Bishop's Training Event

The 2023 Bishop's Training Event will be held on Saturday 23 September in Hobart and Saturday 30 September in Launceston. Come back to this page in July for more info and to register. In the meantime, you get a flavour of last year's event below ...

The Bishop’s Training Event is a free annual event for all Anglicans from around Tasmania to gather together to learn and grow and be encouraged.

This year's event theme will focus on how to build and sustain a faith which is unshakeable, in the midst of our changing and uncertain world.

The 2022 Bishop's Training Event will have a live event in Hobart on Saturday 17 September and for the first time, the whole event will be repeated live in Launceston on Saturday 24 September.

The Hobart Bishop's Training Event will be held at St Clements Anglican Church, 100 Beach Rd, Kingston. **Online registrations for Hobart are now closed. You can register on the day at the event.**

The Launceston Bishop's Training Event will be held at Worldview College for Intercultural Studies, 41 Station Rd, St Leonards.

There is no public livestream this year, but church leaders in more remote places will be able to host a watch party of the morning session on 17 September - contact dmd@anglicantas.org.au

The morning sessions will feature talks from Wei-Han Kuan, the Director of the Victorian branch of the Church Missionary Society, and Bishop Richard. In the afternoon, you are invited to choose two workshops to attend. Our workshops will also include guest presenter Julie-anne Laird who works for City to City Australia and is based in Melbourne.

The Bishop's Training Event is a free event, but you are required to register before the event to attend. All are welcome. If you would like to make a contribution towards the running costs of the event, and to enable us to continue delivering high quality training events, you can do that here.

About Wei-Han Kuan

Wei-Han Kuan is the Executive Director of CMS Victoria which he came to after stints at Ridley College, in local church ministry and as a tax collector. His research and writing interests are in Anglican evangelical and missions history. Wei-Han is the author of Foundations for Anglican Evangelicalism in Victoria and was once the peskiest student in Bishop Condie’s Greek beginners class.

About Julie-anne Laird

Julie-anne Laird is the Lead Consultant for Revitalise Australia. Julie-anne has specialised in evangelism training around Australia. She has a passion for people to know Jesus but she also has a passion for every Christian to be able to integrate their faith into every part of their lives as well as feel confident and comfortable to live it out and talk it out.

Program

9 - 10am – Arrive, register, have morning tea, browse resource tables and bookstall

10 - 12 – Main Session

12 - 1pm – Lunch

1 - 2 – Workshop 1

2 - 2:30 – Afternoon tea

2:30 - 3:30 – Workshop 2

3:30 - 4 – Final Session

Children and Young People at the Bishop's Training Event

HOBART

A creche for toddlers through to Kindergarten age will be running from 10am-12noon (during the morning session only). Please CLICK HERE to register for the creche.

***UPDATE: The Primary Program in Hobart is now full. There are no spaces left for Primary aged children.***
The Primary Program (Prep-Grade 6) will be a rich time for kids to have fun, make friends and learn important truths about Jesus and His Unshakable kingdom. This year children from prep-grade 6 are invited to spend the Bishop's Training Event at St Clements' church chapel where they will embark on a 5 hour programme filled with music, teaching, games, craft, testimony and running about! The programme will be catered to include morning and afternoon tea, as well as lunch. The programme will run from 10:30am-3:30pm and will allow parents to make the most of the Bishop's training while their children receive the same truths; taught in an accessible, yet rich fashion!

Youth: If you are in Grades 7-10, you will automatically be registered for the Youth Workshop which will run from 1 - 3.30pm. The Youth Workshop is the ultimate workshop for anyone and everyone in grades 7-10! This mega workshop runs across most of the afternoon, and in it you will explore more about the God we worship, you will get to connect with youth from across Hobart, and the group will head offsite to collect your own special afternoon tea.

LAUNCESTON

A creche program is under consideration - please contact us if this would enable you to attend.
Primary Program (Prep-Grade 6) - children will leave at about 10:30am from the main morning session, return for lunch with their parents/carers and then continue from 1pm in the primary program before being brought back at 3:30pm. Come build an unshakeable Lego structure, watch a puppet show, and make your own pop up book all while we learn about Jesus' disciple Peter. He's known as a man of unshakeable faith, but was he always? Come see the difference the Resurrection of Jesus made in his life.
Youth: If you are in Grades 7-10, you will automatically be registered for the Youth Workshop which will run from 1 - 3.30pm. The Youth Workshop is the ultimate workshop for anyone and everyone in grades 7-10! This mega workshop runs across most of the afternoon, and in it you will explore more about the God we worship, and you will get to connect with youth from across northern Tasmania.

