Essentials

Written by: Mark Short

Jonathan Haidt: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

JONATHAN HAIDT

Penguin/Allen Lane 2024

REVIEWED BY MARK SHORT

American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt is best known for exploring the factors which contribute to the tensions and complexities of modern life. In The Righteous Mind he considered how moral disagreements arise not simply from contested facts but from diverse intuitions that go to the very nature of morality itself. In The Coddling of the American Mind (co-written with Greg Lukianoff) he lamented the rise of political polarisation and cancel in US universities.

His new book documents the alarming rise in mental illness amongst teenagers and young adults since 2010, especially females. Haidt contends that the blame lies with the deleterious impact of social media, with a secondary explanation being the continuation of overlyprotective parenting which has unnecessarily limited young people’s interaction with the physical world. “My central claim in this book is that these two trends – overprotection in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world – are the major reasons why children born after 1995 have become the anxious generation” p9 So why 2010? The internet and to some extent social media had been present before that date. However Haidt points to a number of innovations around that date which increased both the attractiveness of social media and its potential to be used as a means of social comparison. These included the introduction of the ‘like’ and ‘retweet’ buttons and the addition of a front-facing camera to smartphones, which is ideal for taking ‘selfies’. And why has the impact being worse on boys than girls?

Haidt points to girls’ higher vulnerability to social comparison and relational aggression, both of which are magnified by social media. For boys, the impacts tend to be different, and are seen in a tendency to withdraw from in-person engagement in favour of online gaming and pornography.

Since its release Haidt’s book has received much publicity and generally positive reviews. Where there has been pushback critics have argued that Haidt has confused correlation (increased use of social media coincided with deterioration in teen mental health) with causation (social media is responsible for the deterioration). Haidt is aware of this critique and responds by pointing to some experimental data and to the absence of any plausible explanation as to why mental health declined this much at this time.

There is of course a long history of blaming technological change for the problems of youth. It happened with Y and the internet; perhaps with the printing press as well. Nevertheless there is something about technology that simultaneously expresses our vocation as divine image bearers and our fallen-ness as sinful rebels. In his book The Life We’re Looking For Andy Crouch compares the promise of technology to the lure of alchemy – the aspiration for powers that would allow us to take the place of God. So the smartphone offers the promise of omnipresence and omniscience, but extracts a heavy price for this supposed privilege.

What is to be done about all this? Haidt makes a number of recommendations to legislators, parents and schools including raising the age of access to social media to 16 and developing schools that are both phone-free and conducive to unstructured unsupervised play. There is much wisdom here.

Of particular interest is a chapter called ‘Spiritual Elevation and Degradation’ where Haidt, who selfdescribes as a secular Jew, explores the potential of spiritual practices to elevate human well-being. These practices include shared embodied rituals, stillness and finding awe and nature. Haidt even references Pascal’s God-Shaped Hole, although he locates its origins in biological and cultural evolution rather than any divine design. “There is a hole, an emptiness in us all, that we strive to fill. If it doesn’t get filled with something noble and elevated, modern society will quickly pump it full of garbage. That has been true since the beginning of the age of mass media, but the garbage pump got 100 times more powerful in the 2010s.” p216

One must ask whether these spiritual practices and the promise they offer can ultimately be sustained in the absence of a commitment to divine design. Digital technology after all is thoroughly designed to enlist us as online consumers in the world of late modern capitalism.

Any resistance must begin with the conviction that we are created to know and be known rather than consume. As the Psalmist’s ancient wisdom reminds us “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14. NIV)

Bishop Mark Short is Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn.

