Stephen Harrison Presentation to ASA Conference 7th August 2015
There is so much that is possible in the world of mission and ministry in Anglican Schools.
Things that we have not yet dreamed.
Futures that do not yet lie within our imagination.
Possibilities that we have the freedom to create.
If only we let ourselves.
I am the youngest child in my family. I have two older brothers and a sister and there is a five
year gap between them and me. On the odd occasion when I was little my parents went out
and left my siblings in charge of themselves, of the house and of me. And we all know what
happens when the kids are left at home. One time my brothers and sisters locked me out of
the house so that I wouldn’t report on the anarchy that they were creating inside. And what
were they doing? Well they got several large bean bags from around the house and they
unzipped them and they poured the contents out onto the floor in one of the rooms and
pretended that they were out in the snow. They even took photos of themselves dressed in
beanies and gloves cavorting in their winter wonderland, throwing the beans into the air. Yes,
I know. Outrageous. And my parents and I would never have known about this. If I hadn’t
found the photographic evidence.
But this story isn’t really about my siblings, as the youngest it naturally is about me. What do
you think I might have been doing while I was locked out of the house? Well of course I was
trying to get back inside. Now this mostly meant banging on the door for a few minutes,
yelling and then sulking for what seemed like an eternity, but may have only been an hour...or
maybe even less… It is hard to sulk when no one is watching. The thing that strikes my adult
self though, is how my younger self only considered the option of being back inside the house.
I paid little attention to all that was outside of it. A yard. A neighbourhood. A city. A whole
universe, but my vision was constrained, partly by fear, partly by a sense of injustice, but
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largely by my own limited imagination of what was possible. Oh the things I could have done
out in that yard, in that city, in that Universe… if I had only freed my imagination.
Sometimes I think that Christian mission in Anglican Schools is like that child sitting on the
back steps. Locked out of the faux snow party inside. Wanting more time for RE, for chapel,
more funds, more resources, more space inside the house, more recognition, maybe wanting
to be an older sibling, in charge… feeling that being inside is the only option…
but not noticing that there is a world of possibility outside, a universe of potential…if only…
But is this a fair characterisation?
Is the Christian Mission of Anglican Schools really constrained in some places by both
external and self-imposed limitations on vision and creativity?
This afternoon I hope to explore a bit of where Christian mission in Anglican Schools has
come from, where we are right now and what possibilities might lie before us for the
future…if we are brave enough, and have the vision and will to go there.
In the last fifty years the Anglican Church in the West along with other so called mainstream
churches has been straining to reinvent itself in response to cultural change, secularisation
and its own decline and marginalisation. There has been a renewed focus on mission and
what that means in the local context.
The Anglican Church in Australia in different places has drawn on mission movements from
the Church of England such as Fresh Expressions – which is about exploring new shapes for
the church that fit local contexts and cultures and the ‘Mission Shaped’ movement – which
has a focus on doing church in a very intentional missional way. These movements are about
innovation in mission and ministry. They are about experiments in engaging with a largely
secular or de-churched society that has disconnected with the traditional structures of the
church. The church is looking for ways of being more missional – more connected with life
beyond their own congregational gatherings – more focussed on participating in what God is
doing in the world.
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Schools have also be drawn up in this renewed energy and focus for mission…but to what
degree?
The book Mission Shaped Church was published in 2004 and the phrase ‘mission shaped’
entered the jargon of the church…but has it passed into the language of Schools…more
importantly has it had an impact on what schools do? Here’s my cutting edge and highly
accurate research. I went to Google typed in “mission shaped church”. I got 27 800 results.
Pretty modest when you consider that vegemite chocolate gets 57 000 hits and was only on
the shelves for a month or so. But 27 800 is enormous compared to the result you get when
you type in “mission shaped school”. Mission shaped school has 9 results on Google… and
one of those is mine referring to the other 8 results.
