The task of the Singapore group

Here we are, the eight of us, all joined by a commitment to church planting among the least evangelized. We are addressing the question of how to expand this vision within the Anglican Communion. Here are a few of the issues we are discussing.

One is, oddly, bishops without the vision. The two bishops with us just laugh at that. They know only too well how this is a real obstacle. Ponraj has told us of his situation where he has offered his hundreds of churches to the bishop of that area. His bishop has stalled, been diverted, and has complained of slow committees. In other words...

We agree that we are in an Anglican structure and our first effort would be to work under the bishop. If he is not agreeable with the work, we feel we are morally free to get on with it without him.

Another is awareness raising. How can we get more of the Anglican Communion aware of the neglect of the 1.5 billion people who remain in the dark about Jesus? We will work on that today. We will not be starting from scratch on this. Julian has some ideas. Ponraj is great on getting reports and publishing them. So we'll have some ideas for strategy.

The third is funding. One of the bishops said that, no matter the efforts in Nigeria or wherever, we must look to the US for funds. Later Julian and I were discussing this. He is reading a book called, "When Charity destroys Dignity". It's about generosity and good intentions that bring about negative results in the places and people who are on the receiving end. Specifically Americans stunt growth of Third World churches by denying them the opportunity to invest in their own ministry. If the funds from themselves do not permit new computers and flat screen monitors, so be it.

There is lots of wisdom in this. I hope we can get that across today. Nigerian Anglicans have doubled their size in the last ten years without US money. So how come this situation changes thhings. The point is not to pass the buck, the point is for them to have the pleasure and honor and ownership by raising the funds for themselves.

So stay tuned to see how well theory meets reality! And pray for our wisdom. Thanks.