one may indeed be the hardest truth of all. 

Some very dear friends of mine travel a bit to attend church. They have excellent reasons for doing so. A few years ago they lived nearby and helped plant that church. They are heavily involved in key ministries and have long-term relationships. Their son is a minister there. So that is where the grandkids are. All very good reasons to make the trip.

I caught up with my friends last year and they shared excitedly about their local Connect09 campaign.

I should add they don’t live in Sydney. Like a smattering of individuals and churches around the country (you may not believe me but it would be accurate to say the world) they just heard about Connect09 and did it themselves.

Like their neighbours, they love the garden. They saw gardening as a way to not just contact, but really connect with their neighbours. They told me about seedlings being exchanged with this one; veggies to that one; citrus from the ones across the road. Regular cups of tea and chat about gardens, the creator, families and church.

But they had struck a problem with the next step – namely taking their new friends to a Bible course or church. Their church was just too far away, and it just didn’t make sense.

It seemed lame to simply “send” neighbours to a local church (even though it was a very good one). So should they take them to local church’s outreach events rather than their own? Maybe they could invite them to local church and attend with them – but for how long? Who would be taking care of their duties in their own church? Should they try to go to both churches? Or should they just bite the bullet and move to the local church?

In short, after happily travelling to church for years for sound personal and ministry reasons, a new factor had thrown a spanner in the works: local mission.

I know the parish system (or more accurately parochialism) presents many difficulties for our diocese. Whenever you form people into tribes and draw lines on maps you just know that sin will be crouching at the door. Yes, there are problems. But I pray that we can address and overcome them together. I saw many parishes working together during 2009 to do some great stuff.

What is wonderful about the parish structure is that it is suited to local mission; it covers everyone. It says that together, we will take responsibility for every soul in our area, every square inch of our city. Even the hard places.

The person in Lakemba or Casula needs to hear the gospel as much as the person in the Hills or the Lower North Shore. That person may have contact with a Christian through work, or family, or some other network. But statistically, that is unlikely – increasingly so. So who will take responsibility to pray for them? To contact them? To try to find a way to connect with them? Well, tell me their address, and pass me a parish map and I’ll tell you who should!

If increasing the size of church (i.e. church growth) is my primary goal, then the parish won’t mean that much to me. In fact, any boundary will be an irrelevant nuisance. But if taking the message of Jesus to every person in Sydney (i.e. mission) is what drives me, then I will want to make sure every house is covered. By my church, or another church – both! – it doesn’t matter. No one of us can do it all.

There may be other ways to divvy up our God-given responsibility for this city, but I can’t readily think of it. Turns out the system we have inherited already does that pretty well – in theory. What will it take to make it a reality? 

Lance Tremlett was a missionary in the North of Australia for 46 years.

About two months into my Connect09 role – time enough for my head to be spinning – I had the great privilege of hearing Lance speak at his final CMS Summer School as he “retired” from a lifetime of missionary service.

He reflected on how he had had to start from scratch. In the early years his time was mostly spent building wells, helping get power and basic services in place. Loving the community.

Over time, the elders came to accept and then respect him because he was a man of integrity who clearly cared for the people. It was then that he was able to share his God and his Saviour in a context of genuine fellowship.

In one sense, there is nothing terribly surprising in this. It is what we expect “mission” to be like. It is something that we have a great wealth of expertise and experience in thanks to agencies like CMS, the mission department at Moore College and so on. All of our ministers study mission, as have many of our church members. We know about mission.

And yet, Lance’s experiences are surprising aren’t they? We say we do mission locally, but it doesn’t look much like that does it?

I couldn’t help but be struck by the fact that there seems to be a dis-connect (if I may use that term) between our belief in, and knowledge of, mission and our practice in the local church.

Mission – in the terms that we hear of from Lance and other CMS missionaries every January – seems to be something that you go overseas (or to the Georges River region?) to do.

Perhaps there was a time/place when the world was like that? The community gathered at the local church to confess their sins, sing hymns and hear the Word taught faithfully by the minister. Missionaries were those who went to heathen lands to learn new languages and forge bridges for the gospel.

But surely this is no longer so – certainly not here – if it ever really was. And it will be increasingly less so with each passing year. For one thing, the “heathen nations” have come to us!

Of course there is recognition of the reality of this on many levels. Great strides have been made in some parts of Sydney (and within some cultural groups) where traditional approaches to church and evangelism have so completely and obviously failed us. We praise God for this and thank him for those taking up the challenge.