More information about the kids and youth program will be sent to all those registered and their parents closer to the event.

Morning Tea and Lunch

HOBART

Morning tea will be provided, but you will be responsible for sourcing your own lunch. There are a number of shops close by. You are also welcome to bring your own food.

LAUNCESTON

Morning tea will be provided, but you will be responsible for sourcing your own lunch. Please note that as Worldview College is not in the centre of town, you will likely need to drive to nearby Kings Meadows to get your lunch. You are also welcome to bring your own lunch.

Workshops

The afternoon workshops are a great opportunity to dig deeply into a topic that interests you.

When registering for the Bishop's Training Event you will get to choose which workshops you would like to attend. You can select up to one workshop per afternoon session. Please note that there are attendance limits on some workshops, and spaces will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Session 1

Three necessary ways of reading scripture

It’s easy to be so busy preparing sermons that you stop reading the Bible devotionally. It’s just as easy to only read the Bible devotionally and never go from milk to meat. And then there’s a third necessary way of reading the Scriptures in our lives. We need all three!

Wei-Han Kuan is the Executive Director of CMS Victoria which he came to after stints at Ridley, in local church ministry and as a tax collector. His research and writing interests are in Anglican evangelical and missions history. Wei-Han is the author of Foundations for Anglican Evangelicalism in Victoria and was once the peskiest student in Bishop Condie’s Greek beginners class.

Is God calling you?

We are all called to love and serve God. Some people are gifted and called to serve God in vocational Christian ministry as clergy, pastoral workers, evangelists, pastors, chaplains, missionaries, youth ministers, or children’s ministers. How do you know if you are called to this? This workshop will explore these questions and challenge you to consider whether God might be leading you in this direction. You don’t have to know the answer to the question to join the workshop, or even think it might be a question you should ask. Anyone is welcome.

Bishop Richard has been encouraging people to explore vocational Christian ministry for many years, partly because he loves what he does and wants to share that joy with others. Before coming to Tasmania, he taught at Ridley College where was preparing people for vocational ministry. He also spent 15 years in a parish that, during that period, sent over 30 people to train for vocational ministry and 20 people to the mission field. He has lots of interests outside of ministry including gardening, woodwork and cooking to name a few. He is married to Helen, and they have two adult children and a dog called Charlie.

Evangelism: gospel themes in everyday conversation

Come and learn how to notice when your friends, who aren't Christians yet, are making connections for you when you're having conversations with them. What themes are you on the lookout for and how can you make the most of those opportunities?

Julie-anne Laird is the Lead Consultant for Revitalise Australia. Julie-anne has become one of the leading evangelism trainers around Australia. She has a passion for people to know Jesus but she also has a passion for every Christian to be able to integrate their faith into every part of their lives as well as feel confident and comfortable to live it out and talk it out.

The ministry of pastoral care with a special focus on grief

The difference between preaching and pastoral care is that with preaching you have a week to prepare what you are going to say to your parishioners whereas with pastoral visitation you have no time to prepare. You do not know what you will be confronted with when you make a pastoral visit. This short seminar will seek to explore these challenges with a special focus on grief.

Rev. Jason Summers grew up in a reformed Baptist church, was ordained in a Presbyterian Church, and now is employed by the Anglican Church. He spent 23 years in pastoral ministry which he describes as his apprenticeship for ministry of chaplaincy that the Lord has graciously given to him. Jason is married to Elizabeth, has 4 children, a dog called Lucy, and enjoys fishing.

HOBART ONLY: (Trying to) pass on your faith to your children

As Christian parents we long for our children to follow Jesus. While faith is a gift from God we have an important role in encouraging them on that journey. In this session we hope to cover some of the general principles for passing on our faith to our kids as well as have a facilitated discussion of some of the practical ways we can do that at different life stages. This can be a challenging and even sensitive topic at times. We hope that by bringing together ideas from a range of parents the discussion will be stimulating and there will be something for everyone to take away and apply.

Tim and Emma and their 2 teenagers are settling back into Hobart after nearly 8 years in South East Asia. They have a background in ministry, teaching and medicine and are definitely not experts on this topic! However, they love learning from others and hope to bring to the discussion some ideas from a range of local and international sources.

