I asked parishioners at St. Stephen’s, Ottawa, to comment on the 5 marks of mission in terms of where we the church are now and where they’d like it to be in 2019. I didn’t get many responses but the following is what was written:
Mark 1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom.
“I would like to see our Church Army have more prominence in our Anglican Church. Anglican Church do more with other churches. We do some now through World Council of Churches, Women’s Interchurch Council, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, West End Chaplaincy, i.e. choirs together to raise money, etc. We could do much more together. Maybe there are other joint activities that could be mentioned in the Lenten Calendar?? I’m glad Church Army is working with Billy Graham people.”
Mark 2. To teach, baptize, nurture new believers.
No comments.
Mark 3. To respond to human need by loving service.
“E.C. Ca Human Take This Bread”
“We need to reach out much more to people of different religions. There is only one God. We need to ‘go forth and be the church in the world’.”
“Poverty in Canada continues to increase. Christ’s example is SCREAMING at His followers to DO as He DID. When is the Anglican Church going to do so?”
Mark 4. To seek to transform unjust structures of society.
“The Anglican Church needs to revisit earlier efforts made to look at our ‘faith and cultural diversity’ in Canada. This includes our outstanding failure at honouring the humanity of our Aboriginal brothers and sisters.”
“Read Bishop Eric Bays book ‘Another Picture.’”
“We need to rethink our Justice System…More to prevent crime and more Restorative Justice.”
Mark 5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.
“We need to encourage more reuse, recycle and use less. We are a very wasteful society.”
I wish there had been more response but this didn’t seem to engage people.
