Yesterday (October 15th) the Synod passed the following resolution:

In view of the Archbishop’s expression of concern in his Presidential address for ‘deserts’ and ‘lost tribes’ in our diocese, and in view of Jesus’ words that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, this synod urges all ministers and leaders in our diocese to put before their people the challenge of the harvest-field that exists within the diocese and to call on men and women to leave the comforts of the familiar to serve as tent-making missionaries in these ‘deserts’ and among these ‘tribes’. This Synod further urges the identification or creation of appropriate organizations dedicated to raising-up, training, deploying and supporting such missionaries within our diocese.

My questions to SA forum members are:
- Have you heard anyone making this challenge (who & where)?
- Do you know of anyone doing this already (ie. becoming tentmaking missionaries).
- Do you know of any organisations that exist ‘dedicated to raising-up, training, deploying and supporting such missionaries’?
- Do you think an organisation should be formed? (If so, how?)

Hi Richard, I think the plot has been lost already with the thoughts of developing more orgs! Instead why isn’t every pew sitter encouraged to be a tent maker in their own right, taking the gospel where ever they go?

Yes a rearrangement of ideas about what church is might have to happen, such as recognizing a working place Bible study / fellowship is church.

Hi Richard, I think the plot has been lost already with the thoughts of developing more orgs!

Developing more orgs with a top-down managment structure is what we Anglicans do best!

and if we dont like the idea, we refer it to a committee to make sure that it doesnt get acted on.

Thanks for your post Richard.

Good questions.

My answer to question 4 is yes!! (unless it is already happening)

who? well just for starters...Richard Blight (toughing it out, Gordon Cheng...tough as...Mark Howard.....tough hardened !!!!

Di

In my experience, and I am an expert on my experience, just like each of you are...-)
Those in leadership, who call on others to do something like being tentmakers
are not prepared to leave the comforts and trappings of their leadership positions-which by the way is only a position-and do it themselves!

What I am suggesting is this...Perhaps those in leadership, should each give, their stipends, housing or housing allowance, cars or car allowances, superannuation and other benefits to the tentmakers and mssionaries, they so earnestly and fervently call upon, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to be our Visionary Servant Leaders and Ministers; and take on the pittance these tentmakers and missionaries often have to live off “in faith”, “knowing that the Lord will provide,” and perhaps we could watch the stampede of enthusiastic leaders who are so keen to set by example; not…

No, until each of us, has a Greater Commitment to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, we shouldn’t be moving motions and calling forth others “to do and be” unless we are prepared ourselves, to lead by example,
and not fall back on the excuse that we are “not called to do this,” but instead we are prepared to really pay, what Jesus referred to, as the Cost of Discipleship and Make A Difference to a Lost and Deeply Hurting World…
Pastor Colin Murdoch
1986 Founder Singles for Christ Australia
www.singlesforchrist.org.au

Colin
With respect that is just a load of unhelpful generalising rubbish.  Which leaders did you have in mind?  Are you saying that “tent-making” is the only valid form of ministry?  Do you really believe that all our leaders in paid ministry positions do not have a great commitment to the great commission, are not prepared to really pay the cost of discipleship, do not make a difference to a lost and deeply hurting world?  Come on, you can make a more constructive contribution than that!
Bob

I seem to detect a bit of cynicism above (and perhaps some bitterness??).

Forming an organisation might sound like a very ‘Anglican’ way to go about things, but in fact some specialist organisations can be very helpful - CMS springs to mind. The job of CMS is to recruit, train, deploy and support missionaries. They send missionaries to North Australia and Overseas. They have decided they are not in the business of sending missionaries to Sydney, so ...

Interesting to note that ‘training’ for any kind of mission work in some parts of Sydney would require as much ‘cross-cultural’ training as OS mission.

But of course such organisations may already exist. They may be churches or another mission society. There may be informal networks.

In response to Colin, I personally don’t see tentmaking above or below full-time paid ministry. I don’t think that tentmaking is (necessarily) the more godly option. My point is that we need both. And to my thinking we comparatively need to work harder to raise up the many more tentmakers we need.

Hi Richard and all others,
Having been in Ministry for many years now, including Parish Ministry, Youth, Children and Young Adult Ministry, Hospital Chaplaincy while doing Clinical Pastoral Education, and being 1986 Founder Singles for Christ - for Single and Single Again Men and Women, I smile when Church Leaders or Laity call upon other Ministers, Student Ministers and Laity to consider whether they are being “called out to a life of being a Tentmaker, Church Planter or Missionary” and do not follow up with providing sufficient financial, practical, housing and other resources...If this is not done, those who offer their time and services, are in danger of becoming disheartened, burnt out, and lost to the Church who has sent them out, unable to minister to the lost and hurting world they are ministering in…

Anyone, in paid or volunteer lay ministry, are committed, to varying degrees, in carrying out the Great Commission and the Great Commandment on a daily basis; and Living out Gods Purpose and calling on their lives with passion, energy, enthusiasm, often beyond the call of duty...My call was to all of us:
We need a Greater Commitment to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment...This does not imply we do not carry this out now, but if we are to have workers for the Missionfield of Sydney, Australia and across the world, this is what we will need, to reach the Lost and Deeply Hurting World as yet unreached by all our efforts…

