11. Mr Allan Piper asked -

A work colleague and I, who both attend suburban parishes, intend starting a prayer group at our office in the city. Our aims are to encourage other Christians at work in their witness, and that others come to a saving faith in Christ. In this, we have been encouraged by the formulation of the Mission. We don't care if those saved are added to the 10% of either of our parishes, nor even if they become Anglicans, but that they come to Christ and grow into Christian maturity.

In view of this -

(a) Under the Mission, what plans are intended to equip and resource groups such as ours?

(b) How is it intended to recognise situations such as ours when assessing the achievement of the 10% goal?

To which the President replied -

(a) The initiatives to implement the Mission are being developed in consultation with all those who wish to join us in reaching the lost for Christ. To this end I would encourage Mr Piper to suggest how we might be able to help him and his colleague in their ministry (by, for example, filling out the appropriate comment and suggestion sheets circulated to members during this session of Synod).

However I would envisage that the basic support for these workplace initiatives is the parish church to which the founders of the group belong. The minister of the local church should be able to provide support and nurture for such creative mission initiatives.

There is also a significant number of resources by way of publications, evening course lectures (Moore College), seminars and conferences which currently exist. It is hoped that other resources will also be made available, though the purchase of Dr Peter Bolt's Mission Minded would be a good start.

(b) In order to assess the achievement of the initial goal of 10%, it is proposed that we do an audit of our current church attendances including such trans-parish fellowships as proposed in this question. We shall need to rely upon information coming from the grass roots to aid us in our data collection.