From October 22–25, 2024, the Diocese of Singa­pore hosted the Plant­ing Future Dio­ceses Mission Con­sulta­tion Roundtable in Bangkok. The event brought together key leaders from across South­east Asia, as well as mission organ­isa­tions like NZCMS, to coordin­ate support for Anglican min­is­tries in the region, where the Anglican pres­ence has his­tor­ic­ally been sparse but is now exper­i­en­cing steady growth.

Dr Titus Chung, Arch­bishop of South­east Asia and Bishop of Singa­pore, set the tone for the gathering.

 

“Since its inception, the purpose of the Consultation has been to dialogue, to facilitate networking, to update and renew commitment, to share ongoing missiological learnings so that the missions of the Church can grow from strength to strength and for the future planning of the mission initiatives of the deaneries.”

The Province of South­east Asia, one of the largest and most geo­graph­ic­ally expans­ive provinces in the Anglican Com­mu­nion, stretches from Nepal to Indone­sia, reach­ing a pop­u­la­tion of nearly 497 million people. It includes four dio­ceses in Malay­sia and Singa­pore, as well as six mission dean­er­ies in Cam­bodia, Indone­sia, Laos, Nepal, Thai­l­and, and Vietnam. A seventh deanery, Timor-Leste, will offi­cially be added to the Diocese of Singa­pore in Novem­ber 2024.

The roundtable dis­cus­sions focused on the con­tin­ued growth of the Anglican Church in these diverse con­texts, with a special emphasis on strength­en­ing local lead­er­ship, fos­ter­ing col­lab­or­at­ive mission strategies and multi-cul­tural teams working together, and a posture of servanthood.

Partnership with NZCMS — Past, Present and Future

NZCMS has a rich history of sup­port­ing Anglican mission work in South­east Asia, and this part­ner­ship con­tin­ues to bear fruit. NZCMS Mission Part­ners Neill and Rebekah serve under the Deanery of Cam­bodia; assist­ing with a new multi-cul­tural church plant and a dorm­it­ory min­istry that serves young people seeking edu­ca­tion in the capital, Phnom Penh.

Rosie Fyfe, National Dir­ector of NZCMS, atten­ded the Con­sulta­tion and was very encour­aged by the growth of the Church and the invit­a­tion for the New Zealand Church to partner. She notes:

“There are many opportunities for partnership, whether short-term stints, church-to-church partnerships, or serving as long-term Mission Partners. There is a need for ordained Anglican clergy who could support these young and growing churches, as well as opportunities to teach English, vocational training, among many other roles.

The Mission Consultation felt like an invitation to live out ‘partnership in the Gospel’ that Paul writes about in his letter to the Philippians. My prayer is that NZCMS can continue to partner in Gospel ministry in this region.”