Melbourne\u2019s Anglican Archbishop Ric Thorpe challenged his flock to grow thousands of leaders to grow the church in an address at Ridley College this month. The Archbishop\u2019s 2026 Anglican Institute Lecture on\u00a0Discernment and Partnerships: Renewal for the Diocese of Melbourne\u00a0highlighted a plentiful harvest with too few workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The full lecture:<\/p>\n
An excerpt:<\/p>\n
Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.<\/p>\n
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And then he said to his disciples, \u201cThe harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.\u201d\u00a0Matthew 9:35\u201338<\/p>\n
I think this\u00a0passage of\u00a0scripture\u00a0is a passage\u00a0for us in this moment in Melbourne.\u00a0Let me\u00a0just\u00a0explore that a little bit.\u00a0One of the emerging strands is that\u00a0there are just\u00a0so many opportunities\u00a0that the church has\u00a0to impact this place.\u00a0Jesus\u2019 words, \u201cthe harvest is plentiful.\u201d I think he\u2019s encouraging us to look up, to look up at the harvest. \u2026<\/p>\n
We are crowded out. We\u2019re weighed down by the burdens of life, ministry and circumstances, but Jesus says, \u201cLook up, the harvest is plentiful.\u201d And this is so important for us to begin to see with Jesus\u2019 eyes.\u00a0There is a harvest of people who are ready to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ\u00a0in Melbourne, Geelong and beyond,\u00a0right now, but we cannot see it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The harvest is plentiful. It\u2019s massive. And Jesus\u2019 analysis, I think, of our situation is that we\u2019re not ready to respond to the harvest. It\u2019s a message for every generation of the church because he knows. He knows what it\u2019s like.\u00a0We\u00a0just\u00a0don\u2019t have enough people for that.\u00a0We don\u2019t have enough people for what we\u2019re doing, let alone that. Isn\u2019t that right?<\/p>\n
Where are they going to come from, all these people? What the potential is \u2013 we can\u2019t do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And yet Jesus is saying, \u201cI\u2019m inviting you to think differently about this.\u201d So here\u2019s the thing: you cannot do it the way you\u2019re doing it right now.\u00a0This is really hard for us to hear because we work\u00a0really\u00a0hard at what\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0doing.\u00a0The workers are few, and it\u2019s not anyone\u2019s fault. It\u2019s not a blame thing. It\u2019s just a thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So the opportunity, well, let\u2019s listen to Jesus. He says, \u201cLet me find it.\u201d He says, \u201cAsk the Lord of the harvest, therefore to send out workers into his harvest field.\u201d This is the most extraordinary opportunity we have. I\u2019m going to use that word. You\u2019re going to be bored with me saying \u201cintentional\u201d. We have to be intentional about praying for workers.<\/p>\n
This is Jesus saying, \u201cThis is what we must do. \u201d And I think it\u2019s one of the keys for us to address the opportunities of the harvest, is praying to the Lord of the harvest for him to send out workers\u2026<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not necessarily\u00a0for\u00a0us\u00a0to have\u00a0more workers or\u00a0for us to have\u00a0more people, but actually\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0for\u00a0people\u00a0to be sent\u00a0out into the harvest field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I\u2019ve been a church leader, I know this. If only we had more workers, if only we had a bit more money to pay for workers, if only we had some of the right people, they\u2019ve got loads of people.\u00a0I wish\u00a0we had\u00a0some of them\u00a0to\u00a0come and help us.\u00a0They\u2019ve got too many people, and we\u2019ve got too few if, if, if, if only.<\/p>\n
And Jesus, I think he invites us to step into this gap between opportunity and what\u2019s the reality, the harvest and our own situation. And that gap is the step of faith. That gap is the prayer of faith. It\u2019s saying, \u201cGod, you want us to live in that space beyond our own current situation rather than living in our current space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, I\u2019m not giving any easy answers here, but I\u00a0just\u00a0want us to hold that discomfort because I think Jesus is inviting us to pray out of\u00a0that discomfort\u2026<\/p>\n
Prayer<\/p>\n
Prayer through everything. We\u2019re just hearing it again and again and again. It\u2019s the number one thing in listening and lent. We want to have a diocese that\u2019s praying. They\u2019re saying, \u201cWe want our archbishop who\u2019s going to lead prayer.\u201d I\u2019m really happy to do that, but\u00a0all of us are\u00a0caught up.<\/p>\n
We want to be a prayerful diocese,\u00a0prayer\u00a0through everything. We\u2019re to pray. We\u2019re to learn to pray. We need to learn what to pray\u00a0and\u00a0we are to activate our prayers for workers in particular. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers.\u00a0And you know this better than\u00a0me, but the\u00a0surprise\u00a0answer to the prayer\u00a0that\u00a0Jesus encourages his disciples to pray is, you are the answer to the prayers.<\/p>\n
The numbers<\/p>\n
