NorthPoint - March, 2015

Leadership in the Local Church 2015

On the weekend of 6 to 8 February, 380 people from around the North New South Wales (NNSW) Conference met for the conference’s second annual Leadership in the Local Church weekend. Avondale College of Higher Education hosted the inaugural event last year, and it played host again this year — although the number of attendees meant that the meetings were moved from Ladies Chapel into the main church.

The weekend featured top-quality speakers who led out in worships and workshops, encouraging and challenging church pastors and key church leaders. Pastor Gary Blanchard, Youth and Young Adult Director for the Texas Conference, was the keynote speaker. Kingscliff’s Pastor David Asscherick also spoke, as did Christian author and businessman Julian Archer.

Pastor Justin Lawman, President of the NNSW Conference, says, “The weekend went gang busters! To open the Leadership in the Local Church weekend, David spoke on the Friday night about the journey Kingscliff Church has been on — how Sabbath mornings have become their main evangelistic program and how they now have 18 small groups, from tennis to Daniel and Revelation discussion groups.”

The straight-talking, faith-focused content continued in the Sabbath programs. Pastor Lawman says, “Gary really challenged us in his talks, reminding us to be faithful to our Adventist message and not to be pastor-dependent as churches. He spoke three times on Sabbath and twice on Sunday, and was excellent.”

As well as an ever-so-slight change in location, there was a more deliberate focus in the workshops on offer at Leadership in the Local Church 2015. Pastor Lawman explains, “As a change from last year, we really narrowed down the number of workshops we offered because we want to make an impact in specific areas — retaining our young people, and faith and finance. Our Youth Ministries leaders Pastor Rick Hergenhan and Michael Chapman ran the youth workshops and did a really great job. Julian spoke about faith and finance, and it was awesome.”

As well as exploring financial issues in a faith context, Julian’s focus was on doing what God leads you to do in life. In Julian’s experience, the “busyness of business” was taking a toll on his spiritual life. This led to him “retiring” in his 30s and starting the Faith vs Finance ministry. His workshops were well-attended and enjoyed, with people asking some big questions. He also shared his personal testimony and techniques for helping church members who are struggling.

The Youth Ministries workshop sessions were also popular, as the team looked at ways of retaining young people. Pastor Hergenhan says, “The data is very clear that young people leave the church in droves — up to at least 60 per cent. The statistics we have for our conference show we’re not immune from it either. The most recent church census points to the fact that the 18- to 30-year-old group is the smallest demographic (Continued on page 3)

OUR CONFERENCE

From the President: The codependent pastor

The codependent pastor is the pastor who needs to be needed. I should know all about the codependent pastor, because for a lot of my ministry, I was one. I hope that I’ve broken out of it to some extent.

In this dysfunctional model, the pastor is at the centre of all ministry and activity in the church. Not only does he preach all the time and take Sabbath school lessons — as well as running evangelistic series — he also spends half his days and nights doing Bible studies with new believers.

Of course, he chairs board and business meetings, and conducts funerals, weddings and baby dedications. In fact, it soon becomes apparent that the pastor is at the centre of everything done in the church.

It’s no wonder that churches are always looking for a super pastor so they can have a super church. Let me say very plainly that this is not God’s plan for His church. The testimony of scripture and the writings of Ellen G White paint a very different picture. Peter called it the “priesthood of all believers” (see 1 Peter 2:5). This is a picture where the entire church membership has a role in ministry, and their roles are determined by the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:13).

The Holy Spirit gifts every believer so they can build up the church and minister to the lost. It is true that the pastor’s role is a very important one, and our need to employ pastors will not lessen, but their role is to equip the members so that they are able to minister (see Ephesians 4:11, 12).

I hope that we can return to a more balanced, scriptural model of how the pastor is to function in our church. I hope that we pastors can stop needing to be needed quite so much, and instead take delight in seeing other people succeed with our help. What an exciting place the Seventh-day Adventist Church is going to increasingly be as we all, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, discover our role in ministry.

— Pastor Justin Lawman

Around The Traps is a weekly e-newsletter from Pastor Justin Lawman. It features a devotional and news from the conference.

