Page 28 - The Church of Ireland Apologetic for Mission?

1. Stated Diocesan Mission Initiatives
A number of dioceses are currently engaged in initiatives that strategically place mission at the centre of their activity for a designated period of time. Examples of these include:
Down and Dromore – Year of Mission 2015. The diocese states the purpose of this special Year of Mission as being:
• Toseespiritualfruit–liveschanged
by an encounter with Jesus Christ and communities transformed as the people of God live in the realities and power of the Kingdom of God.
• Tobe“turnedinside–out,”meaning that, together, the diocese should face outwards, rather than being consumed by its own parochial needs and preoccupations.
• Toencourageparishestobegintosee everything through a “missional filter” – questioning all their activities, use of money, worship and welcome.
• Tomovefromplateautogrowthand, indeed, to believe that growth was possible.
Derry and Raphoe’s Mission Statement is Transforming Community Radiating Christ. It sees this being worked out in three key ways:
• GrowingDeeperinrelationshiptoGod
• GrowingCloserinrelationshipsand
fellowship with one another
• GrowingWiderbysharingtheGoodNews of the Kingdom of God with everyone, by word and deed
Connor has the following Mission Statement - Engaging culture, equipping ministry, effecting change. The diocesan website states:40
Our ‘vision’ is nothing more than
an articulation in our own diocesan context of what it means to love
God, one another and our neighbour. Through listening to churches across the diocese we have discerned some key areas that cause us to struggle in carrying out the mission of God in our
city, towns and villages. As a church we are not as engaged in our local communities as we should be. We are not equipped to carry out God’s mission as we should be. Even when we long to see change, we are often at something of a loss to understand how to make the changes necessary within ourselves, to be agents of change in the world around us.
Our own vision therefore is to help churches and communities to grow in three key areas:
• Engagingculture–knowinghowtoread and understand the world we live in, and then to live in it
To do this we need to be a church that
• Equips ministry – helping the people of God, ordained and lay, to grow as the body of Christ
With the hope of ...
• Effecting change – seeing the transforming work of God work in us and then through us
Under the oversight of our Bishop,
and through the work of the Diocesan Development Officer and his development team, this diocese seeks to
• Grownewcommunitiesoffaithinareasof opportunity and need
• Growandcareforleadersinexistingand new ministries
• Reachthemissinggenerationsinour culture, those disconnected or disaffected with church or faith
• Resourcechurchestobless,serveand challenge its local community
• Encourageeverymemberofthechurchto see themselves as part of the mission of God
• Ensurethatweretainandgrowaglobal vision, partnering with agencies and churches across the world
28 40 http://connor.anglican.org/about-us/our-vision/