At our AGM on the 6^th April we had a great discussion around finances, staff and also the role all of us can play in encouraging children and young people in their growth in Christ.

In this notices you will see a summary of our budget and finances to date. I thought I would supplement this information by reminding us of the decisions we made last year regarding staffing.

In the light of Glen finishing with us last year, we spent over 3 months as a church praying and discussing the way God was shaping us for the future. This took place in life groups, focus groups, leadership community and through individual responses. As a result we made the decision not to fill Glen’s position as it stood but to reshape our leadership model. The conclusion we came to was that instead of replacing Glen we would put on 2 more part time staff (a part time office secretary and a part time youth worker). 

This would allow us to move the Resource Pastor position to that of Executive Minister (giving the role a more strategic, systems, organisational dimension) and to have Tim Robinson focus on the discipleship life of the church (particularly through life groups and IFFF’s). The 3^rd member of the Senior Leadership team would focus on the gathered life of our church (corporate worship, prayer, spirituality, care etc.). In this way the 3 dimensions of LUC – the institutional; scattered, organic discipleship; and the gathered, would be further enhanced.                                            

Our model will look something like:

Evangelism-Discipleship Minister – Tim R –                                           Associate Minister  

Congregational Life Minister (across all campuses)                               Snr Minister

Executive Minister/Manager                                                               

Other Staff

Children and Families Pastor (17 hrs per week)                                      current

Springwood Music and Creative Arts Coordinator (15 hrs per week)      current

Secretary/admin support (24 hrs per week)                                             new

Youth/young adult (16 hrs per week)                                                        new

Spiritual Director, Calvary Christian College

(fulltime placement – funded by the College)                                           current

Recovery Pastor (18 hrs per week – funded through couns centre)       current

Pitstop (15 hrs per week – government funded)                                      current

Note: this model is approximately $15,600 cheaper per year than the staffing model we were using until Glen finished (which included 3 Ministerial placements and a fulltime Resource Pastor).  

A few years ago I did some research on staffing ratios in churches (within the Uniting Church and beyond) and discovered that for a church our size and complexity you would expect to be funding the equivalent of about 4.5 to 5 fulltime staff. We are currently funding (through tithes and offerings) the equivalent of 3.8 fulltime staff and with the restructure would be funding the equivalent of 4.8 fulltime staff (although the cost financially is approximately the equivalent of 4.1 fulltime stipends as the Pastors, Youth worker and Office secretary receive less than the stipend for an Ordained Minister).

It is also worth noting that the first priority is to find a new Senior Minister. The above model may change a little depending on the gifting this person brings.

It is also vital to remember that the role of Ministry staff is not to “do the work of ministry” but to be the connection, resourcing, support people for the “work of ministry” God is doing through every one of us.

Please pray for the Joint Nominating Committee as they look for our new Senior Minister. Also please seek God regarding your tithes and offerings. We, the church, function only because of God’s grace working through each of our faithfulness.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech

A clear call

 Over the last 2 weekends I had the privilege of engaging in 2 conferences focussed on mission and evangelism. The first was the “Fire” conference which we co-sponsored with Springwood Church of Christ – featuring Paul Gibbs and Lindsay and Myk McKenzie. The second was the Uniting Church “A Clear Call” conference in Adelaide – featuring John and Olive Drane who are very involved with the “fresh expressions” movement in the Church of England, UK.

There were 3 things that struck me out of these weekends:

1. Encouragement. I was greatly encouraged regarding the journey we have been on in shaping church around incarnational mission and relational discipleship.

Incarnational Mission = instead of trying to get people to join us we go and serve and witness where people are at. Examples through LUC are: people participating in building God’s kingdom in their workplaces; people caring for neighbours or people they meet at the gym or on the bus or …; providing breakfast at the local schools; going out on street vans and serving homeless where they hang out etc.

Relational Discipleship = recognising that discipleship requires “life on life”: that is, discipleship involves engagement in relationships that are genuinely honest and encouraging. Such relationships include reflecting together on the bible and what God is saying to us personally, being honest about how we are or aren’t participating in God’s purposes, encouraging each other in incarnational mission; working together and supporting each other through life issues etc.

2. Disciples of Jesus disciple others. I have been reminded of the need for all of us to take responsibility for discipling others. One of the mistakes we can make is that when someone shows any interest in God we think the next step is to invite them to a Sunday service and/or to try to connect them with others who can help them grow. In reality, if we have a relationship with them then we need to own the responsibility of seeking to disciple them. Our IFFF questions and the Discipleship Pathway offer some tools that can assist us in this.

3.Be ready to try innovative things as God makes us aware of the need. At the conference in (Cont  P2)

Adelaide we heard the story of a 70 plus year old lady who recognised that physically she couldn’t do as much as she once did but after 50 years as a follower of Jesus she could pray for people. In her village in England there was regular “spiritual fair” and she decided to set up a little booth and offer free prayer for people. The response was amazing as young mums, in particular, sort her out. In another story a church in rural England was dying with a congregation of 6 people all over 80 years of age. There was nowhere in their village for young mums and children to meet so they converted their church building into a children’s indoor play gym with coffee etc. The relationships developed through this have become “church” for many.

We are seeing these innovative responses taking place through the life groups and ministries of LUC as people take initiatives in connecting with the YMCA school at Kingston (serving the students and families); as a life group takes responsibility for connecting with and encouraging another ministry of LUC; as people become aware of a neighbour in need and involve their life group or IFFF in helping them out; as member of LUC takes the initiative to help a mate who lost a child through Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytis  by organising a group of people to get involved in “tough mudder” and raise money for the leukaemia foundation – bringing a sense of community and purpose to his friend and others; and so on.

I am greatly encouraged by the incredible gift we have at LUC of people who are willing to continue to grow and stretch as disciples of Christ who make disciples.

Yours in Christ

Graham Keech