Synod Strategic Directions
The NSW Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia
met the week before last and decided - virtually unanimously - that this is what
it wanted to aim at:
Vision for the Synod:
To be a Synod which provides leadership and resources
that will:
- enable people to experience, nurture and share a
passionate faith in God who is revealed in Jesus Christ,
- and to encourage the emergence of new forms of
church.
As it explores and acts on this vision the NSW Synod
does so as a multicultural church committed to ministry with the Uniting
Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress, and in the light of our ecumenical
commitments. It is a vision of a church which values all people, and is
committed to encouraging young people to be an active part of the church and its
leadership."
Goals and directions of the Synod for the next five
years:
- Enable people to experience and nurture a
passionate faith in God who is revealed in Jesus Christ, to develop an
understanding of that faith that they are confident to share with others, and
to overcome the barriers that stops them sharing faith.
- Explore new ways the Synod can assist
congregations focus their life on more effective and authentic connections
with their communities, including those on their fringe, seeking to relate
faith in Christ to daily life.
- Resource and encourage the development of new
faith communities, including the possibility of parallel congregations,
new worship opportunities and other initiatives which will build new and
emerging forms of church.
- Help to establish less demanding and more
liberating structures for synod and presbyteries that will assist them to
carry out their responsibilities, in particular the resourcing of
congregations to engage in ministry and mission.
- Develop leadership appropriate for a church which
is seeking to respond to the emerging culture in Australia. Recognise
spiritual gifts and give particular emphasis to the encouragement and
conscious equipping of young people for leadership of local congregations and
the wider church.
- Speak and act within the wider community in the
pursuit of social justice and social welfare, and enable congregations to
do this in their local communities.
- Encourage and resource initiatives which
strengthen ecumenical and interfaith relationships and activities.
- Discover new and more equitable ways to share
people, finance, and property, and develop a new sense of generosity.
- Use new forms of technology to support ways for
the church to work better, and to enable new forms of church to emerge.
19/05/2004
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