Missional Uniting Church
Friday, May 20th, 2005I’ve spent the last two days at a Mission Advisory Forum for the Uniting Church in Australia Queensland Synod. We hold it four times a year. It’s a chance for Presbytery ministers, mission consultants (like myself), Agency Mission Directors (Health etc.) and Moderator to get together and work through how we lead the Church into a mission paradigm. Some of our conversation goes round in circles. But occasionally we get somewhere.
These last two days we’ve been looking at growth and change areas in Queensland, looking at Frost and Hirsch’s The Shaping of Things to Come.
Today we worked through the Synod Leadership Team’s Draft Strategic Vision. It’s been a work in progress, leading on from previous work on re-imagining the church of the future. This document is basically outlining a framework in which we can invest resources and time in fresh missional initiatives. I’ve heard a bit of cynicism from the front lines. But what they don’t know is that this is leading us to unleashing millions of dollars in new ways. We looked at a couple of seemingly desperate scenarios with mission eyes today - wondering what might happen if we didn’t have to worry about resource limits when it comes to starting new initiatives.
Today the Synod Leadership Team agreed to change the name from ’strategic vision’ to ‘Missional Vision’ or ‘Vision for Mission’. It’s not just another strategy, plan or program. It’s about reframing our mandate in missional terms.
The three core questions we’re asking at every level of the church:
- What kind of world is God calling us into, as bearers of God’s Good News?
- How do we engage with God in this world, in obedience to God’s call?
- What resources will we need in order to respond to God’s call?
I’m wondering if these questions could be used at a local level when we prepare individuals for mission membership/partnership .
The Missional Vision (in its third draft) is available to download at the Queensland Synod web site. No doubt the new draft will be uploaded soon, with the work from these last two days.
Update - the plan is now the Vision for Mission, in implementation. See www.visionformission.org.au
Tags: Alan Hirsch, Emerging Church, Mike Frost, Mission, Uniting Church, Vision for Mission
