2018AnnualReports

Annual General Meeting

25 November 2018

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AGENDA 2018

Title: Annual General MeetingDate/Time: 25th November, 2018 Chair: Bruce KilleyMinutes: Shane Gellert/Ronnie Douglas

Welcome and Opening Prayer: Pastor Rob ChaneyApologies:Quorum: Has a quorum of 40% of partners been established (≥32 out of 78 partners)? Yes / NoAppointment of Scrutineers – 3 x partners________________________

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Previous Meeting Minutes: The previous AGM meeting minutes from 3rd of December 2017 to be ratified/approved. Accepted by ________________________________ Seconded by ________________________________as being a true and accurate record. Was this carried?: Yes / No

Treasurer’s report: Dean WilkiePresent budget for 2018-2019

Motion preamble- Why the roles? Description?- Questions

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Presentation of motions:All motions have been fully endorsed by the Governing Elders of Lifeway.

Motion 1. Moved by Tom Clark, seconded by Andrew DerhamThat Chris Whitworth is reappointed in the position of Associate Pastor. This will be a 12-month casual position. The funding for the position is a joint initiative with the church and sponsors contributing. A position profile and statement of understanding will be signed with the intended commencement at the start of 2019. The level of financial sponsorship attained will determine the hours of this appointment.

Motion 2. Moved by Bruce Killey, seconded by Teena WhitworthThat Vanessa Pattiradjawane is appointed as business administrator.

Motion 3. Moved by Rhonda Douglas, seconded by Dean WilkieTo appoint a children and families pastor for a minimum or 2 days per week over 2 years of employment. The funding for the position is a joint initiative with the church and sponsors contributing. A position profile and statement of understanding will be signed with the intended commencement in early 2019 once the minimum level of sponsorship is attained.

Voting on the motions

Pastor’s report: Pastor Rob Chaney

Declaration of motion results

Prayer

Close of meeting

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Minutes of 2017 AGM

TITLE: Annual General Meeting 2017 DATE: 3/12/17CHAIR Robert Oldfield TIME: 11:50 AMMINUTES Shane Gellert MEETING №

AGM December 2017

Lifeway Church AGM 3 December 2017Welcome: Rob Oldfield welcomed everyone and Rob Chaney opened in prayer 11:50am

Apologies: Sharon Atherton, Sarah Constantine, Giles Easton, Colin Le Sueur, David & Judy Magilton, Cathy Newell, Rosemary Oldfield, Graham & Angie Ward

Quorum : A Quorum of 40% of partners was established with 44 of 73 Partners in attendance (60%).

Appointment of scrutineers (Current Church Partners) 1. Richie Barry2. Sue Curtis3. Marcia Ferguson

Previous AGM Meeting Minutes (from 20 November, 2016):

Accepted by Lynda ClarkSeconded by Ian WhitworthThis was carried by show of hands

Treasurers Report:Dean WilkieThe books have been independently audited by an accountant in Geelong. Income increased by $26,376, mostly by increases in tithing.Expenses increased by $12,893Net gain $34,149

Assets increased $35,023Liabilites -$13,151 (Loan reduction)

Our loan for the buildings was reduced from $254,000 to $241,000. We paid $13,000 in interest and reduced the balance by the same amount.

Balance is $83,000 in our general account. We have had much increased giving this year.

We have recently paid for replacement of audio speakers.

New budget – calculated by using an average of giving for last year, plus a 2% increase.

Raised a motion to accept 2017/18 budget. Includes increased wages for pastor, office administrator and new positions of associate pastor and community engagement worker. Seconded by Shane Gellert. Passed by show of hands.

BUV fees are about $5000. We will be asking in March for voluntary contributions of $50/partner towards this. Dean also mentioned that we are getting new chairs for about $80 each.

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Presentation of motions: Motion 1.The Governing Elders propose Chris Whitworth to be appointed 8 hours per week in the position of Associate Pastor. This will be a 12 month casual position which will be reviewed at the 3 and 6 month mark. The funding for the position is a joint initiative with the church and private sponsors contributing. A position description and statement of understanding will be signed with the intended commencement at the start of 2018 with a full sponsorship commitment attained.

Motion 2.The Governing Elders propose Tash Gellert to be appointed 10 hours per week in the position of Community Engagement Worker. This will be a 12 month casual position which will be reviewed at the 3 and 6 month mark. The funding for the position is a joint initiative with the church and private sponsors contributing. A position description and statement of understanding will be signed with the intended commencement at the start of 2018 with a full sponsorship commitment attained. The voting slips were handed out and collected after people had voted.