Written by: Chris Porter

Salvific Intentionality in 1 Corinthians: How Paul Cultivates the Missional Imagination of the Corinthian Community

SCOTT GOODE author and publisher

REVIEWED BY CHRIS PORTER

It is often noted that for all the emphasis which the Apostle Paul places upon evangelism in the book of Acts and the narration of his own endeavours, he seems to not have the same expectations for the audiences of his epistles. In this short and accessible volume Scott Goode draws on this apparent “riddle” of evangelistic outreach in the Pauline epistles, and places it centre stage. Taking his cues from a close reading of 1 Corinthians he helpfully examines the missional hermeneutics within the letter, and ties these with the social identity of the Corinthian church under the broad banner of “salvific intentionality.” Here he reads salvation as directed towards “two distinct, yet related, directions,” (6) first, a vertical salvation “action of God towards humanity through the eschatological Christ event (7), and second, a horizontal aspect of “convey[ing] salvific influence towards one another and outsiders” (8). It is the interplay of these two aspects which Goode explores throughout the work.

In the first chapter Goode examines the challenge of moral formation within 1 Corinthians 5:1–8 and sets it within the context of the social identity—including theological aspects—of the Corinthian church. This chapter sets up the complexity of social and theological relations for the nascent church, and Goode provides a reasonably detailed and cogent examination of the challenges therein. While it could always be expanded, this foundational work sets him up well for the investigation at hand. The second chapter works from the social identity constructs at hand and examines the challenge inherent within mixed marriages in 7:12–16.

Here Goode argues that the believing partner may have significant salvific impact on an unbelieving partner through a “theological vision to strengthen their marital commitment” (36). But Goode is not blind to the challenges of imbalanced relationships, and cultural power imbalances inherent within first century patriarchal social settings. Rather, it is his attention to the mess present within these expressed social identities that demonstrates the compelling nature of the salvific intentionality he identifies as “worked out in the concrete social reality of first-century marriage, particularly for women” (43).

The third chapter, through the lengthy exposition on 8:1– 11:1, significantly expands on the prior vignette by throwing the doors open to the street, and considering how ethics of accommodation can generate missional opportunities for the believing community with their pagan neighbours. Goode carefully—and helpfully— navigates a fine line in his treatment of the “weak” and “strong” passages, taking seriously the nature of sectarian impulses towards fleeing from idol-food, while equally recognising Paul’s salvific commitment within his accommodation ethic that “seeks the salvific welfare of others” (56). Ultimately concluding that “the mission of the believing community cannot be limited to those of insider identity only. The mission of Christ has incorporated the Corinthians, although they were once outsiders” (69). The verticality of salvation has temporal impact in the horizontal space.

The fourth chapter considers the nature of worship within the community (14:20–25), and Paul’s assumption that outsiders may be present within the gatherings of the Corinthian church, and this should govern the activities of the church. From a detailed discussion of tongues in 1 Cor 14, against the background of Isaiah, Goode then considers how this would spill over into the socioreligious nature of worship settings, suggesting that speech modes in the community should be “directed towards the salvific welfare of outsiders” (97).

Finally, Goode turns his attention to the nature of missional identity and salvific intentionality “then and now” (98). Although the argument that church communities should be oriented towards a missional identity—even as missional communities—has been regularly made, Goode helpfully highlights the messiness of such a missional identity. This “untidy sociotheological profile” (99) that he reads throughout the first Corinthian epistle emphasises the wrestling of the Corinthian’s with their own Christian identity. It is this wrestling that Goode seeks to apply as a salve to the modern church, highlighting that the Corinthian social identity is not so different from our present embodiment. Of critical note here is his section on “soft difference in ecclesial boundaries” proposing that “Paul imagines the community in Corinth not simply as a place of purity but one of ‘spiritual formation’” (111). Here Goode aptly observes that this untidy reality challenges contemporary expressions of community, and his diagnosis of requiring a “socially open community” to “serve the salvific welfare of outsiders as well as insiders” (112-3) is a message that is sorely needed.

While Goode originally penned this work as an evolution of his MTh dissertation, he is to be well commended for his balance of academic rigour and pastoral readability. The book is firmly anchored within a scholarly foundation in social identity theory and missional hermeneutics yet is eminently readable and his insights spring easily from the page to the parish. This is recommended reading for anyone considering how to balance the challenge of an inward looking congregation for the edification of the comfortable with an outward salvifically intentional church on God’s mission field.

