Synod 2023
Presidential Charge to Thirty-Seventh Synod of the Diocese of the Northern Territory
An unusual synod
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is an unusual Presidential Charge to synod. It is part of an unusual synod in this diocese. Not as unusual as the 2019 synod which was conducted electronically during the COVID period, but the first at least for many years, that hasn’t begun on a Friday night and continued across Saturday and Sunday. Some synods in the past have been shorter, starting on Saturday morning, and even on two occasions just taking one day.
But this synod is unusual in beginning on a Thursday night, and ending on a Saturday. The thinking behind this is that the life of our parishes is central to what happens in the diocese, and to make Sunday morning church in our parishes difficult or impossible to attend, particularly for clergy, and even more particularly for clergy from the parishes outside Darwin, over the synod weekend, seems to go against what we want to support and strengthen. So we are running the experiment this year and we can work out whether it is a better way of running and worth repeating in future years. Doing synod this new way means we have a few hours less than we have in most of the synods of the last ten or fifteen years, and one way of saving on time was to record this presidential charge and distribute it before synod, as well as not beginning with a longish church service. All that we do, of course, in synod as well as in our churches, should be evaluated and tested, so that we keep getting better at what we do.
A new strategic plan
One of the motions coming before us at synod is to endorse a revised strategic plan for the next few years. This plan has been worked on by leaders in the diocese and diocesan office staff over the last two years. On looking back at my first presidential charge as bishop in 2015, I saw six strategic areas that I felt we needed to work on in a focused way across the diocese: encouraging evangelism, cross-cultural integration, strengthening partnerships, reviewing our diocesan structures, our interface with the wider community, and encouraging leaders. Most of these found their way into the strategic plan for 2017-2021 in various ways, and have had good outcomes. Some of course continue to be strategic every year not just for a short time, and we must maintain them. Evangelism, for example, may have different forms in different places, but one of our ongoing tasks as Christians is to support the sharing of the good news, including being ready ourselves to give an account for the hope that we have because of God’s saving work through Jesus Christ. It is always strategic to encourage evangelism.
One of the goals of the new strategic plan that we will look at during synod is to be simpler and clearer than the previous one. The vision statement is designed to be easy to remember so that every member of the diocese can say what it is: “Growing communities in the love of Jesus Christ”. This simple vision statement includes a lot. We want our churches to be communities that grow, both in number and depth of discipleship and commitment. But we also want our churches to be agents that God uses to help the communities around us to grow in good ways. The saving work of God through Jesus is an expression of God’s love – “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”. But the knowledge of the God who has been revealed in the Bible and in the Son has become so obscured in our contemporary world that it is more focused to draw attention to the love of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul speaks of the Son of God, “who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20) and in Romans 8:35 of the truth that “nothing can separate us from the love of Christ”. To know the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:39) is foundational for our wellbeing as Christians, as well as giving glory to God by recognising his character. But in the happy ambiguity of the English language (as in the Greek language of the New Testament), there is a double meaning in “growing…in the love of Jesus Christ”. We want people not just to experience that they are loved by Jesus, but to increase in their own love for Jesus. “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). And we want the communities around our churches to understand that Jesus loves us, so that they will love him too, and give themselves to him in loyalty and trust.
The former strategic plan had three objectives, but this new one simplifies down to two. They are basically that we do what we can to strengthen the ministry of our churches, and we do what we can to strengthen the support structures around them. The objectives have more detail than the previous version on who is responsible for the various actions we think will help our ministries and structures, and how we can measure what we are achieving. Significantly, we no longer have a separate strategic objective relating to the Aboriginal churches of the diocese, but instead we are seeing those churches (precious and important as they are in our life together) as having the same needs, goals and methods, broadly speaking, as the non-Aboriginal churches. We want all of our churches to have good leaders, to have good worship together, to be supporting evangelism, to be trying new things, and relating to the communities around them.
Other matters before the synod
There are other important matters for us to consider at this synod. One is about the membership of Diocesan Council (the Diocesan Council Ordinance Amendment Ordinance). On p. 20 of our synod books, the reasons for this proposed change are set out. In short, the change would be to remove the Administrator and Registrar as ex officio voting members of Diocesan Council. (If the bishop is absent from the diocese for an extended period, or finishes, the Administrator would become a member and the Chair of Diocesan Council through the Administrator of the Diocese Ordinance, so that is covered off.) We are dealing with this idea early in synod, because it might affect the nominations for election of Diocesan Council.
