March 2002

Anyone who thinks kiwifruit and mission have nothing in common has yet to meet Queensland Synod's newest mission consultant, Duncan Macleod. Duncan is a New Zealander who in a previous job hand-pollinated kiwifruit vines. Now he says he will act as a "cross-pollinator" among the congregations of the Queensland church.

"That's part of my role," he says, "sharing the stories, helping people discover they're not alone. If at the end of my job people have learnt that, I'll be pleased."

Duncan will have two major responsibilities as mission consultant: the development of contemporary worship, and adult education. He is available to make visits or provide workshops. As part of a Doctorate in Ministry, Duncan is developing a training project to re-equip ministers and other leaders working with "emerging generations". Despite the many books that have been written on the subject, he says it's not that easy to define the emerging church.

"I don't like getting into too much stereotyping, but I think it's helpful to be able to learn to read the culture," he says. "For a church to be able to engage with people who are not churched, they have to be able to learn to play and work in the culture that those young people are living in. It's really cross-cultural evangelism that we're talking about.

"Mission is going beyond yourselves to do the work of Jesus Christ in the world. It involves evangelism in a sense of sharing good news of Jesus Christ in a way that helps people discover Jesus for themselves and their lives are changed.

"It may involve service in the community. It may involve at times challenging a community. It's giving churches and leaders the courage to be influential, to be, well, leaders - that's what it boils down to."

Duncan hopes to empower leaders by showing them they have a scriptural mandate to get out there and do these things, and by helping them network.

"Helping people link up with other people who are trying things out in similar situations, whether that be in small churches who feel as though they're on the threshold of either disaster or success, through to large regional churches being able to network and learn from each other.

"I don't want people to get into the situation of dependency where [they] can't do anything without a consultant. I'm coming in with a 'you can do it' attitude.

"The biggest challenge for me at the moment is being a New Zealander working in a Queensland environment," he readily admits. He plans to meet that challenge head-on, by "first of all developing the network and developing confidence to be able to speak into the Uniting Church environment, and that will come mostly from listening, initially. I want to be able to travel around, be where people are, listen to their stories."

Having grown up on a farm, he has a special interest in country regions. "I'm looking forward to making connections with the rural aspect of Queensland."

Duncan comes to the Qld Synod after six years as a national consultant in youth ministry to the Presbyterian church of Aotearoa New Zealand, followed by 12 months in youth ministry and worship with the Robina Surfers Paradise UC.

"We were trying to find ways for people to experience God that didn't rely just on singing and listening to sermons, because not everybody's good at those two things," he says. They experimented with innovative approaches to outreach and worship that incorporated multi-media, hospitality and contemporary music - with mixed results. Duncan says he wants to give church leaders permission to try new things, without pressure to succeed.

"At the back of most leaders' minds, if someone comes up with an idea, the first question is, 'What will people think?' We have a fear of failure, a fear of being seen as unrespectable or unreliable, and we need to be able to develop a sense of being entrepreneurs. Let's try it, let's have a go."

He wants people to be honest with him, and says they need not feel any sense of condemnation or shame if things have not been going so well. "I'm growing as a person still, and I think I'd like them to trust me with their stories and their hopes and dreams for the church, to be honest with me about their frustrations and disappointments.

"It's a matter of learning from lessons from the past and moving into the future, and so that's what I hope people will be able to share with me as we work together."