Mark and Mary Holland have been married for 21 years and have four children ranging in age from 11 to 18 years old. In addition they do respite foster care, and at times have had up to 14 extra children in their house on a respite weekend. Both Mary and Mark presently work in schools, but both have also worked in the past as children and families ministers within the Anglican Church in Hobart.

Session 2

Effective local cross-cultural mission

First there was IQ, then EQ, now we realise we also need Cultural Intelligence or CQ to be truly effective in cross-cultural ministry. What is CQ? Why is it vital for all forms of evangelism and mission today? Where do we see it in the Bible and how do we apply it in our churches?

Coming to grips with our secular world

Secularism is the new worldview of the West. But what is it really? And how did we get to the point that believing in God is so unusual, and people are so hostile to him? This workshop will introduce you to the ideas that underpin the secular world and help us to begin thinking about how the church might respond in mission to it.

Bishop Richard has been thinking about the intersection of faith and culture for many years and spent some of his study leave last year reading and thinking about secularism. He is passionate about the church making a difference in our world. He taught at Ridley College and was senior minister of an inner-city church in Melbourne before coming to Tasmania. He has lots of interests outside of ministry including reading, drawing and politics, to name a few. He is married to Helen, and they have two adult children and a dog called Charlie.

Outward focused prayer

“If God answered all your prayers from last week, would anyone have become a Christian?” Why does God want us to pray and how can we align our prayers with God?

A restful, fruitful life

Are you living an abundant life? Or is your life just over-full?

In this workshop, blogger, podcaster and author, Ruth Amos, will give you strategies and practical tips to simplify your life. She will help you say yes to the things that give you energy, and no to what drains you, so that you can joyfully and restfully make the most of the 168 hours you are given each week.

Topics include The Everything List, mind mapping your life, finding your values, and looking after your physical health. Find out how to use your gifts and talents for the purpose for which they are given you, and live a life of fruitfulness and joy.

Ruth Amos is an author, podcaster, blogger, speaker, and editor. After working as a lecturer in chemistry at UTAS for ten years, she left the hustle of academia to follow her ambition to lead a quiet life (1 Thess 4:11). Since then, she has published four novels and a memoir, gone on several quiet retreats, taken regular Sabbaths, and learned to live in the 'unforced rhythms of grace' (Matt 11:28-30, The Message). You may have heard her regular Thursday morning chats with Scottie on Ultra106.5. Ruth is married to Moz, and they have two grown-up children, two children-in-law and one delightful grandson. She loves reading, is a relatively unskilled knitter, and enjoys walking along the beach (pretty much any beach will do).

HOBART ONLY: Developing inclusive church communities that welcome and embrace those with disabilities and their care-givers

Join in an interactive workshop where we will brainstorm ideas to help our church communities be more inclusive, accessible and supportive of those with disabilities. We will consider disabilities of many types and across all ages, including the needs of care-givers, in our church communities. Topics to explore include (but are not limited to!) the wider church community, church services, the physical environment, making and keeping connections.

Marion Reynolds is a parent of a young adult with a disability. Ruth Croser has worked over 25 years both as a teacher/support teacher and paediatric occupational therapist.

LAUNCESTON ONLY: Responding to family violence

This workshop aims to help equip the church to respond well to disclosures of family violence and abuse. The leader/s will inform us of findings on FV in the Anglican Church Australia wide and then discuss ways we can respond. There will be mention of resources and training available as well as the basic steps to take respond and help a person undergoing this devastating experience.

Kristy Crouch is passionate about churches being places of safety and healing and is part of the Diocesan Family Violence Working Group. Utilising her own knowledge, training and experiences, Kristy seeks to equip others and build their confidence within their own ministry contexts to respond well and support those experiencing family violence.

About the Bishop's Training Event

The Bishop's Training Event provides both theological and practical teaching. The first half of the day is grounded in God’s word. The second half focuses on skills development with practical workshops, for example, in evangelism and discipleship, ministry to all ages, prayer, mission, leadership, and public worship.

At the heart of our Vision to be a church for Tasmania, making disciples of Jesus, is developing a network of flourishing parish centres across our Diocese working together with our other Anglican ministries, schools and agencies. It is hoped that people leave the training event encouraged, with greater knowledge of God, and some practical skills and ideas to grow a flourishing parish and to serve God in the community and with their whole life.

Contact Us

This Diocese is committed to training people for ministry and partnering with our parishes, chaplaincies, schools and agencies to see this happen. If you require further information about training please contact the Director of Ministry Development.