Decade of Evangelism

Movers Bishop of Newcastle

This General Synod encourages the dioceses, parishes and religious communities of this Church

(a) to receive gladly the call of the Lambeth Conference Resolutions as follows:

“43 DECADE OF EVANGELISM

This Conference, recognising that evangelism is the primary task given to the Church, asks each Province and diocese of the Anglican Communion, in co-operation with other Christians, to make the closing years of this millennium a ‘Decade of Evangelism’ with a renewed and united emphasis on making Christ known to the people of his world.

44 EVANGELISM IN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION

This Conference:
1. Calls for a shift to a dynamic missionary emphasis going beyond care and nurture to proclamation and
service;
and
2. Accepts the challenge this presents to diocesan and local church structures and patterns of worship and
ministry, and looks to God for a fresh movement of the Spirit in prayer, outgoing love and evangelism in obedience to our Lord’s command.”

(b) to use 1990 as a year of prayer and preparation:

(c) to recognise the ecumenical dimension of the Decade:

(d) to set the Decade in the context of the mission of the Church:
“1. To proclaim the good news of the kingdom;
2. To teach, baptise and nurture new believers;
3. To respond to human need by loving service;
4. To seek to transform unjust structures of society.” and

(e) to acknowledge that evangelism is an ongoing work of the Church, and an obligation that can never be
complete until the Lord Jesus returns.

(f) to set up task forces to plan practical strategies for evangelism at all levels of diocesan life with particular
emphasis on parish-based evangelism.

(g) to encourage and empower the laity to communicate their faith.

(The Bishop of Newcastle, 25-8-89)


Resolution year: 1989
Resolution number: 49/89