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What’s on the 2015 missions menu?

The 2015 Missions Conference kicks off in less than a week - and the workshops may cause some people to rethink their ideas of mission.

Taonga News  |  24 Sep 2015  |

The 2015 Missions Conference springs into life in less than a week – and if the schedule of workshops is anything to go by, some folks’ mindsets about mission could be shaken up.

Conference goers will have the chance to hear, for example, from Sir Anand Satyanand, who will be speaking, not as a former Governor General – or even as chairman of the Ma Whea Commission – but as a member of Transparency International’s Global Advisory Council.

Before Transparency International came along in 1993, corruption was seldom discussed. Nowadays, thanks to TI, corruption is seen by outfits like the World Bank as one of the main obstacles to development, one of the greatest obstacles to improving the lot of the world’s poor.

Sir Anand, who has close links to the Pacific and India, says that corruption – like slavery, apartheid and polio – can be beaten, and he’ll be sharing about why and where it crops up, and how it can be eradicated.

We've got to get out of this place...

Sir Anand won’t be the only one updating mission mindsets.

Archbishop Winston Halapua will be sharing, from personal experience, about climate change in the Pacific; and a CMS partner will be speaking about the refugee crisis – from the standpoint of one who lives in a region from which refugees are fleeing.

The Rev Arthur Hokianga will be leading a workshop on Minita-a-Whanau, a strategy he is running with in the far north; and Bishop Justin Duckworth, who cut his teeth in the demi-monde of inner city Wellington, will be sharing about Wellington’s mission priorities for serving “the last, the lost and the least.”

The Rev Pane Kawhia, who operates out of Ruatoria, will be leading a workshop on Maori mission at the flaxroots, there’ll be a workshop on overcoming domestic violence in the Pacific – while Bishop Victoria Matthews will talk about ministry in the aftermath of earthquakes.

And the Rev Dr Jason Fout, a Cambridge-educated priest who teaches at an US seminary, will present a workshop on “Reflections on the growth of the church in London.”

“Mission Together” runs from Tuesday morning, October 6 to Friday afternoon, October 9, and it’ll be held at King’s College, Otahuhu.

The Anglican Missions Board, which organises the event on behalf of the provincial church, is expecting as many as 500 people to be there – including church leaders from Africa, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia, Tonga, Fiji, South East Asia, the Middle East, England, Australia, Canada and the USA.

Our core calling

The keynote speaker will be the Rev Dr Chris Wright, who is the International Ministries Director of the Langham Partnership, and who is one of the world’s leading mission thinkers and equippers. (The latest issue of Taongamagazine carries a profile on him.)

The CLMC 2015 Bible studies will be taken by Dr Dickson Chilongani, who is the Bishop of Central Tanganyika – and whose diocese, which includes 258 parishes and 58 worship centres, serving 600,000 Anglicans, may be the largest in the communion.

On top of those key inputs, there’ll be about 30 workshops on various aspects of mission – with presenters from every part of the globe – and there’ll be the launch of the General Synod mandated Decade of Mission.

According to Canon Robert Kereopa, the Executive Officer of the Missions Board, “CLMC 2015 gives us the opportunity to eat, drink, breathe, sleep, learn and dream Mission together… the chance to create new friendships as we become a Missions community together.

“What we do as a missional church is an expression of who we are as the people of God – and gives us the chance to refocus on our core-calling, which Christ passed on to his disciples: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost… (Matthew 28:19).”

To find out more – and how you can register for the conference – go to: http://clmc2015.org.nz/

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