Friends in ministry, you are invited to join us at Collective Gathering 2025 – A Radiant Church to be held 12-14 November at Stanwell Tops!
Each year ministers, elders, ministry staff, chaplains, and key leaders of our churches of Christ ministries across NSW & ACT converge for our Collective Gathering at The Tops with the purpose of strengthening our partnership through connection, conversation, celebration, and collaboration.
Together, we’ll spend two days relishing God’s presence amongst us, enjoying both our unity and diversity, and making new memories together!
Learn more about Collective Gathering’s three-year program cycle.
We encourage you to pass this invitation on to staff and key volunteers in your churches who will benefit from forming friendships in our network and who are hungry to lead radiant, transformational, discipling communities.
This year, we are exploring how we embrace our identity as A Radiant Church.
2 Corinthians 4:6-7 declares us to be a radiant Church – one that, despite our brokenness, will be presented as the mature, holy body of Christ (Ephesians 4-5), shaped and moulded to bear his image as clay in the hands of the Master Potter.
At the heart of our discipleship is to become like Christ, and to lead others in our communities towards the same goal. Yet in practice this can seem elusive. More than ever before the Church is grappling with how we lead people in effective discipleship and spiritual formation that truly transforms people.
Our friends from Life Model Works, Michel and Claudia Hendricks (learn more about them below), will join us at Collective Gathering to facilitate our exploration of the intersection of spiritual formation, theology, and neuroscience. They are passionate about helping leaders nurture communities which grow thriving, emotionally healthy, joyful disciples.
Friends, we believe this year together will not only be illuminating for us as leaders of disciple-making communities, but transformational for us as disciples ourselves.
We invite you to come away, learn, and experience these two days with us, as we welcome the Holy Spirit, our Master Potter, to form us in the radiant image of the face of Christ.
*Want a sneak peak of our focus this year? You can access three audio chapters of Michael’s book, The Other Half of Church: Christian Community, Brain Science, and Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation below for free, and a paperback copy of the book is being gifted each church by the Network Resource Team.
When
Our gathering will begin at 4pm on Wednesday 12 November and conclude after lunch at 2pm on Friday 14 November.
Where
The Tops, Stanwell Tops
If you have any unanswered questions about Collective Gathering this year, reach out to our team at hello@ccnswact.org.au
Registrations are now open. Register now to get an Early Bird discount (until September 28). Registrations close 30 October.
About Michel and Claudia Hendricks
Michael and Claudia are passionate about helping leaders nurture communities which grow thriving, emotionally healthy, joyful disciples.
Having both worked in church leadership, spiritual formation, and cross-cultural ministry contexts for decades, Michel and Claudia hold a wealth of experience in developing effective, spiritual formation models in complex communities. Michel is co-author with Jim Wilder of The Other Half of Church: Christian Community, Brain Science, and Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation. Michel serves as Director of Life Model Consulting with Life Model Works and has trained leaders internationally in spiritual maturity and community building. Claudia brings a diverse background in missions in closed nations, speech pathology, education, and inner healing ministry, which she draws on to equip leaders in cross-cultural and emotionally healthy ministry. Drawing on the Life Model Works training developed with Jim Wilder and their extensive cross-cultural ministry experience, Michel and Claudia offer deep insights for churches with complex communities seeking to cultivate mature, joy-filled disciples.
To learn more about Michel and Claudia, their ministry and their story, visit their full bio at https://thrivetoday.org/hendricks-bio/
Buy The Other Half of Church online
About The Other Half of Church:
Why does true Christian transformation seem fleeting? And why does Church often feel lonely, Christian community shallow, and leaders untrustworthy? For many Christians, the delight of encountering Christ eventually dwindles-and disappointment sets in. Is lasting joy possible?
These are some of the questions Michel Hendricks has considered both in his experience as a spiritual formation pastor and in his lifetime as a Christian. He began to find answers when he met Jim Wilder – a neurotheologian. Using brain science, Wilder identified that there are two halves of the Church: the rational half and the relational half. And when Christians only embrace the rational half, Churches become unhealthy places where transformation doesn’t last and narcissistic leaders flourish.
In The Other Half of Church, join Michel and Jim’s journey as they couple brain science with the Bible to identify how to overcome spiritual stagnation by living a full-brained faith. You’ll also learn the four ingredients necessary to develop and maintain a vibrant transformational community where spiritual formation occurs, relationships flourish, and the toxic spread of narcissism is eradicated.
Listen to three free audiobook chapters on The Other Half of Church Podcast
We can’t wait to see you at Collective Gathering!
