Learning from England and Wales

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February 2007

Learning from England and Wales - Vision for 2007

We are now more than halfway through the healthychurch transforminglife vision and I want to reflect on that in the light of my recent visit to England and Wales with our Diocesan Director of Ministry, Paul Cavanough.

Our trip was a study tour to assess the agenda of the 'mission-shaped' dioceses in the UK. What could we bring back that would be good and useful in our Tasmanian context?

There was an enlightening visit we made to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives in a Bishop's Palace, surrounded by a moat complete with white swans. You may know that swans pair for life and one of a couple of these beautiful birds had died, leaving the remaining partner pining and unwell. What you probably may not know, is that all the swans in England belong to the Crown and the Bishop had to seek permission from Queen Elizabeth in order to replace them.

We opened one of the national papers to find a photo of a smiling Bishop of Bath and Wells, clutching a large white swan in each hand - new swans to swim in the moat around the Bishop's Palace.

I was amazed. Then I realised there were two ways to react to this: either dismiss it as complete irrelevance or see the amusing side and relish the eccentric traditions that have existed in the English Church for hundreds of years.

I wondered, what can we take from this experience to use and adapt to our context? What traditions are worth holding on to? What will we hand on to future generations of Anglicans in Tasmania? Perhaps the perceived eccentricity of Tasmanians is something we can build on and celebrate, just as the English church has done.

What did I find?

The agenda for our visit included learning about the training of ordained and lay ministers for mission. We saw creative initiatives in rural ministry and at the local parish level, and how diocesan and denominational structures may be enhanced to serve mission and evangelism strategies.

Multi-cultural and multi-faith issues require a careful response and we were able to observe some of the national initiatives in inter-faith dialogue. We were also able to participate in a Masters unit in Mission at the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC). This was exciting and I encourage you to visit their website at for some of the current thinking on the issues facing not only the church in the UK, but all Christians in the post-Christian era in which we live.

LICC challenges us to read both the text (scripture) and the context (life).

'How can we make disciples who are learning to live well for Christ in today's new culture and engage compellingly with the people they meet?' (The Imagine Project, LICC)

Meeting the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, was an inspiration. In Australia we heard about his prayer vigil inside the cathedral, where for a week he pitched his purple tent in front of the altar and prayed for resolution between the Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel. I spoke with him and he declared that his priority as a bishop was to teach people about Jesus - just that.

At his installation as Archbishop of York he called on the Church of England to revive its spirit of 'wonder' and 'adoration' and to rediscover the transforming power of the Gospel.

'The scandal of the church is that the Christ event is no longer life-changing, it has become life-enhancing. We've lost the power and joy that makes real disciples, and we've become consumers of religion and not disciples of Jesus Christ.'

(Quoted here in the Times. It is worth going to the Church of England website and reading the full text of his sermon.)

This visit confirmed my belief that we need to nurture an outward-looking mission culture. As in Britain and in fact in much of Europe, there is an urgent need to re-evangelise. We live in a post-Christian age. We must be flexible and not bound by our structures. We must use resources and people in creative ways, learning the vocabulary of contemporary culture to communicate the Gospel.

Put simply, absolutely the most important aspect to consider in engagement with our culture is the relationship between the culture or context in which we live and the text of the Bible. What does it mean to live for Jesus in my/our context today? If we do not do this, there will be nothing to hand on to our future generations.

So how do I see my role in this?

As a Bishop I am expected to keep before the people of God the vision of who we are called to be. I am charged to teach the faith, to all of us, not just clergy. As Archbishop Sentamu says, the priority is to teach about Jesus. This involves promoting the ministry of all God's people; recruiting and enabling; encouraging story-telling; public discipleship as in my Prayer Pilgrimage; delegating tasks to those with particular gifts.

In all things your Bishop must keep before the people of God the vision of who we are called to be in Christ.

Shalom,

This Archbishop Rowan Williams doll lives in John Harrower's study as a reminder of the ability of Anglicans to laugh at ourselves and to enjoy one another.

