What can we learn about mission from one of the world’s most successful religious orders?
Reflections
“Being sent out in mission does not necessarily mean going somewhere far away. If God’s mission has placed you right where you are at this moment, how could mission bring hope, healing and the flourishing of life into the communities where you find yourself?” asks Brad Chapman, Missioner for the Anglican Board of Mission and Provincial Clergy Conference speaker
The Melanesian Brotherhood is the largest Anglican religious order in the world. With their headquarters in the Solomon Islands, the Brotherhood’s households serve communities across Melanesia and the Pacific, including a household in the Torres Strait. Rather than life vows, Brothers (known within the Solomon Islands as “Tasiu”) take periodic vows and aim to live the Gospel in a direct and simple way following Christ’s example of prayer, mission and service.
Mission for the Tasiu is incarnational. They witness to the Gospel by living alongside communities, sharing in their struggles, visiting folk who are sick, helping older people and speaking of their faith. Each household follows a daily rhythm of prayer and work. Many Brothers can point to a personal experience with the Tasiu in their youth that inspired them to go on and join the order.
The Melanesian Brotherhood’s holistic approach to mission is mirrored in the Anglican Communion’s Five Marks of Mission that emphasise that the mission of the Church is the mission of Christ. That is, we are called to be caught up in the things that matter most to God in this world.
It’s a simple, but profoundly disruptive idea. Like it is for the Melanesian Brothers, mission invites us beyond the places where we are comfortable and implants us in the struggles of those crying out for hope and for justice, including the struggles of God’s creation.
When I had an opportunity to speak with some of the Tasiu who’ve served in the Melanesian Brotherhood’s Australian household I was keen to ask what they’d learned about mission in this cultural setting.
“The biggest difference here is the individualism,” I was told.
“In [Melanesia] everything is a more community focussed. It can be hard because here people often don’t share their real problems. They keep them hidden.”
It’s an observation that reflects some of the great challenges of the Australian Church. Our world is bursting with modern-day idols that command our time and devotion (or worship). Idols such as wealth, career status and social media algorithms. Yet the call of mission remains as important and as urgent as ever. In mission we encounter the living God, sending us as ambassadors of healing and hope into the world God created and loves.
The Melanesian Brotherhood is a powerful manifestation of the joy and unity of purpose that can exist in a community of mission. They also remind us of the cost of discipleship, which was felt in 2003 when seven Tasiu were killed as they worked to bring peace in a violent ethnic conflict in the Solomon Islands known as “The Tensions”.
Years ago, missionaries went out from Australia to establish churches, health centres and schools among our regional neighbours. Today, the descendants of those who they ministered to respond to God’s missional call by journeying to Australia to pray, love and serve God in our own communities.
Being sent out in mission does not necessarily mean going somewhere far away. If God’s mission has placed you right where you are at this moment, how could mission bring hope, healing and the flourishing of life into the communities where you find yourself?
A starting place for mission might be praying for God to shape us and use us in this transforming work.
If you’re interested in thinking more about what mission looks like in your own context, a helpful document is the World Council of Churches New Affirmation on Mission and Evangelism: Together Towards Life.
Editor’s note: Hear more from Brad Chapman in person at the Provincial Clergy Conference 2024 when he will speak on the theme of mission. Gather with clergy from across our Province on the Gold Coast between Monday 19 to Thursday 22 August for the Provincial Clergy Conference 2024, which has the theme “Common Purpose, Shared Joy”. Participants will reflect on what it might mean to be the Church together in this season and how and where we might know joy as we journey together. There will be a variety of workshops and plenty of worship and fellowship. Visit the conference website for more information. Registrations for the Provincial Clergy Conference 2024 close on Sunday 30 June 2024.
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