I was chatting to friend this week who made a very interesting comment. He said that praying for, and working hard in the Diocesan Mission has been a reality check on how hard mission is in Sydney.
I ran his comments by a few other friends and they heartily agreed. I’ve heard stories about ministers who laboured long and hard in Sydney with almost no success, who then went to other places, and basically by waving a Bible created a huge church in what sounded like a week! I heard the stories of Africa where villages were converted in the time it takes to walk through them.
Of course mission is hard
As I thought about it, my response was, "of course mission is hard". The Bible is quite clear that we are not just hard hearted, but we are entirely unable to hear the truth, unless God should open eyes and soften hearts.
If that is the case, then mission should be no harder in one place than in another. It is impossible, except for the goodness of God.
So why do we think Mission is particularly difficult in Sydney?
To answer this question we need to consider both theological and pastoral issues.
Theologically, it may be that God is choosing to judge our city by hardening hearts. We must always remember that it is not technique that God's mercy that saves souls, and so we must pray that God will be merciful. That said; the proportion of people claiming faith in Jesus is in fact higher in Sydney than in other Australian cities.
I can list a few reasons why pastorally it is difficult to mission in Sydney.
Firstly, the 'low hanging fruit has been harvested". That is, for many years a good job has been done in making the gospel clear so that those who respond quickly have already come to faith.
Secondly, there are good churches scattered in just about every suburb, so that our population is already well served.
This should lead us to thankfulness. But there is more to say. If we have many good churches, with committed Christians in them, why are we not having a greater impact on our city?
I know this list will sound like a grumpy agenda, but I am guilty of all these things and I list them to start us thinking and discussing. Here are some more thoughts.
1. We try to minister in our churches rather than proclaim our Lord. That is, we expend huge amounts of energy getting church 'right' and doing church things rather than chatting with others and gossiping or muttering the gospel. We expend our energy looking in toward ourselves rather than sharing our lives with those who don't know Jesus.
2. We try to plant churches rather than share the gospel. We often get more concerned about critical mass and financial viability than just sharing the gospel story
3. We think our clergy do the evangelism. They should, but are so busy in church things that they often don't, and that they should be evangelists is no excuse for others not to be.
4. Our conversations, priorities and hearts seem no different to those round about us. This is not to say that they are no different, it's just hard to tell sometimes.
5. We aren't excited about the times when we gather to hear the voice of God. I sometimes wonder whether we think God will change any hearts as we join together around his word.
My simple thought is: what if every believer in Sydney just asked one person a year to read the Bible with them for a year?
I wonder if we might not find mission a little less difficult in Sydney.
