By Amy Galliford and Josh Gibbon
Nearly 50 elders representing 14 churches from around our network gathered at The Tops Conference Centre on Friday 26th July, for a weekend of connection and encouragement at this year’s Elders Retreat.
Perce, an elder from Penrith Church of Christ, reflects,
“You never know how you’re travelling as an elder until you get to see what other people are doing. I found this place a great tool for doing this. It gives you that sense of insight to say, ‘We’re going okay; there’s things we can do better, but in the big scheme of things, the Lord is giving us direction.’”
The weekend was structured around sessions of teaching from various leaders in the network. Sue Whiteley led a session exploring the concept of ‘Hesed’, a Hebrew word denoting loving-kindness between people, and how to build unity within an eldership body. On the Sunday, Sue led another session in which she explained the Working Genius framework, which helps teams to identify the natural strengths and frustrations of members in order to enhance team collaboration.
Meredith Harmer and Lloyd Irwin invited elders to create a visual collage that represented how it feels to be an elder. The collages spanned a spectrum of feelings, from, ‘It feels like cleaning up messes,’ to, ‘It feels like cultivating healthy, growing plants’.
Executive Ministry Director, Daz Farrell, and Network Health and Engagement Leader, Anne Simpson, led a session about the Church’s current ‘hinge moment’. This session catalysed conversation among elders about the current place and moment in which the broader Church finds itself. Church Health and Engagement Ministry Leader, Nathan Marshall, and Church Properties & Projects Leader, Matt Young, led a session covering some of the practical aspects of overseeing a church as eldership, such as evacuation plans. To support this work, Nathan offered the elders a resource called The Church Toolkit, which provides elders with critical information, checklists, and activities to help a church thrive practically and spiritually.
These sessions offered spiritual and practical strategies for elders to intentionally engage in their work together. Alongside this input, the true fruit of this weekend was the community that formed between elders of churches in our network.
Andrew McInnes, Leader Health Ministry Leader, says, “It was an opportunity for elders to be served, be fed and to create connection with others in the same position as them. Eldership can be lonely, so they seemed to really appreciate the chance to build community with others who share that role.”
Meredith Harmer agrees. For her, the highlight of Elders Retreat each year is the way it inspires new ways of thinking and builds connection between elders. She explains,
“Part of what I love about the retreat is imagining how we can do eldership better and differently. I think the retreat gives us a framework for asking, ‘How can we do this well? How can we honour God by coming together and loving our people?’”
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