Zooming in on mission
From a sense of deep frustration to feeling renewed and encouraged – that was the recent change of outlook for SA–NT District Assistant Bishop for Mission Stephen Schultz about issues facing the LCANZ.
Some months ago, Pastor Stephen shared his feelings of frustration with mission inertia with his fellow mission directors, pastors Brett Kennett (Victoria–Tasmania), Ian Rentsch (NSW–ACT) and David Schmidt (Queensland) – and they shared his feelings!
The outcome was the three-day Collaborative Mission Retreat, which brought together 35 representatives from across the length and breadth of the LCANZ in March. Along with the mission directors, participants included bishops, Churchwide Office and District representatives, serving and retired pastors and laypeople, including young adult representatives.
‘Last year I was pretty frustrated at the issues facing our LCANZ’, Pastor Stephen says. ‘It seemed every bit of news coming out was another indication that the ship was sinking – fast. The mission directors shared that frustration and decided to facilitate a collaborative mission retreat to focus on our shared mission as God’s church.
‘I felt renewed and encouraged by what occurred at the retreat as I saw a shared heart for God’s mission among the participants. The big issues facing us as the LCANZ were parked for the moment as we fixed our eyes on Jesus and realised he has his eyes fixed on us.
‘My hope for the longer term is that we will trust in Jesus to navigate us through the storms we face as a church. He will direct us to land at a shore of his choosing so we can bless the world he calls us to serve.’
The retreat organisers aimed to provide spiritual refreshment for the participants and cultivate a greater sense of collaboration in God’s mission for our LCANZ across the various stakeholders. It consisted of three parts:
- Looking at where we are: naming the challenges we face and the current landscape we find ourselves in as the church
- Looking at where we want to be: discerning what God is up to in his mission field, clarifying our shared vision-mission as the church and identifying our key priorities
- Looking at how we get there: understanding the roles that Churchwide and District entities have to play in enabling this shared vision-mission and how we can have greater collaboration.
Retreat participant Pastor Dan Mueller, from Immanuel Lutheran Church at Buderim in Queensland, believes there are many benefits of God’s people sharing stories about his work in their lives, as participants did at the retreat. ‘One of the many highlights included the first night when, gathered in a circle, each participant shared a mission story of God’s call of grace on their life’, he says. ‘I believe we need to hear more stories of God’s mission work among us. These stories encourage us, build us up, spark new ideas, give us permission to step out in faith, and create courage to become all things to all people so that we might save some in Christ’s name.
‘I pray that, for the sake of the gospel, God continues to build a culture of mission in his church.’
With retreat participants keen to share their reflections on the gathering, the mission leaders are inviting members of the LCANZ to join an online meeting in May to hear uplifting stories from the retreat and learn more about future possibilities for mission in the church.
The gathering, which will include a brief summary of the retreat and its outcomes, will be held on Zoom on Tuesday 21 May. There will be two one-hour sessions, with the content of the first repeated at the second. Participants will need to register to take part, and sessions will have a limit of 100 people.
To register for either session, click on the relevant QR code or session name below (Session 1 or Session 2).
Collaborative mission online meeting – Tuesday 21 May 2024
Session 1 EST 1.30pm CST 1.00pm NZ 3.30pm WA 11.30am
Session 2 EST 8.00pm CST 7.30pm NZ 10.00pm WA 6.00pm
