The question. What is the place of Anglicare in the Diocesan Mission?

In 2002 the Archbishop and Bishops of the Diocese of Sydney issued a clear call to the diocese for a renewed mission in proclaiming Christ. In our statement we declared that we had committed ourselves:

in unity of heart and spirit to give example, energy and leadership to this Mission [" ] and together they invite the whole Anglican community in Sydney (with all other believers) to join them by taking the initiative to see that Christ is proclaimed to all people.

Since then the Diocesan Mission has been conducted in a thousand places and a thousand way throughout greater Sydney, in suburbs, inner city and semi rural areas, in small groups and large gatherings, in simple bible studies and services of elaborate rich ceremonial, in heritage churches, modern auditoriums, in halls, schools, universities, community centres, workplaces and private homes. A new energy and focus is evident in the diocese.

It is too seldom noticed that the focus of the Mission is to glorify God. How is God to be glorified? By one central activity, proclaiming Christ

To glorify God by proclaiming our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. . . 

And the fundamental aim of this mission of proclaiming Christ is

To multiply Bible-based Christian fellowships, congregations and churches which equip and nurture their members and expand themselves, both in the Diocese and "in all the world".

This leads to an obvious question. What about other activities which the Christian community does but which are not in an obvious sense proclaiming Christ? In particular what about the kind of things that Anglicare typically does?

Of course a number of our ministries do proclaim Christ. But others do good for people in other ways. Much of our welfare, aged care and so for the are not so much proclaiming Christ as the doing of acts of mercy and kindness, what the New Testament calls "good works". What about them?

These kind of questions are not new. Christians, and especially Evangelicals, have often had to reflect on the range of different responsibilities they have, and especially on the question of the relation evangelism and other good works.

This question has a special urgency for Anglicare at this time for two reasons. Firstly the diocesan mission is encouraging us to ask searching questions of all our institutions and activities. Secondly Anglicare (Diocese of Sydney) is facing important and urgent issues of its identity and structure arising from the unsustainable cost structure of its present activities.

So it is important to understand how, and in what way, Anglicare's possible activities fit the mission.

There is another prior question. What is the place of the diocesan mission itself?

Is the diocesan mission meant to be the only game in town, or is it only the main game in town?

If it is meant to be the only game then everything we do here in the diocesan community would have its reason d'etre in the diocesan mission. And all our activities and institutions that did not contribute (either immediately or in the long run) to proclaiming Christ and building Bible based churches should be abandoned.

On the other hand, if the mission is to be the main, but not the only, game in town then there will room for other activities and institutions that have other Christian rationale than that of contributing to proclaiming Christ and building bible based churches, as long as they were consistent with, and do not undermine, the main focus of proclamation.

As we will see, the intention is that the diocesan mission is to be the focus, but not the total life of the diocese. It is the main game, not everything.

To download a complete copy of this paper as a pdf file, click the link below:
Proclaiming Christ and Acts of Kindness