Archbishop Peter Jensen’s presidential address for Synod 2008 has continued his challenge to Sydney Anglicans to develop an ‘expert’ understanding of and engagement with their communities.
This challenge has combined with a renewed focus on identifying and reaching the ‘tribes’ and ‘deserts’ that exist within the Diocese as Sydney Anglicans seek to grant everyone the opportunity to make a meaningful connection with Jesus.
The Archbishop also revealed that a new look at the tribes and deserts within the Diocese has given him a greater sense of urgency. A second look at some of these areas showed that in 107 churches, members make up less than one per cent of their parish population.
"What concerns me is the deserts " whole regions in which our presence is undoubtedly faithful and admirable, but small," he said.
As he considered that even neighbouring churches might be unable to help in the face of these numbers, the Archbishop asked whether church planting in these areas might be part of the solution.
He also suggested Sydney Anglicans should choose a people group " a "tribe' " to "love and pray for and reach".
"I hope that when we meet again next year God willing, I will be able to describe the way in which a movement of the Spirit has begun and has begun to bear fruit for Christ in the deserts and tribes of this great city."
The Archbishop asked Sydney a recurring question in his address: "Do we have the need of the world on our heart?"
He took the question from a plaque in the old church building of St Barnabas', Broadway, which paid tribute to Archdeacon RBS Hammond, a former rector who during the Great Depression served as a model of the "typical evangelical alliance between preaching the word and care for the community" .
Archbishop Jensen said research done for Connect09 had revealed that while Sydney Anglicans see evangelism as important and "on the top of our to-do list", "many of us do not actually do the evangelism", as individuals and as church groups.
He said this was due to fear: of rejection, of not knowing what to say or how to bring someone to give their life to Christ.
He recommended simple basic training in evangelism " such as Evangelism Ministries' Just Start Talking program " as the antidote, so that we can "open up conversations fruitfully and comfortably".
The second problem is that we are too busy to make new friends in the neighbourhood.
The Archbishop used the examples of Archdeacon RBS Hammond and Archdeacon TC Hammond - a former principal of Moore College - to explain that we would overcome these problems by having knowledge of the word as TC Hammond did, and an obedience to it as RBS Hammond did.
"For faith is the answer to fear, and faith comes as we allow the word of God to be our teacher," he said.
In "fearful times" and in an "anxious community", Sydney Anglicans need to let our "peerless hope" and knowledge of "the God who rules all things" take care of our fears.
More on Connect09
The Archbishop referred to PJs at PJs, the 26 overnight conferences he has held so far with about 160 rectors.
"Each time I have learned something new about ministry and I have been encouraged by the faithfulness of our ministers and their determination to lead in evangelism," he asserted.
The Archbishop has confirmed in his address that Connect09 is not a program but a campaign, and a spiritual movement rather than a planned event.
He also clarified the elements in Connect09's process " prayer, research, training, contact, partnership, preparation " and he commended Connect09 as a "wonderful opportunity to train and equip lay Christians for ministry".
He also asked churches to prepare their properties and structures in a way that makes visitors welcome " this could mean many things including signage, seating, cry-rooms, music or follow-up.
In a lighter moment, the Archbishop coined a new phrase " "evangelical incense" " another name for the aroma of good coffee that he encouraged Sydney Anglicans to cultivate in order to serve and welcome newcomers.
What to make of the financial crisis
In the past 15 years, Archbishop Jensen said Sydney had been "put to the test of abundance", investing in the three secular values of free choice (satisfying ourselves), tolerance (letting others have their choice) and incredibly hard work (to ensure we have the freedom to choose what we want).
The economic downturn will likely mean far less choice, tolerance will not provide comfort, and we cannot necessarily rely on hard work to achieve satisfaction.
This threat to our lives as we know them and our "shaken" confidence that we will always receive what we want, reveals our spiritual problem, the Archbishop said: "we are too proud" as a society, and forget, or fail to realise "our only hope is Jesus".
