Commission for the Decade of Mission
Report to General Synod / te Hinota Whanui 2010

As Bishop Richard Ellena reported to the last General Synod / te Hinota Whanui this particular Commission remains one of the most exciting yet frustrating activities those of us involved.
In 2016 we committed to restructuring around 5 missional tasks. These were: 
•	Overhaul the Church: transform the priorities, structures, committees and leadership time allocation at all levels to reflect the missionary zeal of the early church and our expression of the 5 part mission statement in this generation.
•	Build Mission Engagement: Building capacity (missions commissioner, personnel, expertise and resources) at all levels of the Province for mission engagement for evangelism, discipleship, social action and transformation and eco-missions. Multiply what is working
•	Build Mission Partnerships: at all levels of the Province, cross-parish, cross Tikanga, cross culturally, ecumenically and with churches overseas. Opportunities to listen, connect, dream dreams and mission together.
•	Grow the Church: in Aotearoa/New Zealand to add 100,000 new disciples in 10 years.
•	Share Mission Stories: to affirm what is happening now, multiply what is working, encourage engagement.
To that end, our proposal was is to move away from one large commission to a series of 5 chairs who would as necessary draw around them resource people to advance their work. 
The was an expectation in this plan that each working group would establish a life of its own, resourced by at least a half time person who would help coordinate and focus this work. This proposal was significantly challenged almost immediately after GSTHW 2016 by the changing circumstances of a number of our members which meant the resourcing was not available and completely different ways of looking at the underlying intent of this structure for achieving effective missional outcomes was needed.
Alongside this internal issue, we were increasingly made aware of genuinely exciting things that were happening in Dioceses and Amorangi that were clearly directed at achieving some of the goals of the Decade.
What also has become clear is that decisions impacting on missional effectiveness are made at Diocesan and Amorangi level. This is primarily because it is there the decisions around resources and resourcing are made. If our Commission is to have any impact it is primarily at this level that such impact is greatest. In particular the leadership of our Bishops has a critical influence on the allocation of resources and the functions expected of their staff.
It was this thinking which became the catalyst for our organising the first DOM Hui in November 2017. This allowed for key people to share their experiences and stories and a lot of energy and even excitement was generated. We realised we can improve on the formal of the Hui, but even with its imperfections it seemed this was a very effective way of achieving some of the goals of the original working groups with people who are key influencers, , and there was significant enthusiasm to meet again before GSTHW 2018.  We have therefore organised to meet again on 21 April 2018.
Three of the original 5 missional tasks have continued.
•	Peter Lloyd supported by his wife Lorraine have been touring New Zealand setting up a significant network of Intercessors and generally seeking to encourage individual ministry units. At the time of writing we are being supported by over xxx intercessors from xx ministry units. In addition Peter has taken up the task of mobilising the whole province into intercession through the “Come Holy Spirit” week long intercession leading up to Pentecost 2018. This work is based on the highly successful “Thy Kingdom Come” programme which was run in the United kingdom last year 
•	Graham Miller in 2017 circulated a questionnaire on church structures to which there were 14 responders. It is expected that this work will be advanced with a workshop at the next Decade of Mission Hui in April 2018, and a report tabled at GSTHW in May.
•	Rev Canon Robert Kereopa continues to facilitate Missional partnerships across the Province and in particular in developing the “Intentional Discipleship” model drawing on the ACC initiative
So despite the issues facing the Decade of Mission Commission for the past two years the clear message is that mission continues and we will continue to work through ways of facilitating the change implicit in the goals we set at GSTHW in 2014.
We are enormously grateful for the support we have had from ++Philip, and Michael Hughes and the team at the General Synod Office. Without their support and encouragement this work would not be possible.

Graham Miller
On Behalf of the Decade of Mission Chairs