“Two years ago we met in the southwest growth corridor at Oran Park and I asked you, ‘Do you see the crowds?’ The crowds of people moving into Sydney – growth areas and established areas, people from many nations, people without knowledge of the Lord and his cross. Today I want to ask, will you help the crowds see Jesus?”

With that challenge, Archbishop Kanishka Raffel opened the Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney in the Greenfields in the northwestern suburbs.

The special Saturday session at Rouse Hill Anglican College mirrored the first Greenfields Synod in 2022, designed to help parishes, through their Synod delegates, be aware of growing areas of Sydney and the need for church planting, land acquisition and building works.

Above: Synod volunteers at the Rouse Hill Anglican College

Delegates had a special service, ate lunch together and toured North West suburbs, before listening to the Archbishop’s Adddress, (Read the Address in PDF)

Over the next hour, the Archbishop laid out plans for multiplying disciples, multiplying churches and multiplying leaders, starting with what he described as “Sydney's great need”.

“The great need of Sydney is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “I do not mean that Sydney does not have many other pressing and important needs. Our churches and agencies are constantly engaged in responding to the real-life impact of cost-of-living pressure, the housing crisis and the wickedness of violence against women. Motions and reports in our business paper range across these issues as well as the scourge of online gambling. 

“Our churches, schools and agencies engage with the felt and physical needs of Sydneysiders throughout the Diocese, and I am very thankful for all the ways in which so many respond to the needs of others with practical and financial assistance, the truth and comfort of God’s word, in prayer, compassion and personal support.

“But Jesus said to the paralysed man who was brought to him by his four excellent friends, ‘son, your sins are forgiven’. In doing so, he taught that beyond our visible and felt needs are our deepest needs – our need for reconciliation with God, forgiveness, freedom from the chains of the world, the flesh and the devil, rescue from God’s just judgement on sin, and hope in this world and the next.”

Multiplying disciples, multiplying churches and multiplying leaders

Archbishop Raffel then laid out the challenge: "The task before us, without neglecting what compassion requires, is bringing the life and hope and grace of the gospel of the Lord Jesus to the 6 million or so individuals that inhabit Greater Sydney and the Illawarra.”

In multiplying churches, he referred to the venue of the Synod's Greenfields day,  the northwest growth corridor some 37 kilometres from Sydney’s CBD. He noted that the area, comprising 120 square kilometres, included the parishes of Marsden Park, Quakers Hill, Riverstone, Mt Druitt, Stanhope, Kellyville, Rouse Hill, Pitt Town and Windsor. 

Since 2000, he added, Sydney Anglicans have been planting churches in these suburbs as they have grown in population – Kellyville in 2001, Rouse Hill in 2008, Stanhope Gardens in 2020, with the addition of greenfield sites in Marsden Park, Riverstone and Box Hill. 

“The population in this area is expected to grow by 10,000 people every year from now until 2031… In recent years, a few parishes committed substantial resources from the sale of underutilised or surplus assets to fund church planting in the greenfields, sometimes alongside undertaking their own revitalisation strategy. I hope such examples are an encouragement to you and a stimulus to your prayers as you consider how to support new churches for new communities.”

The Archbishop then referred to the recent establishment of Sydney Anglican Property, bringing together the Anglican Church Property Trust, the Anglican Church Growth Corporation, New Churches for New Communities and the St Andrew’s House Corporation. 

“This was the most significant restructure of Sydney Anglican property organisations for 50 years,” he said, adding that the Synod would also consider the grouping of administrative services and a new partnership organisation to be known as Evangelism and Ministry Partnerships, restructuring Evangelism and New Churches, Ministry Training and Development (MT&D) and Anglican Media, to align the activities of all three around the same mission goals and priorities. 

“We want to put the ‘people’ functions of the Diocese in the same room with the evangelism and church planting functions so they work together, inform each other's thinking and practice, and present to those whom God is raising up from among us a clear pathway into ministry in this Sydney Anglican fellowship, that accompanies and supports them on the whole journey.”

Above: Bishop of Western Sydney, Gary Koo, leads the Synod Service

Synod Business

Synod will also consider governance issues and the appointment of a Director of Indigenous Ministry. The new position is intended to provide leadership across the Diocese in ministry development as well as education and representation. 

“The appointment of a person to this position allows us to become learners and listeners as well as partners in gospel ministry with Indigenous brothers and sisters,” the Archbishop said.

Also on the agenda is a report, requested by the 2023 Synod, on attendance decline in the Diocese in recent years. A committee formed to investigate found two-thirds of church centres in the Diocese experienced decline over the decade to 2023, and that average adult attendance declined by nearly 7 per cent.

"Complacency is not an option, but neither should we give in to despair or self-pity. The committee is at pains to point out there is no blame in this exercise, but there should be a robust and considered response. Responding to these findings will require the engagement of the whole church, not only the ministry team.

“These are matters for deep reflection and self-assessment as well as prayerful, united and courageous change. Are we really welcoming? Do people feel judged or cared for when they come to church? Is it okay to have questions or a messy life? If someone came to church and listened in on the after-church conversation, would they be attracted or repelled?  

“We must not run silent on the great themes of the Bible, including those that may be unpalatable to newcomers, but neither should we be indifferent to the kind of community we are and the way we interact with those among us who are not yet Christian. We are to speak the truth in love, with all the diligence, care and wisdom that implies.”

Above: Local church members on the registration desk.

The Archbishop noted an expansion in reaching the various ethnic groupings in Sydney that had transformed many communities.

“It is a great joy to me that within our diocesan fellowship are those who are labouring to bring the gospel to the tens of thousands of people from other places and backgrounds, who are now part of our community and know little or nothing of the Lord and his gospel. The Satya group, named after the Hindi word for truth, is equipping us for ministry to those of South Asian background. MTM works closely with churches in areas where there are many people of Muslim faith. 

“Thirty-five of our congregations are Chinese speaking. Other non-English language services include Indonesian, Japanese, Dinka, Vietnamese, Urdu, Farsi and Arabic. A recent Southern Cross reported on the establishment of a new Korean language service in Lidcombe, through a partnership between Enfield-Strathfield and Lidcombe parishes, and conversations are taking place between other churches considering a partnership in foreign language ministry to cater to large ethnic populations distributed around Sydney. "

“It is the Lord’s mission and he will do it”

Above: The Archbishop begins his Synod speech

Archbishop Raffel said that as he visited churches around the Diocese he was often asked what is the best part of his job.

“I always reply, ‘Sunday’. It’s a joy to see God’s people gathered together Sunday by Sunday; hearing God’s word, encouraging each other in the knowledge and service of the Lord, praying for the world around us, and seeking to serve their community, especially by making Christ known.

“Almost every Sunday the rector will say to me, ‘This young girl brought her friend to youth group and now her Mum is coming to church and keen to read the Bible’; ‘That man started coming six months ago and is getting baptised next month’; ‘Seven people have signed up for next month’s Life course’. One man said to me, ‘I started coming with my wife, they taught the Bible and the way the men cared for me, I knew it was true’.

“It is the Lord’s mission and he will do it. We serve a gracious and faithful Master who gave himself for the life of the world. Members of Synod, you see the crowds. Will you help the crowds see Jesus?”

The full text of the address is here. Southern Cross magazine September/October edition in churches will also have a printed summary of the Archbishop’s address.