As I gathered with thousands of believers at the recent Church Missionary Society (CMS) Summer School in Katoomba, I experience afresh the joy of looking beyond ourselves with a global, gospel focus.

Missionaries from all over the world were sharing about the triumphs and the tragedies of bringing the message of Jesus to peoples from significantly different cultures and languages.

And even as they paid the personal price of proclaiming Christ in faraway lands, we heard the wonderful news of how the message of Jesus continues to bring genuine hope to a world that is in darkness.

Yet, our mission focus is not only to the nations beyond our shores: for we also partner with and support churches doing ministry in Australia.

Some of the missionaries with CMS are based in Northern and North-West Australia working in ministry with and to Aboriginal Christians from Broome across to Groote Eylandt.

But in Australia we also have a long-standing partnership with Bush Church Aid (BCA), which seeks to bring the gospel of Christ to the outermost parts of Australia.

Their vision is to develop a new generation of culturally-diverse Christian leaders, both young and old, and to support ministry by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as they, “are committed to working with our first peoples so they can serve Christ in ways that are Biblically faithful and culturally appropriate.”

Plus, they seek to plant and renew sustainable churches, like their support of Roger and Amanda Kyngdon in Newman, Western Australia, with whom our church partners.

As we consider ministry near and far, it is a joy to hear of how the gospel of Jesus is bringing real change to the lives of people who live far away from the main population areas of our land, and who have the same need to know Jesus as every Australian.

JODIE McNEILL

One of the wonderful outcomes of the Protestant Reformation was a renewed enthusiasm for all Christians to be involved in the ministry of the church.

Whilst Jesus has given some word ministers as special gifts to his church, their role is to equip all Christians to be engaged in ministry, as we read in Ephesians 4:

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12)

As our staff drafted our new mission statement, we recognised the need to give a fresh priority to this in our church, so our second phrase is, “equip people for ministry.”

We want each of you in our church to feel like you’re growing in wisdom, knowledge, and skills as we all work together to see each person in our village, valley and region know how to follow Jesus and why it matters.

To help us do this together, we’ve started to explore options to offer personalised, online training to each member of our church, which can help you grow at your own pace, in your own time.

We’re hoping this will cover all sorts of skills and knowledge training, from theology and small group teaching, through to prayer and safe ministry.

We’re also reviewing a so-called ‘leadership pipeline’ framework that will help each of you to consider your next step in serving in our church.

You are very valuab le to us, and each of you plays a vital role in our church as Jesus uses each of us to build his church, both in size and strength.

As we start 2023 together, how can we equip you to grow in your Christian knowledge, skill and character?

JODIE McNEILL

(Photo credit: Tara Angkor Hotel via Flickr.com)