Rev Dr Chris Porter is Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Trinity College Theological School.

Written by: Tim Swan

This past Easter, over 16,000 people gathered across 142 churches in Toliara, Madagascar. However, three-quarters of those churches didn't have a trained pastor to preach. The Scriptures remind us how important it is to ensure the gospel is passed on truthfully. Hebrews 2 begins, “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”

This is a real danger in some developing countries, where the gospel is growing most rapidly.

Rev Berthier Lainirina, Principal of St Patrick’s Theological College in Madagascar, shared the incredible story of church growth in his home country when he visited Australia last September. He exclaimed, “Over 2000 new believers were baptised in one week!"

His country is one of the poorest in the world, with political instability and limited access to education and medical care. When a terrible drought hit the southern region in 2020-21, many families starved to death. "The government couldn’t do anything. As a church, we said, ‘we need to do something!’" said Berthier.

Berthier reached out to me for help, and through the generosity of Anglican Aid supporters, we sent funds to enable local churches in Madagascar to distribute food. But the story didn't finish there! By demonstrating the love of Jesus through practical care, thousands came to Christ and joined the church. Forty new churches were planted in Toliara in six months!

This rapid growth means there’s an urgent need for biblically faithful church leaders who are equipped to disciple new Christians, so their faith will be built on solid ground.

TRAINING CHURCH LEADERS IN MADAGASCAR

Berthier explained that while serving in the context of poverty, he sees many Christians tempted to fill their needs in ungodly ways. Some of the biggest ministry challenges are the deception of the prosperity gospel, and the temptation of syncretism (when people consult diviners and witch doctors for health concerns). Church leaders must be able to articulate the truth of the gospel clearly, to steer new followers of Jesus away from these practices. Berthier knows that pastors and ministry leaders must be equipped with a strong foundation grounded firmly in the Word – and he is spreading this message across the six dioceses of Madagascar.

One student, Rakoto Vincent, was supported through Anglican Aid to study at St Patrick’s and graduated with a Certificate of Theology. He told us: “Doctrine is the subject that I understand well because it is the base of Christian teaching. I'm able to discern false teaching to protect my faith. My Bible understanding is growing. It helps me to prepare sermons.”

IN AFRICA AND BEYOND

With the help of Anglican Aid, people from all over Madagascar are being trained to be faithful pastors, Sunday school leaders, youth leaders, and more. And this story is being replicated across many countries in Africa and beyond. Anglican Aid is partnering with church leaders in South Sudan, Tanzania, DR Congo, and Seychelles to equip them to teach the Bible well.

The impact of this training cannot be understated. Archbishop Justin Badi, in conflict-torn South Sudan, told me recently, “We talk of violence, we talk of wars… it is a symptom and demonstration of how shallow the gospel is in the hearts and minds of our people. So, my priority will actually be making and teaching disciples to disarm hearts and minds from violence and hatred.” Badi believes in the transformative power of the gospel to end the hatred fuelled war in his country.

In Seychelles, Diploma of Theology graduate Jude Marie told us of the profound impact his training will have on youths, who are frequently ensnared by the drug trade route running through his country. "On a physical level, the government is taking care of this, but on a spiritual level, we're going to be there when the people say, ‘OK, I'm going to drop the heroin, what do I do next?’ You've sown a seed in me, if I can sew a similar seed in another person's life, that will replicate. God multiplies.”

Bishop Stanley Hotay in Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, told us that they’ve planted over 465 new churches, and asked for our help. “We need help to support the education and the sound knowledge of the Bible to our students and many pastors and evangelists.”

Too many people in places like Mt Kilimanjaro have to go to a church where the pastor hasn't received any training and doesn’t know how to teach the Bible to their congregation. If we can invest in giving them good Bible training for two or three years at a local Bible college, they will be prepared to share and defend the gospel in their communities for a lifetime.

