The three biggies today were mission, the National Register, and a "process of listening'.

But first a follow-up to my blog two days ago: I'm glad to say that answers to questions have been posted on a noticeboard for people to refer to, thanks to swift action by General Synod staff.

The motion regarding mission encouraged support for "fresh expressions' of church. It was preceded by a lengthy presentation by UK Archdeacon Bob Jackson and Stuart Robinson, Rector of Chatswood and p/t National Mission Facilitator. From Bob we heard a digest of his research on what works in terms of mission strategies. There was a stack of helpful tips. He's also done some hard work on the Australian statistics. Bob's accent and his optimism remind me of a certain animated character. So I've christened him Bob the Church Builder. Can he fix it? Yes he can!

Stuart brought four or five encouraging stories of Australian "fresh expressions' of church, including Maroubra Surfer's Church and Berkeley's base of evangelism with "adopt-a-block' from our own Diocese. We also heard of the youth work of BCA's Rich Lanham at Gilgandra, including some encouraging fellowship and ministry with indigenous children.

The thing that concerned me about this is that there has been so little time spent in Synod, and in the Synod mission publications, on the importance of agreeing in the gospel and proclaiming this word of the cross as the power of God for salvation (Rom 1:16, 1 Cor 1:18). And more broadly in Anglicanism there are some deep disagreements about what the gospel is. Many of us " including the presenters " have a commitment to the biblical gospel. But the focus in discussion seems to be on method and not much on content. So I made the suggestion that this could be like spending lots of time packaging the medicine, marketing the medicine, and making the medicine easier to swallow, without making certain that the pill contained the essential active ingredient.

Incidentally, although Bob Jackson did not unpack this, in his book provided to Synod members, he said (p15) growing churches are clearly more likely to be orthodox or conservative in theology and radical in form; and a little later (pp30-31) that growing churches tend to take the Bible seriously!

The highlight of the afternoon session was agreement to the National Register Canon, along with its protocols and the Professional Standards Commission (PSC) motions. The Register's final form was only agreed to after several "huddles' of the interested parties worked hard on amendments to iron out the balance of protecting the vulnerable from sexual abuse and misconduct and protecting the reputation of the innocent. I understand it took some argy-bargy, but the final result was well received.

Garth Blake said much progress had been made in the last three years in making our churches safer for children and other vulnerable people. But he added that the danger now was "issue fatigue", thinking that we could move on from this matter. Instead the PSC motions indicated there was further work, e.g. producing a simple English version of Faithfulness in Service, which would be helpful in indigenous ministries. Likewise it would be helpful in my own parish's small Sudanese ministry, where education and English levels make the current document next to impossible to understand. The Synod's appreciation for Garth Blake and his colleagues on the PSC was shown by a heart-felt standing ovation.

The evening session's main event was the process of listening to the voices of homosexual people and their experiences of the Anglican Church. The origin of this "listening process' lies in Lambeth Resolution I:10 from 1998. As well as holding the line on the biblical teaching on not blessing same-sex relationships or consecrating an actively homosexual person as Bishop, Lambeth encouraged the church to listen to the experiences of homosexual people.

To do so, Bishop John Harrower from Tasmania introduced an audio presentation where we listened to the stories of anonymous people read by other volunteers to ensure privacy. Bishop Harrower encouraged a "hospitable respect" in a most sensitive manner. We then heard the stories of four people in the following different situations:
"¢ A gay man (who had been an Anglican priest), who had eventually left the church because of its attitudes, and felt no guilt and great fulfilment in his life with his partner;
"¢ A woman who had lived willingly as a lesbian, but was now heterosexual and married, and had changed, happily, she said, through her encounter with the love of God;
"¢ A man of exclusively homosexual orientation, who found no mandate in Scripture for expressing that orientation sexually and so had chosen to be celibate; and
"¢ A homosexual man, who is in a long term same-sex relationship, and who serves as an Anglican priest, sometimes living with his partner and sometimes not, and thinks the Church has become less accepting of gays in recent years.

The stories dealt with very emotive issues, but I thought the balance of stories was fair. There was " by the General Synod Standing Committee's deliberate design " no debate or discussion following the presentation.

Personally I was happy to listen to the different experiences described. However, I would not agree with any suggestion (and none was made by Bishop Harrower) that in listening to these people we would be listening for the voice of God. For that, we must go to the Word of God " the Scriptures.

My observations? All four had obviously faced great difficulties and suffering. The three who had lived an active homosexual lifestyle all felt they had been treated badly at times by those who disagreed with their lifestyles, including "fundamentalist or dogmatic protestants'. And there is no excuse for hatred or aggression towards those whose sexual preferences one judges to be against Scripture (whether hetero- or homosexual).

I also saw the great cost of discipleship for the homosexual man who had chosen the difficult path of celibacy out of obedience to God. He'd made God's grace the focus of his life " not his sexuality. He explained how the most painful aspects of his life had been dealt with through the cross of Christ. He saw himself as a forgiven sinner, a Son of God, a brother of Jesus. And as Jesus said, he saw himself remaining single for the sake of the kingdom.

As an endnote, as another part of the listening process, especially for those struggling with unwanted same-sex attractions, I would also suggest reading the book What Some of You Were edited by Chris Keane of Liberty Christian Ministries.