By the Right Rev Ivan Lee, Bishop of Western Sydney

Mission Impossible? From a ‘worldly’ perspective, yes, the diocesan goal of reaching 10 per cent of Sydney’s affluent, self centred and hardhearted population of nearly four million for Jesus Christ does seem like a daunting task. Well, it so happens that I am writing from Gosford where the World Anglican Chinese Clergy and Workers’ Fellowship Conference is being held. Yes, what a mouthful, but what a conference!
Many of the workers are from the Province of South East Asia, made up of just four dioceses. They are seeking to reach 450 million souls for Christ. Now that does sound impossible! Yet one of the pastors said to me, “It’s not impossible, God will do it, just you wait and see!” This statement did not reflect a sit back and ‘Let go and let God’ theology. They have a strategic plan. They know the cost, in terms of prayer, suffering, money, recruiting, training and evangelism.
There are 109 Chinese workers here, and they encourage and challenge me at the same time. They believe in the power of the gospel for salvation, they stand firm on the authority of Scripture, they reject the liberal theology of some of the Western churches, and they are willing to suffer for the name of Christ. “How can we in Sydney encourage you in more difficult places?” I asked. One reply was: “Knowing that you are trying to reach 10 per cent of an extremely secular city like Sydney is already encouragement to us! We are in the same mission together. And knowing that Sydney Anglicans will stand with us on the authority of the Bible and on questions such as homosexuality is very encouraging.”
So how can we in Sydney best support our Chinese brothers and sisters labouring with the gospel all over the world? By sending Bible teachers, missionaries, money and other much needed resources, but also by being faithful to Christ and his mission right here.
As I drive (and drive and drive) around the region, I see evidence everywhere I go of mighty efforts being made to make Christ known – some with obvious success, and some with no visible or obvious signs of ‘success’.
But what is success? Don’t misunderstand me – I long to see people accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour and take their place in the life of the local church. I believe in church growth! I’m not one of those who think counting heads is unspiritual, since each head is actually attached to a person who is either hell bound or heaven bound.
But if you invite a friend to hear the gospel, and they say, ‘no thank you’; if you tell someone about how Jesus has changed your life, and they say, ‘That’s nice for you but I’m not interested’; or if you give Chappo’s A Fresh Start to someone but they don’t end up reading it … I still count all of these as ‘successes’ in some sense of the word.
In these pages you will find just a sample of the initiatives and efforts being made towards bringing people to Christ as well as equipping local churches for their ‘mission from God’.