ACNA 6 Initiatives Highlight | New Wineskins | By Kevin Walthall

Archbishop Foley Beach has identified six ministry priorities for the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). These priorities are enshrined in Six Initiatives. The Initiatives “serve those at the local level by coming alongside them with support, resources, and networking. Through this, ministry in the prioritized areas is more readily promoted, coordinated, and lived out across the Province.” The Six Initiatives are: Partnering Globally, Serving the Marginalized, Fostering Diversity, Planting Churches, Cultivating Generosity, and Developing Leaders.

This quarter, we are launching a series to highlight each of these initiatives, beginning with the Partnering Globally initiative fostered by New Wineskins, the Anglican global missions network. New Wineskins exists to connects a broad spectrum of missionaries, organizations (like Anglican Frontier Missions and Pioneers), and resources (like Alpha courses on the basics of the Christian faith).

According to Executive Director of New Wineskins, Jenny Noyse, after the last conference in 2019, three words stood out to New Wineskins leadership as it prayed about the future: “reset,” “escalation,” and “acceleration.” They had no idea how big of a reset 2020 would be. They hope, by God’s grace, to see escalation and acceleration through the initiative, as well.

Noyes is already excited for September 2022, when the next New Wineskins Conference is set to be held near Asheville, NC. New Wineskins conferences only take place once every three years, since they involve many missionaries traveling in from the field. The conference facilitates bringing missionaries together to gain practical tools for success in the field.

The conference will bring together 350 people from 60 countries, including three sending agencies and dozens of ministries. Within the conference, there are 150 thought-provoking Missions Awareness Presentation Talks (“MAP Talks,” the missional cousin of TED Talks), as well as about 25 different pre-conferences where attendees can find their “tribe within the tribe.” It’s a time for divine appointments, she says, as people come with a calling and leave with support, partners, and a plan of action.

A tremendous amount of infrastructure is needed to support each missionary, from fundraising to prayer, legal advice to trauma counseling, retirement planning to sabbatical care. The actual missionaries in the field are the tip of an iceberg that trains, sends, and supports. The New Wineskins network allows missionaries to lean on each other for support. While parishes may send missionaries themselves, missionaries often need training in cross-cultural relations, fundraising, and self-care while overseas.  It’s important to support missionaries with the knowledge and skills to thrive in isolated, challenging circumstances. It’s also important that sending parishes and their missionaries feel connected. Missions is best as a bottom-up process as opposed to a top-down one. Missions is meant to be organic and incarnational.

Attrition is a major factor. 5,000 missionaries leave the field every year, each one taking with them years of knowledge of the local language, customs, and spiritual landscape. Finding people to pick up where these missionaries leave off, building on their efforts and lessons learned, is one of New Wineskins’ most critical functions.

To that end, Noyes believes we need to work on building a culture of missions in our ACNA parishes, both for domestic and international missions. When we live as missional parishes, we communicate to children growing up in our churches that we embody a faith worth sharing.

Jesus commanded his disciples—"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15) The journey to “go” has to start somewhere. Jenny Noyes says, “If your church isn’t sending missionaries, then there will be no missionaries.” She continues, “Missions is everyone from everywhere sending missionaries everywhere.”

If you’re interested in missions or how New Wineskins can support you in your field, or how it can support the missional ethos of your parish, more information can be found about New Wineskins at www.NewWineskins.org.

Registration for the New Wineskins conference opens October 1, 2021. Trailer and registration are available at www.NewWineskinsConference.org.