In the first of a four-part series exploring the policies of the diocesan Mission, our starting point is to ensure that we hear the word of God and live it out.

Wherever I go across the Diocese I have been asking whether there are signs that the Mission has begun. I am glad to say that in many places there is evidence of churches who are taking the Mission seriously and have put it on their agenda.

Change is definitely occurring. New congregations have begun. Plans are being made to employ new workers. Parish Councils are using the Mission to look at their goals and activities.

This is mostly as a result of using the ten per cent goal as a stimulus to action.

What has not been widely understood as yet, however, is the usefulness of the four Mission policies and the way in which they can be applied to our Mission plans. In the next four months, therefore, I plan to remind Southern Cross readers of the policies and urge church leaders to use them as they think about how to adopt the Mission.

The first policy could briefly be called spiritual renewal.

We all know that it is God, by his Spirit, who brings people to know the Lord Jesus Christ and serve him. He graciously uses us, as servants, to share the gospel, but without the blessing of his Spirit our work is in vain.

We need, therefore, to give ourselves to persistent, sacrificial and faithful prayer, specifically for those who do not know Christ. Our prayers should certainly be in private, but we also need to gather together in a corporate way in churches and in regions to call upon God for this outpouring of the Spirit.

The wording of the policy, however, reminds us of the basis for, and motivation of, our prayer. Spiritual renewal is an initiative of God. It comes from his word and, specifically, from the gospel.

In the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ we are taught in the clearest way possible of God’s love. He has graciously purchased salvation through the death of his Son for those who could be called his enemies, alienated from him and disobedient to his commands. This extraordinary love of God, often known as grace in the Bible, overwhelms us. The assurance of God’s favour that it brings frees us from the burden of having to justify ourselves.

It is this wonderful and overwhelming experience which should liberate us to give ourselves sacrificially in prayer for those who also need to know the love of God.

What, then, should be happening? I would hope that our preachers, imbued with the Spirit of God, should be so proclaiming the word of God that we will be moved to pray for the lost. No doubt this is already occurring, but I think that unless it occurs in a widespread way we will labour in vain.

So, our first duty, according to policy one, is to hear the word of God and to live it out. Is that happening where you are?