To subscribe, fill out the form at <http://nnsw. adventist.org.au/aroundthe-traps>.

Chief Financial Officer’s report: February 2015

The North New South Wales Conference’s tithe for 2014 was $14.6 million. This represents a decrease of 2.3 per cent (or $344,000) over the previous year, and an average increase of 2.9 per cent over the past five years.

2014 was the first annual decrease in tithe in our conference in the past 15 years. The conference spending budget for 2015 has been adjusted downwards as a result, with staff reductions in head office to keep us in an economically sustainable position. The chart below shows the 2013 and 2014 tithe results, and the 2015 budgeted tithe:

As I look at the chart above, I am excited that my tithe-giving supports the front-line mission of the church in the area where I live. Whilst I am not called to be a minister or Bible worker, through my tithe-giving I might as well be. Put differently, without my tithe, there would be less evangelism, fewer Bible studies and ultimately less expansion of the kingdom of God.

May God bless you as you continue to faithfully serve Him through your tithes.

— Russell Halliday

The chart below shows our planned spending of tithe in 2015:

OUR CONFERENCE

Leadership in the Local Church 2015

(Continued from page 1)

attending church, but it’s actually the largest demographic in wider society. There are massive differences in generations now days — the changes we see now days in one generation would have taken three or four generations to happen in the past. People in the 18- to 30-year-old group are in a different headspace — they’re staying at home longer, are marrying later and starting families later, and are highly educated.”

After this, Pastor Hergenhan handed things over to Pastor Daron Pratt, Director of Children’s and Family Ministries for the NNSW Conference. Pastor Chapman says, “Daron looked specifically at how the home impacts young people’s positive feelings toward the church and spirituality. He outlined the crucial role of parental leadership in the home and the direction that sets.”

Pastor Hergenhan adds, “That’s basically the biggest factor — scholars are unanimous on that. The biggest influence on young people staying or going is their parents and what happens at home. Basically, if the children perceive what mum and dad are doing as being authentic, genuine Christianity, they are more likely to own it for themselves. Daron spoke about how to really make homes places that grow young people spiritually.”

Following on from Pastor Pratt, Pastor Chapman spoke about six characteristics of churches that retain and reach young adults. He says, “The first characteristic is community — that means the quality of relationships in churches. Second is service — this ties to the fact that young people are very concerned with social justice, the welfare of others and fair-trade chocolate. If a church can serve the community as Jesus did, they’re drawn to that. Third is the role of youth ministry. Having a youth ministry in your church dramatically impacts the young people’s views of life and spirituality. Fourth we have the crucial role of intergenerational mentoring. This really improves the likelihood of people staying in church and making wise decisions. Fifth is the simple and effective use of technology in church. Finally, authenticity is key — churches that can be real. Young people hate a fake atmosphere, especially if it’s around relationships and how worship is done.”

The youth groups from the Gosford and Toronto Churches also took part in the workshops to share what had been happening for them and why it works — a lot of it had to do with the church letting the youth leaders “do their thing” and supporting them publicly. Their testimonies were appreciated by those who attended the youth-focused workshops.

Pastor Neil Thompson, Ministerial Secretary for the NNSW Conference, says, “The feedback from the youth workshop was stunning in terms of people realising that there are churches in our conference doing amazing things, but that they can do it too. What does it take? A willingness to have a crack at it and have a team around you who will support that.”

About Julian’s workshops, Pastor Thompson notes, “His workshops weren’t about finance in the end, but about personal spirituality, a connection with Christ, and living a life of generosity and abundance. There’s no prescription for how to live, but the important thing is to have a relationship with God as the supreme thing in your life. That will impact how you live and what you do with your finances. The end result is an increase in generosity in the hearts of people who think about how they can live to build God’s Kingdom.”

Feedback from the weekend has been “electric,” according to Pastor Thompson. “The people who attended are inspired. There are many who wish they’d brought more people from their church. Because we have more capacity for extra people to attend, we’d love them to do that next year! One person said that it felt like everyone who attended the weekend was uniting behind a common vision and that we were going somewhere as a church. Personally, I think it was brilliant in creating space in people’s minds to think about what it means to be an Adventist, and how to take what we believe and connect with the world.”

