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anglican focus 19 May 2021 Features • Tuesday 11 May 2021 • By Archbishop Phillip Aspinall Flourishing faith communities: proclaiming and serving, worshipping and learning A message from Archbishop Phillip Aspinall to the Anglican Church Southern Queensland Dear Anglican Church Southern Queensland community members, During 2020, the Diocesan Council, Bishops and senior leadership team spent time considering and answering the following questions: • What is our vision for the Anglican Church Southern Queensland over the next five to 10 years to advance God’s mission? • What values do we want to engender within the Anglican Church Southern Queensland to establish the type of culture that will help achieve that vision? Diocesan Council adopted a vision statement and identified values and focus areas to help us achieve it. Our vision statement is: ‘Flourishing faith communities: proclaiming and serving, worshipping and learning.’ We have created several professionally designed summary documents and a YouTube video communicating more information about the vision statement and its accompanying values and key © 2021 Anglican Church Southern Queensland Page 1 of 47 focus areas and actions. These resources, which are available on the Anglican Church Southern Queensland website, include: • A Vision and Values video message from me • Our Vision flyer • Our Mission flyer • Exploring the Vision – a Document for Faith Communities Wherever you are and whatever part you play in the Anglican Church Southern Queensland, I invite you take up this vision statement, and its accompanying values and focus areas, and contribute what you can to make it a reality. Please use the materials on our Diocesan website as you shape your own visions and plans. Please join with our wider Diocesan community to realise the vision and live the values. You are crucial part of discerning the movement of the Holy Spirit that over time will generate a shared sense of God’s intention for the Anglican Church Southern Queensland. I encourage you to peruse the written and video resources and explore the suggested questions for discussion with your community as you discern how you might grow as a flourishing faith community. God’s peace and blessings to your faith community. The Most Rev’d Dr Phillip Aspinall Features • Monday 17 May 2021 • By The Rev'd Adam Lowe, Amy Norman, Bettrys Lowe, Caitlin Judge, Peter Dutton, The Rev'd Michael Calder, Suzie Ross Making and maturing disciples of Jesus Some of the innovative and industrious St Bart's, Toowoomba team in April 2021 (L-R) Suzie Ross, The Rev'd Michael Calder, The Rev'd Adam Lowe, Bettrys Lowe, Jo Chan Smith, Peter Dutton and Amy Norman Page 2 of 47 Introduction – The Rev’d Adam Lowe, Senior Minister At St Bart’s we’re passionate about making and maturing disciples of Jesus for God’s glory. We long for people to become followers of Jesus and then continue to grow as life-long and whole-of-life disciples (across all of their frontlines). Our mission of a church is not just for ourselves, but also (over the past 18 months) as a Resource Church. We consider it a great joy to participate in the broader life of our Church in this way, and I have been delighted with the generous way in which the St Bart’s team have sacrificially given of their time, resources, and expertise. I count it as a great privilege to serve at St Bart’s alongside an extraordinary team in a wonderful Christian community. Discipleship – Amy Norman, Lay Minister (Discipleship) and Resource Church specialist The mission of Discipleship at St Bart’s is the mission of the whole church: ‘Making and maturing disciples of Jesus’. From when people first enquire, we are intentional about thinking where people are at in their discipleship journey and what might be a next step. We think about discipleship in three stages: • Enquiring • Beginning • Growing. Each of these stages has a key step to help people connect, with each step shaping how we choose, plan and stage events. For example, for those Enquiring about Jesus, we have developed a four-session course, ‘Introducing Jesus’, that can be done at any time and is ideally carried out one to one. The idea is that anyone in our church can be resourced to have this conversation, which can take place in aged care facilities or in a café. The resource, ‘Introducing Jesus’, is provided to assist those who are keen to facilitate these conversations. We also hold Alpha courses once a term, which provide a safe, non-judgemental space for enquirers to find out more about Jesus and explore the Christian faith. For those who are just Beginning in their faith, we provide a resource, ‘Following Jesus’, for parishioners to use in one-to-one conversations over coffee or lunch in four one-hour sessions. During these sessions, questions like ‘What is the Bible?’, ‘What is prayer?’ ‘Why should I belong to a church?’ and ‘Why should we share our faith?’ are explored. Following these sessions, the newcomer is invited to join a small group. One of our key learnings is that groups meet weekly, ideally in the same location (either at someone’s house, at church or in a cafe). This enables really simple connection with newcomers, as inviting people to a group that meets every week is much easier. The consistency of meeting weekly enables continuity in study, and helps to develop deeper and stronger relationships. Practically, meeting weekly also makes it more evident when someone is in need of additional care, so the group can respond quickly. A highlight of seeing people enquire, begin and grow as disciples is a friend who first came along begrudgingly to church, largely due to her then-boyfriend’s invitation (now husband). In Alpha, she Page 3 of 47 asked as many difficult questions that she could think of. Hesitantly, she with another Alpha guest, joined a small group together. Now, she frequently shares about her love for Jesus, and is emboldened by all the ‘Jesus conversations’ she gets to have at her workplace. Seeing how God grows people as his disciples is an amazing privilege! You can download the following resources to use or adapt: • Introducing Jesus: Leaders Guide • Introducing Jesus: Part 1 • Introducing Jesus: Part 2 • Introducing Jesus: Part 3 • Introducing Jesus: Part 4 • Following Jesus: Leaders Guide • Following Jesus: Participant Resource St Bart’s Kids – Bettrys Lowe, Children and Families Minister and Resource Church specialist; Amy Norman, Lay Minister (Discipleship) and Resource Church specialist; and, Caitlin Judge, Intern The mission of St Bart’s Kids is also ‘Making and maturing disciples of Jesus’. St Bart’s Kids comprises: • St Bart’s Kids on Sunday • Kids Club • mainly music • Mums and Bubs small group • Expecting Families Ministry. Last year we wrote a resourcing feature on ‘How to run an effective and engaging Sunday children’s ministry’. We did this at the request of anglican focus as we are a Resource Church. It’s important to have a diversity of people serving and discipling kids, with respect to age, gender, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, experience and education/employment. Our Sunday School team members are not just teachers and mums, but a diverse group of people who are passionate about both Jesus and discipling children. We put effort and time into training St Bart’s Kids team members, and the same three leaders take a group of kids for a whole year and are rostered on rotation to prevent burn out. We also have a St Bart’s Kids team wall which demonstrates the large number of St Bart’s members who are dedicated to the kids, as well as a reminder to the kids whom is a safe go-to for them. The dedication of the leaders and the quality of their ministry results in kids putting up their hands of their own volition to serve and wear a blue t-shirt and be on team. When we ask kids why they want to be on team, their answers are really mature, such as “I want to help teach them about Christ and to make them disciples for Christ” and “To make disciples of all nations and teach the Gospel to others.” The kids love coming to St Bart’s Kids on Sunday so much that many parents report their kids waking them up on a Sunday morning by jumping on the bed and saying, “We have to leave for church now!” Page 4 of 47 We also see the fruit of the St Bart’s Kids ministry when we hear about a four-year-old St Bart’s parishioner telling their Kindy teacher about Jesus. Recently, a five-year-old St Bart’s kid gave a Bible to a friend because, as we were told, “It would be a gift that would last forever.” It’s so encouraging to hear these kinds of anecdotes. The kids also constantly surprise us with their boldness. Recently, when we were giving out a Bible Society book on the real meaning of Christmas to the kids, a child asked for 30 copies. When Bettrys asked in a somewhat uncertain way why she wanted so many, her response was: “My friends need to know the story of Jesus and instead of giving candy canes, I want to give them a copy of this book.” So, naturally, Bettrys gave her the 30 copies she asked for, while also feeling appropriately challenged about making assumptions. St Bart’s Kids Club runs on Fridays between 3.30 pm and 5.15 pm. When kids miss three Kids Club sessions, we mail each sibling in the family a ‘We’ve really missed you’ postcard.