The Army that brings Life MISSION PLAN The Army that brings Life

OUR MISSION To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human needs in His name without discrimination International Mission Statement Caring for people, transforming lives, and reforming society, by God’s power Local Mission Statement It’s great to be a part of The Salvation Army – an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church – currently working in 127 countries, with over 1 million soldiers and 1.5 million children involved around the world. Our international mission is … We apply this here in New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga through our local mission statement …

TERRITORIAL STRATEGIC MISSION PLAN (TSMP): 2005–2016 Has been very helpful in providing focus Clarified our ‘what’ Has reached end of life In 2005, senior leaders asked what was holding us back from achieving more of this mission. Four main areas of strategic priority were identified and the Territorial Strategic Mission Plan, or TSMP as it became known, was born. TSMP proved extremely helpful in providing focus for Salvationists and so was extended in both 2010 and 2013, however the sense of senior leaders is that TSMP has reached the end of its life. You could say that TSMP was about action – and clarified our ‘what’ – we wanted to Make Disciples, Increase Soldiers, Fight Injustice and Develop Leaders. But it didn’t really answer the ‘Why’.

God is calling us back to a focus on our hearts and attitudes OUR NEW MISSION PLAN Has a focus on our hearts and attitudes Why do we do what we do? [Our Purpose] What’s important to us? [Our Values] Where do we need to improve most over the next few years? [Two Practices] There’s a saying that ‘culture eats strategy’—in other words, even with the best plans in the world, people’s hearts and attitudes determine what we will achieve. We therefore feel God is calling us back to a focus on our hearts and attitudes, to consider: Why do we want to care for people, transform lives and reform society? And what sort of people do we need to be? Our new Mission Plan has been designed to clarify our Purpose, define our Values, and then to identify areas in which need to improve most over the next few years. God is calling us back to a focus on our hearts and attitudes

OUR PURPOSE [John’s gospel was written so] ‘that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.’ (John 20:30-31) Our ‘why’? We want people to have the full and forever life that comes through a relationship with Jesus Te Ope Whakaora – the Army that brings Life So what is our Purpose? Our ‘why?’ One of the ways Jesus described his mission was to bring life. For example, in John 10:10, Jesus is recorded as saying, ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’ But what is this life? In summarising the life of Jesus, John writes that ‘Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name’ (John 20:30-31). This is our why. We want people to have this full and forever life that comes through a relationship with Jesus. Wonderfully, this was well understood by our early New Zealand Salvationists who chose ‘Te Ope Whakaora’ as the term for The Salvation Army’s work to Māori, a term that translates as the group or Army that brings life.

OUR VALUES To signal the culture we want to see, we are introducing seven values. These reflect who we are, how we strive to act, and how we make decisions. To signal the culture we want to see, we are introducing seven values that we believe reflect who we are, how we strive to act and how we make decisions. It starts by putting Jesus first – fundamentally, we are a Christian movement whose ministry is motivated by the love of God. This in turn compels us to care for others – especially the most vulnerable; and to walk the talk – authentic Christianity, which could also be stated as no hypocrites. We think holistically to provide a ministry that addresses the whole person —their spiritual, physical, mental/emotional and social needs; and in supporting this, we offer a place to belong —authentic faith communities where anyone is welcomed, and where those who profess to follow Jesus contribute as they are able. We look to do the right thing with our resources, recognising we are accountable to God. And we are proud to be a part of God’s international Salvation Army, willingly supporting our Army and fellow Salvationists, both locally and around the world.

God has given us everything we need! WHERE ARE WE TODAY? Today … We are well resourced and enjoy a respected profile 120,000 people each year seek our help But … Few of these 120,000 are experiencing the life offered by Jesus We sense a decrease in passion for souls We can be unwelcoming We sometimes observe poor leadership behaviour So how are we placed to bring life to people across New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga? In general, we think very well. We are well resourced – just look at our great people, property portfolio, Government and public support 120,000 people are coming to us each year seeking our help. In other words – God has given us everything we need. But, few of these 120,000 people get to experience the life offered by Jesus? Why is that? Is it because our corps and centres often work in isolation? Do we really believe that the life offered by Jesus is the answer? Is it because we can be unwelcoming? Is it because we sometimes behave in ways that turn people away from Jesus? God has given us everything we need!