Pastor Lawman says, “We’re glad that feedback from the weekend has been really positive. We’re already planning for the 2016 Leadership in the Local Church weekend, and would love to see numbers of attendees grow even more. We’ll share more information with you at Big Camp!”

— Adele Nash

Photos courtesy of Ann Stafford

OUR CONFERENCE

Busy summer for campers

leaders and summer camps.”

The desire for more collaboration has led to a plan to trial a new initiative for summer camps 2016. The Youth Ministries team want to give first priority to churches who can put together cabin groups to attend the camps. Pastor Chapman says, “We’ll send out invitations to church boards, asking them to identify young people in their church with leadership potential. The leader they appoint will have the responsibility of pulling together a cabin of campers from their church and community. They’ll come to the camps as a whole group, and then go back to their local environment where they’ll continue to interact with those young people, and can talk about decisions made and continue that discipleship process grown through summer camps.”

Due to the timing of the South Pacific Division’s Pathfinder Camporee held at the end of last year, summer camps shifted to some slightly different times over the holiday break — a break that wasn’t too much of a holiday for the Youth Ministries Department of the North New South Wales (NNSW) Conference.

Pastor Rick Hergenhan, Director of Youth Ministries, describes it thus: “We had staff camp, Junior Camp, five days off for Christmas, the Pathfinder camporee, and then Teen 1 and Teen 2 Camps.”

He notes, “We had a great start to the summer camp time with our staff camp. It was significant because we had Pastor Justin Lawman, our conference President, as our Friday night and Sabbath morning speaker. On Friday, he took worship. On Sabbath morning, he shared the vision of the conference and a lot of our staff campers bought into it.”

This was followed by Pastor Neil Thompson, Ministerial Secretary for the conference, running some leadership workshops for the staff. “It made people think and it challenged them,” says Pastor Hergenhan. “No-one had any trouble remembering what Neil had told them — it made an impact! We had one lady who’s been a longterm staff camp attendee who said it was the best she’s been to. The way people behaved and led following that was directly aligned with what Neil and Justin had spoken about.”

With the move of Junior Camp to mid-December, numbers were down a little due to public schools not being on holidays. “We had 60+ kids along though,” says Pastor Hergenhan. Brad Thomas, who works as a pastor and chaplain in the Western Australian Conference, was the guest speaker. “He connected really well with the juniors and they seemed to really like him,” says Pastor Hergenhan.

After returning from camporee, it was time for Teen 1 and Teen 2 Camps, which were both well attended. Yong Shin Chee was the speaker for Teen 1, and the Youth Ministries team praised his solid preaching. Moe Ioane-Stiles was the guest speaker for Teen 2, and the teens enjoyed her relational approach. Also of importance was the quality of the food at the camps — as always it was excellent, thanks to Noo.

Both Pastors Hergenhan and Michael Chapman, Associate Youth Ministries Director, were full of praise for the drama performed at the camps. The play was written by Brendan Tucker and Kayla Sleight, and was a mix of the stories of William Tyndale and Queen Esther. “I might be a bit biased, but you could have put it on the main stage at camporee, and it would not have been out of place,” says Pastor Hergenhan.

Pastor Chapman adds, “It was top shelf. It told the whole story of Tyndale, and through to his trial, arrest, jail term and execution. In the play, he told a prison officer the story of Esther and converted him. Both stories were so well played out and fit together so perfectly.”

The Youth Ministries team is also full of praise for the summer camp staff. “These are our young people from local churches who step up into significant leadership positions for the summer and excel at it,” says Pastor Hergenhan. “It’s a testimony to parents and local churches. I encourage them to keep investing in young people, providing them with opportunities to serve with the gifts and talents God has given them. At a baptism I attended recently, three of the young people said their decision to be baptised was a result of summer camps. It’s awesome to see the collaboration between churches,

But fear not — people without cabin groups will still be able to attend. Pastor Hergenhan says, “If a kid comes of their own free will — even if they’re from a totally secular background — they’ll end up praying and sharing together with their cabin group, as well as making spiritual decisions. This is only attributable to the work of the Holy Spirit.”