When I smile, after hearing these Leaders encourage and implore Ministers and Laity to consider either being or raising up others to tentmaker or missionary type situations, some seriously underfunded, I wonder whether they would be prepared to lead by example and be Gods called out people in those situations, they are wanting to raise up people, to be Gods ministers in those places, sometimes under more stressful situations from the outset, because they are under-resourced…

My comments did not put tentmaker or missionary ministers above paid staff in Parish or other ministry situations...It was simply to challenge the thinking
of those Leaders both Ordained and Laity in positions of authority to consider the implications of moving motions that will not affect them one iota,
but if they were to live off underfunded tentmaker or missionary ministry positions, they may not be so quick to move motions so quickly; without considering how this may affect those who feel so called…

Leadership is an “attitude of the heart”, and whether paid ordained and lay staff or unpaid laity/volunteers; are called by God to Live Out His Purposes for Our Life...If we do that, and Live Out The Great Commission and Great Commandment, as we Live with Purpose; that in the end is What Really Matters...Ordinary Christians, Living with Purpose, doing Extraordinary Ministry in His Name…

Pastor Colin Murdoch
Singles for Christ Australia
www.singlesforchrist.org.au
“MAKING A DIFFERENCE”

Richard Blight - 16 October 2008 08:49 AM

My questions to SA forum members are:
- Have you heard anyone making this challenge (who & where)?
- Do you know of anyone doing this already (ie. becoming tentmaking missionaries).
- Do you know of any organisations that exist ‘dedicated to raising-up, training, deploying and supporting such missionaries’?
- Do you think an organisation should be formed? (If so, how?)

At its most obvious level, the organisation that should be raising up, training, deploying and supporting local missionaries is the local parish.
Isnt that what we want our congregations to be doing -using their gifts Ephesians 4 style for ministry, while they financially support themselves?

The ‘problem’ with tent making -is that you have less time to do ministry than those financially supported to do ‘full time’ ministry. That is, unless there is a mindset change to encourage people to see that they can be doing ministry while being around non Christians all day in their secular workplace.

We already have people who cut down their work hours (for example to 3 or 4 days a week) to free up time to serve in their church.
We already have people in many parishes (especially women) who are supported by their husbands so they can teach scripture, and serve with many other church activities.
We already have many people who raise their own support from other Christians so they can do full time ministry -eg. AFES people and other student workers, and many missionaries raise their own support.
I don’t think we need a new organisation to do this. We need people to be rebuked and inspired, and many more offer to serve.
We need to challenge people to take their eyes off themselves and the building of their castles, to fix their eyes on Jesus and the building of his kingdom.

Colin Murdock - 17 October 2008 12:23 AM

Having been in Ministry for many years now, including Parish Ministry, Youth, Children and Young Adult Ministry, Hospital Chaplaincy while doing Clinical Pastoral Education, and being 1986 Founder Singles for Christ - for Single and Single Again Men and Women, I smile when Church Leaders or Laity call upon . . .

Colin, whether you intend it or not, that comes across as very patronising—as if your experience is somehow more valid than the equally vast experience of many in our diocese including many in the synod.  That includes clergy like me who may never have been tent-makers technically, but spent years as highly involved lay people who worked a full-time load, raised families and gave hours and hours a week to gospel ministry, or who worked in full-time gospel ministry on part-time incomes.  The effective dismissal of the commitment and experience of your brothers and sisters in vocational ministry is very disappointing.

When I smile, after hearing these Leaders encourage and implore Ministers and Laity to consider either being or raising up others to tentmaker or missionary type situations, some seriously underfunded, I wonder whether they would be prepared to lead by example and be Gods called out people in those situations, they are wanting to raise up people, to be Gods ministers in those places, sometimes under more stressful situations from the outset, because they are under-resourced.

More unhelpful generalisations.  Who are “these leaders”?  To criticise anonymous people for their failures is a lot like saying “they oughta do something about that”—who oughta?  If you have particular leaders in mind then have the courage to be specific in your criticisms.  Then we can seriously engage with them.  But what you’ve written serves no purpose other than for you to get your frustrations off your chest.

It was simply to challenge the thinking of those Leaders . . . to consider the implications of moving motions that will not affect them one iota . . . they may not be so quick to move motions so quickly; without considering . . .

Which leaders?  How do you know what they have or haven’t considered?  How do you know that the motions they have moved will not affect them, perhaps deeply?  Do you really think that motions that have come to us 6 years into a 10 year process have been moved quickly, and without consideration?

I can only conclude that you either have NO idea of the process that our diocese has been engaged in over the last few years, how much thought and effort has gone into it, how deeply committed our leaders are to the gospel of Christ, what sacrifices many of them have made already in his service, etc.—or you choose wilfully to ignore all that because of your own agenda.

Bob

For those who are unsure what tentmaking is, there is an article here:

http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/southerncross/articles/why_we_need_more_tentmakers/

Richard

I hope you realised that I was very serious about the need for action. I just have no idea if anyone is doing anything at this stage.

cheers Di

Richard
Thanks for the link to the article—is the author any relation to you? :-)
I’d be interested to hear you unpack this sentence a little:

At the same time there is a particular stage of life where we ought to be encouraging people to make the decision to be tentmakers and to begin more intensive training.

When is that stage in your view, and what makes it particularly opportune?

OK Bob, guilty as charged. . . I’m still banging the drum.

Interestingly enough, a few more people know what ‘tentmaking’ is since Driscoll suggested we need more young entrepeneurial tentmaking churchplanters.

So Richard, what’s your answer to my question re the opportune stage to be/become a tentmaker?