Photo by Russell Morton

	The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search
	a healthy church...transformingLIFE
	Home About Contact us News Issues Parishes Prayer Calendar Youth Resources

				February 2007

		Learning from England and Wales - Vision for 2007 We are now more than halfway through the healthychurch transforminglife vision and I want to reflect on that in the light of my recent visit to England and Wales with our Diocesan Director of Ministry, Paul Cavanough. Our trip was a study tour to assess the agenda of the 'mission-shaped' dioceses in the UK. What could we bring back that would be good and useful in our Tasmanian context? There was an enlightening visit we made to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives in a Bishop's Palace, surrounded by a moat complete with white swans. You may know that swans pair for life and one of a couple of these beautiful birds had died, leaving the remaining partner pining and unwell. What you probably may not know, is that all the swans in England belong to the Crown and the Bishop had to seek permission from Queen Elizabeth in order to replace them. We opened one of the national papers to find a photo of a smiling Bishop of Bath and Wells, clutching a large white swan in each hand - new swans to swim in the moat around the Bishop's Palace. I was amazed. Then I realised there were two ways to react to this: either dismiss it as complete irrelevance or see the amusing side and relish the eccentric traditions that have existed in the English Church for hundreds of years. I wondered, what can we take from this experience to use and adapt to our context? What traditions are worth holding on to? What will we hand on to future generations of Anglicans in Tasmania? Perhaps the perceived eccentricity of Tasmanians is something we can build on and celebrate, just as the English church has done. What did I find? The agenda for our visit included learning about the training of ordained and lay ministers for mission. We saw creative initiatives in rural ministry and at the local parish level, and how diocesan and denominational structures may be enhanced to serve mission and evangelism strategies. Multi-cultural and multi-faith issues require a careful response and we were able to observe some of the national initiatives in inter-faith dialogue. We were also able to participate in a Masters unit in Mission at the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC). This was exciting and I encourage you to visit their website at for some of the current thinking on the issues facing not only the church in the UK, but all Christians in the post-Christian era in which we live. LICC challenges us to read both the text (scripture) and the context (life). 'How can we make disciples who are learning to live well for Christ in today's new culture and engage compellingly with the people they meet?' (The Imagine Project, LICC) Meeting the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, was an inspiration. In Australia we heard about his prayer vigil inside the cathedral, where for a week he pitched his purple tent in front of the altar and prayed for resolution between the Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel. I spoke with him and he declared that his priority as a bishop was to teach people about Jesus - just that. At his installation as Archbishop of York he called on the Church of England to revive its spirit of 'wonder' and 'adoration' and to rediscover the transforming power of the Gospel. 'The scandal of the church is that the Christ event is no longer life-changing, it has become life-enhancing. We've lost the power and joy that makes real disciples, and we've become consumers of religion and not disciples of Jesus Christ.' (Quoted here in the Times. It is worth going to the Church of England website and reading the full text of his sermon.) This visit confirmed my belief that we need to nurture an outward-looking mission culture. As in Britain and in fact in much of Europe, there is an urgent need to re-evangelise. We live in a post-Christian age. We must be flexible and not bound by our structures. We must use resources and people in creative ways, learning the vocabulary of contemporary culture to communicate the Gospel. Put simply, absolutely the most important aspect to consider in engagement with our culture is the relationship between the culture or context in which we live and the text of the Bible. What does it mean to live for Jesus in my/our context today? If we do not do this, there will be nothing to hand on to our future generations. So how do I see my role in this? As a Bishop I am expected to keep before the people of God the vision of who we are called to be. I am charged to teach the faith, to all of us, not just clergy. As Archbishop Sentamu says, the priority is to teach about Jesus. This involves promoting the ministry of all God's people; recruiting and enabling; encouraging story-telling; public discipleship as in my Prayer Pilgrimage; delegating tasks to those with particular gifts. In all things your Bishop must keep before the people of God the vision of who we are called to be in Christ. Shalom,		This Archbishop Rowan Williams doll lives in John Harrower's study as a reminder of the ability of Anglicans to laugh at ourselves and to enjoy one another. Photo by Russell Morton