Mission
On Solid Ground – training church leaders in the developing world
- 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.
Fresh Expressions Evaluation
- Written by: Guerin Tueno
In 2005 the Church of England published Mission Shaped Church.1 The Report recognised the drastic need for renewed mission work in England, but also the creative work already being done by groups that would be labelled as Fresh Expressions of Church. This term came not from their new-ness, but from their missional orientation; they were seeking to fulfil the ordinal's instruction for the ordaining of priests to proclaim the gospel afresh to each generation. It also liberated the work of mission from just the priest to the Church – looking back to Jesus' great commission in Matthew 28. Some read value judgments in the language employed – surely to call something 'fresh' is to imply 'staleness' in what already exists,2 but this is a value judgment not inherent in the name, and this led to Archbishop William's description of Anglicanism as a mixed economy3 in which the inherited and the fresh forms of church are both welcome and needed. Amid early excitement, there was an Australian adoption with Building the Mission Shaped Church in Australia.4 Sadly, this enthusiasm has waned.
What defines a Fresh Expression of Church? The Church Army in England set out ten parameters in a 2013 report:
- That the group is new (in their terminology, it was 'birthed'), rather than being a modification of an existing group.
- The group has sought to engage with non-churchgoers. They are not simply a new outreach programme of an existing church, but a new church with and for the unchurched to meet their cultural context rather than expecting them to confirm to an existing church paradigm.
- The new church community would meet at least once a month.
- The new church is to have its own name that reflects its identity, or is in the process of discerning its public nomenclature.
- The group is intended to be a church in and of itself, rather than being a bridge back into 'real church'.
- The church is Anglican – by which they mean it is accepted by the relevant Bishop as part of their 'Diocesan family'. The report stresses that being Anglican is not measured by use of centrally authorised texts or by being part of the parochial system.
- There is a system of leadership acknowledged both internally by the church itself and also from without by the Diocese and wider community.
- The majority of members see the group as their primary and major expression of being church.
- The group aspires to live out the four 'marks' of the church.
- The church is intended to be self-financing, self-governing and self-reproducing (ie, mission-shaped churches plant more mission-shaped churches, which are to be themselves 'fresh' and not simply replicating the parent church).5
ESL and Beyond: How English classes are just the beginning for gospel witness
- Written by: Mark Simon
Mark Simon with Louisa Afful, Sarah Hornidge and Kate Shrestha (Anglicare Sydney)
Mark Simon: All three of you are involved in cross cultural ministry through Anglicare. What are your particular roles?
Sarah Hornidge: I'm the Western Region crosscultural advisor. I support English as a Second Language (ESL) ministries in Western Sydney. Our team serves 100 church-based ESL classes through training, writing of resources, ongoing support for volunteers, and leading some classes myself.
Louisa Afful: As the Program Manager – Cross Cultural Services, I lead a team of eight Anglicare workers like Sarah active across all regions of Sydney and Wollongong in ESL ministry. We are also developing new initiatives to equip and support churches to widen their cross-cultural outreach beyond ESL with activities like cultural awareness training. The purpose of the team is to inspire, equip and support local churches as they reach out and respond practically to their multi-cultural communities and under God make Jesus known.
Kate Shrestha: I work in our church partnership team focused on Southwest Sydney, which is a very multicultural area. I work at building connections between churches and Anglicare, so that services like our mobile food pantry and family support programs are widely available.
Mark: What are some of the ways that churches you work with are reaching out to migrant and refugee communities?
Read more: ESL and Beyond: How English classes are just the beginning for gospel witness
Evangelicalism’s Social Action: The Temptation of Political Tribalism
- Written by: Mike Bird
Evangelicals have traditionally been socially engaged, in faithfulness to biblical requirements to do justice and to show compassion for those suffering, and as a missional necessity, to demonstrate that we have good works to match our faith. A faith that is lived out, among and for others, is what it means to be a Christian. Evangelical faith is Christological in that Christ is proclaimed as Saviour and we do everything we can to save persons in body, mind, and soul and to bring into the warm embrace of Christ himself. This is why we do things like advocate for action on climate change, run Alpha courses, support refugees, have a Church Missionary Society, oppose the predatory gambling lobby, fund City Bible Forums, and have Anglican Overseas Aid. So, for us evangelicals, our evangelistic energy goes hand in hand with our social concerns, advocacy, and programs.