These motions were read by Rob Oldfield.

Rob Chaney spoke to the motion 1, reading out the previously supplied background information. He spoke how it is not uncommon for people in ministry to be sponsored, and it reduces the financial risk to the church.

Question from Matt Bevan – is there any formal training that can help Chris in this role? Rob C answered to say that in the long term, it is important to give Chris the training required. In the interim, we can give Chris a taste of the role through this position, and can add further training at a later time.

Question from Susan Branch – will it affect his role in the worship team? Rob C answered to say that no, it won’t affect this role. Chris will continue to be worship CML (congregational ministry leader). Rob thinks if anything, this position will add to his role as worship CML.

Question from Patrick Atheron – do we know what percentage of contribution is of the church? Rob replied to say that we have originally budgeted $14-15,000 for the role of community engagement worker. Rather than use all of those funds now, we are banking that if effect (by having sponsors) so that we have a contingency if the sponsorship falls short.

Rob Chaney spoke to motion 2, reading out the previously supplied background information. For the sponsorship, both Chris and Tash have identified some potential sponsors and have sent letters to these. Sponsorship is needed before the role will commence. There is a need with Little Teapot and playgroups for people in the life of these to take a more direct role in the life of the church.

No questions for asked for motion 2.

Votes were cast by private ballot. The result of the voting was returned with both motions overwhelmingly passed.

Pastors Report : Rob Chaney

Rob referred to his detailed report in the annual reports. He specifically thanked those involved in leadership. He encouraged all partners to serve in some way. Not all are asked to lead but those who are in leadership need to be affirmed in this. To the business operations group who meet each month to lead the business of the church, to the governing elders who meet and are willing to take risks in the life of the church and the Lifegroup leaders and the congregational ministry leaders.

Rob announced that Rob Oldfield is standing down from the role of business administrator. He gave Rob a gift and talked of how Rob has done an excellent job and is such a valuable part of the church, and thanked him so much for what he has done. We will be looking for someone to step into this role.

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He said that we must take great risks/steps of faith in the life of our church. We can’t just relax in our pews while our community needs to know Jesus. We need to be courageous and bold in decisions like the motions we are voting on today.

Little Teapot reportSarah Chaney gave her annual report. She had 4 main points…

Celebrate – Lifeway Christian Church took a massive step allowing this to happen. The café has been opened just over a year, with 90 adults coming in each day on average. It is a community, not just a café. There are hundreds of families that we can bless in lots of different ways. We have given 440 families a suspended coffee. There are ‘New to Community’ sessions, and we recently celebrated the fundraiser dinner, which raised about $12,000. The community of Little Teapot is growing, and community is what changes people.

Thankful – The church was thanked publically at the dinner. Sarah is thankful for the low cost rent they pay to the church. They are thankful for the church family which provides volunteers and help at working bees, etc.

Share - There are lots of lonely people here who need love and acceptance and need to find friendship, and ultimately God.

Dream - Little Teapot is very challenging, much harder than thought. 9/10 cafes close in the first year. The margins financially are so hard. Little Teapot pays award wages, which many cafes don’t do. Overall in the first year, they lost $13,000, although the third quarter was profitable. So we need lots of prayer. We are currently doing a review of all aspects of the café, so it can be profitable into the future. Once the business model is strong, the ministry can happen in an easier way.

They want to see thousands of people changed by Little Teapot. They want people to be available to sit with those who need to chat.

All are welcome to the prayer meeting on the third Wednesday of each month. There will be a working bee in January and help would be appreciated for that.

See AGM booklet for other reports.

Close of meeting: At 12:32. Rob Oldfield thanked the church for the opportunity to serve and assured us that he will still be around. He has enjoyed it, but it is time for a break.

Rob Chaney closed in prayer.

