Over the past 173 years, volunteers have been essential to the success of ABM. These volunteers have done and do many things. One group, the Diocesan Representatives, specifically promotes ABM within the dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia and raises awareness about and funds for the work ABM does with our partners.

Resourcing these volunteers is an important part of our mission work and so we gather them each year for a conference, which took place in Brisbane this year. We were the guests of Holy Trinity, Woolloongabba, a parish on the south side of the river right next to the Gabba, the multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane that is mainly used for cricket matches and AFL games.

ABM’s Executive Director, the Rev’d Dr John Deane and Key Relationships Unit staff (Meagan Schwarz and Robert McLean) alongside the Rev’d Canon Stephen Daughtry (Education Missioner) met with six Diocesan Representatives in person and two via Zoom. Other staff members, including Michael Begaud (Marketing and Communications), Lina Magallanes (AID Head of Programs), and Brad Chapman (Reconciliation Missioner), took part in the conference via Zoom.

The Diocesan Representatives heard presentations from the staff and asked questions about areas of ABM and AID’s work that they wanted to learn more about.

A highlight of the meeting was Stephen Daughtry leading a discussion about the ABM of the future – a “visioning exercise”. The Diocesan Representatives were asked to think about how ABM might do things differently to thrive in the next quarter century. As we know, things are changing quickly as the Church in this country and overseas finds itself in a rather different place from twenty-five years ago. New, creative, flexible ways will be needed to take both the Church and ABM into the future, just as they were in apostolic times when men and women took the Good News of Jesus Christ to the known world.

The Conference culminated in a dinner attended by over 70 people in Holy Trinity’s parish hall. Archbishop Jeremy and his three Assistant Bishops (the Rt Rev’ds Sarah Plowman, John Roundhill, and Cam Venables) took part in a panel discussion on the changing nature of mission. Each reflected on how mission has changed since they were ordained – a couple noting that nowadays it was not unusual to be asked what their job is even when wearing clerical collars. A lively discussion followed, a key point of which was the need to attend to and look after our own spirituality before we can tell the story of what God has done in our lives. Another was that Christians need to prioritise listening and humility. The days of triumphalist assertions and cries of ‘No. You’re wrong!’ from the Church or the individual believer need to be replaced by admitting that we may not have all the answers. In fact, we may sometimes be wrong.

The dinner left many of us very hopeful for the Church’s future.

Thank you to the Rev’d Eron Perry and the Brisbane diocesan committee for creating such a splendid and interesting opportunity to hear from the bishops and one another about mission in our own time and place as we walk together into the future.