My research methodology may be flawed and this might be an unfair indicator of the change
that has happened in the Christian mission of Anglican Schools.Anglican Schools have been
thinking about where they fit with the church’s mission for a long while. This has been
particularly true over the last fifteen years…since the General Synod of the Church of England
made that grand statement:
“Schools stand at the centre of the churches mission to the nation”
But even before this, mission was beginning to appear on the School agenda in a new way,
this was occurring as early as the 80’s and maybe before but the 2001 Dearing Review, which
investigated the achievement of Church of England Schools and offered a range of
recommendations for how the schools might be more distinctively Christian kicked this
change into a higher gear. Much of what came out of that report was influential in shaping
the thinking of Bishops in Australia and from there is developing mission and vision
statements. Anglican Schools became a place for mission, in a way that they never really were
before, with a heightened sense of intention and possibility.
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But what is it the church in Australia is saying to schools about their Christian mission? What
in turn are schools saying about it? Are there common threads to Christian mission across
Anglican Schools in Australia?
These are questions I wanted answered so I explored the websites of every Anglican School
in Australia and that of their Diocesan or affiliate bodies. Yes. I looked at your websites. Does
that make you feel uncomfortable?
My first question was: What do Anglican schools say about their Christian mission?
And this is what I found. Four goals, a synthesis of the variety of words used, about Christian
mission that a majority of schools have in common…my summary.
That students and others participating in the life of the school, may:
1) explore and understand the Christian faith;
2) experience a community shaped by the Christian faith
3) participate in God’s call to serve the world.
4) develop and/or grow in the Christian faith.
Almost one third (32%) of the schools reflect all four of these goals in their statements about
Christian mission. A similar proportion (32%) reflect three of the identified goals. Twenty
percent (20%) reflect only two. So over 84% reflecting two or more of these goals.
I think these are great mission goals for Anglican Schools to share. Simple. Straight forward.
But what do we do to implement them? How do we make them happen?
Once again I went to your websites. Always interesting to see the staged photos of Principal
with students. And this time I discovered what I consider to be the Bread and Butter of
Christian mission in Anglican Schools. Four big things schools say they do to implement their
Christian mission. You can probably guess what they are. The percentages reflect the number
of school listing these as mission actions.
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Chapel 90%
Religious or Christian Education 84%
Chaplain 80%
Service 75%
Of course schools list lots of other things they do but they appear in much less significant
numbers…for instance apart from pastoral care which is usually connected with the function
of the chaplain, the mention of voluntary Christian Groups appears in only 25% of school
websites.
The telling thing is that if you look back through the reports of school ministry from fifty plus
years ago, these are pretty much the same four things you find reported on…if you had to say
there was a shape to mission in Anglican Schools…this is it. Chapel, RE, Chaplaincy and Service.
Using my metaphor from the start, these are the things that are done in the house of Anglican
Schools. Often when there is tension in the school over its Christian mission these are some
of the things at the centre of it, for the very reason that they are in the house. They are the
tradition. Just like in a family arguments occur over time and resources. How come she gets a
bigger room than me? How come he gets to have friend over and I don’t? You know the sort
of thing. Why can’t we have two RE lessons a week? How come chapel always gets taken away
for sports events? These four things, chapel, re, chaplaincy and service are what is encouraged
in the house and being at times locked out Christian mission is focussed on getting back in
and getting more of what is allowed inside…
But to exploit the metaphor further, what about the world beyond the house. In the yard of
Anglican Schools and beyond? Where are the things being done in these spaces?
Are there no fresh expressions…mission shaped things in our schools?
Has there been no innovation?
Has there been a lot of banging on the back door and sulking on the steps and not much
fearless imagination in creating new and exciting opportunities.
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Well of course these simple numbers I have shown you don’t tell us…but the evidence seems
to indicate that most innovation has happened within the structures we already have. The
structures of Chapel, RE, chaplain and service. The stuff that is allowed inside the house.
Canon John Hall who coined the afore mentioned and little used phrase: “mission shaped
school” wrote in a 2006 Church Times article, reflecting on the mission-shaped church
movement: “it is more about doing new things or the existing things differently than about
seeing the opportunity in doing the existing things really well.”
