“Restorers of the Breach”- A Call to Compassionate Rebuilding
Ministry Leaders Family Camp, March 2025
Bishop Ana Fletcher called on ministry leaders to embrace their shared vocation as “restorers of the breach,” drawing deeply from the biblical stories of Nehemiah and Isaiah 58, and from her own journey of faith and leadership.
Framing her talk through the lens of “The Restoration Call,” Bishop Ana wove together scripture, personal narrative, and the lived experience of communities facing suffering and displacement. She began by reflecting on a recent visit to her ancestral homeland of Jaffna, Sri Lanka—a region still marked by the trauma of war, where her own family members have courageously returned to live and work for justice despite having the option to remain in safety and comfort overseas.
“This commitment to people and place,” she said, “is what it means to participate in God’s restoration work—choosing not just where we feel most comfortable, but where we are most called.”
Turning to the biblical figure of Nehemiah, Bishop Ana highlighted how leadership rooted in compassion and prayer leads to transformative vision. Nehemiah, she reminded the gathered leaders, began not with strategy or power, but by asking, “How are the people and the place doing?”—a question that led him to lament, confess, pray, and ultimately step into risky, sacrificial leadership.
“This must be our position as leaders too,” she said, quoting Henri Nouwen: “We are called to recognize the sufferings of our time in our own hearts, and to make that recognition the starting point of our service.”
Bishop Ana acknowledged the very real hardship and burnout many leaders face, and the challenge of continuing to say “yes” to God in the midst of exhaustion, resistance, and even failure. She spoke candidly of her own family’s journey, resisting God’s nudges until it became unmistakable that they were being called to serve in Newtown, Wellington—far from the quiet season they had imagined.
“It was not what we had planned,” she said. “But here we are—and here God is, doing restorative work in us, and through us.”
Throughout the talk, Bishop Ana returned again and again to the importance of teams, community, and perseverance. Drawing on the rebuilding scenes in Nehemiah 3, she painted a vivid picture of “a coalition of the willing”—ordinary people contributing what they could to rebuild their portion of the wall, often just outside their own homes. They weren’t wealthy, powerful, or necessarily skilled—but they were faithful.
“So many of you,” she said, “are holding the line without the team you hoped for. You’re saying yes to God amid uncertainty, rejection, and loneliness. This is the work of restoration—and God is with you in it.”
She concluded by reminding the community of two essential characteristics of Christian leadership: hope and joy.
“Every great work of God,” she said, quoting missionary Hudson Taylor, “goes through three stages: first, it is impossible; then, it is difficult; then, it is done.” Despite opposition, discouragement, and grief, the people of God are sustained not by outcomes but by the unshakable presence of God and the deep joy that springs from it.
“Joy,” she said, quoting C.S. Lewis, “is the serious business of heaven.”
With compassion, conviction, and humour, Bishop Ana’s message was a powerful reminder that God is still in the business of rebuilding—through prayerful, hopeful people who show up with what they have, where they are, for the sake of others.
Note: AI was used in the creation of this story.