But I am not talking about some of us being missionaries in some areas. Hard truth # 4 is about all of us. Every church a mission headquarters. Every minister a mission leader. Every member a missionary.

What would that look like? 

In the last weeks of May the northwest of NSW was captivated by a number of evangelistic events.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) supported the combined churches of Moree, Gunnedah and Tamworth who developed a number of outreach events with the regional theme of “Reality”. Over 12000 people attended the events and heard the gospel, with over 400 people making decisions to follow Christ.

If you lived in Moree, Gunnedah or Tamworth you would have found a number free events that you could attend. The smaller events included school concerts with bands and speakers, men’s breakfasts with extreme adventurers and racing car drivers and women’s meetings with guest speakers. 

The main Reality events however had Will Graham as the headline speaker who is the grandson of the famous evangelist Billy Graham. These main events were held all through the northwest which included youth nights, adult events and family events each with a number of performers and entertainers. Lights, sound and fun where all additions to the main focus of the Reality of Jesus.

1200 Marks Magazine Gospels, which were produced as part of Connect09, were handed out. Of these, 900 were handed out at youth events.

With the events now gone the real work begins as churches follow up over 400 people. Reality is just as a tool for the advancement of the gospel in the northwest. Many people are happy with the connections made with schools and others who have no connection with the church. All glory should be given to God for the success of the events and the relationships made.

by David Buster

You have heard the one about the two guys out hiking who disturb a bear.

One guy starts to unbuckle his rucksack and shed his coat.

The other guy says, “What are you doing? You can’t outrun a bear!”

He replies, “Sure, but I don’t have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you.”

People in our city – some parts specially so – are quite mobile. Christians are no different.

This mobility means increased ability to change churches. So being the church that is picking up the “transfer growth” is pretty handy.

How do you do that? Simple: be better than the churches around in the things that Christians are looking for.

Generally, Christians are pretty fussy about most aspects of church. They can afford to be. Just a few minutes in the car can get them to a dozen or more churches.

So if one church isn’t working for them, they’ll go to another that does. Sometimes that is fair enough. There are good reasons to prayerfully change church. Other times, it is just consumerism, self-centredness and even plain ungodliness: “I didn’t like it that the minister challenged me about…” or, “I am not fully appreciated here”. I know people who have been members of 4 churches in 3 years – without moving house!

Usually the receiving church is only too happy to receive. “Tisk, tisk. I have heard that kind of thing about St. Up-the-road’s. Don’t you worry, you won’t find it like that here!”

Likewise the church plant. The savvy planter will pick a place that is under-represented with churches (of that particular flavour), or a suburb that is set to grow gang-busters, and so on. Yes, of course these are places where Bible-based churches are needed; places where there will be lots of people down the track, and establishing new churches just makes sense.

However, in these prime locations, either through the prevailing growth in population, or due to the deficit of churches (or both!) there will be surplus Christians (or church-goers) who will want to find a “good” church. Just be the best one (or only one!) and Bingo!

When it comes to “church growth” Christians are the low-hanging fruit we spend a great deal of time and energy wooing (and trying to hang onto). Before you object, consider for a moment not what you say, but what you do (how your week is spent).

I just can’t help wondering if we (ministers and church members alike) spent as much time and energy connecting with the thousands who don’t know a believer let alone Jesus, as we do competing for the Christian family that just moved in, there would be more rejoicing of angels all round. (And yes, I have been way guilty on that count!)

Building a ladder and getting to the harder-to-reach fruit is never easy. And it will inevitably involve cultural change and pain for the whole church. A bit of a worry when anyone disaffected can so easily go up the road. (You can almost hear their explanation/complaint to the minister there as they discuss it over Sunday lunch.)

More to the point, how do you begin to make such changes when the few who carry the load are already exhausted just trying to maintain the status quo? Who would bother?

That’s easy. Hardly anyone. After all, you don’t need to outrun the bear. 

Talking about people “getting converted” is fraught. I know that. I flagged it in my last article.

I am effectively sending up a flare saying, “zero your theological artillery here”. But I have no easy way out: “hard truth” # 2 is about few adults becoming Christian. I just have to keep my head down and “get off the beach”. Here goes…

Think about your church for a minute. How many people have become Christians in the last year? How many in the last 3 years? During the course of Connect09 I had a chance to ask a couple of churches for a show of hands of those converted in the last 5 years. In one case there were a few hands; in the other there was one.