One problem is the temptation to focus on one or the other. To be an Alpha-Church or a tearfund church. To focus on the evangelistic side or to go all in on social action. A false dichotomy if you ask me, but the temptation is real for either side. But even for those of us who believe in a healthy balance, declaring the word of the gospel while donning the apron of a servant, even our social advocacy/actions face the temptation of being politically partisan.
For me, personally, my two social action passion projects are advocacy for destroying the gambling lobby and advocating for religious freedom. The former aligns neatly with the political left and the later sits more squarely with the political right. It means I get some curious glances from people.
My Tear Fund friends love my opposition to the gambling barons but look at me with confusion and disgust as if I might be a quasi-fascist if I retweet an Australian Christian Lobby article about religious freedom. By the same token, my Australian Christian Lobby friends incorporate my voice into the religious freedom debate but look at me with suspicion that I might be a Marxist sympathiser if I post on Facebook critical of the Liberal party’s stance on refugees and climate change.
I think most evangelicals are committed to a program of social action, and we each have our own pet causes, the one’s that burn our hearts with righteous rage or fill us with pity for those suffering. The temptation is that our interest in social action is exercised partly as an outworking of Christian faith, but partly as a way of aligning ourselves with particular political tribes. The temptation is then, that our social ethic becomes tied less to the Christian church and more to the political tribes that we resonate with. My thesis is that our social engagements, balanced with our promotion of the gospel, must never be neatly aligned with any political tribe, whether conservative or progressive. Otherwise we run the risk that our social action becomes more an act of political affiliation than Christian action.
We are compelled by the love of God to proclaim the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. And it is our Lord himself who tells us to care for the poor, to show mercy, and to act justly. Social action and social justice are a necessity. But let us not get fall into the temptation of engaging in the social action that is trendy on social media or presages our status in a political tribe.
Let justice roll down like a river, irrespective if those rivers break towards the left or to the right.
Michael Bird is Academic Dean and Lecturer in New Testament at Ridley
Training Evangelical Anglican Leaders in the Developing World
- Written by: Tim Swan
Tim Swan is CEO, the Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid
Right now, a terrifying number of pastors and teachers around the world are inadvertently leading their people astray because they lack solid biblical understanding, and are being “blown here and there by every wind of teaching.” (Eph 4:14). At the launch of Anglican Aid’s new Bible College Student Sponsorship program Rev. Samuel Majok said,
“In many cases, in Africa, pastors and teachers in the cities do not have any form of theological training. This has resulted in increasingly shallow theology. Leaving many local churches subject to .... errors. The pulpit has become the place to sell anointed oils, to sell holy water, to sell holy soils!”
We can help. We have the resources to make an impact on the developing church. One resource is those who can teach and train locals. I served in this way with the Anglican Church in Chile for 10 years.
Read more: Training Evangelical Anglican Leaders in the Developing World
Karen Anglican Mission on the Border
- Written by: Marc Dale
The Karen people on the Thai/Myanmar border have been persecuted for over sixty years, mostly because they are Christians. They are a minority ethnic group who have been driven from their homes with many living in large 'resettlement (refugee) camps'.
Anglican ministry amongst the Karen began some decades ago through a few trained evangelists who travelled through the jungles and villages of both the Thai and Myanmar sides of the border, establishing churches. These churches are together known as the KAMB – Karen Anglican Mission at the Border. They remain isolated from the resources of their official diocese, which is in Myanmar.
Christ Church Bangkok has been co-ordinating emergency supplies for the Karen since 1984, focussing upon the needs of the Karen refugees living inside the camps, but also supporting the Karen churches in the Thai border area, bringing training and encouragement to leaders.