Copy

Leadership Team Update – 16 August 2024
Thank you to all of those who were able to attend the Church Meeting on 4 August.  The minutes of that meeting are available here.  We also attach the minutes of the 30 June meeting to call a Senior Pastor.
We want to provide an update on some of the things discussed at the 4 August meeting, and just re-mention a few things to ensure our communications are reaching everyone as comprehensively as possible! We have also had some feedback and questions after that meeting that we want to cover here.
We know there is a view that the Leadership Team could be more decisive and courageous, and that we don’t appear to be doing anything. We want to assure you that we really are working behind the scenes and very much do have the best interests of FBC at heart.  Our focus is not just for the here and now, but also for the long term as well. Many hours of meetings, prayer and planning have been happening in the six weeks since the meeting to vote on the Senior Pastor (SP) though we know that much of this is invisible and that as such it can appear as if nothing is happening.  We hope that this update will therefore be useful for the church and that it will help to allay the concerns expressed by some.
 

Pause and Pray
We would just like to note that while we have asked the Church to Pause and Pray as we navigate the coming days, this doesn’t mean that the leaders have paused on doing any work as you can hopefully see from the comments in the following sections!  
We know that Jesus was asked by the crowds who followed him during His ministry to heal someone or to do other things people thought He should do.  But His priority on occasion was instead to seek the mind of His Father.  Also, the disciples on the road to Emmaus were grieving and disoriented until they encountered Jesus and were propelled into God’s plans and purposes.  Seeking His face and encountering Him remains our collective priority too at this time. 
On Sunday morning, Ian Moorhouse will share more with us about the importance of our corporate prayer meeting and the need to keep pressing into the Father.
 

Feedback and Communication
We have been pleased to receive e-mails in recent days that have been written with much grace, including constructive feedback and suggestions, and questions about progress since the 30 June SP appointment meeting.  We would encourage you to raise your concerns/comments with the leaders directly (leaders@fbc.nz) because we want to do the very best job we can, and all feedback is valued.  If we don’t know your concerns, we can’t address them! 
 
 

 
Senior Pastor Search

Some of the feedback received suggests that it would be great if we could stop “Pause and Pray” now and just get on with presenting Erin Temu again as a candidate for the SP position.  While we have full confidence that Erin would be excellent in the role, we are mindful of the decision that Erin has made not to proceed with another application at this time and we do need to respect that.  We have formally closed off the first SP application round.  While Erin (to his credit) has said he is still open to God’s call on his life to serve here in Franklin Baptist when and if the time is clearly shown, that time is not now.  He, of course, has an option to apply in the next round.
When Erin spoke to us all after the vote on 30 June, he said “Moving forward, I believe there's room for improvement in the search and appointment process. I'd be happy to work with the church members, the leadership team the search committee and the Baptist union to review it and explore potential enhancements.”  The Leadership Team agrees that at this time we need to focus on ensuring we are as effective as we can possibly be in the pursuit of our mission of Loving God and Loving People.
As noted in the 4 August minutes, we have been engaging with the Baptist Union (Northern Association) and together as a Leadership Team have discerned what we believe to be the best way forward for FBC. We will provide an update on this in a future communication and then discuss further at our AGM on 22 September.


Faye Snook, on behalf of the Leadership Team

Facebook
Website
Franklin Baptist Church  128 Victoria Street West, PO Box 52, Pukekohe 2120
telephone: (09) 238 8544    email:
info@fbc.nz    website: www.franklinbaptist.org.nz

IMPORTANT: Unsubscribing will remove you from ALL Franklin Baptist lists and emails.






This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences
Franklin Baptist Church · 128 Victoria Street West · Pukekohe, Auckland 2120 · New Zealand

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp