Innovative Strategies

NSW + the ACT is full of amazing churches and Pastors, I have seen this first-hand as we emerge from a very challenging two years. The way churches have adapted and begun to do new and innovative things, shows the strength of faith and resilience in our movement.

Leadership

There were several adjustments to the NSW/ACT State Executive team at the State Conference in October 2022. Pastors Chris Smith (Secretary/Treasurer) and Brad Bonhomme decided not to re-nominate for the current term. Mark Zschech and Louise Antonius were elected to the team, and Ken Fischer was elected to Secretary/Treasurer role.

I am very grateful to both Chris and Brad for their service to the State (Chris for serving a decade). Their contribution was significant to the health and growth of our State.

I am extremely thankful to have exceptional pastors who willingly lead our 14 regions and 10 specialised ministry areas. Together with their local teams, they are providing leadership and pastoral care to more than 334 churches and 945 credential holders. In this last conference period, we have granted 63 Ordination Credentials, 99 Probationary Credentials and 9 Specialised Ministry Credentials.

Training

We continue to provide training and opportunities for professional development for our pastors. Some of the opportunities include:

• Ministry Essentials – for all pastors wanting to progress to ordination

• Starting Strong – for anyone interested in planting a church

• Regional Gatherings – four per year, providing an opportunity to connect and be encouraged

• Specialised ministry PD for Chaplains, Kids Ministry workers, SRE, Youth Leaders, Community workers and supervisors etc.

Alphacrucis University College is an incredible resource, providing masterclasses and training space for us to utilise.

Conferences

In 2021, due to further government restrictions, our State Conference was not able to proceed. Even though we are not able to meet in person, leading up to when the State Conference had been scheduled, messages from Paul Bartlett, Mark Varughese and Gillian Cameron were sent to our pastors. We also held Instagram Lives with Gillian Cameron and Mark Varughese.

In 2022, after two years of not being able to hold our State Conference face to face, the pastors of the State were keen to gather again in Port Macquarie, for our NSW State Conference, ‘BRAVE’, with 1,341 delegates, we enjoyed an incredible week of ministry from Mark Varughese, Dale Stephenson, Ally Cawthorn, Darlene Zschech, and our State Executive Team. The conference celebrated pastors who had shown exceptional bravery through COVID, natural disasters and opposition of varying kinds.

We continue to see great results in our four focuses;

Four focus areas

Planting churches that plant churches

Despite the impact of the pandemic, we were able to plant 25 churches! We have a detailed strategy to plant 30 new churches in this conference period.

Lifting awareness of Indigenous

We have designed an infographic containing information to assist churches implement good practice when working and engaging with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples. Each guide provides a general overview, to encourage discussion and understanding. The infographic will continue to develop.

We are also:

Identifying and raising more Indigenous pastors and helping local churches to be culturally aware - Introducing Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country in all our gatherings - Investing in training Indigenous Pastors and Planting Indigenous churches

Raising young influencers

In 2022, Young Influencers were able to meet for the first-time face to face since the pandemic. We took up a special offering and raised funds to appoint an incredible leader, Joel Mitchell, to oversee this ministry. We have also increased our engagement with Red Frogs and Paul Dent is doing an incredible job in this space; he also needs to raise further funds to continue in this ministry.

Promoting a discipleship culture

Our Discipleship menu was activated on the ACC NSW/ACT website and media platforms in this conference period.

As we look to the next two years, we have a goal to plant 30 churches, as there are huge population growth areas particularly in Sydney West.

We are strengthening the opportunity for pastors to become healthy through ongoing mentoring and supervision.

A big thank you to our State Executive and our staff