Attendees List :Atherton, Patrick Constantine, Sharon Ferguson, Marcia Oldfield, RobertBarry, Richie Curtis, Haydn Forbes, Greg Rennhackkamp, MartinBarry, Bernice Curtis, Sue Gellert, Shane Rennhackkamp, PatriciaBevan, Chelsea Davis, Jan Gellert, Tash Walker, MalcolmBevan, Matt Debets, Pierre Heron, Susan Wheaton, ElaineBranch, Sue Derham, Andrew Killey, Bruce Whitworth, ChrisChaney, Rob Derham, Cherie Killey, Jane Whitworth, AmyChaney, Sarah Douglas, Rhonda Le Sueur, Chris Whitworth, IanClark, Tom Easton, Alannah Le Sueur, Vanessa Whitworth, TeenaClark, Lynda Faulkner, Janet Le Sueur, Lucy Wilkie, DeanConstantine, Mark Ferguson, Ian Mulroyan, Leah Wilkie, Lynndy

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PASTOR’S REPORT – ROB CHANEY

As I look back over the past 12 months, I think 2018 will definitely go down as one of our most exciting years as a church. With new staff roles, upgrades to our worship auditorium, and innovative ministry opportunities to reach our community, it showed that we are a growing faith community; courageously stepping into all God has for us. Over the following pages as you read these reports I’m sure you will agree that for a small church we are making big impacts for the kingdom of God.

One of the highlights for me this year was our ‘Who will you bring’ service where our church invited people along to a Sunday service who normally wouldn’t. It was such a great service, and you all did an amazing job to invite so many people. The church was completely full and there was such a buzz of anticipation prior and a real sense of fulfilment afterwards. It showed us that people were willing to come along and it gave us another opportunity to share about God’s love for them.

Another exciting ministry area that began this year was our ministry to youth. While our church has generally had a strong ministry toward youth over the years, there was a short season where there hadn’t been anything intentional happen. However, with the availability of Little Teapot on a Sunday, Youth Café Church launched in late October. Now the Youth head over to the café and spend time together in an intentional way to build community and explore some of the big questions around life and faith. Thanks to all involved, but especially Tim and Hannah Le Sueur, Leah Mulroyan and Jordi Flagg who have been the driving force behind it being re-established.

The ministry of preaching and teaching God’s word is embedded deep within me and I feel every time I personally open God’s word I am taught and inspired. While I am never completely confident in my own abilities to deliver a sermon as effectively as I would like, I give everything I have and my confidence is in God’s faithfulness that His word will not return void. I truly hope you have grown yourselves and been inspired through some of the sermon series this year. One of my personal favourites was the book of Jonah. I also want to take

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the opportunity to thank Michael Demetriou for his amazing work in producing our promo videos.

As we continue to grow in numbers, with new families visiting each week, there is a need to keep advancing in all aspects of church life to accommodate and facilitate the growth. Church growth is problematic but I’d rather have those kinds of problems than some of the other kinds of problems that many churches face. We are currently considering ways to make best use of our property and facilities to provide the space needed for growing ministry areas, especially with children’s and families.

Associate Pastor and Community Engagement worker

With the incredible help of financial ‘sponsors’ we were able to fund two new and exciting roles this year.

Chris Whitworth (Associate Pastor) and Tash Gellert (Community Engagement) joined our staff and provided an amazing amount of resourcing to what our church currently is involved in. You can read their reports for yourself but I’m sure you will see they have both been such a blessing to us all. Tash’s events have been extremely well received by parents and children, with each event being booked out. Thank you to Chris and Tash for all you have done this year. I also want to acknowledge all who sponsored them in their roles. Thank you for sowing.

Governing Elders

Our governing elders have provided outstanding leadership to our church, making decisions behind the scenes where the outcomes have been empowering for all of us. Our elders all serve ‘on the ground’ and are not making decisions from far off and lofty places. But they participate in practical ways in the life of the church alongside the rest of us. Their wisdom, discernment and spiritual maturity work together with their understanding of the practical implications of ministry and allow them to make informed decisions that benefit all of us.

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While some of our work as Governing Elders is about developing new ideas, new policies and procedures, one of the highlights has been the re-newing of our values. It was a great process to simplify them and have an opportunity to present them and preach on each value.

Our new values are:

LOVE – We are committed to loving God and putting him first in all areas of our lives

GROW – We are committed to growing in faith, continuing to develop as disciples of Jesus

SERVE – We are committed to displaying God’s love to others through our acts of service

GO – We are committed to taking the message of Jesus to all people in our community

I’d like to thank Bruce Killey, Teena Whitworth, Tom Clark, Andrew Derham, Rhonda Douglas and Stewart Rae for all their hard work this year. Particular mention must go to Stewart Rae who resigns this year but remains a continual source of wisdom and encouragement to me personally.