Canon Tim Swan is the CEO of Anglican Aid.

Written by: Richard Trist

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).

Intentional time spent reflecting on past actions for more effective future actions is vital for gospel ministry. Deep learning occurs when we are able to regularly slow down and consider in fresh ways issues that have impacted us. To do this with another trusted person can enable us to see past personal blind spots and lead to new possibilities.

In the light of dioceses across Australia rolling out programs of professional supervision or coaching/supervision^[i] for clergy and lay workers, what are we to make of such programs? What benefits might emerge from them? How can we make them work for us and our own ministry situation?

WHAT IS PROFESSIONAL SUPERVISION?

In many occupations the term supervision is synonymous with line-management. However, in the so-called helping professions the term is used to speak of a consultative relationship between an external supervisor and a worker, where the supervisee consults with their supervisor who is neither their trainer nor manager. This is not what someone has called “snooper-vision” but rather an intentional time for reflection on work practice for the purpose of pastoral support and better ministry outcomes for the worker and for the people they serve.Accountability is not to a boss such as a Bishop or Board of Management, but rather to the ethical framework in which the work or ministry is being undertaken (eg Faithfulness in Service).

As professional supervision becomes more of a norm for Christian ministers, there is a need for clarity as to how it is different from other activities such as counselling, spiritual direction, mentoring and coaching. The following table may help to clarify these differences. 2 Each of these different modes of support are important and useful. It is likely that we will all utilise them in different seasons of our ministry careers. ^[ii]

THE BENEFIT OF PROFESSIONAL SUPERVISION

The benefit of professional supervision lies in its ability to bring clarity and focus upon the complex nature of parish or chaplaincy ministry. Authors Jane Leach and Michael Paterson utilise a three-legged stool model to explain its three tasks:

1. The formative task – an educative aspect where the supervisor helps the supervisee come to a clearer knowledge of the issues they are facing leading to equipping and resourcing.

2. The restorative task – a supportive function which understands the challenges of the supervisee’s work and provides a place for the “recharging” of emotional and spiritual energy.

3. The normative task – assisting the supervisee to attend to issues of wellbeing, boundaries, and professional expectations.^[iii]

In a pilot study of clergy in the Diocese of Sydney, over 90% agreed that professional supervision (either one-toone or in a group) was helpful for their ministry and personal well-being, leading to a greater ability to be reflective and self-aware. 75% of participants indicated that it developed their ability to be resilient. ^[iv]

Although initially mandated by dioceses as a result of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse^[v], the adoption of supervision is having a far-reaching impact for the good of the church, leading to growth, learning, support and healthier ministers and ministries.

PREPARING FOR SUPERVISION

It is important to remember that a supervision session is always for the benefit of the supervisee not the supervisor! It is important to spend time prior to a session thinking about what you want to talk about. This includes anything that arises from actual experiences which is affecting the quality of our ministry. Examples could be our role in a particular situation, our current priorities,  issues of time management and boundaries, new ideas and insights, people we are finding it hard to work with, changes that are happening within our system, general pressures or needs.

The following may be helpful prompts:

• I am feeling [tired, miserable, elated, inspired, challenged, worried] ...
• This concern keeps pushing into my mind…
• I seem to keep putting off...
• I want help to clarify where I stand on this issue…
• I feel torn between these priorities…
• When [this] happens, it seems to be a pattern repeating itself...
• I want to stop something like [this] happening again...
• I want to get something like [this] to happen more often...

FINDING A GOOD SUPERVISOR

The key issue in finding a good supervisor is to find someone who is not only well trained, but someone we can trust. Someone with whom we are willing to speak about the ups and downs of ministry. A person who will enable us to grow and to learn.

Supervision used to be the sole domain of clinical practitioners such as psychologists or those trained in CPE, but more and more people with pastoral and church experience are undertaking this work. It has a rich theological and pastoral undergirding and many theological colleges including Ridley College, Moore College, and St Marks National Theological Centre offer training in this field.

