The appointment of the two new assistant bishops, with the ordination taking place next February, will allow the Bishop of Tasmania, the Right Reverend John Harrower, to spend more time in frontline mission. The two new assistant bishops are Dr Chris Jones, the CEO of Anglicare Tasmania, and Archdeacon Ross Nicholson, the Rector of St John's Launceston.
The appointment of the assistant bishops comes after a special Synod was convened by the Tasmania Anglican Church that approved the new direction for the Church. New experimental mission projects are now being trial such as: developing a ministry with the horse-riding community in the Huon, the new families congregation in Somerset, and a Chaplaincy to the University of Tasmania's Launceston campus.
The time has come to reorganise the Church with the aim of transforming life in Tasmania, Bishop Harrower said, though he acknowledged there were some risks to the project.
"The time has come to reorder the Anglican Church in Tasmania with fresh energy for mission. We are doing this to further our vision of God transforming the life of our Christian communities and all Tasmanians. Transformation involves taking some risks and developing some new models to complement our traditional ministries."
However, there is opposition to the 'fresh' direction undertaken by the Church. Christian Garland, the Chairman of the Holy Trinity Support Group, said the move to embrace new worshipers would come at a cost to the traditional worshippers, reported the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC).
"Every organisation has the right to take new initiatives and it's good that the Anglican church is trying to recruit new people into the church," he said.
"But to sacrifice traditional worshippers, to sacrifice old churches to do that seems very cruel, there are many people who want to stay in an old church and worship and to squeeze them out so a different type of worship can be accommodated is quite wrong."