Pastor Chapman says the philosophy of it is viewing the Youth Ministries Department as the partner of local churches. “We want everything we do to make the local church a better place.”

Adele Nash

Photos courtesy of Kristen Cochrane, Rhiannon Coutts and Jordan MacErlich

Hillview Church builds on Morisset Show tradition

OUR CHURCHES

Baptisms for Newcastle Samoan Church

Plant

The prophet Jeremiah said to the Lord, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).

For more than 30 years, Hillview Adventist Church has been a feature of the Morisset Show, held on the last weekend of January. The church has always enjoyed a prime position.

2015 was no exception and again, under the leadership of Jonathan Christian, many Hillview members were involved in running free health checks, eye tests, face painting, non-alcoholic wine tasting, badge making, clowning and puppet shows.

After the church service the previous Sabbath, many members joined the show bag filling production line, filling more than 300 show bags with goodies, advertising brochures and invitations for various correspondence courses.

Hillview’s show coordinator Jonathan Christian says, “While we give out these show bags and many of the brochures will be thrown away, we can only pray that God will impress someone to sign up for one of these courses.”

Follow this link to view a two-minute show report: <https://vimeo.com/119487842>.

Alvin Christian

Photos (and video) courtesy of David Page

Jeremiah experienced the real joy in his heart when he ate (studied) the word (Bible). This same joy was experienced by Violet Plummer (left in the photo) and Ashleigh Ropati (right in the photo) when they “ate” the word of God through Bible studies and worship. Those young women love the truth and they believe that the truth makes them free (John 8:32).

Ashleigh Ropati is from an Adventist family, but Violet Plummer is from a nonChristian background Both young women enjoyed studying the Bible with other young people in a small group. They loved Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

Violet and Ashleigh’s decision to follow the Lord in baptism was a great decision, which brings joy to their lives, to their families, to their friends and the church. They were baptised on Sabbath, 15 November 2014 at Toronto Church. It was amazing to see both families with their friends came together to witness their special day.

Before their baptisms, Ashleigh and Violet had always attended Bible studies, prayer meetings, Life Boat Ministry, Friday vespers, Sabbath school lessons, Sabbath worship services, church lunches and Sunday social activities. They loved to support and serve the Lord in the Church and the community.

Ashleigh and Violet’s baptism challenged others to “eat” (study) the Bible like the prophet Jeremiah, and to be baptised in order for them to have joyful lives with Christ.

Talai Mohr

Special day for Lakeside Pathfinders and Adventurers

Sabbath, 15 November 2014 was a high day for the Pathfinders and Adventurers at Lakeside Church — it was their investiture day!

Justin Boyd, the newly-appointed District Director, led out in the ceremony. Justin grew up in Lakeside Church, so it was great to see him now as the district Director.

A small group of Pathfinders were invested, including Jope Turner, who was invested as a Master Guide.

A large group of Adventurers presented for investiture — 31 in all.

Lakeside is certainly blessed to have so many younger ones coming on through Adventurers. Three of those Adventurers will become Pathfinders this year. Many thanks to the leaders — Michelle Villas, the Pathfinder Leader; and Shane Winfield and Debra Clarke, the Adventurer Leaders.

Pam Hill

OUR CHURCHES

Seeing God’s work first-hand through the Brewarrina Church Plant

Around 90 per cent of the church group is made up of newcomers who haven’t previously had contact with the Adventist Church, and around 75 per cent of the group is children. Keith says, “Pastor Daron Pratt loves coming out to share his Children’s Ministry because of the great number of children attending church!”

Sadly, two of the key Brewarrina Church Plant members have passed recently — Aunty Joyce Doole and Maxine Shillingsworth. “They will be sorely missed,” says Keith. “They had an impact in different ways in the church and were majorly involved.”

In spite of the sad loss of two key members, the other members of the church plant are still heavily involved in serving or service at every level with the Brewarrina Church Plant group. “Whether it’s serving food, putting out chairs, unloading the car or helping with the sound system, everyone helps,” says Keith. “We hire a hall and the cars are loaded with everything we need for church. All the children, teens and adults look forward to church, and are keen to share God and the church with their families. They’re already ministering to the community. Four of our teens went to Teen Camp and have come back on fire to be more involved with church — they want to participate by leading worship themselves, singing and so on.”