I think that the mission movement of the 21st century has impacted Anglican Schools mostly
in that what was already being done, is being done differently. People have poured energy
and creativity into doing chapel and re and service in new and exciting ways. Ways intended
to communicate more clearly with the young, mostly secular audience they have in front of
them. This is fantastic.
But I think we have only scratched the surface of doing new things.
Maybe we (the Anglican School’s community) have been constrained by our thinking and our
structures. We have sat on the back step wanting to get in and not seeing the opportunities
and adventures that lie beyond. There is exciting stuff out there if we free up our thinking.
What is holding us back?
I am a huge fan of internet memes.
Internet memes take an idea usually an image, text, a quote from a movie and use it to form
the basis for communicating and thinking in a somewhat patterned way. Most recently you
may have seen all the memes going around about Bronwyn Bishop and her helicopter ride.
The Bronwyn Bishop meme is pretty simple…what is the most extravagant way you can use a
helicopter or other vehicle. This is my favourite. But maybe you have come across others.
Like philosoraptor or lawyer Dog meme.
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There are millions of these on the internet and new ones being created every day. These
memes form a type of language that can be used to have conversations online. If we are in a
post text world or at least a world that uses fewer words, memes are part of what it looks
like. They can be very effective at communicating particular ideas, frames of mind and
responses, succinctly.
At a most basic level memes are simply bits of culture, ideas that get passed along from one
person to another.
So what?
‘what if I told you…that Anglican Schools across Australia have their own set of memes
Not internet memes as such…although I am sure those exist…but their own set of ideas that
have been communicated across the system just like the internet. Ideas about what Christian
mission in the school should look like, what is allowed in the house and what isn’t.
These are some I have come across in my work with Anglican Schools.
Of course…
A chaplain can’t have credibility if they are not in the classroom.
Chapel will prepare young people for worship in the Anglican Church
The school is a Christian community.
Now…
I’m not saying you will find these in all Anglican Schools but they are quite common, and I am
not even judging these as good or bad, they are what they are, but they also have a probley
they tend to constrain us to shape and limit our thinking and our imagination. Like all memes
they pop out in response to certain situations…they are almost automatic.
Our memes shape our thinking about our Christian mission and some of them are very strong.
I don’t think they are questioned often enough…
Chapel – RE - Chaplain –– Service - this is a meme we seem to hold.
But…
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What if we discovered that there was something else we could do that would have a greater
impact on a student’s worldview? What if in a particular local context we discovered that
chapel actually turned the majority of young people off the Christian faith? Would we stop
doing it? Do we have to do it? Or do we do it because we see an Anglican Schools as a Christian
community?
Do we allow our ideas limit our missiological imagination?
If we are serious about our mission goals which I think ultimately are about influencing the
worldview of young people to Christianity to faith in Jesus then maybe we need to ask the
question: What is the best way of doing this in the context of a school? Maybe it is chapel-rechaplaincy and service but maybe it isn’t. My hunch [and there is some research to back it up]
is that there are other things we can do that may have a much greater impact on young
people’s lives than what we are doing right now
Straight out of year 12 I did a degree in Chemistry. I was terrible at chemistry…but it still
shapes my thinking. In chemistry you might be trying to create a particular product by mixing
two or three reactants. You might put in 100 grams of each but you only get 10 grams of the
product you want? Why is that? Could I get more? Possibly but it may be that the most that
can be produced by this reaction in this quantity is ten grams. If I run a business making that
product I need to get ten grams every time to get the most profit if I am only getting 4 or 5 I
might be in trouble. So I look at everything and make sure the equipment is clean and the
chemicals pure, all those kinds of things to maximise the amount of product.
For me this is like taking the things we currently do: chapel, re, chaplaincy and service and
making them as effective as possible. Engaging with the culture, communicating well, all those
things. Improving what we have.
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But what if I can make the same product with different chemicals, a different reaction and
instead of 10 grams I get twenty. Which would I use? Well I could say we have always done it
this way so we will continue or I could use the alternative reaction?
