What does a healthy/mature society look like?
How can we help health/maturity to flourish here in Australia? In Brisbane?
What is Australia’s role/responsibility in light of the global village?
Exploring a good attitude toward multiculturalism.
Exploring universal common ground.
How do Indigenous cultures fair against a global village backdrop?
What about rules and boundaries?
How do we grow past fundamentalism?
Can we preserve the “Fruit Salad”?

Doug and Zell Sindel, who have lived and worked in Indonesia for 13 years, will be joined by Irene Alexander who is an author and has also done extensive work in Myanmar. There will also be two other speakers (T.B.A.) and a time for open conversation and tea and coffee. Please come and join as we wrestle together with such questions.

When – Sat, March 20th
Where – 69 Thomas St, West End
Time – 9am-11:30am

A local picture

Tim Burns is committed to Bracken Ridge Baptist in Brisbane. He is working with others to connect in helpful ways with locals. He will tell us what he is observing and learning about getting a local church better connected in its locality.

A global picture

Peter Branjerporn and Greg Manning will stimulate a discussion based on their recent experiences with two international Christian networks who are seeking to increase their engagement with people and populations living with HIV.

We hope you can join us.

Date: Saturday 13th December
Time: 9 -11.30am
Venue: 69 Thomas Street West End, Brisbane

Inquiries: Neil Barringham 32172522 or Neil Hockey 55413157

Building Community

Building Community is being taught by Dave Andrews, using his books Compassionate Community Work and Not Religion But Love as the main texts. Thursday afternoons, 1 – 4 pm, February 26 to June 4.

Mission of the Church

Mission of the Church is being taught by Neil Sims. The course text is Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today, by Stephen Bevans and Roger Schroeder (2004), and Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, by David Bosch (1991). Wednesday evenings, 6 – 9 pm, July 22 to October 29.

Members of the Uniting Church can enrol as audit students in these courses, for $150. Audit students participate fully through discussions, questions and other in-class learning but do not undertake any of the assessment tasks and do not receive credit for a course.

“The Simply Living Retreat is an opportunity to reflect on how God calls us to be good news to all the world by the way we live”, said Mark.

The Simply Living Retreat is being held from January 16 to 18 at Camp North Pine on Lake Samsonvale, just north of Brisbane, and will be suitable for individuals and families.

Mark, a deacon currently in placement in Deception Bay, has spent the last five years developing The Greenhouse Project, a set of resources for individuals and groups exploring the connection between faith, evangelism and justice in everyday life.

He is available to work with small groups and congregations who want to develop their local mission plans into action.

Download the retreat brochure here.

In 2006 Laura was asked by her congregation to consider joining Global Walking, a short term exposure trip organised by Uniting Church youth worker Jason Bray in collaboration with Vision for Mission and the Justice and International Mission Advocate.

Despite being briefed before leaving Australia, Laura was not prepared for the mind-blowing experience she had in the Philippines. Laura was introduced to ‘in-your-face poverty’ from the moment she stepped off the plane. Walking through Manila, she came across a mother and two boys lying in the gutter. At first she thought they might be dead but she soon discovered that this was where they slept.

Ninety minutes with Manila’s huge rubbish dump slum community on Smokey Mountain changed Laura’s life forever. Here the team witnessed a whole community living, working and playing among the layers and layers of black rubbish, collecting and recycling material for sale.

Laura’s understanding of ‘church’ was changed by a visit with a tiny church on one of the islands of the Philippines. The majority of the members of the church had left when the pastor had been murdered for standing up for the rights of local fishermen. The only people that remained were the family of the pastor and a group of faithful persevering Christians with a passion for justice and righteousness. Laura was challenged to rethink the comfortable expectations she’d grown accustomed to in her own local suburban congregation.

The most difficult part of a cultural exposure trip is returning home. Laura found herself deeply disturbed by the realisation that while she had been changed inside, the everyday life in the suburbs was continuing as though nothing had happened. Everywhere she looked, people seemed to be focused on the same meaningless pursuits, with little awareness of the world beyond their comfort zone.

Initially, Laura was overwhelmed with a sense of guilt associated with the level of affluence that she had taken for granted. Over time she began to become more focused, engaging with her home environment with new eyes, changing the way she watched television and the choices she made while shopping.

Laura is still infected with the travel bug, but with a difference. While talking about her experience with young people at the Summer Madness camp earlier this year, she heard Jason Bray talk about the Global Walking trips to Bali and Zambia in 2008. “All of a sudden it was as if God had poured molten lava through my veins”, she said. Laura signed up to join the team which visited Lasaka and Mwandi.

