by Randall Fairey
The constraints of deadlines mean that the important business of the November COGS meeting will not be reported in this column until January 2009. I submitted a report to Diocesan Council last month and that could be requested now from your diocesan regional representative. As we have entered into Advent, my favourite time of the Church Year, I want to continue the theme of Mission upon which COGS is focused whenever the members can free themselves from the distractions around the sexuality debates and other pre-occupations that seem to demand far too much attention. The Council of General Synod hopes that all Canadian Anglicans will come to know, and support with action and prayer, the Five Marks of Mission of the Worldwide Anglican Communion:
- To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God
- To teach, baptize and nurture new believers
- To respond to human need by loving service
- To seek to transform the unjust structures of society
- To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth
Additionally, the Partners in Mission and Ecojustice Standing Committee of COGS is recommending to the Anglican Consultative Council that it consider adding a Sixth Mark of Mission. This relates to the urgent concerns relating to peace, conflict transformation, and reconciliation. It remains to be seen if the Council might add an appropriately worded action statement when it meets in Jamaica in May.
If we adopt these "Marks" as practices in our individual lives, our parishes and Diocese, I am convinced we will be participating in the mission of God "more than we can ask or imagine." Moreover, unless we strive to enact these marks of mission, we will be unable to commit ourselves as individuals and as a church to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Our bishops, particularly our Primate, continue to urge COGS members and all Anglicans, indeed all persons, to promote these goals for the world:
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and empower women
- Reduce child mortality
- Improve maternal health
- Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- Ensure environmental sustainability
- Develop a global partnership for development
Whenever lists of Goals or Actions are made there is a tendency to feel they are too contrived or perhaps facile, and then they have a tendency not to be taken seriously and paid lip service. I am convinced that if we each genuinely internalize the Marks of Mission and the MDGs, our churches will grow, and our lives will be enormously enriched. Our neighbours in an indifferent secular world cannot help but take notice. Most important as we seek to realize the Kingdom of God, we will put our faith into perspective and into action; we will prioritize the issues in which we should be most involved, rather than focus on sexuality, women bishops, conservative dissidents, moratoria and the Province of the Southern Cone. I believe most Anglicans in the Diocese of Kootenay want to be concerned about trying to save our troubled world, promoting justice among all people, and strengthening, or even finding, their personal relationship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ.
I am so very pleased that at COGS we hear urgent and sincere calls for all of us to really pay attention to the Marks of Mission and the MDGs. I hope these will fuel our enthusiasm as we discern God's mission for our National Church, and for this wonderful Diocese at our Synod next May. As the celebration of the birth of our Lord comes near, what better gifts can we offer to the world and lay at the feet of the Christ Child than our commitment to them. Think of them every time you pray “Your Kingdom come, your will be done.” May the Peace of the Christ Child be with you and your loved ones now, and in the New Year ahead.