Business Operations Group (BOG)

Thank you to Dean Wilkie (Finance Administrator), Shane Gellert (Office Administrator) and Rob Oldfield (Business Administrator). You guys are the best, and I’m so grateful for everything you have done this year. Dean has continued to fine-tune our financial processes and as the complexities increase for churches the demands on Dean’s time also increase and I’m just so thankful for him. Shane has been the real backbone of our church behind the scenes and is always ready to step in when needed. Once again, there are increased regulations that require churches to be super organized and Shane does this without fuss and always to best of his ability.

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To Rob O who stepped down this year, thank you for all your hard work. Not an easy person to replace are you?!!

There have also been some helpers along the way that need special mention. Thanks to Judy, Danijela, and Lucy for assisting and lightening the load.

Pastoral Care

What a privilege it is to love and care those within our church who for whatever reasons have needed a little extra support. There are many ways in which pastoral care is delivered, much of which is behind the scenes and go unnoticed by many. There have been a number of people who have joined our prayer team and community meals ministry and your involvement has been so appreciated by so many of us on the receiving end. Thanks for helping.

A big thanks to Jane Killey who just doesn’t stop caring and making sure people are doing ok. We have a great pastoral care team made up of myself, Jane, Shane and Elaine. We meet regularly and pray for those in our church who have requested support as well as put together plans for more intentional and practical support.

We must remember that it’s everyone’s responsibility to pastorally care. Where you see a need, look to meet it and if you need help don’t be afraid to ask.

Congregational Ministry Leaders

I’ve said this before but church is healthy because there are so many people who find their place through serving. We have all been created with a purpose and while we are all called to serve, there are some who are especially equipped to lead. I just want to pass on my deepest thanks to all our CML’s. I know for some its been a challenging year and trust me when I say that God is often doing his deepest work when we find it tough. Thank you to all our congregational ministry leaders who keep being faithful no matter what the season or circumstances of their own ministry or personal lives. You are making a difference.

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Thank you to the following CML’s:

Chris Whitworth – Worship

Janet Faulkner – Creche

Chelsea Bevan – Playgroups

Martin Rennhackkamp – Social Media

Mark Constantine – Lifeway Kidz

Colin Le Sueur – Mission and Property maintenance

Lifegroups

Thank you to all our amazing lifegroups leaders. I’m so grateful that through your generosity you open up your lives and your homes for others to benefit.

I keep hearing all the wonderful stories about each lifegroup. People speak of their Lifegroup leaders with such respect and appreciation and it’s because of the wonderful way you let God work through you.

Lifegroups are a vital component to our spiritual health which fosters relationships and offers discipleship and pastoral care to its participants. If you are not currently part of a lifegroup, why not consider joining or of perhaps even start your own.

Little Teapot Café and Play

It’s been two years since we first opened the doors and this venture continues to thrive in the opportunity of supporting families in our community. Thank you to all who have shown support to Little Teapot. Many of you have given of your own time volunteering, some your financial support and others joining together to pray for God’s leading and presence in this wonderful and exciting mission opportunity.

While there are more details that are attached in this annual report that you can read for yourself I’m sure as you do, you will agree that Little Teapot is something we can all be very proud of.

To Sarah and her staff and volunteers, we want to thank you for your faithful work and the time and energy you give to this. We look forward to new and exciting ways that God will use you all to love the people He sends through your doors.

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Carols The Combined Churches of Lara Carols event at Pirra Homestead continues to be one of the premiere community events in Lara. Many people from our church are involved and I’d like to make mention of Jeanette Bence who brings all the various aspects together. Jeanette not only manages all the logistics of the event but she also coordinates the community choir. A massive thank you to Jeanette. As a church last year we were able to give away Christmas hampers to families who were sitting in the crowd. It’s always such a delight to see their faces light up when they are randomly selected to receive a hamper. Thank you for all who gave food items for the hamper, were involved in the choir or other aspects of the event on the night.We must never underestimate the importance of such an event. The fact that we are still able to publically worship Jesus and acknowledge His coming into our world in such a public way that is supported by the general community of Lara is a wonderful privilege.

St Laurence park services

Thank you to all involved in serving the residents of St Lawrence Park. Every month we bring a simple yet well attended and appreciative service to these residents who have expressed that it is a highlight of their week. To all who have volunteered their time to go in and bless these residents, I want to say how much we appreciate you and your commitment to be involved.

