With the aim or reaching the ten per cent goal, the foremost strategy will be to multiply congregations and fellowships meeting around the Bible.

I have been reading again an old classic on mission by Roland Allen. In his book The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church, Allen observes that ‘the spontaneous expansion of the church involved not merely the multiplication of Christians but the multiplication of churches’. It is this insight which is basic to my present thinking about mission in the Diocese.

People need to be evangelised individually. There can be no substitute for a personal response to the gospel. But the local church has a vital part to play in two ways. First, it must be the home of the new Christian. We need to be nurtured in the fellowship of believers. Second, the local church itself is an integral part of the mission. It provides the most natural place for people to hear the word of God and respond. It is by making our fellowships and congregations accessible to the unbeliever that we make the gospel accessible.

In discussions with the Mission Taskforce I will be suggesting that the fundamental strategy of the mission should be to multiply Bible-based Christian fellowships and congregations which both nurture their members, grow numerically and are self-replicating throughout the Diocese.

If this strategy is agreed to, how will it be done?

First and foremost it will need to be done by the blessing of God. The Mission is not a program of action similar to a business expansion. As far as we are concerned, our prime and constant duty will be to ask ourselves about the spiritual implications of seeking to obey the call of God to share the gospel. To state the obvious, the Mission will have to be the product of prayer. About this, we do not have to wait a single day to begin individually and in groups. Can I ask you to pray specifically for the proclamation of the gospel throughout our region?

Second, it will be done primarily through the existing parish churches. The heart of the Diocese is the parish church. Our organisations, governance, and structures are basically intended to serve the churches and to help them be nurturing and expanding communities. I was delighted recently to attend one such church and to be asked by the Minister to explain the Mission and to help them get started. The Mission will begin when parish churches ask themselves how to expand the size and number of congregations and fellowship groups that they currently have, so that more people may hear the gospel. Has your church begun to think mission yet?

Third, we need to encourage fresh initiaitives to take up the needs which the parish church cannot fulfil. Our society does not work merely on geography. There are lots of networks – family groups, clubs, work-places, professional associations – which provide the opportunites to reach people. Can you identify unreached groups, where the commencement of a weekday fellowship group will bring the gospel to light?

Fourth, in order to accomplish such a Mission, we will need to multiply the numbers of well-trained workers – ordained, lay, full-time, voluntary, part-time – who will give themselves to the ministry of proclaiming Christ. Is your church committed to adult education?

Fifth, we need to make sure that our diocesan life supports the aim of producing Bible-based Christian fellowships and congregations which both nurture their members and expand themselves.

One last matter. I have spoken as though the Mission is a matter within the boundaries of the Diocese alone. But the message of Christ knows no boundaries. To be truly committed to the local mission is to be committed to the world-wide mission. Is your church missionary-minded?

Dr Peter Jensen
Archbishop Writes
Southern Cross, August 2002