What if our current mission actions are 10 gram ones but there are other actions or activities
we could use that are 20 grams? I think chapel, re, chaplaincy and service are fine things. And
I know that young people are not a product we are churning out. But maybe there are other
things that might have a greater impact on the worldview and spiritual life of students. If we
only have limited resources, are we free enough to do one instead of the other.
Do our ideas of what a school does and what a chaplain does and what mission and ministry
look like, hold us back?
Maybe we need to free ourselves to not only do things differently but to do new things. These
new things will mean a new shape for mission in Anglican Schools…but I think the emergence
of a new shape for mission will only happen if we treat the new as avant garde as opposed to
anomaly.
Because how we treat the emergent determines the shape of the future.
I wonder how many of you recently experienced the amazing phenomena of:
Vegemite Chocolate!
Did you think it was Avant garde – the cutting edge of a new wave of choaclaty goodness?
or was it an anomaly – a freakish blip on the history of chocolate never to be seen again?
Undoubtedly Cadbury leaves that decision up to you. If it was considered the greatest thing
ever maybe it would stay on the shelves or maybe Cadbury is just playing with us but it got
mixed reviews some people said – ‘oh it’s like salted caramel’ Others said well there are
memes but this is the only one suitable for ASA.
How the new is received largely determines its future.
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Imagine a quality control line for fruit….we are looking for fruit that fits a particular
image…let’s say watermelon…we want them green…ovalish shaped…hang on that one has
blemishes…eject….that one has a big dent…eject…that one is brown…eject…that one is box
shaped…eject…
Hang on a minute, a cubic watermelon! Sure it doesn’t fit the parameters but what if it was
embraced, celebrated, held up instead of rejected. Reproduced.
Edward De Bono reflects that we are trained in the West to critique this is important it keeps
us alive, but it means we often fail to see the value in innovative things/
Over the last three years I have collected innovation stories from Anglican Schools around
Australia in part to find out what was going on and in part to find new things to share with
schools in my neck of the woods.
These innovations were published each term in a little newsletter called Experiri and sent out
to chaplains all over the country in order to share innovation and help it spread.
Looking at these innovations. Listening to those who work in schools it seems to me there are
a number of trends emerging in Anglican Schools and around the country. These are a few I
have noticed and think are important.

Vegemite Chocolate (Innovation)

Cosplay (Exploring Role and Identity)

Gravity Shift (Changing Missional Focus)
Vegemite Chocolate (Innovation)
So despite what I have said so far: Innovation is a trend. People all over the country are trying
new things. In Brisbane I wanted to know when this innovation might have begun so I trawled
through 60 years of school reports. In the 1980’s Archbishop John Grinrod challenged schools
to innovate in order to meet the needs of the current generation. I think since then there has
been lots of different experiments. Today though innovation is happening like never before.
I have barely scratched the surface of finding out what it going on with Experiri, but just like
Vegemite Chocolate…how these new experiments are treated will determine their future my
hope is for those engaged in the Christian mission of schools to innovate…and share what
they are doing this is critical because it is the sharing of ideas and hunches that leads to
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innovation reshaping how things are done. Some of the exciting things happening include –
Prayer Spaces, Travelling Church, Sports Engagement, Explorations on the use of spiritual
language and Online engagement. If you want to see more of these innovation profiles go to
the website aplaceformission.org – where they now find their online home.
Cosplay: Exploring Role and Identity
The next trend I call Cosplay.
If you don’t know what Cosplay is, it is dressing up as your favourite characters from movies,
comics, anime, you name it and going out in public. What has this got to do with the Christian
mission of Anglican Schools?
Think of it this way. For a very long time it seems to me the Christian mission of the school
revolved around the role of the chaplain and in the very traditional ideas around this role –
being in the community, teaching, leading chapel, sacramental stuff and maybe organising
service, doing pastoral care. I think of these as the old clothes the chaplain wore. From the
eighties, with increasing expectations on schools to be engaging in mission in new and
innovative ways, the chaplains role has expanded and the old clothes don’t’ fit any more. So
chaplains are trying on new clothes. Cosplaying. Working out what the role looks like in this
new world. This has meant dropping lots of different things. For some it means not teaching
at all. Increasingly it means not being head of RE or organising service. It also means other
people, lay people are trying on the clothes of the chaplain. They are cosplaying themselves.