The three weeks in Africa provided an experience of more subtle and yet more dire poverty. She was totally engaged by whole villages which appeared to be resigned to inescapable, perpetual malnourishment.

“God wants to use us where we are”, Laura said. “Maybe part of that call from God is to find alternatives to accumulating material possessions, focusing instead on sharing with the world.”

Laura’s approach to reading the Bible has been radically changed. As she explores the teaching and lifestyle of Jesus she looks for ways in which she and her community might become agents of change.

The Global Walking project has emerged over the last four years as a shared partnership between Json Bray, local congregations, Justice and International Mission Advocate Andrew Johnson, YACMU and
Uniting International Mission, with funding and support from the Vision For Mission project and the
UC Foundation.

The visionary behind the Global Walking project Mr Bray said the goal of cultural exposure trips is first and foremost changed hearts and minds. “With a new way of looking at the world young adults return home to live transformed lives that transform their community.”

Minister at Centenary Uniting Church in Brisbane’s west Rev Paul Walton said he had been inspired by
the way people of all ages have got behind the sending of those able to go. “The connections with The Philippines, Bali and Zambia have confirmed and focused our existing commitment to mission”.

Singer/songwriter Katie Wallis returned from Zambia deeply impacted by her experience there with a Global Walking team. With support from members of Centenary she was able to write down her reflections, shaping them into an album, “Contemplating A Change”. Through a series of concerts at churches and cafes she and her band raised over $13,000 for the Mwandi Orphanage.

Mr Bray said Global Walking encourages people to embrace the diversity and differences and discover God. “A revelation of God in a new culture takes us out of our comfort zone and provokes us to ask questions and explore our faith in new ways.”

Mr Macleod explained that the sign had become redundant when the congregation closed and asked, “Where is the church opening now?

“The Queensland Synod needs to foster new expressions of the church while still supporting those congregations which are well established.”

He suggested the most effective model was to encourage congregations in their development of informal faith communities.

“The Gap Uniting Church, for example, is developing the capacity of its members to connect with students from the high school next door. “Youth and community worker Richard Cassady has been working with congregational members, teachers and students from the school and local business leaders to transform a storage space into the Bike Workshop for Year 9 boys.”

The Vision for Mission project started in 2006 and was designed to encourage ventures in mission and ministry by developing a culture of courageous and generous mission.

“What is clear to us all is that the changes we’re looking at take years to develop and embed,” said Mr Macleod.

The Vision for Mission project has helped the Queensland Synod partner with congregations seeking to engage with their communities in new ways through the appointment of key staff .

“Caloundra Uniting is supporting Jan Reid as she develops communities of faith associated with Unity College, and Emmanuel Cairns is supporting Irinale Taudula working with new ethnic faith communities in Moorooboo. Sunnybank Uniting is working with David Kim to develop a mission-focused Korean worshipping community. Esteban Lievano is developing a Spanish-speaking community in partnership with St Paul’s Stafford.

“The goal in each case has been to develop a learning community which will provide insights for the wider church’s engagement in the community,” Mr Macleod said.

The Vision for Mission advocate and team have also sought to encourage small budget and short term projects that encourage generosity and courage at a local level.

“Pioneer Valley Uniting Church sought the advice of the local dance school using their facilities about how best they might partner together. “They learned that parents waiting for their children were anxious about the safety of their toddlers. “With the encouragement of a $500 ‘Go Grant’ the church council set out to raise funds for safety fencing around the property.”

Living Faith congregation in Carina, Brisbane, heard about the project and decided to ask the same question with their tenants. They now provide hospitality for dance club parents two days a week, building friendship and community connections.

Mr Macleod said one of the downsides to a Synod-wide grants scheme is the danger of dependency on faceless, costless funding, with little sense of local ownership. For this reason the Queensland Synod is exploring ‘grassroots funding’ as a concept in which sacrificial giving is inspired by real life stories of transformation.

Mr Macleod spoke about the need for embedding the vision for mission at every level of the church’s life, from that of individuals carrying out their daily lives, through to the decisions made by Synod gatherings, Presbyteries and church councils.

“The focus over the next two years will be on sharing the stories of people and their expression of the mission of God.”

Those stories will include the ways in which people are being equipped to share their faith, engage in their communities, and connect worship, witness and service together.

Concepts explored here can be found in David Bosch’s book, Transforming Mission, and Loren Mead’s book, The Once and Future Church.

Early Church

We begin in a room. No chairs. People sit on the floor. No front. Conversation flows around the room.

We’re inside John 21, with the first disciples of Jesus. Jesus is with us speaking. “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” So says Jesus to his disciples before he breathes the Holy Spirit into them.

