Sydney Anglicanism is a product of the evangelical missionary movement. The same people who were vitally involved in the early days of the Church Missionary Society were involved in ensuring evangelical chaplains were sent to the young colony to preach the gospel to the convicts, settlers and indigenous people of the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit. Mission and ministry were intertwined from these early days and have remained so ever since. To this day one of the most significant annual events in the Diocese of Sydney is the week-long CMS Summer School, held in the Blue Mountains at Katoomba.
This commitment to world mission is shaped by three factors. First and foremost is the commission of Christ given to his disciples and through them to all of us, to take the gospel to the nations. The great commission (‘go and make disciples of all nations ... baptising them ... teaching them’) gives concrete expression to the great claim (‘all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’) and rejoices in the great comfort (‘I am with you always to the end of the age’) — Matt. 28:18–20. This is why we do not see taking the gospel to the nations as a special interest of just a few — the mission-minded among us. Instead we see vital engagement with world mission as the common responsibility of us all, whether the primary expression of that engagement is in prayer, in giving, or in going. This common responsibility is not, however, a burden. It is not some kind of legalistic obligation. Rather, it is a privilege to be used by God in this way, as instruments of his mercy taking the message of the gospel to those who desperately need to hear it. Read more
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