On Saturday, 27 leaders from 13 churches from across Auckland’s Central, South and East regions came together for an Elders' Workshop at Eden Church on 'growing leaders, finding elders'.
CCCNZ Auckland Enabler Richard Fountain writes,
"It was a blessing for experienced elders, new elders and potential elders to hear from Kerry Rickard (Kingston Community Church) speaking on developing leaders into eldership."
Front row, left to right: Shannon and Anthony Samuels, Ben Klammer, Tom Crisp and Ian Rowe. Second row: Charles Rivers, Richard Fountain, Graeme Clarke, Bruce Carr, Linda Han-Li, Gordon and Joy Fountain. Third row: Hayden Johns, Ane Ponifasio, Saiyad Irshad, Sam Kommunuri, Richard Huang, John Goold, Pelu Afaese, Michael Hanson and Pauliasi Valili. Back row: Greg Va’afusuaga, Hiki Tuaio, Fatu Tu’u, and Nolagi Amani. (Missing from photo: Tim Harvey and Anna Rivers).
The churches represented were Au uso Kerisiano Church Papakura, Auckland Bible Church, Auckland Japanese Christian Church, Eden Church, LifeChurch South – Manurewa, LifeChurch West – Avondale, Mt Wellington Community Church, Orewa Community Church, Pakuranga Christian Fellowship, Rossgrove Chapel, Tāmaki Community Church, Terry Street Bible Chapel, and Wiremu Street Bible Chapel.
First photo, left to right: Ben Klammer, Pelu Afaese, Sam Kommunuri, John Goold. Second photo: Saiyad Irshad and Linda Han-Li.
Elder at Mt Wellington Community Church Saiyad Irshad (pictured above) returned from the workshop encouraged and appreciated "the simplicity of elders being called to know, lead, feed, and protect the flock".
Saiyad says,
“Prayer is vital but we can often be about business and things like prayer can be pushed aside. The pyramid needs to be turned upside down, making more time for prayer than business.”
First photo, from left to right: Shannon Samuels, Anna Rivers, and Ane Ponifasio. Second photo: Hiki Tuaio, Bruce Carr, and Nolagi Amani.
Elder from Pakuranga Christian Fellowship Bruce Carr (pictured above) comments, “I was blessed, encouraged, and inspired by the morning”. Afterwards, Bruce emailed Kerry for the notes and hopes to explore the topic further.
