Great Commission
Movers Grant, S
General Synod submits to the universal authority in heaven and earth given by God to the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we recommit to the Great Commission he has given to go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded us.
Synod also recalls that the first and key mark of the Anglican Consultative Councils Five Marks of Mission is To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom, and that the second Mark is to To teach, baptise and nurture new believers.
Therefore, Synod laments the lack of attention we have given in the ordering of our business towards encouraging evangelism and disciple-making.
However, Synod commends Anglican organisations such as ABM (the Anglican Board of Mission), the Defence Force Board with its Anglican Chaplains, the Mission to Seafarers, BCA (the Bush Church Aid Society) and NATSIAC (the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council) for how central or important preaching or proclaiming the gospel of Christ is to their stated missions.
We also affirm the observation made (Book 4, p 4-175) by the Diocesan Financial Advisory Task Force (DFATF), in the context of addressing the serious lack of financial sustainability of many dioceses and so encouraging the possibility of combining of back office functions, that with a growing church, many of the financial concerns that DFATF and others have been attempting to address would be ameliorated or disappear. Hence the strategic priority of the Church should be on most effectively sharing the gospel and nurturing the faithful with a view to increasing Church membership.
We urge the Standing Committee and its Commissions to keep obedience to the first and primary mark of mission firmly in view, even when the particular matters in front of them are not directly related to gospel proclamation.
Lastly, Synod acknowledges that the primary carriage of obedience to Christs Great Commission lies not with Commissions, Agencies or Synods but with local churches. So as members of the same, we rededicate ourselves in personal faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus for the varied parts we can play in evangelism and disciple-making.
The Very Rev’d Sandy Grant moving, The Right Rev’d Rick Lewers seconding
Resolution year: 2022
Resolution number: 61/18