The disciples are gathered in a locked room in Jerusalem, discovering that their world has become so much more dangerous. Before they were followers of a Jewish rabbi. Now they’re renegades, spreading the word on a subversive movement centred around the crucified and risen leader.

Where do they start? No point in just hanging a shingle out the front door and hoping ‘church goers’ will turn up. They have to get out of the room and build an incarnational presence where people are. Some will go fishing. Some will hit the road. Some will stay in Jerusalem. They’ll need to meet in homes, in public places, in Jewish synagogues, in the Jewish temple.

The ‘Apostolic’ paradigm begins with a strong sense of core membership. These are the followers of Jesus, an unknown, unpublicized Jewish sect. As time goes on persecution will lead to an urgent call to clarify who is in and who is not. As the Jesus movement becomes more and more culturally varied, there will be a call to clarify what is central to following Jesus universally and what is negotiable for each ethnic expression of the good news.

Christendom Community

We move into the church building, sitting in the pews facing the front, imagining our way into the hamlet of Saxenberg, 1412. The lectern at the front indicates that there is an established leadership structure. We reflect on the likelihood that many in the room take key responsibilities in the ongoing life of the local township. Many of us would have met yesterday at the beerhouse with our families.

When we reflect on Jesus sending us as he was sent we’re not too sure what to think. Our weekly life is marked by stability and predictability. We count on nurture and loyalty to pass on the Christian way of life to each generation.

The challenge we face together is one of integrity. It is only when we have people from outside our context arrive in our village that we are likely to re-examine our everyday lifestyle, in the home, in the town hall and in the market. Change is slow.

We are vaguely aware of people beyond Christendom who need to hear the gospel and respond to it. Perhaps there are missionaries who will travel to those places to establish the kind of village life we have here.

Over the next few decades people in our region will face the turmoil of the Reformation and industrial revolution. However the Christendom model will be retained somehow through the establishment of national church structures as well as denominational structures that supersede national identity. Within those frameworks we will attempt to have the stability and established order experienced in Christendom.

21st Century Australia

We move into the hall and find chairs to sit on. We have the choice about where to sit. We’re now in a circle and expect people from around the circle to speak to one another rather than to the front.

How do we respond to Jesus standing here telling us that as the Father sent him, he sends us.

Everything is negotiable. Nothing can be taken for granted. No longer can we rely on loyalty based on a denominational tag, the attractiveness of a staff person, or a building and plant. No longer can we ‘build it’ and expect that people will come. We’ve noticed the changes even in the last fifty years. What worked in a cohesive community in the 1950s is difficult to achieve in our splintered communities today.

Unlike the early church, here in Australia we generally do not face a hostile world. As members of the Uniting Church we experience good will from community members, often because of a strong heritage of service provision. There is a danger of course that we’ll be seen as service providers rather than as a community of everyday faith. Some people see us as a community of Sunday worship only.

We’re aware of the fluid nature of our community. People come and go. They travel long distances to be with their friends and family. People sample community, trying out different churches, clubs, shopping centres. We need to find a way of being committed at the core, open at the edges.

We face the challenge of how we relate to a society in which one of the highest values is that of individual choice and freedom. While encouraging personal responsibility and celebrating diversity of cultural expression, the people of Christ live out the good news of community in which people of all backgrounds can genuinely love one another.

We face a the temptation to develop a safe environment, a parallel universe, in which Christians are safe from the ‘outside world’. However it is no easy task to simply enter existing networks in the community, particularly when our mobile lifestyle lead to people building networks with friends and family that have little connection with where people live.

Let’s not overlook the breathing in of the Holy Spirit. We too readily discount the impact of Jesus’ action because of our concern to distinguish ourselves from the Pentecostals, or our discomfort with the thought of being breathed upon! Jesus’ action counters our tendency to over-intellectualise what we are doing. We desperately need the continuing inspiration of God, the time to draw close to Jesus as a community and be strengthened for mission.

Mission, as an English word, comes from ‘missio’, a Latin word describing ’sending’, from the verb, mittere, to send.

1. Mission as a project (often sent from HQ). “Your mission, should you choose to accept it…”
2. Mission as a goal. “We set ourselves a mission of raising $5000.”
3. Mission as an aspiration. “We see our mission as healing the lives of the broken.”
4. Mission as a group of people sent as missionaries to a strange culture. “I am joining the Baptist mission in Thailand”.
5. Mission as a service provided for the needy. “I have joined up with the Mission to Seamen”.

We have secret missions, Mission to Mars, and military missions. Many companies have mission statements.