My aim is not to flagellate those churches, or your church, or all of us in general. I am greatly encouraged to hear of a small church recently where 6 people became Christians during 2009; a big church where the number was closer to 90. So this is not “woe is us”. The gospel is powerful and effective and God is bringing people into his kingdom as we proclaim it faithfully, and we rejoice with each one.

At the same time, let’s not kid ourselves. As far as I can tell travelling around and talking to lots of people, the numbers of new converts in our churches are tiny. Why is that?

Is it that we are working really hard ground? I often hear that said. And I admit I personally find it a comfort to think so. Friends who have been missionaries in Muslim lands report years of labour with few converts. Sometimes we are called by God to be faithful in tough places and just trust Him. In other places, it seems myriads are just waiting to respond at the first opportunity. There are seasons.

But how do we judge if the ground is rock hard or if we are digging the wrong way? Does it even matter which it is? Do we just keep doing what we’ve always done and trust God to bring people through the door? Do we need to try a bit harder to get to the bottom of the situation? Make some changes? Try new things?

As I considered how we could possibly determine if the ground is hard, I was struck by the progress of the mission work in Airds. Tim Scheuer reports that in the first year or so the team made contact with 500 people; to date 50 of those have become Christians. That’s 10 percent of people contacted! He says that in doorknocking house-to-house, at least 25 percent are interested to know more about God. Now, I would have called Airds a tough area – but is it really? You may say your area is much tougher. (Tim says: don’t assume, give it a try and find out!)

Even if your area is much tougher that Airds, and even if you are much happier focussing on your part (mission) and leaving the results (conversions) to God (as I most certainly am); then let me instead ask: how is your part coming along? Has everyone in your suburb/parish/area heard the gospel so far as it depends on you? How is prayer for the people of your parish going? 

The first hard truth I listed, was that the status quo is not working.

The diocesan mission requires growth. The mission of Christ requires growth.*

I know that such talk about “numbers” or “winning souls” or, when things get heated, “notches on belts” is very irritating to some. The holiest way to express this irritation is via reminders that “conversions” are God’s work, not ours and/or rejoinders that growth in obedience and maturity of believers is just as important as growth in numbers.

Amen to those things.

Kingdom growth involves both conversion and obedience, not either/or. Surely they cannot be separated.

I would also add that any growth, whether through sharing Jesus with a neighbour or resisting sin is 100 percent God’s work and 100 percent our responsibility. So let’s labour like Arminius each day and sleep like Calvin each night, covering all in prayer from start to finish.

As I read the gospels, Jesus is quite clear that the kingdom of God grows as, one by one, people respond to the gospel and submit to the King. And he leaves no wriggle room with his final instruction to “make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey”. Obedience follows baptism, which in turn leads to further baptisms and so on. Both/and.

The good news, then, is that the Diocese is growing as measured by increasing attendance each year and by increasing numbers of congregations and fellowships.

But the key question insofar as the diocesan mission is concerned is whether that growth is keeping pace with the growth of the population of Sydney. By that measure, and given the fact our target for the diocesan mission is much bigger, the status quo is not working.

And when we consider the nature of Sydney’s population growth (namely that this growth is through multi-cultural immigration and Generations Y and Z), demographics will not be changing in favour of the status quo any time soon.

I believe it was Einstein who defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Of course our gospel message will not change, nor will baptism and obedience to the Word. But there is a great deal that we can (and must) change if we really do want a different result.

Connect09 was just a beginning.

* I do recognise that the Sydney diocese is not the kingdom of God. As followers of Jesus our desire is to see the kingdom grow. As Anglicans we want to do all we can, under God, to facilitate that growth as far as it depends on us. So do many other Christians in Sydney and they are doing their part. Let’s just focus on our part here.

David Milne, the senior minister, says he was pleased with the success of the “Connect for Life” weekend and that he encouraged other parishes to consider a similar thing for their 2010 church weekends.

Vince Williamson is keen to run a tailored series of sessions for any group. You can contact Vince via email.

Comments of attendees…

‘Thanks for all your hard work for the weekend, Dave. The talks especially were excellent; not the
usual heavy theory, but down to earth and very practical.’

‘Really encouraged as Vince ‘shared his story’ with us. A great reminder of the power of the Gospel
to change lives. A very enjoyable weekend.’

‘...found the reality of the talks comforting. I could identify with the heart-searching moments.’

‘Great speaker, giving hope to non-Christian families. A reminder never to give up on them!’

‘Vince’s ‘real’ style and passion were a reminder of the big picture. God does work! A good
opportunity to take stock and remember what it’s all about.’