Recently, ministers in the Victoria Conference spent some time reviewing the very useful church health tool NCD (Natural Church Development). NCD measures the health of a church over eight Quality Characteristics of church life. The review included a look at the current state of health nationally. Since 2004 there has been a 4.65 point improvement on average across the eight characteristics. This is positive but somewhat disappointing that there has been such small growth in health over…

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I just hosted a training program for our Youth Pastoral Workers (YPW) in Victoria. We had fifteen young people who are now on the pay role for 10 up to 20 hours a week. Their role is to visit youth, conduct Bible studies, run a small group and have a go at preaching sometime in the year.

The…

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Port Fairy Revival

I am always nervous when new leaders begin their reign with a call to revival and reformation. Such a call can imply that their predecessors were off track and that there needs to be a significant change in direction. Last weekend I spent with Nikola and Danijela Trajkov and ten elders from their churches. There in the beautiful seaside town of Port Fairy I experienced ‘revival’.

This gathering of elders from five churches for a retreat was a new experience…

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I was talking with a colleague the other day who questioned, "Is he making a difference?" He was frustrated with the lack of progress and support by his leaders in implementing the vision they had agreed to. I reminded him of the fact that the change that he was undertaking would

take time, that he had progressed and that patience is part of change.



In bringing about change in church you are not only dealing with a specific strategy

but…

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Well it’s been a while since my last blog. This one has been in formation mode for a number of months. This is the one I have to write, I feel strongly convicted about this.



About two months ago the little church I care for put on a cultural night. The aim was to connect with folk from our ladies friendship group. This group is made up primarily of Chinese ladies who are very new to our country and have a need to learn English and connect with each other. This program has attracted… Continue