Theology of Christian Mission

Christian mission belongs to God. Christian mission is God’s engagement with the world, highlighted in the sending of Jesus into the world.

The people of God are called to join in the mission of God in worshipping, witnessing and serving in the wider community. This participation is inspired by the gospel story and words/actions of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20).

The fruit of God’s mission is brought about by the Holy Spirit acting in, through and beyond the people of God. The results are lives transformed, communities changed and people made whole (Luke 4:18-19).

The mission of the Church embodies God’s sending character in action and community.

What does Christian mission look like?

1. Christian mission begins and continues with personal and communal everyday discipleship.
2. Christian mission involves sending – commissioning – recognising that we’re on the move, not static.
3. Christian mission involves proximity with the wider community – involving listening and dialogue.
4. Christian mission is as much about communities, networks as about individuals.
5. Christian mission involves worship as much as evangelism and serving.
6. Christian mission’s end goal is the Kingdom of God – relationships reflecting the character and purposes of God.

I have been involved in responding to the call to mission for some years. Currently I am particularly interested in spending time in my neighbourhood with people who don’t normally get given the time of day by others. For example, I go on a regular picnic to catch up with some isolated people. Through knowing them I get the opportunity to get involved in issues they face around housing, friendship, employment or abuse. It’s been great exploring how to include our friends into a local church community too.

In my work with Vision for Mission I am facilitating Project Hope with Neil Hockey. Project Hope is a network for nurturing hopes, for reminding us of our call and for helping us to be more genuinely engaged in our communities. I facilitate a Project Hope meeting in West End every six weeks or so on a Saturday morning. The purpose of the meetings is for camaraderie, reflection, inspiration, story-sharing and training. People travel from across Brisbane and even from around the region to these meetings. Usually there are 15-25 in attendance. Generally our meetings begin with a cup of tea and a welcome time. Then follows a presentation or story with discussion.

People say that they find the meetings a safe place and an opportunity for discussion about issues they don’t get much input on. Some who attend are active in their local congregations. Project Hope is also a support base for others who do not currently have meaningful church involvement.

Topics we’ve covered have included living well in an age of fear, living and working on the margins, faith outside the four walls of the church, coping in bureaucracies and organisations, rediscovering evangelism we can relate to, developing circles of support for people who are struggling.

Recently I have been visiting people who attend Project Hope and thinking through ways that we can develop the network as a more potent resource for people in 2008.

We launched Project Hope in 2008 on February 9th focusing on Doing Prayer Justice.

Coming up this year

15th March – Dealing with Affluenza – We are richer but also fatter, sicker and sadder. What are the healthier alternatives?

19th April – The Peoples of God – How can we live as people of faith in a world with many peoples of many faiths?

24th May – Sexuality, Morality and Community – living with integrity with people who express sexuality differently

5th July – Be Not Afraid – How to be at peace in an age of anxiety

Anyone interested in building more meaningful connections in your community, or in doing church better, or wanting to work out a compassionate faith in cynical times may find Project Hope worth checking out.

Download the Project Hope brochure for 2008 here.

Primarily there needs to be a shift toward entrepreneurial endeavours that are not reliant on the traditional models of funding. This means closer partnerships with community needs that can attract community funding. This has been a model trialled in the past such as in church based neighbourhood centres that tend to become isolated from the life of the local congregation. The new model will need to clearly own and state that the purpose for the endeavour is rooted in the faith of the Church and expressed as such. We need to reclaim what we are on about as a church – the claims of the Gospel need to be brought to all expressions of mission.

Any mission development needs to be honest about its intention to introduce people to the saving work of Jesus Christ and authentic in the basis by which it provides its service to the community. The mission project needs to own its values and clearly portray them through the words and actions.

Secondly there needs to be a greater shift toward radical investment on behalf of congregations into their local mission. Sacrificial giving of finances and time need to elevated as a cultural norm among UCA congregations, and this needs to be rewarded and celebrated in presbyteries and Synod so that bench marks are established across the Synod.

Thirdly congregations, presbyteries and the Synod need to seek out and recruit champions to mission endeavours. A culture of self denial for the Kingdom of God needs to be promoted and celebrated. There should be incentives offered to encourage the development of this culture, incentives that clearly state the value the UCA puts on those who are willing to have a go and take some risks.

Fourthly polices and governance of the UCA have to allow for greater autonomy in mission endeavour by the congregations and faith communities. The establishments of placements needs to reflect more the culture of risky mission, allowing for more flexibility in the type of placements required. This might look like a greater investment in unpaid community ministry and the recognition of those who are doing the work but who are often invisible to the wider church. Recognition and support go along way to empowerment.

Craig Mischewski