Friday 8 and Saturday 9 May marked The Gathering, including our Annual Assembly. Over two days, 380 people gathered across 7 venues from throughout our movement to worship together, be equipped for ministry and strengthen connections with one another.
Gathering around the theme “Ready,” we explored what it means to be prepared for ministry and faithful living in today’s complex world. Our two keynote sessions featured
Tim Dyer speaking on being ready to lead ministry in a complex world on Friday and
Emmah Makuthi sharing on being ready to live faithfully in a broken world on Saturday. Recordings of both keynote sessions are available online using the links below.
A key new addition to The Gathering program was the introduction of Bible Breakouts and Workshops. Led by a diverse group of leaders from across our Baptist family, these sessions created space to go deeper into God’s Word and explore practical ways to serve our communities more effectively. We hope everyone who participated found them encouraging, equipping and valuable.
Venues
Main Venue
Ministry and Learning Centre (MALC)
5 Saunders Close, Macquarie Park NSW 2113
Regional Venues
A minimum of 10 voting members need to be registered to attend at any Additional Venue by Friday, 25 April to ensure that venue remains operational. See below for our list of venues in the different regions across our movement.
Northern Rivers Region
Alstonville Baptist Church
108 Wardell Road, Alstonville NSW 2477
SATURDAY ONLY
South Coast Region
Woonona Baptist Church
477 Princes Highway, Woonona NSW 2517
Hunter Region
Belair Baptist Church
130 Garden Grove Pde, Adamstown NSW 2289
Riverina Region
Wagga Wagga Baptist Church
154-156 Tarcutta Street, Wagga Wagga NSW 2650
Canberra Region
Hughes Baptist Church
34 Groom Street, Hughes ACT 2605
Western Districts Region
Wellington Baptist Church
77 Swift Street, Wellington NSW 2820
Program
Keynote Recordings
At The Gathering we were blessed with a keynotes from Tim Dyer about being ready for leading ministry in a complex world on Friday and Emmah Makuthi on being ready to live faithfully in a broken world on Saturday. To relive those sessions watch the recordings down below.
Meet our Speakers
Tim Dyer
Ready for Leading Ministry in a Complex World
Emmah Makuthi
Ready to Live Faithfully in a Broken World
158th Annual Assembly
The Assembly dealt with a number of AGM matters including receiving the Annual Report, the Financial Statements and approving the Church Partnership Support Budget of $1.55 million.
Seven individuals were approved to proceed to Accreditation, and two further pastors had their accreditation transferred into the Association.
Encouragingly, two churches were approved to proceed to Affiliation, with the Assembly voting that Calderwood Valley Baptist Church and Greenhouse Church Long Jetty officially join the Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT.
The Association’s Strategic Plan (2026-2028) was also approved, in an exciting time for our Movement.
In respect of the ballots for various positions, the following people were elected at the Assembly:
Assembly Council
- Rev Andrew Kerr (Gundagai Baptist Church) – Elected
- Dr Catherine Casey (Parramatta Baptist Church) – Re-Elected
Morling College Council
- Dominic Valastro – Elected
- Helen Blanch – Re-Elected
- Dr William Pierson – Re-Elected
Baptist Churches of NSW Property Trust
- Judith Carpenter – Re-Elected
- Geoffrey Moore – Re-Elected
- Michael Williams – Re-Elected
Director of Ministries
- Rev Dr Steve Bartlett – Re-Appointed
We thank each of these people for being willing to serve and pray God’s blessing on them in their roles.