The mission has grown beyond simply the chaplain and we are in a time of reconfiguring.
One of the limitations we seem to have is that when we think of mission and ministry in
Anglican Schools we immediately think of a chaplain. To me this is problematic. It is one of
the meme responses we might need to examine and even remove. Maybe first we need to
define clearly what we want mission in schools to be about. Then we might ask: how could
we achieve this? What activities or roles does it require? In that mix we might ask: What is
the role of the ordained person in all of this?
I think Anglican Schools should have an ordained person if they can. It can bring something
deeply countercultural into the life of the school but that person doesn’t have to do
everything or even be the leader of Christian mission. Some schools now have a director of
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mission who oversees the Christian aspects of the school this person could be lay or ordained
and some lay directors have clergy working with them. So we need to ask what do we mean
by chaplain. Is that simply the name we give to the ordained person in the school? Because I
suspect today we are actually asking them to do something much greater than what a
chaplain may have traditionally done. We are asking them to be missioner to a culture that
does not know or accept the faith. This is so much more than chaplaincy. Some of the
examples of cosplay include: Community chaplains – those who are employed by the school
but with a focus to the wider community, Director of Mission roles and a growing number of
roles in service and other mission areas.
Gravity Shift
Finally a shift has taken place over the last twenty years or so in who is the focus of
school mission. Traditionally the chaplain was there for the whole community in a pastoral
sense – students, staff, families and they were there in a missional and educative sense for
the students. In the last twenty years the weight of mission has shifted from students towards
staff. The missional education and engagement of staff has increased over the last fifteen
years and I think we are beginning to see more staff being baptised, confirmed and received
into the Anglican Church. But there is a further gravity shift occurring and that is towards
families and the wider community.
In terms of evangelism these shifts are important. While Principals may shape the
culture and ethos of the school, ethos probably has less impact on student faith and
worldview, than their interactions with caring Christian staff. But this is also eclipsed by the
influence family has on them. If we are to influence young people towards a Christian
worldview we must also influence their families. This shift has occurred because we have
come to understand that context matters in faith formation and school is only one small
contributor to that. My own research focuses heavily on this. The school is becoming a launch
pad for mission beyond itself. We see this trend emerging in the employment of community
chaplains, in the increase in the number of churches being planted in the school, supported
by the school, but focused on the wider community, and in the increasing number of projects
focussing on supporting families connected to the school community.
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I think these trends are exciting.
I don’t think they will replace Chapel – RE - Chaplaincy and Service as the dominant shape of
mission in the school, but maybe they might encourage more people to get out of the house
into the big wide world and dream and imagine and get adventurous.
Anglican Renaissance
Recently I heard Patrick Wallas, Principal of All Saints on the Gold Coast use the phrase
Anglican Renaissance in talking about the renewed vigour of mission in Anglican Schools. It
made me recall that some people suggest we are heading into a dark ages where the only
place the light of Christianity may be shined and kept alive is in our churches and schools. This
may be the case but I would rather get behind the idea that a new renaissance in Anglicanism
and the Christian faith is on the way and that we might be the ones that spark this new
flowering.
I don’t think this will happen though if we stay inside. We need to go out of the house. Out of
the safety. Out of the predictable. Away from faux snow. Off the back steps. Into the yard.
Over the fence and away.
I suspect this will only happen if…
1. Schools encourage and embrace innovation in Christian mission and ministry.
2. Mission staff are given time to innovate and develop new initiatives.
3. It is accepted that many innovations fail before something that works is found.
4. Genuine and deep partnerships with the local and Diocesan church are
established.
Our schools have the greatest potential to impact the world. To bring light. To bring faith. To
bring freedom. If we are willing to open our imaginations, question our memes and flee from
fear. I think it is time to reimagine ourselves.
This is the possibility I dwell in. I pray you might dwell there to.
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