Gathering Summary

Mitcham Baptist Church, 4th– 5th May 2012
Nourish – “Our High Calling”
Friday 4^th May 10am – 3pm

The morning was kicked off with a great worship session led by Lyn Williams, Geoff Leslie, Derek Bradshaw and Ali Sharma. Andrew Woff facilitated the days proceedings.

Keynote Speaker, Daniel Bullock spoke on “Our High Calling” and shared on the aspects of calling, personal call experiences and the nature of the call.

Time was dedicated to sharing of call stories both among tables and amongst the whole group. There was also a powerful time of reflecting on beautiful photographic images that represented different calls, followed by round the table prayer.

After lunch, Scott Higgins from Baptist World Aid Alliance Australia presented.

Mark from The Coffee Cure ensured all our Pastors were looked after in terms of their coffee addictions with his mobile coffee cart.

In the afternoon session, Daniel outlined the new Vision of BUV and took questions. Jude Waldron, Pastor at Armadale Baptist, led the group in a recommitment and communion session to conclude the day.

Delegates’ Dinner
Friday 4th May 6pm – 10pm

Craig Wright kicked the evening off with a bible reflection from Genesis.

Thanks were given to outgoing Chair of Union Council Phil Trebilcock and a welcome was given to incoming Chair Trevor Spicer. Thanks also went to Anne Wilkinson-Hayes for the amazing effort as Acting DoM from May 2011 to Feb 2012, and to Andrew Woff who assisted her. Farewells included Jeff Davey from the position of CEO of Baptcare and several staff members who have left or are leaving the BUV – Beth Barnett, Alison Sharma, Grant Stewart, Chris Danes and Matthew Bevis.

Business was kept to a minimum at this Delegates Dinner - Ian Southwood delivered the Finance Report for 2011 and Craig Wright accepted a show of hands vote for a constitutional by law change.

Kylie Kendall promoted the Safe Church Training Workshops that will be offered to all churches later in the year. Carolyn Francis spoke on behalf of BEthos in relation to the Assylum Seeker Resolution and Reconciliation Action Plan.

Andrew Woff officially brought the Reimagining Process to a close by thanking the Implementation Group.

Daniel Bullock spoke on the Future Vision of the BUV. Areas he covered were Mission and Transformation, Pastoral Leadership Development, Training and Support, Church Health and Capacity Building, Communications, Finance and Admin and Staff Transitions.

Significant time was given to table discussion and questions answered from a panel. Thanks to those who facilitated tables during the evening.

Church Case studies – Dale Stephenson from Crossway Baptist presented a case study on measurement techniques used at Crossway and Gayle Hill presented a case study on the revitalisation of Balwyn Baptist Church.

Some final inspirational stories were told from around the room before the evening was officially brought to a close by Craig Wright.

Gathering Day
Saturday 5th May 10am – 3:30pm

Gathering Day once again was kicked off by a worship time led by Lyn Williams, Geoff Leslie,Derek Bradshaw, Ali Sharma and Caleb Williams.

First up on the Agenda was the presentation by Frank Rees of the five Ordinands – Phil Assender,Debbie Campbell, Adam Hince, Antonio Rodgriguez and Nathan Steer.

Daniel Bullock delivered the keynote address on Advancing the Kingdom – the audio link for this address can be found at http://buv.com.au/resource/gathering-resources

Several pastors and leaders from churches shared stories of mission in their churches during the day: Nathan Oliver from New Community Box Hill, Karen People Employment (by DVD), David Buesnel from West Preston, Jun Tan from Northcote, Michael Carlisle from Lakes Entrance and Si Khia from Lautu Chin congregation at Spotswood.

All electives were well attended – thanks goes to all those who led electives – great job! A PowerPoint presentation from Deb Mountjoy is available – please email melissa.rule@buv.com.au if you would like a copy.

Morning Electives

Tools for Transformation: Introducing spiritual practices to local church leaders & teams (A1)

Facilitated by John Robinson, Pastor for Education, Syndal Baptist

Imagine for a moment that your church community arranged itself around the simple aim of becoming more like Jesus. Imagine also, as each person changed, how this would affect every aspect of your life together – serving, praying, giving, mission etc.