The other amendment ordinance (the Parishes Ordinance Amendment Ordinance) is to clarify what gives a parishioner the right to vote at a church’s annual meeting (see p.55 of our synod books). The change would specify how often the person must attend church in the preceding year in order to be a voter at the annual meeting. In some dioceses there is an electoral roll, but we are not trying to go down that track. What the change tries to avoid is people having a right to vote at the annual meeting who have really been only occasional attenders at church. The amendment ordinance also specifies more clearly what reports can be brought to the church’s annual meeting.
As usual, we are asked to adopt changed church laws passed at General (national) Synod that affect the life of the church in our diocese, and to assent to changes to our national church Constitution. The reasons for these changes are set out in our Synod books (see p. 54-55).
There are also some other motions that we must consider and vote on, and more detailed explanations of them are given in our Synod books (pp. 63-66). Three of these endorse resolutions of the General Synod in 2022, affirming the traditional definition of unchastity, affirming singleness as a valuable and honourable state, and expressing that our views about marriage and sexuality are part of our church doctrine. A fourth motion expresses solidarity with the newly formed Diocese of the Southern Cross. A fifth motion asks as to stop paying the Special Assessment to the General Synod, given that a large proportion of that payment supports the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC). A glimpse of what the ACC gives its attention to can be found by looking at the report from the 2023 meeting in Ghana (https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/498578/en_ACC18_Resolutions-and-Statements-of-Support.pdf). The ACC recognises the tensions with the Anglican Communion, but does not set out a clear response, apart from valuing walking together to the greatest degree possible despite the significant theological differences. A report that came to the ACC 2023 meeting on this particular matter can be found at https://acc18.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/Reports/en/en_dept_IASCUFO_Good-Differentiation.pdf. To support this motion would not make very much difference financially to the General Synod, but it would be a gesture that would be noticed in the national church, and would place us in company with the Dioceses of Armidale, Bathurst, North West Australia, Sydney and The Murray. It is worth saying that Sydney Diocese uses the equivalent that it would have given in the Special Assessment to support ministries of its own choosing, and our diocese has benefited significantly from that support.
The wider Anglican Church
Part of the context of these motions coming to our synod for deliberation and decision-making is the ongoing and increasing tension within the Anglican Church nationally and the
Anglican Communion internationally. We find ourselves in a denomination that includes a wide range of theological approaches, including ways of understanding and interpreting the Bible, views about the nature of the Bible’s authority, issues of sin, salvation, judgement, and the role of Jesus. This range is present in our own diocese, and causes pain. My own view is that our Anglican foundations are quite clear on many points, as set out in various documents, such as our national Constitution (particularly its Fundamental Declarations and Ruling Principles as can be seen on p.2 of https://anglican.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Green-Book-Master-190722-for-printer.pdf), with its commitment to the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles. However, many church leaders, including bishops in our own country and across the (mostly Western, English-speaking) world take a different view. It may be helpful to remember that these differences are not new. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Honest to God by English bishop John A.T. Robinson – this book set out Robinson’s belief that the only way of saving the Church of England from certain death was to abandon traditional beliefs in the “God out there”, and to adopt beliefs that were less out-of-step with modern science and philosophy.
The Australian Anglican bishops have in the last two years increased the number of their meetings from once a year to twice a year, in an attempt to have more time together to discuss these matters and to try to find a way forward, along with talking about a range of other issues. The next meeting is in late October in Ballarat, and the one after that in March in Bendigo. So far, we do not seem close to a resolution.
In our own Australian context, two significant events since our last diocesan synod have been the vote at General Synod not to accept a doctrinal statement brought by members of Sydney Diocese which affirmed a traditional view of marriage as between one man and one woman and ruled out the blessing of same-sex marriages, and the establishment of the Diocese of the Southern Cross (which I mentioned before, in the light of the motion about it for us to consider). Famously, in the General Synod, the doctrinal statement was approved by the majority of the lay and clergy representatives, but narrowly not approved by the bishops (ten votes for, twelve against, with at least one abstention) and therefore lost overall. The result of this was that the Anglican doctrine of marriage remained as it was before, but the possibility of blessing same-sex marriage remained open, following the finding of the Appellate Tribunal in 2020 which I mentioned last synod. This said that such blessings were not against the doctrine of the church, by defining ‘doctrine’ in quite a narrow way.