The Stockwells are keen to acknowledge the work that other Christians who have been in Brewarrina have done. “There have been other Adventists there,” says Keith. “So many people have had a hand in God’s work there.”

The Brewarrina Church Plant, located about an hour east of Bourke, celebrated its first anniversary on 6 December, 2014. Pastor Keith Stockwell and his wife Danuta, who minister to the church say, “It’s been an exciting and wonderful year for the church plant, seeing God at work first-hand.”

The anniversary celebration Sabbath was an important one for the church plant group. The day featured a special service, which included PowerPoint presentations with photos and music that showed the church plant’s past year. The local church members took part in the music and Keith preached. He reflected on the whole year and how God has led the group. “It was a chance to reflect on God’s power and leading, and how He has directed the church plant to where it is today,” says Keith.

The establishment of the Brewarrina Church Plant came about because of a “divine appointment” between Danuta and Uncle Les Doole in front of the Brewarrina Police Station in November 2011. From there, Keith and Danuta visited Uncle Les and his wife Aunty Joyce. “It took almost two years of visits before they expressed a desire to commit to Bible studies,” says Keith.

He commenced studies with them in May 2013, and soon after this, they started church and combined Sabbath lunches in the Doole’s home on Sabbath mornings. The Dooles were excited by the prospect of being baptised — Keith says, “Before the Bible studies, Uncle Les expressed a desire to be baptised and I had to let him know that it would be nice to understand the Bible and why you get baptised before you commit to it. He was happy to, but was still jumping out of his skin to get to jump in the water!”

The group often discussed together at their place the joint desires to start church once they were baptised. “Uncle Les and Aunty Joyce always reassured us that, when church began, there would be a lot of people coming,” says Keith. “They were very significant leaders in the community.”

Following their baptism on 7 December, 2013 (when they became the first Adventists to be baptised in Brewarrina), the church plant meetings started on 14 December, 2013. Uncle Les and Aunty Joyce had their own minibus, so Uncle Les, together with Mary Waites, picked up children and adults for church — as they’ve continued to do every week since.

On the first Sabbath of the church plant, they had 47 people in attendance, with around 40 of them local newcomers. “Since then, on most weeks we have around 45 to 50 people,” says Danuta. “Sometimes it’s up to 60 people, and one time we had 96 people when the Bourke STORM Co team (with 30 young people and Adventist Aviation’s team of six) joined us.”

Danuta adds, “God has used many other Christians, both Adventist and non-Adventist, prior to us coming to Brewarrina to sow the seeds for this church plant to happen.”

A significant thank you also goes to the Adventist Aviation Association (AAA) for their commitment to visiting Brewarrina every month. “AAA’s team have been coming every month since April last year,” says Danuta. “They’re a tremendous support and help for us, assisting with and complementing our work in reaching souls for God’s Kingdom. We can’t thank them enough for what they do.”

The freshness that the AAA team brings makes life easier for the church leadership team too. Keith says, “They bring food, experience in their fields like music or puppetry and they bring a speaker out — it’s a relief for the Brewarrina team to be able to pull back a bit and let them run the Sabbath program!”

Thanks also go to all those who have supported the church plant through prayers, visits, assistance with programs, sending food (particularly the Adventist Retirement Village, which sends out food every time with AAA), and those who have donated goods and funds. “The needs out there are very significant,” says Danuta. Keith adds, “What’s given doesn’t go to waste. It’s all used to minister to the people of the community.”

— Adele Nash/Keith Stockwell/Danuta Stockwell

“Back to Coffs” day planned to celebrate renovations

For nearly four months, the Coffs Harbour Church had been meeting in the Wesleyan Methodist Church each Sabbath, as their own church was being renovated. Now with most of the renovations completed, which include an entire new roof (pictured above — the “before” image can be found below), new carpet and chairs, and air-condition to the main sanctuary, worship has resumed again. Some of the locals will tell you that the church building had a leaking roof from the time it was built 40 years ago. Due to certain aspects of the design, the roof has been problematic from the beginning, but got worse every year. Despite the buckets of silicone, it just seemed that the roof continued to leak.