Look out for trusted people on your diocesan lists, or check out the following:

• Red Sheep Supervision – a ministry that equips ministry leaders from different organisations and denominations.
• Pastoral Supervision Alliance – a collective of supervisors mostly from Sydney and Melbourne.
• Partners in Ministry – offers consulting, training, as well as coaching and supervision.
• Envisager Supervision – provides professional reflective supervision, coaching, and consulting services to teachers, school leaders, school chaplains, and pastors.

When you find someone contact them to arrange an initial meeting. Such meetings usually involve a discussion about the areas of your ministry that you are keen to explore, the ethical framework that will undergird the conversations, and mutual expectations such as frequency of meetings (four to eight times a year), mode of meeting (face to face or zoom), fees, etc. This will lead to a contract/agreement that will likely be sent into the diocese to inform them of the arrangement. Having done this you are set and ready to go.

IN CONCLUSION

Despite being yet another thing to add to our busy diaries, my hope is that we will find professional supervision as not just something we ‘have-to-do’. Rather may it be a space for refreshment, restoration and the re-forming of ourselves to enable us to fulfil the great calling God has

given us “…to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ...and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ “(Eph 4:12-13).

Richard Trist is the Chaplain to the Anglican Institute and Adjunct Lecturer in Professional Pastoral Supervision at Ridley College. He runs his own supervision practice as well as being a member of the Pastoral Supervision Alliance and Chair of the Pastoral Supervision Network. He enjoys occasional preaching at his local church in West Brunswick, and trying to work out what semi-retirement really means!

Footnotes

^[i] In the Diocese of Melbourne there has been a temporary blending of its successful coaching program to enable a faster roll out of professional supervision – hence the term coaching/supervision.

^[ii] Adapted from a table in the St Marks National Theological Centre Graduate Certificate in Professional Supervision Students Manual.

^[iii] See Pastoral Supervision: A Handbook (Second Ed), pp 20-23.

^[iv] Southern Cross, Nov-Dec 2023, p.4

^[v] 5 See https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/final_report_-_recommendations.pdf

Written by: Chris Porter

“What to do with the humble parish?” Why do we seem to be so entrenched within ideas of “my parish” or “their church?” Why do parishioners identify as more “members of the Parish of St Aethelredstone” rather than as “Anglican,” and why may they identify with their parish in opposition to say the Parish of St Cuthbertstonwick? [names changed to protect the guilty everywhere] Setting aside the ecclesiological and pastoral specifics of Anglican parishes, I want to consider here the sociological challenges of the parish, for these sociological challenges lie at the heart of a wide variety of present questions for our church. While the questions of parish boundaries, church mergers, church planting, minster models, evangelism, normativity, and diversity, all have theological, ecclesiological, and pastoral dimensions, their sociological aspects are often left uninterrogated. Therefore, here I want to consider these social aspects and how they may contribute to our understanding of parish life.

For all of the other services of the parish one of the most significant is the social group which is formed around the parish, one for which those within the parish—and those attending from outside—find their identity. Parishioners are not merely “Jane” or “John,” but “Jane member of Parish X.” The formation of these social identities around the parish structure are sociologically one of its greatest strengths—and I would also argue its greatest weakness.

Leaving aside specifically Christian aspects of the parish, and the appropriate benefits of public worship etc—as these will logically continue with or without parish boundaries—we may consider the great benefits of social groups to be also applicable to the social group of the parish. Individuals who identify with a social group are more likely to engage with the work of that group—in this case the work of the parish—which in turn is more  likely to impact on their own personal identity and sense of belonging within the social group—the church.

Formally we can understand “social identity … as that part of the individuals’ self- concept which derives from their knowledge of their membership of a social group together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership” (Tajfel, 1982: 2). As Christians we value this identity structure, especially as it is positively correlated with other social items such as belonging, behaviour change, self-value, etc. Indeed, as we can see with civil parishes, and other local social enterprises such as “Good-Karma” Facebook groups, this desire for social connection and engagement is also highly sought after and valued in our broader community.