In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus called his 12 disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s run the numbers for a moment. So your church has a small group of 10 people. There\u2019s a leader, and maybe there\u2019s an assistant leader or a training and apprentice leader. So it\u2019s two out of 10. So that\u2019s 20% of people already involved in leadership.\u00a0There might be other people in the church who have other leadership roles in the PCC\u00a0or whatever.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s call it 25%. 25% of your church\u00a0are\u00a0already in leadership positions. So then, actually, if you want to take into account attrition, so\u00a0some people might be getting older, some people might be finishing the race, some people might be moving cities. So maybe we need to train a few more.\u00a0So let\u2019s say it\u2019s 30 or a bit more than 30% of people we need to\u00a0be training, but then if we want to grow and\u00a0if we want to\u00a0plant,\u00a0then\u00a0we\u2019re going to need more leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So we started thinking about this in our church in Shadwell\u00a0in\u00a0East London, and we realised\u00a0that\u00a0we needed to\u00a0be training40% of our church.\u00a0We were a church-planting church, so we needed to train 40% of our people in\u00a0leadership development\u00a0of\u00a0some kind or another..<\/p>\n
There are 17,000 people in this diocese. Can someone run the maths on 40% of 17,000? Thank you. So 6,800.\u00a0We need 6,800 leaders in our churches to\u00a0just\u00a0keep going at the moment.\u00a0And I would say we\u2019re probably nowhere near that at the moment. I haven\u2019t run those numbers yet, but I think we know that instinctively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So there\u2019s a huge opportunity to up our game. We need theological colleges to step in and partner with the diocese in a new way to say, actually, how are we going to increase the flow of people being trained theologically and deeply in this way?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2026 The scriptures, I think, address this need.\u00a0I often go back to Jethro\u2019s advice to Moses in Exodus 18 or Paul\u2019s advice to Timothy\u00a0and\u00a02 Timothy\u00a0chapter\u00a02.\u00a0Both talk about the need to develop leaders, both talk about skills that need to be imparted and character that needs to be formed. Good character must be formed, and it must be formed early.\u00a0I [have] encountered too many people where there is a character flaw that is emerging in later ministry.<\/p>\n
And one of the issues is that underneath that flaw, you can never teach into that flaw, say it\u2019s anger. You can\u2019t teach on anger ever because you either can\u2019t see it or you don\u2019t have the right to speak about it. And there are a lot of anger issues that are not dealt with because of that. That\u2019s because a character flaw wasn\u2019t addressed early on. It\u2019s much easier to address these things early on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And so we need to be really leaning into character development\u00a0of\u00a0formation of people\u00a0and\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0going on\u00a0already,\u00a0which is\u00a0wonderful.\u00a0I\u00a0just\u00a0want to say we need to keep on leaning into that, but for this kind of breadth, but also skills.\u00a0Skills need to be taught throughout ministry\u2026<\/p>\n
How do we train church planters? How do we train teachers in the church? How do we equip the whole church, the 6,800 who are going to need equipping,\u00a0so\u00a0that they can pass on their skills to other people? So this is\u00a0where\u2019s the place whereleaders learn how to break through glass ceilings in churches?<\/p>\n
So if a church stays\u00a0at\u00a0around 40 or 50 people,\u00a0actually,\u00a0you can break through that if you are trained\u00a0how\u00a0to do it.\u00a0And it\u2019s often not about something spiritual, it\u2019s about the skill of the leader themselves and the context in which they need to read that situation. And it\u2019s not on that person. There are glass ceilings at 50, 100, 120, 180 to 200, 200 to 400, 400, to 800. They all involve different ways to lead. And we have to impart that training so that people can learn either how to manage\u00a0in\u00a0a particular level, an appropriate level, or to take a church that we feel has the potential to grow in a particular place. \u2026<\/p>\n
So we know we need them, but what kind do we need? And I believe there are broadly three groups of people that might fit into this need. First of all, we need clergy who are fit for mission. Secondly, we need lay leaders, authorised lay leaders as well, who play their part in multiplying ministry in the church, in evangelism, in disciple making and developing leaders. And we need lay people who are sent into the world to pray your kingdom come in every walk and sector of life, in schools, in hospitals, in banks, in train driver cabbies, amongst carers, gardeners, full-time parents, whatever the place God has called us to be in. We need to be equipped to say, Lord, your kingdom come here. And how can we as a church release those people, send those people to be confident disciples and leaders in their contexts? \u2026<\/p>\n
This is about\u00a0sending people into the world. And I know you know this, but how do we equip people in those words at the end of a service where we say, \u201cGo in peace and love and serve the Lord.\u201d How are we doing that?<\/p>\n
What are the ways we\u2019re equipping people? And I think there\u2019s the potential to look at that gap that I think is often there to say, what does it mean for people who are influencing their offices, their places of work in various settings, schools, [there\u2019s] a huge opportunity to influence in schools.\u00a0How do we equip people for those places\u00a0intentionally?\u00a0How do we help them to reflect theologically on their own calling and the work that they\u2019re called to do, not just thinking vocation into ministry in the church, but ministry in the world? How do we help them shape a Christian worldview for the church? And again, in this context, I want to say to theological colleges, we need you to help us with thought leadership.