Stream 1 — Who We Are

IDENTITY AND ECCLESIOLOGY

Who we are, how we are governed, and what your ordination actually authorises

Approximately 7 formation hours | 4 units | Stream quiz

What this stream is about

This stream answers the question you will be asked most often once you are ministering in the Mission's name: what exactly is this body, and by what right does it exist? It covers the Mission's ecclesial identity, its apostolic succession as it now stands, how it is governed, and — the unit most often skipped elsewhere and most often needed here — what your ordination actually authorises you to do.

Stream 1 carries the heaviest reading load in the course. Most of your seven hours will be spent with the Mission's own documents rather than with these pages. That is intentional. These pages exist to frame the documents, not to replace them.

What you will learn

• Describe the Mission's ecclesial identity accurately to an enquirer, including its standing as a mission rather than a denomination.
• Explain the difference between independence and isolation, and what the Mission means by interdependence.
• Distinguish validity, regularity, fruitfulness, and recognition, and give an example of each.
• Describe the Mission's current apostolic succession accurately, including dates and consecrating bishops.
• Explain the office of Rector, the role of the Mission Council, and why major decisions require unanimity.
• Place the Statutes, the Formation Policies, and a course prospectus in their correct order of authority.
• State what your ordination does and does not authorise you to do within the Mission.
• Distinguish incardinated, associate, and visiting clergy, and use titles accurately.

Units in this stream

• Unit 1.1 — The Mission You Are Asking to Join: the five core documents, mission rather than denomination, the theology of smallness, and where the Mission sits in the independent sacramental tradition.
• Unit 1.2 — Apostolic Succession, Validity, and Recognition: tactile and doctrinal succession, the Mission's succession as it now stands, and the four words that are constantly confused.
• Unit 1.3 — How the Mission Is Governed: the office of Rector, the Mission Council and the unanimity rule, canonical obedience, and where the documents sit.
• Unit 1.4 — What Your Ordination Actually Authorises: orders and faculties, use of the Mission's name and marks, multiple affiliations, and Council eligibility.

A word before you begin

Before working through Unit 1.3 you will be asked to read the Statutes and Governance Principles from cover to cover. Not skimmed, not sampled: read. When you are incardinated you will promise canonical obedience, and it is not possible to promise obedience to a document you have not read. Clergy who sign such promises unread are the origin of a remarkable proportion of ecclesial conflict.

Open Unit 1.1 and begin.