Being a Church for Others

Why the Anglican Synod Wants Children Out of Detention

I have less than five minutes to convince nearly 800 people – mostly conservative Sydney Anglicans – to support a motion calling on the federal government and opposition to end the detention of children….

Can I compel my church, the Anglican diocese of Sydney, to be more like Jesus and be for children held in detention? My question is theological as well as pragmatic. The Anglican Church in Sydney has struggled to develop a robust theology of itself, often preferring a more functional view of being the church. The decision regarding children in detention is a moment when the Anglican Church can deepen its understanding of what it means to be the church.

“The first task of the Church is to be the Church” is a phrase made famous by Stanley Hauerwas. First year students of theology are asked to interrogate the statement’s meaning. Constructively, it speaks of the witness of the Church. Echoing Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder, this phrase calls the Church to be a foretaste, a herald or a model of the kingdom before the watching world. Anglicans generally – and Sydney Anglicans, in particular – have been too shy, politically speaking. The continuing Royal Commission into past, institutional abuse of children is a striking reminder that world is indeed watching the integrity of the church and its leaders. Church-as-witness, however, risks invisibility and irrelevance by drawing too great a distinction between the alternate practices of the Christian community and the so-called “secular” communities outside it. The bold call to end the detention of children might strengthen the witness of the Anglican Church, but exposes its weaker solidarity with the world…

When the church exists for others it faithfully witnesses that Jesus Christ existed for others. After last night, I am proud to belong to a church like that.

Excerpt from Being a Church for Others: Why the Anglican Synod Wants Children Out of Detention, Geoff Broughton, ABC Religion and Ethics Website, 21 October