However, it is this same desire for social engagement and identity which is perhaps also its greatest Achilles heel. For with strong identity structures, comes the challenge of what is technically termed as “positive distinctiveness.” That is the challenge for a social group to be sufficiently different from other competing social groups such that members feel attracted to and can identify with their specific social group over and above other groups. This is especially the case where those competing social groups are normatively and geographically close, and in these cases “positive distinctiveness” will often require exclusive claims about one’s own social group, and similarly denigrating claims regarding others nearby. For example, the members of the Parish of St Cuthbertstonwick may pride themselves on their liturgical style and support their own sense of belonging in that parish by referring the members of the Parish of St Aethelredstone as “Aethelredstoners” and generating negative appellations regarding their musical preferences.

This is further exacerbated in situations where near neighbours share the same normative belief and identity structures, as the demands of positive distinctiveness require sharper invective to create points of division. As Lewis Coser observed “A conflict is more passionate and more radical when it arises out of close relationships. The coexistence of union and opposition in such relations makes for the peculiar sharpness of the conflict. Enmity calls forth deeper and more violent reactions, the greater the involvement of the parties among whom it originates”

(1998, 71).

Is this a good argument then for the abolition of parish boundaries, to remove the competition for positive distinctiveness? While this may seem like a logical way of reducing these challenges and uniting the church around a single focus for distinctiveness, unfortunately it only leads to further competition. For as groups cease to have avenues for generating positive distinctiveness outside of the groups the natural place to derive distinctiveness is within the group. This is usually seen through internal perceptions that certain members are not sufficiently normative, or somehow abrogate what some members consider the “core” identity of the group, despite remaining within the group. Indeed, this can be clearly observed within the Good Karma Network phenomenon, as, a couple of years into the project, large numbers of these neighbourhood groups devolved into schismatic fractures over internal accusations of members not upholding the norms of the groups, and significant disagreement over what these norms are, and their relative importance. Similar examples are found in civil parishes— and especially their American counterpart, the Homeowner Association. Lest we think that the church is immune from such debates one need only look at the plethora of churches which have split over musical styles, modes of preaching, or a host of other disputed norms. Schisms and the exclusion of members as black sheep for not being normative enough are part and parcel of group existence.

So far this seems to be a fairly dismal view of parish life: conflict with or without boundaries. Are there any avenues out of this social quagmire? Perhaps somewhat ironically the same ecclesial inheritance that gave the Anglican church the parish structure has also provided a resource for addressing the impetus towards division for positive distinctiveness: episcopal structures. While evangelical Anglicanism tends toward a congregational—and parish— emphasis, the proven mechanism for defusing schism within groups is to direct social impetus towards finding social distinctiveness within larger groups, rather than the smaller immediate—local—group. Indeed, theologically, this is the purpose of the church universal.

How then can we leverage these oft-denigrated structures towards that bigger theological vision and social purpose? A significant part of this is the need for a distinctive vision for the larger structure to inhabit. What is the purpose of the episcopacy? What is a diocese for? But, as part of that vision for there to be positive distinctiveness of the whole, there must be a similar allowance of diversity within the subgroups which make up the superordinate, the parishes which constitute a diocese, the churches which contribute to the denomination—lest there be a devolution to solely finding distinctiveness in the local. Such that the Parishes of St Cuthbertstonwick and St Aethelredstone can engage in that same vision side by side. This vision setting and diversity of engagement can find a wide range of expressions and outcomes, and while it is well beyond the scope of this piece to provide a singular answer, we can find a series of biblical and historical examples for inspiration. Indeed, one example is given by Scott Goode’s examination of 1 Corinthians, where he finds Paul organising that nascent church around the framework of “Salvific Intentionality” that allows for both coherent missional imagination alongside diversity in the Corinthian community (review in this issue).

Ultimately the overriding question about the parish is not whether it stays or whether it goes, but rather what should we look to as a means to present an encompassing vision to unify the church around, with or without historical geographical and social boundaries?