In Closing…

Can I encourage you all to keep looking to Jesus, putting him first and remaining faithful remembering the great promise in this verse in Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

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ASSOCIATE PASTOR – CHRIS WHITWORTH  Stepping into this new role has been very interesting. I’ve found it extremely enjoyable as well as sometimes challenging as it’s forced me to grow in areas. I’ve been able to incorporate existing skill sets as well as take on new roles and responsibilities. Working closely alongside Pastor Rob, each week we look at how church operates as a whole and how can we do it better. This ranges from weekly ministries and activities to Sunday morning services and ministries. I’ve been journeying with the Congregational ministry leaders checking in with them weekly or fortnightly to provide moral support, prayerful and pastoral support. This has reinforced the already strong relationship I’ve had with each of them and I found great joy in seeing them grow in their respected ministry areas. Using my experience in Graphic Design, we have seen updates in areas such as a new church logo and branding including new signage, new flyers for serving in ministry areas, new resources such as “This Jesus Life” and, “next steps”, “baptisms” and “partnership” plus “family programs”, a facelift to our Facebook presence and a brand-new website. All of these updates help bring our church into the 21st century where it belongs and we strive to be a place that is welcoming and relevant. One thing Pastor Rob and I are really proud of is our new Welcome desk where resources and information are made readily available to anyone who is looking. I’ve also taken a new up the front presence where you will see me without the guitar, doing announcements, sharing a devotional and scripture, and doing what I love doing; praying over the church. Who knows.... you may be seeing me

preach a sermon soon   I loved planning the “who will you bring” campaign where we saw countless new people at church and church members step out in faith and intentionally invite people to church and pray for them. This is what we should be doing every week and it was great to see people get on board. We also had a number

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of people serve in new areas and there was a real buzz and sense of expectation that Sunday. It’s been a great year and I want to thank my sponsors who have released and enabled me to explore this call on my life. I also thank Pastor Rob for journeying beside me, for challenging me and trusting in me and to the rest of my wonderful church family.

FINANCIAL REPORT – DEAN WILKIE

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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT – TASH GELLERT

In February 2018, I began my new role as Community Engagement Worker at Lifeway. This position was for 8 hours per week. The purpose of this role was to work alongside Pastor Rob in developing and implementing the Church’s vision for connecting with families within our community. The role was to cover – Supporting Chelsea Bevan to strengthen and develop the Playgroup Ministry, Supporting Sarah Chaney in the mission direction of The Little Teapot Café providing opportunities to connect families with the Church community and to work alongside Pastor Rob to achieve the vision and mission of Lifeway. Here’s how I tried to achieve these purposes -

Tuesday Playgroup The need for a third playgroup was great as our two other playgroups coordinated by the amazing Chelsea Bevan and Janet Faulkner both had waiting lists. We put the call out that a new playgroup was beginning and within days we had 22 families ready to start (Praise God!) and a waiting list! I then needed to find some helpers and so God lead me to ask Dianne Upton, Dawn Simons and Karla Harper and they all said yes! When Karla needed to pull out early in the year Janet Faulkner stepped in and has been a constant and amazing support to me ever since. She is taking over the coordination of playgroup while I leave to have my baby and I thank her so much for this. It has been a wonderful year getting to know the playgroup families and building relationships with them. We pray for our families each week and we let them know that we are praying for them when they or their children are sick. I even got to pray with one of the Mums recently who was going through some hard times. What an amazing opportunity we are given by God to be His hands, feet and voice to these families who don’t know Him.

God themes at playgroups Twice a term I’ve visited all three playgroups to share a Bible Story and craft with the children. In Term 1 the children learnt all about Jesus death and Resurrection at Easter. In Term 2 they learnt that God is the creator of the world and the creator of them. In Term 3 we looked at the Parable of the Lost Sheep and Jesus calming the storm so the families have all learnt that Jesus cares for them like a shepherd cares for a sheep and that Jesus is so powerful. We look forward to sharing the story of God’s greatest gift as Christmas time approaches. Please pray that the seeds of truth planted into their lives would be watered and grow.

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Easter Family Event I organised a fun family Easter event for pre-schoolers on Easter Saturday. 26 families attended along with 36 kids. We invited playgroup families as well as advertising at The Little Teapot so we had a good mix of families from both ministries plus our own Church families. Two thirds of the families were from non-church homes. The families decorated Easter baskets, participated in an egg and spoon race and Easter Egg hunt and also heard the gospel message and learnt 2 songs all about Jesus. It was a great day! Thank you to those who donated Easter Eggs and who helped on the day.