Since then, the launch of the Diocese of the Southern Cross has added to the tension. Parishes in the Diocese of Brisbane and the Diocese of Bunbury have split, with their ordained senior leaders and some church members leaving their geographical diocese, and joining the new body. Other non-Anglican churches have also joined. The tipping points have been different in different places, but the Diocese of the Southern Cross joins other churches overseas that claim to remain Anglican, are recognised as Anglican by some within the Anglican Communion, but are not recognised by the leaders of the Anglican Communion. For example, bishops from these churches were not invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Lambeth Conference of the world’s Anglican bishops in 2022. At the same time, something like a quarter of the world’s Anglican bishops boycotted Lambeth to express their view that by attending they would be endorsing views that they did not believe were acceptable according to historical biblical standards. Annette and I chose to attend the Lambeth Conference, and enjoyed meeting bishops from many different countries, including some from similar dioceses to the Northern Territory.
Meanwhile, the Church of England this year has moved towards providing prayers for couples who are in a same-sex marriage. These prayers seem not yet to have finally been endorsed, but there is controversy about exactly how they might be endorsed. And even the willingness to move forward with the process has led a number of Anglican dioceses and national churches to declare that they can no longer acknowledge the Archbishop of Canterbury as their figurehead spiritual leader.
There seems to be little changing of minds on these matters, and so a key point in the debate and discussion is what the limits to our Christian unity are. How long can we walk together, and at what point would it be right to say that we cannot walk together.
I have been asked why the current matters are such a big deal – why has our division crystallised over these issues, when other tensions have been around for a long time? There are a number of answers – one is that these matters are very concrete rather than abstract, another is that the Bible’s voice on these matters is less diverse than on some other contested areas, and expresses God’s judgment, so that people’s salvation is on view.
In short, these issues, and the theological diversity underlying them, are likely to continue and perhaps get worse in the years ahead. Unity is an important goal for the church, but it is not the greatest one. There is New Testament teaching about the need for separation at times. But the challenge is to work out when those times are, exactly, and there is not unity about that either. It is not at clear how all this will end up in our national church, but it is a big matter for us to pray about frequently.
The health of our churches
At the same time that these challenges are going on, so many good things are happening in the churches of the Northern Territory. When I began as bishop almost nine years ago, one statistic quoted to me (perhaps not reliable) was that there were less than ten people aged between 18 and 30 attending church across the whole diocese. Even if the number was actually higher, there has been significant increase in that demographic in the last couple of years across many parishes. There are growing children and youth ministries in many parishes, and Naomi Ireland’s work as Diocesan Children’s Ministry Officer, funded by BCA, is a great encouragement in this area. The second Kids’ Ministry Workers Conference for leaders in the remote parishes will occur immediately after this Synod.
We are blessed with high quality parish leaders, both ordained and lay. At our clergy conference (Clericon) this year, which was open to ministry families as well as clergy and lay stipendiary workers, we counted that there were more than forty children in ministry families in the diocese, compared with nine when I began as bishop. I praise God for these developments. It was a great encouragement to look around the gathering at Clericon to see who God had brought here, in parish ministry, chaplaincies of various kinds, missionary service, as well as those who have been raised up within the Territory, especially in the remote Aboriginal congregations. I thank God for the obvious signs of mutual care, respect and affection among our leaders.
There are some terrific innovations in the last couple of years as well as good things continuing with ongoing stability. Evening congregations have begun at the cathedral and Alice Springs. Food for Life ministries continue in Sanderson, Palmerston and Batchelor and provide real benefit to those who use that service. Mega, the annual school holiday program at Nightcliff continues to draw many children, including many children not from Christian families.
A major step forward was the beginning of WALK, our Aboriginal consultative group, launched at synod in 2021, but delayed by the last bits of COVID. The first meeting was in April this year, attended by representatives from all but one of the Aboriginal areas of the diocese. The meeting brainstormed some of the issues they wanted to discuss at that and subsequent meetings and began some of those discussions. The level of engagement and commitment from all the delegates was a great outcome. Key areas were how to reach men and young people, and what the appropriate relationship should be between Christian faith and traditional culture, specifically spiritual beliefs.
