What is God doing across the Tasmanian Anglican Church?
Revds Joel Kettleton, Stephen Carnaby, Ed Cavanough and John McQuillan
God is doing some amazing things in our Diocese of Tasmania, which are easy to miss when your main mission focus is in a local church.
In October about 70 Ministry Leaders (ordained and lay) from around the Anglican Church in Tasmania gathered in Launceston for their annual Ministry Leaders Conference. This included clergy, chaplains, youth & children’s ministers and more.
Lots of people commented, “This is the best of these conferences I’ve been to”. A new person said, “I didn’t expect it to be like that – I came away very encouraged”. Why was it so good?
The bible teaching – Bishop Richard challenged and encouraged us in our bible studies to be leaders in God’s word, prayer, and service, as we make disciples of Jesus. He was able to share some of the things he had seen in church leaders in Asia on a recent mission trip. This give us a bigger vision of what God is doing in the world.
The leadership skills – guest speaker Raj Gupta talked to us and got us working in groups on how different sized churches function differently, their good and bad points, and how to grow churches from one size to the next.
The prayer – we prayed together and individually in many ways. We were able to worship and praise our great God and call out to Him to continue to grow and revive our church.
The unity – there was a wonderful unity in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ throughout the conference. The vision of being A church for Tasmania, making disciples of Jesus, was at the heart of every ministry leader at the conference. There is great support for one another, and sharing of resources and ideas, as we carry out the mission together to reach Tasmania for Christ.
The leaders – we are blessed across our Diocese with a great group of teachable, gifted, passionate leaders, many of them young, who are being forged together as a team on mission.
As you meet this week as God’s people in your part of Tasmania, give thanks that God is on the move across our Diocese and pray that will continue to grow.
The Ven Stephen Carnaby, Director of Ministry Development