Report of the Mission Committee of the Synod of the Atlantic Provinces
October 2016
“...left to ourselves we lapse into a kind of collusion with entropy, acquiescing in the general belief that things may be getting worse but that there's nothing much we can do about them. And we are wrong. Our task in the present...is to live as resurrection people in between Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second.”
―N.T. Wright,Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
We set ourselves an ambitious set of goals last year, and we still have some way to go to meet our transformation as a missions committee of this synod. We were too ambitious, but we intend to keep trying.
Communication and finding ways to effectively meet continues to be our major issue. We have not met as planned and so our initial hope s of being the working example to other committees of how to handle distance meeting has not worked out.
We do now have some centralized record keeping, and with the advent to two new initiatives we hope our outward communication will make up for the shortcomings of our inward communication.
Stemming from last years report an appeal for your mission stories was launched during this past summer. We are thankful for the Synod’s response in its presbyteries, congregations & individuals. The inflow of stories has resulted in setting a new email address for the Mission Committee of the Synod of Atlantic Provinces, so future emails should be directed to:
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This should clear up the course of communication, especially since there could be a transition in the convenership at any time.
Your stories have been compiled and a newsletter of your stories has been composed. It is available while at Synod and can be sent out to your congregations through email or post. An online version is also in development.
Some items are listed in briefs as missions to keep in prayer, and while these are brief synopsis of larger stories, the full story of these mission programs and projects will be included in a web page in development that will branch from the Synod of the Atlantic provinces website.
The standing mandate for mission in the Synod of the Atlantic Provinces includes:
1. Justice Ministries
2. Relations with the Life and Mission Agency and PWS & D
3. Canada Ministries
4. Rural Ministry
5. Coordination with the Atlantic Mission Society
6. Coordination with the Synod Staff Person, arranging for deputations within the Presbyteries of the Synod
- Maintaining the Synod Audio-Visual Library
- Developing a Synod Mission Strategy
The last item on this list encompasses the others, and this year. Along with asking for your stories of mission to continue to be shared we are seeking to circulate three questions for study and response.
1. What should be the regional (Synod) approach to ministry and mission?
2. What resources for mission are available throughout our region and what might be the best way of coordinating resource material and people ?
3. What training or equipment do you see as necessary to empower mission and ministry in Atlantic Canada through the Presbyterian Church in Canada?
The answers we receive to these questions will help in our continued development of a Mission Strategy and in engaging in new and innovative ministry opportunities as they arise.
Our prayers continue to be with the Rev. Dawn Griffith, and we are glad to see have Rob Griffith to the committee.
We have received positive correspondence from both Coverdale and the Atlantic Ministry of the Deaf. A display that includes some of this material is in the information area. We offer the following recommendations
Recommendation 1: That the donation to the Atlantic Ministry of the Deaf be upheld at $2,000.00 for 2016.
Recommendation 2: That a representative of the Atlantic Ministry of the Deaf be invited to speak at next year’s Synod meeting.
Recommendation 3: That the 2016 donation to Coverdale be $6,000.00, to be equally divided between Coverdale, Halifax, NS and Coverdale, Saint John, NB.
Recommendation 4: That a representative from Coverdale be invited to speak at Synod in 2018.
Finally, once again the Mission Committee prepared a Synod bulletin insert. The committee hopes the congregations continue to find it helpful in understanding the work place of Synod within the Presbyterian Church in Canada. We would welcome questions we could answer through this insert or through the mission newsletter.
Recommendation 5: That Synod grant the Synod Mission Committee a budget of $3,500.00 for 2016.
Respectively submitted
Rev. ‘Sandy’ A.D. Sutherland, Acting Convener
“He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15 NIV