The world has seemed particularly off-kilter in the past five years. In Australia, if it’s not pandemics, it’s fire or floods, and the disorder in the natural world is only matched by wars and political chaos abroad. The Anglican Church of Australia’s designation of the Easter season until Pentecost as “Hope25” would seem to be the right message at the right time.
It has united the church with energy and enthusiasm, as all 23 dioceses are working out creative ways to engage with their communities.
Dr. Christy Capper, deputy warden and lecturer at Wollaston Theological College in Mount Claremont, Western Australia, is one of the national project officers for Hope25.
She told TLC that it began in 2023, when the Australian General Synod asked the Mission and Ministry Commission to organize a national, parish-based evangelism strategy. Faith in committees might be a peculiarly Anglican trait, but it’s working.
After thought and prayer and with a truckload of data about Australian society, the commission landed on the idea of hope in an uncertain world.
“Things are going on in the world that we just have no control over, particularly for some of the younger generations, thinking What is life going to look like in the future with climate change? and so on,” Capper said. “We can’t fix those things (it would be great if we could) but I think as Christians we can have a hope that is beyond that, a hope that God is going to make right the things of the world and bring in his kingdom—and that’s a hope we can hold on to.”
A workshop in 2024 brought together representatives from every diocese to learn how to develop ideas appropriate for their communities. A senior bishop remarked that it had been the first time in more than 25 years that representatives of the whole church joined a voluntary meeting.
“It’s also something that, despite the divisions in the church, we can agree on,” Capper said. “We might phrase how we think about what that hope is differently, but we can all agree that Jesus gives us hope in some ways.”
Out of that has come a flowering of ideas. Perth is holding a pilgrimage of hope—Assistant Bishop Hans Christiansen will lead students on a 100-kilometer (62-mile) trek in five days between 10 schools, ending at St. George’s Cathedral in Perth. Bathurst diocese has put together a video (youtu.be/TJEmmVjC6Cc) and Anglicans in Adelaide they are chalking pavements. In Rockhampton, Queensland, an “op shop (thrift shop) ball” idea has become a bush dance.
It’s about connecting or reconnecting churches with their communities, not prescribing but encouraging. Capper noted how much better connected remote and regional communities seem to be than those in cities and suburbs where there are plenty of choices.
“It’s amazing—the creativity that has come out of the churches is just beautiful,” she said. “There is so much wisdom, there is so much love for people’s communities, there are so many amazing missional ideas that are coming out of the woodwork that people are having the courage to put into action, and that’s great to see.”
If Hope25 works, what might the Anglican Church of Australia look like?
There are many different definitions of working, Capper said, but it would be lovely if more people came to faith—there would be a lot more Christians around.
“Most Australians take around 20 encounters with Christians or with the Gospels before they are ready to make a decision,” she said. “People feel like they have failed in the work of mission or evangelism, but that’s not true. It’s part of a journey.”
In calls to evangelism, people often feel like they are being asked to do something they do not know how to do, she said.
“What we’ve tried to do in Hope25 is provide resources for that,” Capper said. “If it works, it’s about people thinking through How do we think about the hope that we have?”
Robyn Douglass grew up in Sydney and Melbourne, completing a journalism cadetship at the Anglican newspaper in Victoria. In South Australia, she has worked for church, local, and national media.