This elective will briefly unpack how to go about creating environments where spiritual transformation is more likely to occur, before focusing on the way Christian “spiritual disciplines” can shape the lives of local church leaders and teams.

Creative approaches to being a reflective community (A2)

Facilitated by Rev Dr Anne Mallaby (Minister at Box Hill Baptist & Lecturer at Whitley) and Rev Roslyn Wright (Director of Field Education - Whitley)

Tired at the thought of yet another church project? Ever wondered why we are doing so much stuff? Here is an opportunity to ponder the purpose behind the project and discover a source of inspiration for who we are and how we are as community. Practical case studies and tools for reflection will be shared by Roslyn and Anne.

Professional Standards Workshop:

Sexual Conduct in the context of local church leadership teams (A3)

APPROVED PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS ELECTIVE

Facilitated by Deb Mountjoy

This workshop will highlight the power dynamic that is inherent in pastoral ministry. It will highlight how power may be misused and identify the possible negative impact. We will explore the importance of boundaries and principles for safe ministry.

Communicating Compassion Beyond

Compartmentalised Responses (A4)

Facilitated by Brendon Birch and David Lovell from Baptist World Aid

How does the Christian Call to actively engage with poverty & justice intersect with best practise in Community Development?

Come along and explore how global poverty and justice issues require both a personal and organisational response.

Explore the merit and values of what this ‘should’ look like & ‘could’ look like through a Church Partnership.

Brendon Birch and David Lovell share their experience of engagement with community development from a local church and Aid & Development agency perspective.

Afternoon Electives

Developing the Gifts and Capacity of Those Around You (B1)

Facilitated by Kim Zovak and Chris Danes

This interactive workshop is designed for all types of team leaders, small group leaders, pastors and those who are investing in others. It will help you to better, and more intentionally, develop those around you. Since most adult learning happens outside of formal settings, using coaching skills (e.g. intentional listening, asking powerful questions, helping develop workable action plans) will enable you to help people better learn and grow through the ordinary activities of life and ministry.

Get Moved! (B2)

Facilitated by Craig Wright from Global Interaction

Global Interaction’s new church resource has everyone talking. It’s thought provoking, engaging and powerful. It will inspire your people, energise your church and fuel your passion for Mission. Come and experience Moved with our Global Interaction team and get ready for your church to get Moved!

“Multicultural Leadership Teams” (B3)

Facilitated by Wai Kwong Sun, Meewon Yang and Andrew Woff

With Victorian society - and therefore the church – becoming increasingly multicultural, many of us are experiencing the opportunities and challenges of forming healthy multicultural leadership teams. Like a 5-star meal, they can be hard work, costly, but when all the different components work together, the satisfaction is wonderful! So what are the special gifts, what are the dangers and what are the principles that can guide us? This will be an interactive workshop with some input from experienced people along the way.

“Asylum Seekers – stories and resources” (B4)

Facilitated by Brent Lyons-Lee and Murray Hogg from BEthos

(BEthos – Baptists Engaging Ethics & Society and Baptcare)

A discussion facilitated by Bethos to develop the BUV’s working document on asylum seekers and compile a resource to inspire and equip congregations. We’ll hear stories from Baptcare and churches already ministering amongst asylum seekers. Make sure you bring your own stories and resources to share.

Thank-yous

First and foremost, a very big thank you goes out to all the BUV staff that worked tirelessly over the Gathering weekend to ensure the event went as smoothly as possible. It was a major team effort with people working on areas from Registration tables to coffee and tea stations, welcoming, serving meals and drinks, audio desk and PowerPoint, setting up, cleaning up, directing traffic, directing people to elective rooms, vacuuming, setting up playgroup toys for Sunday, and many more jobs.

Thanks to Daniel Bullock for his massive input over the weekend and to Andrew Woff and Craig Wright for their brilliant jobs as Master of Ceremonies.

Huge thanks also go to Mitcham Baptist Church for hosting the event; in particular, Dennis Fannerand Pastor Gary Wynne who both worked very hard prior to and all weekend. Also to Bronwyn and John Bain who were available all weekend on the audio desk.

Aussie Catering supplied two beautiful meals and worked quietly and effortlessly to provide the catering.

And finally to Alison Sharma, who finished in the Events Coodinator role three weeks before the Gathering, but gave her time to come back and work though the event in order that my job would be easier. Thanks Ali!