Click here to find Anglican services nearest to you!
Click here to contact the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne
If you have a complaint please click here.
Read about our safe ministry requirements.
During Lent, we reflected together across the Diocese on life in our churches, our hopes for mission, and the challenges and opportunities before us.
Clergy and lay leaders, parish communities, ministry teams, chaplaincies, schools, agencies and individuals all contributed wisdom, questions, hopes and honest reflections. More than 2,700 people across Melbourne and Geelong took part in this shared process. Thank you.
Listening in Lent was an invitation to listen together for what God may be saying to us in this moment – about the life of our churches, the mission of the gospel, and the future shape of our shared life across the Diocese.
What is emerging is not simply feedback, but a rich picture of where God is already at work and where renewal is most needed.
We are now moving into a Season of Discernment. This is the next step in the same journey.
Listening in Lent: A season of listening across the Diocese through prayer, reflection, gatherings and conversation.
Season of discernment: Archbishop Ric, the bishops, senior leaders and wider voices across the Diocese prayerfully reflecting on what has been heard and discerning what is emerging.
Diocesan Ministry Conference: Clergy and Authorised Senior Lay Ministers gathering to help shape the strategy together, pray into the next season, and test what is emerging.
Strategy publication: The developing diocesan strategy is shared more widely across the Diocese.
General Synod: The Diocese receives, responds to and prays into the next chapter together.
As we reflect on all that has been shared, we are asking together: what is God saying to us, and what is he calling us to become as the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne in this season?
This work will happen at every level of diocesan life.
Archbishop Ric, the Assistant Bishops, the Archbishop in Council, senior leaders and ministry leaders will be prayerfully testing what is emerging. Clergy and ASLM will bring the wisdom, theological reflection and practical insight of local church life across Melbourne and Geelong, particularly through the Diocesan Ministry Conference in July.
This is not about one part of the Diocese deciding for another. It is a shared work of listening, prayer and discernment.
The direction we shape must belong to the whole Diocese.
Together we are seeking clarity about where God is calling us next – how we live faithfully as the Anglican Church in Melbourne and Geelong, how we strengthen our common life, and how we serve God’s mission in this generation.
Many voices have already shaped this process, and many will continue to do so.
The aim is not simply a strategy document, but a shared direction marked by trust, courage, prayer and hope.
Before plans, priorities or programmes, we need prayer.
We believe God is already at work across this Diocese. Our task is not to invent the future, but to listen faithfully, respond courageously, and walk together in trust.
Please continue praying:
This is a shared journey, and prayer belongs over everything.
If you have any questions or would like to contribute further, we warmly invite you to be in touch — we would value hearing from you. Please feel free to contact us at hello@melbourneanglican.org.au
This journey will continue throughout the year toward Synod and beyond, as we seek to listen well, discern faithfully, and respond courageously to God’s call for this Diocese.