In our partner institutions, there is also reason to give thanks to God. As we will hear this synod, the number of Anglican students attending Nungalinya, and the number graduating in the various courses is very pleasing. New courses have been added in Bible translation and chaplaincy, and the relatively new Faith and Family course continues.
The new CEO of Anglicare NT, Craig Kelly, has made an excellent start, coming to the position with a very strong background not just in social services, but regional service delivery, engagement with government, co-operation with Aboriginal corporations – and Christian faith.
We are enormously blessed with outside partners as well. CMS and BCA continue to provide more than a dozen workers to the Diocese across the length and breadth of the Territory, who make a massive contribution in their areas of operation. There also continue to be numerous other generous financial donors, including Anglican Board of Mission, Bible Society, Mother’s Union, Sydney Diocese, churches and private individuals. Without their support, we would be very hampered in what we are trying to achieve, under God.
Changes in the diocesan office
The most significant change in the diocesan office since last synod is a restructuring following the resignation of Dr David Ray as the Diocesan Business Manager and Registrar. David served with enormous energy and skill until February, setting up new systems, meeting the challenges of day-to-day operations and always keeping his eyes open to the strategic risks and possibilities. When he left, we were able to recruit for a new position of Finance Manager, and that position was accepted by Randall Manoharan who like David brings enormous skill, insight and wisdom to his tasks. More recently, we were able to offer an office administration position to Marie Fitzgerald, in some ways similar to an admin position that Aish Ray held for most of 2022. It has taken longer to find a General Manager/Registrar. While we waited, Archdeacon Simon Koefoed was able and willing to act in that role, which, along with the support of Mary Martin as office manager, Lee Walton as property manager and Janis Lampard as safe ministry administrator (working remotely), has enabled the office to continue to do what is required. The diocese owes a debt of gratitude to Simon for stepping in to a much-needed role. Just last week, Martha Stewart began as General Manager and Registrar, coming from a senior business role, and with excitement (still!) about the new position. This releases Simon to return to the focus on his archdeacon portfolio, especially rolling out the implementation of the ministry wellbeing package endorsed by General Synod. I am taking the opportunity this Synod of announcing a change in the position of Administrator, which has been held by Rev. Joshua Kuswadi since Keith Joseph left to become Bishop of North Queensland in 2019. The Administrator fills in for the bishop when the bishop is away or leaves office, and I am grateful that Josh has been able to step in when required. It makes sense for the Administrator to be from the diocesan office, and the knowledge of the diocese that Simon Koefoed has built up in the last few years, and particularly in the last few months, recommend him for that role.
More on the ministry side, Natalie Watson has begun her part-time work, funded by BCA, around pastoral care of women, including regularly visiting inmates of the women’s prison, raising consciousness and resources around domestic and family violence, and building networks so that the diocese as a whole can respond to the needs of women particularly those facing everyday stressors.
Challenges
It remains true that big challenges still face us, particularly financially. A major contributor to this situation is the number of claims against the diocese for abuse in the past. As I said last synod, we can be pleased for the opportunity to provide some monetary redress as a token for those who have been damaged and affected by atrocious and unacceptable behaviour. At the same time, the amounts that we have been required to pay have led to a draw down on some of our assets. There is no indication that the number of cases is lessening, and there will continue to be a financial implication for the foreseeable years.
Largely in mitigation of this situation, the decision was made to sell the site south of Heavitree Gap at Alice Springs that was known as St Mary’s Children’s Village and then Anglicare Central Australia. This has resulted in negative publicity in a number of places, including a senior politician implying that the Anglican church was unfairly gaining a windfall profit. The facts are that the Anglican Church bought the lease on the property in the mid-1940s, and if it had invested in shares or even managed funds the amount that has been put into the St Mary’s site over many years, the financial result would have been far higher than the amount that we are seeking to sell the property for. And we can be proud of the good care that was provided to many of the 400+ children who lived there, and for the connections that many of them maintain with one another.