Finally the members decided they’d had enough, and after some detailed feasibility studies to determine whether it would be best to relocate and start again with a new building, it was decided best to remain with the present building, but change the entire roof to a more simple and practical design, as well as the installation of a lift to service the three levels, including the car park.

With all these changes, the members now wish to celebrate and are inviting all past members and attendees to a special celebration of praise to God. Sabbath, 14 March, 2015 is designated as “Back to Coffs Day.” For further information, please contact Pastor Bob Manners on 0416 262 956 or email <bobmanners@ adventist.org.au>.

Pastor Bob Manners

OUR CHURCHES

Worship in a Box at Big Camp

At Big Camp this year, the North New South Wales (NNSW) Conference’s Children’s Ministries department is aiming to make a pallet of Worship in a Box kits to send to our sister in mission, the Fiji Mission.

Pastor Daron Pratt, Director of Children’s Ministries for the conference, says, “There are many children and families in Fiji who do not have a Bible or other material, and so we want to make a significant difference to these families. We would like Sabbath school groups and families to bring shoe boxes and items to go into the boxes to Big Camp this year. We’ll assemble them at Big Camp, pack them onto a pallet and then send them to the South Pacific Division office for transport to Fiji.”

Below is a list of what we need churches and Sabbath schools to bring to NNSW Big Camp. Your Sabbath school can either raise some money to help cover these items, or else purchase and bring them yourself. All goods and boxes can be delivered to the Family Ministries tent, where they will be assembled and packed. The Children’s Ministries Department will supply a Bible and the Daily Bites series for each box. There will also be paper and pencils available for children to write their own messages to go into the boxes, along with stickers to decorate the boxes

Pastor Pratt urges everyone to support this project. “Lets get behind this project. If every family purchased a few small items, that would be great,” he says. “Our small contribution can make a huge spiritual difference to children and families in the Pacific.”

Pastor Daron Pratt

What you might like to bring to assemble a Worship in a Box: shoe boxes, children’s devotional book, children’s Christian music CDs/DVDs, Table Talk tin, small puppets, coloured paper, scissors, crayons, textas, pencils, glue, stickers, and maybe a special letter or picture that you have written/drawn.

Cooranbong locals to reunite with 90-year-old band

local Victorian Conference, city and country churches, but has been actively involved with the community and their activities.

The band has toured to most of the major Australian capital cities, with two trips to Lord Howe Island, where on one occasion they assisted Dr James Wright with his health seminar to the community. To maintain a high standard, the band regularly competes in the Victorian State Championship at Ballarat and have attained a high standing within the professional music community. Yearly concerts have proved to be very popular, and over the years, they have performed several concerts with James Morrison and his group.

The band, along with supporting soloists, both vocal and instrumental, will present the morning Sabbath school and church service at the Avondale Memorial Church, followed by a sacred Easter program commencing at 3.00pm.

Four former members of Advent Brass–Melbourne will play again with the band when it performs in the Avondale Memorial Church for its special Easter program. David Heise, along with his daughter Julie-Anne, and Neil Thompson and David Goodin will join with the 90-year-old band. Dr John Hammond will deliver the sermon with the band, which promises to be an enriching spiritual experience.

Last year, Advent Brass, which was formed in 1924 by the famed pioneer Adventist educator W J Gilson, celebrated 90 years of continuous service to the church and the community. The band’s Musical Director Reynold Gilson, grandson of the founder, has led the band for the past 26 years. In recent years, the band has not only served the

On Easter Sunday, the band will present a free entertaining outdoor secular concert under “The Sail Stage” on the Water Front Plaza at The Entrance, commencing at 1.30pm.

Over the years, the band has proved to be a blessing and a source of social fellowship to many young and older members in fulfilling the band’s aim of “Presenting Christ to the Community through music.” We hope you will join us for what promises to be an exciting, entertaining and blessed weekend. This is band music at its best.

— Ray Boehm