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve got the theologians in your midst. You\u2019ve got the thinkers, you\u2019ve got the space and time to be able to go, let\u2019s look at some of these really challenging subjects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What about freedom of speech? That\u2019s a major deal in Australia at the moment. We\u2019ve got the answers to that. Christendom is behind freedom of speech, and yet I\u2019m not hearing us. Maybe it\u2019s me, I don\u2019t know, but we need to be\u00a0thinking [about]\u00a0how we equip the church for this space? Immigration is a\u00a0major [issue]\u00a0at the moment. The development of this city, town planning, you\u2019ve got major problems. I\u2019m a Melbournian now.\u00a0We\u2019ve got major problems\u00a0in\u00a0the next 25 years because the city has\u00a0not\u00a0been well planned.\u00a0What do we have to say about that?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gender identity is a massive issue, but at the moment, we\u2019re not having good discussions and conversations about it from different sides of the argument to say, actually, what is a view that we can say as the church, where there are different views, but actually, that we are known for our love for one another and known for those who are struggling with our identities.<\/p>\n
Just war. Oh my goodness. Talk about a minefield. Just war is about what you go into, why you go into a war, but also how you sustain it, how you behave inside it and equally how you come out of it. When you think about whether a war is just, you think about the end and coming out of it as much as the beginning. These are just massive ethical issues that we need you.\u00a0We need\u00a0you colleges\u00a0to be thinking about this and leading the way in thought leadership.<\/p>\n
Let me\u00a0just\u00a0riff on that space a little bit as well.\u00a0An observation of mine is that the only place we have theological debate across the breadth of the church is in Synod [Church parliament]<\/p>\n
And I\u2019ve had the great fortune of not having been in one of your Synods yet, but that Synod is the only place at the moment you have for theological debate across divides and Synods, I have to say, is not the place for this kind of thing.\u00a0It is set up for parliamentary-style debate and argument rather than\u00a0having\u00a0the chance to wrestle together over a longer\u00a0and more considered period of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Previous Synods, going back in history, took weeks and months, because they\u00a0did have\u00a0the time and gave\u00a0the\u00a0time to wrestle with theological\u00a0things.\u00a0And by the way, even when they met, sometimes it took centuries for them to work it out.<\/p>\n
Now, I know social media has\u00a0kind of\u00a0sped things up a bit, but we need to give ourselves some grace in actually providing other places for us to do that.\u00a0And so with Ridley [College] and Trinity [College] in the room as starters, I want to encourage you, let\u2019s find some spaces where we can have those loving conversations where we have the chance to listen to each other and the chance to work through things and explore what are the weaknesses in our positions, but also\u00a0the opportunities of finding common ground, but also reasoned positions that might well be very, very different.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve got those three areas, clergy, lay leaders for ministry and lay leaders sent into the world, I think there\u2019s a strand that might feed all three of those that we need to boost up as well, and that\u2019s apprenticeships. This is about feeders into those three areas of leaders and creating opportunities for them. Some churches have various opportunities in this\u00a0area,\u00a0for apprentices.\u00a0Rhys [Bezzant, the Ridley College Principal] kindly introduced me to some of the different\u00a0language\u00a0around this, but perhaps, apprentices might be more associated with campus groups, trainees\u00a0might be associated\u00a0with some churches, interns with others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a way, I\u2019m talking about the whole kaboodle, that kind of great word and\u00a0just\u00a0say, this is an opportunity to develop people when they\u2019re younger, as they think about going into some\u00a0kind of\u00a0vocation, even into the world.\u00a0And there are different opportunities,\u00a0different expectations\u00a0of\u00a0this, and many of those apprenticeship years involve study\u00a0in\u00a0your colleges.<\/p>\n
So for that, I thank you.\u00a0But I also think there\u2019s an opportunity here\u00a0in order\u00a0to meet the needs of the harvest that God has before us in Melbourne and Geelong and in this diocese, apprenticeships are going to supercharge vocation and ministry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And if they\u2019re framed right, they help those people to discern the nature and direction of their own vocation because we need people not just in the church. We do need people in the world to be equipped and sent into that place. So you\u2019re already training people and forming people for mission, both here in this college and Trinity [College] and in our churches.\u00a0You\u2019re doing this, but my invitation is to ensure that you are forming disciples for today\u2019s mission and tomorrow\u2019s\u00a0mission, and\u00a0it\u00a0is changing fast.\u00a0We need to\u00a0be thinking\u00a0ahead rather than just\u00a0looking\u00a0back at what worked before.\u00a0So my invitation to everyone in this room and those online is,\u00a0how can we do this in partnership\u00a0together?<\/p>\n
Image: Archbishop Ric Thorpe delivers the 2026 Anglican Institute Lecture on\u00a0Discernment and Partnerships: Renewal for the Diocese of Melbourne. Image Credit: screenshot from Ridleyy College video<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne\u2019s Anglican Archbishop Ric Thorpe challenged his flock to grow thousands of leaders to grow the church in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[31585,31586,31587,31588,260],"class_list":["post-37999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-anglicans","tag-christian-mission","tag-christian-news","tag-evangelism","tag-melbourne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}