I am hopeful that a sale can be concluded soon. One stipulation that our Property and Finance Committee suggested and that Diocesan Council endorsed was for up to 10% of the sale proceeds to be committed to some way of memorialising the history of the site as a way of keeping the connection between the former residents and the land. This might include work on the chapel to maintain its accessibility to former residents and the public, or some other work or works to be decided in collaboration with the former residents and the newly incorporated St Mary’s Stolen Generations Group. We have made clear to potential buyers that we are looking for access to the chapel to be maintained, and every expression of interest has responded positively to this.
Changes in the diocese
The presidential charge is one way that we keep track of changes that have happened in the ministry staff in the diocese since the previous synod, and there are many to report.
There were five significant clergy-related deaths in the diocese since last synod. Deaconess Betty Roberts (mother of Marjorie Hall) and Rev. Johnny Lalara both died early in 2022. Betty was commissioned as a deaconess by Bishop Clyde Wood in 1984 and along with her late sister Dinah Garadji had ministered alongside Rev. Gumbuli Wurramara at Ngukurr for many years. Johnny and his brother Benjamin were both ordained deacon at Angurugu by Bishop Philip Freier in 2006, and Johnny served in that role until increasing frailty and dementia removed him from ministry. Stephanie Nganjmirra, widow of Rev. Peterson Nganjmirra of Gunbalanya died in mid-2022, followed soon after by Rev. Michael Millar who had led the church at Minyerri from his ordination in 2007 until retirement in 2019. Very unexpectedly, Rev Canon Pat Williams died at the beginning of February 2023. Pat was deaconed in 1988 and priested in 2001. After retiring as hospital chaplain at Royal Darwin Hospital in 1997, she served as honorary assistant priest at the cathedral until the day of her death.
We welcomed to the diocese Josh and Steph Mackenzie and their two children just about the time of the last synod in 2021, as CMS-supported Church Support Workers at Numbulwar. Near the beginning of 2022, there were a number of arrivals: Will and Hannah Smith as CMS Intentional Ministry Workers working at Ntariya School in Central Australia, and Zoe Creelman as a CMS-supported Church Support Worker in Ngukurr. Zoe is currently on leave of absence in Victoria. Geoff and Hannah Harper, who have been resident in the Territory for many years also became CMS Intentional Ministry Workers, continuing their medical and linguistic work respectively. Rev. Steve Walker and his family and Rev. Jesse Morrison and his family also arrived in the diocese at the beginning of 2022. Steve was ordained priest and inducted as the rector of Fred’s Pass, and Jesse is the assistant minister at Nightcliff. At the same time, Rev. Christos Kastaniotis began as part-time prison chaplain at Darwin Correctional Centre.
At the beginning of 2023, Rev. Matt and Emily Goldman returned to Darwin, funded by BCA and City to City, for Matt to be assistant minister at the cathedral. He was ordained deacon in August. Defence chaplains Shane Rogerson (ARA Darwin) and Peter Taylor (RAAF Tindal) and their families have begun their service, and Emily Quinn became BCA Field Staff in her ongoing role as Foundation Studies Co-ordinator at Nungalinya.
Balancing these new ministry beginnings were the conclusions of others. At the 2021 Synod, we farewelled Rev. Kate and Rev. Tavis Beer, who left for Melbourne at the end of that year, after ten years of ministry with their children Beka and Fin. Rev. Dr Mike Nixon moved to Queensland (as a second attempt at leaving the Territory) having first come to Darwin as Dean in 2003. Rev. Peter and Jenny Johnson moved back to Sydney after serving at Nungalinya for ten years. Tim Johnson finished his role as prison chaplain, having also served as a churchwarden at Fred’s Pass. Defence chaplains Rev. Mitch Herps, Rev. Andrew Knox, Rev. Phil Riley and Rev. Angela Stanfield received new postings and concluded the Territory phase of their ministries. In the second half of 2022, Jo Vandersee resigned as Family and Outreach pastor at Sanderson, but has continued as staff chaplain in Darwin with Anglicare NT. In late 2022, Rev. Rob Weekes accepted a position as locum in the parish of Boonah-Harrisville in Brisbane Diocese, having served in the Territory as a defence reserve chaplain, Police Fire and Emergency Services chaplain, and in the diocesan office. Rev. Jenni Weekes, concluded her time as Alice Springs Hospital chaplain at Easter 2023 and has joined Rob in Queensland.