OUR STRATEGY Improve in two particular areas, to become more effective Two ‘Practices’: To emphasise that these should be ‘how we always do things around here’ Hope to see these normalised across our territory within the next three years The two practices are: Living like Jesus, and Doing Mission Together These are big issues, so for the next three years, we want to improve in two particular areas, to become more effective. We’re calling these practices, to emphasise that these should be ‘how we always do things around here’. These practices describe the culture we want to see normalised across our territory within the next three years. The two practices are: Living like Jesus, and Doing Mission Together

LIVING LIKE JESUS Consistently reflecting the values and standards of Jesus in all aspects of our lives and in the way we ‘do’ mission So that people are drawn to God Living like Jesus is about reflecting the values and qualities of Jesus in all aspects of our lives, to draw people towards him. If we truly want to be the Army that brings Life, we must model the fullness of life that comes from a relationship with Jesus, starting from our officers and other leaders, and continuing through all our Salvationists and staff.

LIVING LIKE JESUS We will achieve this by: Supporting discipleship training and one-on-one discipling Access for everyone to RightNow Media (14,000 online Christian resources) Encouraging personal and group accountability Providing further leadership training We will help achieve this by: Supporting discipleship training: the territory is committed to developing and sourcing high quality resources to support discipleship training. The first one is that we have purchased a territory wide licence for all Salvationists to access Right Now Media. RightNow Media is an online collection of more than 14,000 Bible Study videos – from all the What’s in the Bible episodes for kids, through to big name speakers like Bill Hybels and Francis Chan. This is the perfect resource for group studies, courses, personal devotions, family TV watching, youth, men, women – and it’s free! [Head to https://www.RightNow.org/Account/Invite/NZFIJITONGA] To help improve our discipleship culture, we’re also looking for corps and centres to increase the challenge in their regular staff meetings and small groups – to look to hold each other accountable for living like Jesus And the territory is committed to improving leadership behaviour, including continuing to grow our leadership training. To sign up to RightNow Media, head to: https://www.RightNow.org/Account/Invite/NZFIJITONGA

DOING MISSION TOGETHER Offering holistic ministries that consider the whole needs of a person (spiritual, physical, emotional and social), with seamless connections between our faith communities and social service centres Doing Mission Together is about being intentional in offering holistic ministries that meet people’s spiritual, physical, emotional and social needs, with seamless connections between our faith communities and social service centres. There’s two very important complimentary parts to this: Holistic ministries – not just focusing on people’s spiritual needs, or material needs – but all of us thinking holistically, and Seamless connections – where our corps and centres are so integrated, that people think we’re one Salvation Army.

DOING MISSION TOGETHER We will help achieve this by: Training International Whole World Mobilising campaign Regional hubs and integrated mission plans Making it easier to participate in integrated ministries We will help achieve this by: The territory is looking to develop or source training resources for providing holistic ministries, how to share your faith, and how to be welcoming Part of this will be the International Whole World Mobilising campaign. For the last few years, the Salvation Army has been focusing on prayer, Bible reading, and our 150 year Boundless Congress. In 2017, there will be a focus on evangelism. Developing regional hubs and integrated mission plans Making it easier to participate in corps and social services by offering opportunities to volunteer, encouraging relationship building ahead of service, especially in working the integrated mission plans.

FOR THREE YEARS: 2016–2019 We will continue to focus on our mission Our previous goals will always be important We are putting extra emphasis on these two practices to improve our missional culture We will continue to focus on our mission—and our previous goals of making disciples, recruiting and deploying soldiers, fighting injustice and developing leaders will always be important. But the plan is to put extra emphasis on these two practices for three years, with the expectation that this short term focus will lead to an ongoing and improved missional culture.

OUR MISSION PLAN To make the plan easy to remember, we’ve simplified it to 1-2-3: One Purpose: We are the Army that brings Life Two Practices: Living like Jesus, Doing Mission Together For Three Years: 2016-2019 To make the plan easy to remember, we’ve simplified it to 1-2-3: • One purpose: We are the Army that brings Life • Two practices: Living like Jesus and Doing Mission Together • For three years: 2016-2019.

GET INVOLVED So what does this mean for us? Firstly, we want to engage with the Mission Plan at a corps/centre level. We’ll be … (e.g. offering training, preaching on the values, introducing more accountability into our leadership team meetings, teaming up with other centres (or trying to make the services we provide more seamless), etc. ) We also want you to engage at a personal level (see slide for ideas – make use of Right Now media; join a small group; if you’re a Facebook user, join the conversation, etc.).

The Army that brings Life MISSION PLAN The Army that brings Life [To finish, you could pray for the Mission Plan, for its introduction, it’s aims, and future impact on the territory].