The Anglican Church has for a long time held an audacious aspiration to reach the whole world with the gospel through the Parish system. Dividing up a diocese into a patchwork of joined geographic units, so that everywhere was “someone’s responsibility” has been a remarkable vision. It demonstrates a gospel commitment to the world, not just to the faithful who gather in church buildings each Sunday.

In Tasmania this has been a such a gift. Someone is looking out for people’s spiritual welfare in the remote and sparsely populated regions of the west coast, just as much as the battler suburbs of northern Hobart. But the traditional model of the Parish, with the priest dispensing the weekly word and sacraments and expecting people to come is not a model that meets the mission needs of the 21st Century.

The Diocese of Tasmania began to change when John Harrower was elected bishop in 2000 with much innovation in mission. More recently we have tried to meet this challenge by adopting a new Vision to be a church for Tasmania, making disciples of Jesus. The traditional parish patchwork is being transformed, as we rethink how Parishes go about their life and ministry. Here are the principles that have guided us over the last 8 years.

CLEAR EXPECTATIONS

The first thing we did was set clear expectations. Our 2017 Vision expected every Parish to work on seven areas. Each parish was to have:

• active disciple-making pathways – because we needed a clear plan for how people came from “no faith” to be mature followers of Jesus,
• active ministry to young people and families – as we know most people come to faith before adulthood,
• transformative public worship aimed at discipling – because church services should serve our main purpose,
• a transparent culture of safety for all – because everyone is valued,
• avenues of intentional prayer – as it is foundational to mission,
• a commitment to world mission – because it is the best indicator of local mission,
• and leadership from well-trained biblically orthodox clergy.

We do all of this in relationship with our agencies like Anglicare and BCA, our schools, and chaplaincy teams in hospitals and prisons.

These expectations drive the conversations we have with our Rectors, their Parish Councils and incumbency committees. Being clear about what we expect helps us to focus resources and training. The priority of disciplemaking has become the heartbeat of parish and diocesan life. Rectors working at revitalisation along these lines are encouraged to spend 50% of their time working on new things.

TRAINING IN DISCIPLE-MAKING

It would be unfair to set expectations without providing people with the knowledge and skill about how to do it. We have invested heavily in training and development for both clergy and lay people. All ministry leaders are in development cohorts according to their stage of ministry – the newly ordained, new rectors, senior leaders, chaplains and so on. This helps us target training to the right needs. All the ministry leaders gather twice a year for input as a whole leadership community.

We also hold an annual Bishop’s Training Event. 400-500 Anglicans gather to explore different aspects of disciplemaking and receive practical training in the areas listed above. These days are a highlight of diocesan life.

INVESTING IN OPPORTUNITIES

So often in the church our best resources get spent on solving problems and dealing with conflict and difficulty. We decided to put our best resources into opportunities and growth, and this has become the sole focus of our Director of Ministry Development. This has led to a multiplication of innovation and growth. In the same way, the stance of the whole diocesan team is to support parishes, and enable partnerships where ministry is prioritised.

FUNDING FULL-TIME MINISTRY

We know that disciples are made by word and prayer. Under God we know that this depends in large part on the quality of the ministers that lead our Parishes. Over the last 8 years we have used our New Ministry Development Fund (built up from a percentage of the proceeds of property sales) to help eight parishes move from part-time or volunteer ministry to full-time stipends. It has been so encouraging to appoint full-time ministers to Parishes for the first time in over 20 years. Our hope is that with focussed ministry from well-trained clergy these parishes will see revitalisation. We are seeing some encouraging signs.

FOCUS RESOURCES

We didn’t really plan it this way, but the crisis of having to fund redress for sexual abuse has helped us focus our resources. In 2018 our decision to sell church properties to raise the necessary funds, providentially led to reducing the number of church centres in our rural Parishes which in turn has led to more sustainable Parish life. One Parish has reduced nine centres down to two and is now able to focus on its mission. The reduction of maintenance on buildings and the release of capital to support ministry has meant the expansion of real ministry in many places.

NEW MODELS OF MINISTRY

We have also explored new models for Parish ministry. In very small communities we have adopted a “community ministry” model led by local lay people, with occasional visits from clergy for the sacraments. One of these, on the idyllic Flinders Island, enjoys clergy coming to visit, where we supply a house and car in exchange for some Sunday ministry.

We have developed two “network parishes” where several parishes have been combined under one parish council, Rector, and leadership team, while retaining local ministry in different communities. This has the advantage of united vision, centralised administration, team leadership, but targeted engagement in each centre.

Some of our larger parishes have developed partnerships with smaller parishes to provide encouragement and support. In one place the Rector of the larger parish meets regularly with the Rectors of three smaller parishes for prayer and mutual encouragement. The larger parish sends a team once a month to help with music and children’s ministry.

CHURCH PLANTING

Lastly, we are working on congregation and church planting through our “Multiply Tas” team. With the help of City to City Australia, we have started a couple of new congregations in existing parishes and plans are afoot to plant new churches in the centre and northern suburbs of Hobart. Multiplication and innovation to make disciples is our goal.

We want to be a church for Tasmania, making disciples of Jesus, by reimagining parish structures in a variety of ways fit for a new generation of mission.

Richard Condie has been the Bishop of Tasmania since 2016.