C-BTE Australia Team
June 1, 2006
November last year (2005) saw all three national leaders of C-BTE
Australia in Ames for BILD's International Conference and training. This is
the first occasion we had all been there at the one time, and it proved very
encouraging and useful for the overall development of the work here. The two
weeks were spent interacting with leaders from 16 other countries, honing our knowledge
and skills in the use of the C-BTE philosophy and the BILD resources.
In March this year, Jeff Reed was in Sydney for an onsite
consultation. This coincided with a visit by two of the pastors from our
partner church in Canton, Ohio—Faith Bible Church. They were accompanied by
four other pastors from three U.S. churches, who were looking at the way the
paradigm is developing here in Australia, in order to gain additional insight
for how the process could be implemented in their own churches. All pastors
visited the three Australian States where C-BTE Australia is seeking to develop
resource churches for the furtherance of the gospel. These visits were a great
encouragement, and Jeff's wise input was timely and insightful.
National Update
On the national front, the work is progressing, if somewhat slowly,
as seems to be the experience of most other post-Christian countries working
with the Church-Based Theological Education Paradigm. The older generations
within the Brethren movement, accustomed to a miniature or no formal training
paradigm, show little or no interest in a programme to train leaders, even a
non-formal one. The younger generation in general has become so accustomed to
the "plug and play" approach to ministry and development that the thought of a
lifelong system of learning and spiritual improvement is seen as arduous and
unnecessary. Only a few in each State have taken up the challenge seriously, but
where they have, the results are extremely encouraging.
Our next major national event was our bi-annual Paradigm
Development Programme May 19–21. On this occasion, around twenty leaders and
potential leaders from three States gathered in Tasmania for a weekend camp of
study, discussion, project writing, and fellowship. As was the case in 2004,
we were joined by nine U.S. visitors, touring the C-BTE Australia network, who
underwent the same training and orientation. The programme included a one-day
version of the first Paradigm Transformation Project and a day seminar on "The
Expansion of the Early Church—Unlocking the Book of Acts." The attendees had
been preparing for several months, and as in past years, the programme proved
seminal for the movement, as far as the Lord's leading, power, and direction
once again.
C-BTE Tasmania, Brian Wilson
The key development of the work in Tasmania in the past year
has been the launch of the second phase of a church-planting initiative. In
February this year, our one-year old church, known as Christian ConneXion, adopted
a household church model of operation and was divided into two congregations. The
move was driven by a deep and growing conviction on the part of the leadership
that the primary motivation in determining our mode of church should be mission
not tradition, fashion, or personal preference. Prayer, a re-examination of
the Scriptures (particularly through the Acts and Pauline Courses), and extensive
research (including a trip to the UK) reshaped our thinking and directed us to
some interesting, challenging, and exciting changes in how to do church and
evangelism.
A "Multiplying Churches Conference," which we organised with
the Crowded House network of churches from the UK, was also significant. Some
of our core values, adapted from Crowded House, are the following: the priority of the gospel; mission through community; church without
the trappings; and shaping our
activities around people. A quote by Rad Zdero succinctly describes our stance: We are to
minimize the complexity of our forms in order to maximize the effectiveness of
our functions. Overall the exercise has elevated mission to a much higher
priority in the lives of our believers and has refocused the purpose of our
existence as a church.
The establishing and training element of
the work in Tasmania continues to centre around BILD's First Principles for new
Christians—whose progress is a continual delight to us—and BILD's Leadership Courses
for leaders—through which old and new leaders are studying, growing, and
maturing together.
C-BTE Queensland, Phil Thomas
In April, Phil had the opportunity to offer two electives titled
"Training Leaders in Your Church through C-BTE" at a regional Leadership
Conference. Although there was not strong attendance at these electives, there
have been some enquiries from churches about getting involved.
At the Bundaberg Bible Chapel where Phil and Adele Thomas
are based, there has been a good response to the launch of The First
Principles. Leading up to launch, twenty people completed the Teaching
the First Principles course, twelve of whom are now leading groups. Over
140 have commenced the first book, Becoming a Disciple. There has been a
very positive response by the whole church as a result of the lengthy
promotional lead-up using teaching, displays, and personal encouragement. Each
Sunday, the Bible passages are taught expositionally, as a ?kick-start' for the
session that week. A highlight was to have six people baptised during the
service when "Baptism—the Next Step" was being taught. The group leaders also
meet each Sunday for one hour for a feedback and coaching session.
The challenge will be to keep the momentum going. This will largely
be dependent on the enthusiasm of the leaders. At this stage, there is good
positive feedback from folks doing the studies. It remains to be seen if
healthy principles will be internalised and lifelong study habits formed.
Ron and Elaine Regas from Faith Bible Church in Canton, Ohio,
visited us in late May. They brought seven of their Young Evangelicals to visit
with our Interns. This is the second such visit and again was a treat and a
blessing.
C-BTE New South Wales, Tim
McLaughlin
In January last year, Tim and Carolyn McLaughlin moved to
the south of Sydney to take up a pastoral role in a church in the Sutherland
Shire. The Shire is the fifth largest Local Government Area in Australia and is
geographically distinct from the rest of Sydney. The St. Georges River creates
a natural northern border separating it from Sydney proper; the Pacific Ocean forms
the Eastern border; and majestic National Parks seal off the Western and
Southern boundaries.
The role outlined by the church for Tim was to head up the
process of assisting the church in the formation of a long-term strategic plan
for taking the gospel to the 240,000 people in the Shire. The finishing
touches to the plan are being completed as this article is being written, and
it has been a stimulating and exciting process.
The strategic centrepiece to the whole plan has been the
Pauline cycle as outlined in the BILD Acts course. The church's long-term
vision now is that it will become an Antioch church, resourcing the
multiplication of churches right across the Shire. The vision in the church's
words is "to grow from a community church to a community of churches."
Central to that plan is the development of an extensive
mission and training program for the church. Lord willing, this is where Tim
will redirect his energies, now that the plan is essentially in place. It is
anticipated that the initial step in that program will be with the formation of
a post-high school apprenticeship program. The dream is to quickly build a
large pool of committed young people that will birth, in four to five years
time, the initial leaders and church planters who will be needed to make the
vision a reality. The desire is that this program will be a reproducible model,
which will eventually be of benefit to the church nationally.