The saddest departure from the Territory was the Vinicombe family. On their CMS Home Assignment they suffered a tragic car accident on Christmas night 2022, only a month before their anticipated return to Groote Eylandt as Church Support Workers. While the children were uninjured, Kate sustained a severe spinal injury and Matt received significant head injuries. They have been receiving high level medical support and pastoral care, but just this week, we received the news that they have now finished as CMS missionaries. Our hope is still that there might be ways that they can use their experience on Groote for gospel purposes.
In Tennant Creek, the Uniting Church minister, Rev. Peter Wait, who has served there for ten years, has concluded his ministry. He was of great assistance to resident and visiting Anglican ministers, as well as caring for the one flock that met in both the Anglican and Uniting Church buildings. There is unlikely to be a long queue of potential ministers to move to Tennant Creek in either the Uniting or Anglican Churches, and we are looking for ways to sustain ministry there.
In August, Revs. William and Marjorie Hall made the decision to step back from ministry at Ngukurr at least for six to twelve months, and Rev. Craig Rogers will take over from them as Deacon-in-Charge.
At the end of this year, Laura Wolfenden will finish as Children and Families Minister at Nightcliff, moving back to NSW with Zac. Her work at Nightcliff has seen enormous growth in the children’s and youth ministry there.
Vacancies in the diocese have been well served by locums, most notably in the parish of Katherine, with Rev. Glenys Hannah heroically continuing her ministry in between the months that outsiders have been able to come. Glenys was ordained priest at Katherine in June. I am grateful to Rev. Steve and Lyn Davis, Bishop David and Jan Robinson, Rev. John and Carol Jenner and Rev. Simon Hattrell for their help. In recent weeks, Rev. Philip Muston, a former rector of Nightcliff has been able to minister at Tennant Creek, following Peter Wait’s resignation. Earlier this year, Terry and Liz McCoy were able to spend several weeks on Groote Eylandt in the absence of the Vinicombes, and last year Rev. Mike Flynn covered for Kristan Slack at Alice Springs while the Slacks were away on Kristan’s long service leave.
In October, I am expecting to ordain James Woods as deacon at Urapunga, and Rev. Edwin Rami as priest at Numbulwar. Rev. Yulki Nunggumajbarr has indicated her intention to retire when Edwin has been priested.
In the Anglican Province of Queensland, which we are part of, the Archbishop of Brisbane and our Metropolitan, Most Rev. Dr Phillip Aspinall AC, laid up his pastoral staff in December 2022, and formally retired at the beginning of February 2023. Brisbane’s electoral process has chosen the former Dean of Darwin and current Assistant Bishop of Brisbane’s northern region, Right Rev. Jeremy Greaves, to be the next Archbishop and therefore Metropolitan of our Province, and he will be installed at St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane on December 16th.
The wider world and nation
One of the momentous events in the world since our last synod was the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Two commemorative services were held at Darwin cathedral. Many people remarked on the Queen’s deep faith as an Anglican, which was exemplified in her remarkably long and humble service to her nation and the wider Commonwealth.
In our own nation, our synod is being held during the campaign period for the referendum on the Voice. Whatever the outcome, which at this stage seems quite unpredictable, it seems clear to me that the campaign and processes leading up to the referendum are producing division in our society, in contrast with the landmark successful 1967 referendum. No doubt this is exacerbated by the place of social media in our culture, and the voracious and often ferocious mainstream media news cycle. In our own diocese, the WALK group has begun to show what listening to Aboriginal people can achieve. Again, whatever the outcome of the referendum, it is important for Christians to keep modelling what reconciliation looks like – and I believe we are doing that in many good ways in the Territory. I trust that all Anglicans will consider carefully the range of information that is coming to us, as we move towards voting. I believe that the matter has complexities that are given little attention in the media, but I hope we can rise above the mere repeating of slogans.
Personal
I am very grateful for the support I receive from so many people in what often feels like quite a challenging role as bishop in these days. I am enormously encouraged by my fairly frequent contact with clergy, and my daily contact with the diocesan office staff. The support and care I receive from Annette is indispensably sustaining, and having four grandchildren and another on the way, including three locals, is fun.
Annette and I will take long service leave around September to November in 2024.
Please continue to pray for God’s provision for our diocese, and that our time together as synod will be part of what God uses to grow the church of Jesus Christ in the Northern Territory.
Greg Anderson
September, 2023