Archbishop Philip Freier
4 February 2024
I’m glad that we can start the New Year with our second “Leading your Church into Growth” training. Clergy and lay leaders will join with our local and visiting facilitators to share knowledge that can have immediate impact in our local ministry contexts. We had a great response to the program when it was first offered at the same time last year. I have been encouraged to see these ideas being applied in parishes when I have visited them through the year. I’m also glad that we can share this training with leaders from other dioceses in Victoria, it is always good when we have communities of practice across a diversity of church contexts.
LYCIG has been a very useful resource as we have worked through some of the Reimagining the Future scenarios. Developed in the first instance as a resource for the Church of England it is good that the Diocese of Christchurch in New Zealand started with LYCIG at the same time as us, and now Wellington Diocese has also run a training program. These international networks are a good resource as we participate in the ongoing development of LYCIG. Keep us in mind and in your prayers during the three days of the training that starts on 27 February.
Read more: Planning, prayer and implementation: how this church is working towards growth
The consistent tenor of comments in the correspondence I received at Christmas convinces me that we are all feeling weighty emotions as we contemplate world affairs. Alarm at things that we did not expect to happen in places where we hoped for better outcomes is a shared response in our community. It is also clear that many people are wanting to be agents of change in the world but struggle to find a way to connect their intention with what is going on around them. Our public narratives tend to project our frustration onto our political leaders at the same time as we often fail to recognise the moral failures that lead to so much unhappiness.
James 2.26 is salient, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.” Whether it is English conversation classes for new arrivals to Australia or food and relief programs for the poor and homeless such examples of faith in action have really stood out to me as I visited some of the parishes that participated in the 2023 LYCIG training. Connection between the local community and the things that our faith in Christ calls us to do is powerful. I have also been touched to hear how sincerely and naturally the LYCIG prayer is prayed in parishes that had members attending last year. It is included here for your encouragement and use:
Read more: Pray for the next steps as diocese reimagines the future: Archbishop
“God of Mission who alone brings growth to your church, send your Holy Spirit to give vision to our planning, wisdom to our actions, and power to our witness. Help our church to grow in numbers, in spiritual commitment to you, and in service to our local community, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
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