National Baptist Senior Pastors Gathering

May 28, 2024

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Hosted by Citywide, 21-23 May 2024

Citywide Baptist church hosted the pastors of Baptist churches (bigger than 300 attendees) from around Australia for the annual Baptist Senior Pastors Gathering.

Seventy people were part of the gathering hosted at Citywide on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, before moving to Hobart Baptist church for the final morning session on Thursday. The Gathering has been going on for about 20 years, although, this is the first time it has been hosted in Tasmania.

Designed as a chance for peer learning and fellowship, the gathering featured workshops and sessions led by the pastors themselves, with intentional space made for the pastors and their spouses to connect. Wednesday afternoon was set aside time for Rest & Recreation, where half the group went bushwalking on Mt Wellington and the other half touring Richmond and Puddleduck Vineyard.

Pastor Paul Rai personally cooked an incredible Nepalese buffet dinner for the whole gathering on the first night.

The only external speaker was Minister Guy Barnett, who shared personally and inspirationally at a dinner on Wednesday evening.

At the end of the gathering, pastors were asked to write down a word to capture their experience and came up with a telling Word Cloud.

Word Cloud from National Baptist Senior Pastors Gathering group — Word cloud generated by Pastor feedback from the event.

A smaller gathering of multi-site churches met from after lunch Thursday to lunchtime Friday to discuss this model of church and share what they have been learning.

National Baptist Senior Pastors Gathering group — Time for some R&R

Behind the Scenes

The Citywide team worked very hard to host the event, with Jess McEldowney and Peter and Janine Collins coordinating a team of volunteers at Citywide and Matt Henderson and Kelvin Smith managing things at Hobart Baptist. Dan Hutchison (from Newstead Baptist) and Dan Evenhuis (Executive Pastor at Citywide) helped lead different parts of the gathering.