An invitation for Fresh Hope leaders to come ‘Together at the Table’ to discuss and unearth our movement’s DNA together is at the heart of Collective 2021.
Our online Collective gathering on the 5 November will launch the 12-month conversational process and will continue with regionally focused gatherings in the first half of 2022.
“Due to the uncertainty of easing restrictions, we have had to creatively stretch. This has meant shifting Collective from a three-day event to a half-day online event as the platform to launch a year-long process of engagement. ‘Together at the Table’, which will include online, regional and gathered dialogue focussed on the heart of who we are,” said Executive Ministry Director Daz Farrell.
At his inauguration last November Daz shared three key words to describe the invitation of God to our movement in this season, naming “Healing, integration and unity, and the forming concepts of regions and teams.”
This vision found its roots in the work of the Ethos Group that formed this year to rediscover and articulate the historical DNA of Churches of Christ in NSW and ACT for today.
Kym Dixon, Collective team leader and member of the Ethos Group, reflected, “As the group explored our DNA and what we can say together about who we are, we began to sense an even broader invitation to reclaim our movement dynamics for the future.”
The aspiration of this twelve month journey together is to invite all Fresh Hope members to have an opportunity to contribute to this reclaiming of our movement’s values.
“’Together at the Table’ reflects our desire to activate and hear again the voices of our movement as we seek to reclaim and embed our ethos for generations to come,” said Daz.
Kym reflected on the change of plans for her team in planning Collective this year, saying, “At first it was frustrating, but now it makes so much sense.”
She felt that this longer, slower plan would give more opportunity for the success of the process that the Ethos Group hoped the movement would enter into together.
“It seems that Jesus, in the midst of the current challenging reality, is presenting us with the very opportunity needed to begin to strengthen our movement muscle again,” adds Daz.
This opportunity will begin in the two online sessions in November, which will present the work so far on the ethos statements and invite dialogue around the heart of who we are.
Registrations open today, Monday the 27 of September.
Get your pastors, ministry staff, governance members, and key leaders signed up, and come and join the conversation!
Register HERE.
