The Fresh Hope Mission & Ministry agency have recently celebrated their 1st year anniversary. The strategic intent for this agency is outworking itself through the following four functional areas:
Transformation
Local Fresh Hope communities are invited to collaborate for a two-year journey, unpacking key issues in the life of their church. We start with ethos and move towards strategically positioning their churches into contextual mission. We also have a team of safe and skilled spiritual leaders that are available to support local church leaders. They have connected personally with over 25 different churches since Fresh Hope Collective in May.
Spiritual Leadership
We believe that leadership in the Kingdom is primarily spiritual. The Navigate program recently had 65 in attendance at our annual Winter School for 6 days. This is a pathway of discipleship where Kingdom, Biblical formation, identity and spiritual warfare are taught and caught. Here is one student’s reflection:
“I’d say that each retreat I have attended has been the best days of my life. God has brought so many dead places inside of me back to life and resurrected my wonder and passion for life through Navigate. There is Spiritual Formation, where vulnerability with others has healed my wounds.
There is theological study, where God has revealed to me more of His true heart and character. There is an encouragement of playfulness, creativity and adventure, where I have learned to enjoy God as a child does with their parent.
There is also a boldness when it comes to the reality of our faith and a life of mission. I have learned so much from listening to the stories and testimonies of spiritual leaders and visiting their communities.” – Navigate IMPART Student
Pioneering and Mission
2018 has provided opportunities for a burst of Kingdom activity around pioneering innovative expressions of mission and church. There are 7 new pioneering communities forming and they are actively supported by Daz Farrell and Nathan Marshall. There is now capacity to adopt a Pioneering church plant and receive regular news and prayer updates. And soon you will be able to financially sponsor a new Pioneer missionary through the Mission & Ministry website.
Sue Whiteley and Anne Simpson have recently formed a clearness group, where the members have been trained and equipped to use their discernment gift. This pilot group is available to ministering persons who are trying to discern God’s leading in their present season. The majority of the pioneering couples have used this process and found it very helpful in discerning what their call to mission looks like.
Fresh Hope Engage has superseded CareWorks. Its role is to create opportunities for care, justice and mercy to thrive. Richard Reeve and his team have launched a pastoral care training course sponsored by Fresh Hope Care. We had 18 participants recently graduate from the pilot of the course. They will have opportunities to share their skills in the Fresh Hope Care residential, retirement and home care services. A second pastoral care course will be offered to Fresh Hope church and Engage projects early in 2019.
Resourcing
Sandra Noel coordinates our resourcing team. This team provides administrative support for our network of churches through safe church practices, operational assistance and professional development events. The team can provide information around governance and financial systems for churches, including insurance.
One priority at present is the completion of the Mission & Ministry grants portal. This is designed to give an opportunity to financially support local churches in their mission and ministry. More details will be available in September.
The Mission & Ministry team are keen to relationally connect and build supportive networks across our 96 churches. Please contact our team at hello@ccnswact.org.au or by phoning (02) 8719 2600 to start a conversation or enquire about any of the above initiatives. This quote sums it up: “We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.” – Bishop Ken Untener
John Crowther
Director | Mission & Ministry
