In order for the diocese to be a collegial resource filled community, I believe that as a Diocese we need to think about how we plan and build for the future and aid the ministries we have. We have looked at aided ministry in the past, but I would like to attach a different label to the ministry and to change focus so that we pull ourselves out of Maintenance and into Mission. Therefore, I would like to see the development of what I am calling the Barnabas Initiative. This initiative is one of encouragement and support.  I think we need a resource team – not to provide centralized ministry, far from it,  but to exist so that across the diocese we can provide extra input in developing and equipping ministry. Some of this may take the form of something new and sometimes it is to bring about renewal and growth in an existing parish or ministry.

While the shape of this new ministry within the Diocese of Edmonton continues to be refined, the purpose of the Barnabas Initiative remains one of encouragement and support.  Our goal is to encourage parishes within the diocese to reach out in mission to the communities and cultures that surround them so that all may know afresh the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is also our goal to support ongoing mission within the diocese through encouragement, provision of resources, and the development of learning networks so that all engaged in mission may grow in their own capacities, and may encourage one another.  Ultimately, we are helping churches be Church.

The Barnabas Initiative also is interested in exploring new ways of being Church in order to better reach those people in our world for whom traditional modes of worship and community life are difficult to understand, or appear irrelevant.  This is in keeping with the Anglican tradition, as we have always sought to provide incarnational and relevant Church for all people.

The Barnabas Initiative, through encouragement and support, seeks to help parishes in the Diocese of Edmonton to serve Christ as best as they possibly can, and thus let the church be Church.