Bishop's Letter : 2020 and beyond

01/11/2011

Starting in what is known as ‘The Kingdom Season' before Advent the 2020 Group will be encouraging all Church communities in the Diocese to reflect on how they are measuring up as a sign and symbol of God's Kingdom and also to identify those things that hinder or prevent us from making progress in this role and I want to set what is being suggested in context here.

When I arrived in this Diocese I stated my priorities as ‘mission, mission, mission'. I spoke in terms of the enormous privilege we have been given of playing a part in God's great mission to reconcile the whole creation to himself in Jesus, a vision glorious articulated in the first chapter of the letter of Paul to the Colossians.

Within my first year here Bishop's Council came to the decision that, in focussing upon mission, we should concentrate upon three priorities:

  • The deepening of prayer
  • The renewal of (public) worship
  • Equipping people to share their faith

To address the first, a Diocesan Spirituality Group, chaired by Bishop David, has been established to work with the Diocesan Spirituality Adviser, Paul Hunt. Doug Chaplin, as Diocesan Worship Adviser has been working with others on the second and David Sherwin, as Diocesan Evangelism Adviser on the third. I see these three priorities as essential in preparing the ground for our full participation in God's mission to the world.

A year ago the ‘2020 Group' was set up to consider what playing our full part in God's mission might require as we look to the year 2020 and beyond. From the very first meeting, conversations in the Group have focused upon what should be, as Christians, our core conversation: the Kingdom of God. Mission and Kingdom are two sides of the same coin: God's mission is to reconcile the creation to Himself and, in so doing, inaugurate the Kingdom, the reign, of God. When the creation is reconciled to God in Christ every knee shall bow to God's rule, whether in heaven or in earth or under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. The Church is called to be God's chosen instrument for his mission in the world and the effective sign of the inauguration of His Kingdom here on earth, that Kingdom for whose coming we pray in the words that Jesus taught us.

I hope that all of us, individually and corporately, will want to join together to reflect deeply on our part in God's plan to inaugurate the Kingdom - to celebrate what we are doing and reflect upon ways in which we can widen our hearts to allow God's grace to work through us to build His Kingdom.

Bishop John