What we are really going to need, he maintained, was the great and "indispensable" biblical virtues of faith, hope and love.
"Faith that God is in control; [hope that is] confidence in his future as being that which fulfils human existence; love from him, that makes us generous to others.”
Archbishop Jensen believes it is "no accident" that Connect09 is occurring at a time in which Australians and the world are in particular need of these three virtues.
In the face of the global financial crisis currently weighing on the hearts of Sydneysiders and the world, Archbishop Jensen encouraged Sydney to remain truthful and obedient to the teaching of the Bible, as the “two Hammonds” were.
"We cannot flourish if we abandon the word of God as our regulative principle, in favour of the word of this world, this culture. [TC Hammond’s} challenge is sharper than ever: trust God's word," he said.
"We still need to be mature Christians, obedient to the word of God; we also need to understand our own times. And we especially need to be such Christians right now."
‘We were right to choose GAFCON’
Archbishop Jensen ended his address by admitting that Connect09 and GAFCON had "dominated my life".
However his conviction was clear as he explained why he is confident that it was right for him and Sydney's five regional bishops not to go to Lambeth, but to commit to GAFCON.
"I have never worked such long hours or with such intensity [as at the time of GAFCON], but I can say this: nor have I ever seen so clearly the Lord's hand at work in blessing his people, especially in that week in Jerusalem."
Archbishop Jensen reaffirmed that the birth of the GAFCON movement was delayed for as long as possible, as "there had been hope against hope that a solution would be found to the problems in the Anglican Communion".
Further, the portrayal of GAFCON as a "breakaway" movement aimed at splitting the Anglican Communion is "perverse, almost malign", as the fabric began to tear in 2003 with the appointment of a divorced and actively homosexual bishop in the US, and the blessing of same-sex unions in the US and Canada.
"[The Anglican Communion] is a highly significant entity, [it] is to be cherished and maintained, not torn apart," Archbishop Jensen asserted.
"The aim of GAFCON is to renew and invigorate the Communion and to help bring order and peace out of the mayhem created by the American division."
Far from making trouble, those protesting against the developments in the US and Canada were eventually left with "no choice" but to leave, he said.
"The very Scriptures which urge us to unity, to stand together in the cause of the gospel, also warn us that there are moments when we must break unity to preserve the gospel and the spiritual lives of those in our care," he said.
It was therefore good and right for Sydney to recognise and support "those who bravely live out a protest".
"They need our fellowship to make up for the fellowship they are losing by standing back from their original home church."
The Archbishop related that he had shared, prayed and agonised with figures such as the Rev David Short, Bishop Bob Duncan, Archbishop Gregory Venables and Bishop Don Harvey.
Acting now has also been a response to the "danger of the spread of this theological fallout" to Africa, Asia, South America and even Australia.
"Not to be there spoke a thousand times more powerfully than attendance would have done," he said.
He argued that the outcomes of Lambeth had doubtful potential to meaningfully improve the situation.
Lambeth’s proposed Anglican Covenant " which is likely not to deal adequately with the crisis - was likely to "take a very long time to be ratified"; the moratoria on activities causing offence were "ambiguous" and seemed to be being defied already; and the announcement of the provision of a Pastoral Forum to care for those objecting to this "theological innovation" had been followed by the deposition of one of those people, Bishop Bob Duncan of Pittsburgh.
So the newly formed Primates Council will bring "order to the Anglican Communion" by welcoming those forced to leave their own churches.
Conversations with bishops in the Nairobi hotel room where the GAFCON conference was planned were flavoured by mission, the need for repentance and the importance of an authentic gospel, Archbishop Jensen said.
"The business of assuring people that their sins are forgiven is no light thing. These are the keys of heaven and hell, administered with great solemnity by the appointed preachers of God's word. Woe to the one who casually assures us in the name of God that we are forgiven when we are not!"
Archbishop Jensen also lamented recent developments in the Anglican Church of Australia.
"In our own Australian church, we now have women bishops, and although we all intend to stay as united as possible in the Australian church, the pain of division is permanent."