Rev Dr Chris Porter is Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Trinity College Theological School.

Written by: Anonymous

What is it like to be the part-time minister of a church that was filled with children and families fifty years ago, with two Sunday school sittings per Sunday, Mother’s Union and much more, but as COVID plunged us into new territory in 2020, had an average of 20 attendees on a Sunday?

Where do you start?

There’s a story of three decades of decline with lightness and deep shadows. The current worship comprises four hymns, four Bible readings, a ten-minute reflection and Holy Communion. There are the faithful who have remained well, faithful, and are an inspiring ‘treasured possession’, ‘oaks of righteousness’.

Yet, everything I pray will happen, with the eyes of faith and imagination, seems so fragile and experimental. Then one Sunday morning when ten masked people are allowed to gather at some point in the twilight of lockdowns, I hear myself confidently say through my mask, ‘A church re-grows through small steps, micro actions’. This sounded comforting and manageable to me, in the first weeks, which became months.

I’d already found a puppet and as we live-streamed the second service I’d ever taken as the ‘priest-in-charge’, with a phone and laptop, I did a very average ‘kidult talk’ (kid+adult) in front of the phone, to set a tone of hope.

I bravely believed that somehow, our God was going to begin a new chapter and that a small suburban church could be a bright light for the kingdom. My missionary childhood had given me a love for people, challenge, and confidence that the gospel can do unexpectedly creative things.

So throughout lockdowns, I rang people, dropped off little parcels of cake if it was their birthday, and newsletters. That’s right – the old parish newsletter came into it’s own and was read! It kept us together! It was emailed to most and printed and mailed to the non-techy elderly.

We used a zoom option where you could dial in from your landline! One lovely senior told me, ‘I’m in my dressing gown in my comfy chair, listening on speaker phone, but when I close my eyes, I’m there, in church!’

As lockdowns ended, my garden produced roses in amazing abundance, so I picked them, removed thorns, wrapped them in wet cotton wool and foil (yes, micro actions speak) and presented each returning person with a rose and ‘Welcome back to church!’ I had not met them in person, though I picked quite a few from their voices!

The following list in no particular order, gives a snapshot of the variety of ministries in a small church that’s kept us focussed, joyful and yes, hopeful, over the past three years:

• Ministry to ageing saints, as their lives end and they go Home. This has become a ministry I cherish, both with them and their families, many of whom have lost faith. The care of the dying and their funerals, have grown me. I hope I’ve also sown lots of seeds in family and friends or thrown compost on the soil of dry hearts.
• Ministry to very competent and mature people as they retire and are the core volunteers.
• Re-starting church morning teas by baking cakes, especially for each birthday!
• Ministry to a small number of new members who have joined our worshipping congregation, including parents and families, mainly from Asia, and their preschoolers, children and young people.
• The start of ministries to young people on Sunday.
• Ministry to grow people who are gifted to lead these groups.
• Ministry to grow young people’s faith practice, through being on appropriate rosters: Bible reading, tech desk, welcoming-sides person, helping cook sausages after church for a simple lunch.
• Ministry to make every Sunday service a time of spiritual refreshment, through song, the Scriptures and the Sacraments.
• Ministry through weddings and baptisms.
• Ministry to the church building and gardens, needing repairs and refreshing – so fundraising and hard yakka.
• Ministry to the local community through fortnightly iGen (intergenerational) ‘Play’ Group, loosely based on the ABC’s TV series, ‘Old People’s Home for Four year olds’.
• Ministry to university students as an honorary chaplain at a nearby University.
• Ministry to two local retirement villages.
• Ministry to colleagues through Deanery.
• Ministry to become financially viable.
• Ministry to grow a paid lay leader to begin local missional activities.
• Ministry to pray for and financially support a missionary family as they travel overseas.

Caroline is Priest in Charge of a Melbourne Parish (name changed due to pastoral sensitivity).