School Holiday Program I organised a Holiday Program for Primary School aged children during the Term 2 holidays. We had 36 kids come along to hear how Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. 25 of these kids were from Non-Christian homes and we praise God that they were able to hear the gospel and take home a Christian book or New Testament. Thank you to my amazing leaders who gave up their holidays to come along and help.

Intentional Trivia Night In June I challenged the Church congregation to invite their non-Christian friends to a Trivia Night and they accepted the challenge. We had 11 tables all up with at least one person on each table who hadn’t been into the Church before. It was a great night and a good pre-cursor to invite our friends to the Bring A Friend Church service that was held later in the year.

Lifeway Mum’s Night Out I organised a Mum’s Night Out event in September to connect our mothers of Primary and Pre-School Aged children (including some Mums who were very new to Church) and Mums-to-be together. The aim was to get to know each other better in a relaxed setting and deepen relationships. We had 14 Mum’s attend the event in the Youth Hall (which had been decorated to feel like a cosy lounge room). We played some get-to-know-you games, had yummy home-made desserts made by Karla Harper and then watched a Faith-based movie called “Mum’s Night Out” and we ended with a time of prayer.

Thankyou To our great and almighty God who has equipped and given me the energy

to carry out these events. I give Him all the glory for how well they’ve gone, for the people that have attended and for enabling the Gospel to be shared.

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To my wonderful financial supporters. This role wouldn’t have been able to happen without you. You have partnered with me and given generously and because of this the Gospel has been shared with many people and seeds have been sown. THANK YOU!

To my fellow playgroup helpers – Janet Faulkner, Dianne Upton & Dawn Simons thank you for stepping up and joining the team and for all your amazing help each week.

To Chelsea Bevan for your support and encouragement and allowing me to take on the planning of activities for Playgroup and other organisational things.

To Pastor Rob for his constant support, advice, encouragement and prayers.

To the Lifeway congregation for your prayers and support and for helping at events.

When I began as Community Engagement Worker at the beginning of 2018, I didn’t know that my plans would change and that I’d be pregnant and ending my term earlier than expected. But God knew and He has other plans for me at present so I finish this role for now. But I hope and pray that Lifeway will still be a Community minded Church and that we will continue to reach out to those around us who don’t know Jesus.

LITTLE LAMBS PLAYGROUP – CHELSEA BEVAN

Playgroup this year has been another extremely busy and wonderful year, full of new faces and working at full capacity. Families are walking through our doors each week, and I am greatly encouraged by the way God has provided this amazing opportunity to sow seeds and to allow this important ministry to continue to grow each year. I am very blessed to be in this leadership role and I take this very seriously. We have been able to take on so many families from inquiries, word of mouth and names passed onto me from Teapot.

We have been very blessed to have Tash Gellert come along and take on the role of a playgroup leader this year. We were able to start a brand new group in term 2 on a Tuesday morning. This group filled up in days. This group is led by Tash with the wonderful helpers of Janet Faulkner, Dianne Upton and Dawn Simons. Tuesday group currently has 25 families, with 36 children.

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Wednesday 10am session:Leaders: Chelsea Bevan, Lynda Clark, Vanessa Jackson and Tash Gellert. Wednesday group has been our biggest group, currently with 26 families and 40 children. We have had 6 new babies born, 2 more to come!

Thursday 10am Session: Leaders: Janet Faulkner, Jane Killey and Deb Rockett. Thursday group currently has 23 families with 35 children.

The children range in age from birth to 5. We have had a huge baby boom again this year and it is exciting to see so many new babies! We have had so many new families join us so it has been a great time (and sometimes a challenge) to develop those friendships and make sure we are an inclusive group. This year we have had a quite a few special incursions. We have had a visit from Millie the Librarian and a craft morning from Urban Upcyle. We held a Teddy Bears Picnic, dressed up for Book week and had a fun footy day for end of term 3 celebration.

Term 4 we have had Special Friends/Grandparents Day, and Grubby Gumboots Mobile Farm visit all 3 groups and it was so lovely to see the children holding, patting and having a close up experience with the baby animals. A huge highlight this year though was our Father’s Day Playgroup Session held on a Saturday afternoon. We had a huge response, with 25 dads coming along with their children. They enjoyed a wonderful afternoon tea and got a little insight into the life of playgroup! I had such positive feedback after the event which is always so encouraging.

A big thanks to Tash who has twice a term presented to the kids and families a bible story, craft and songs relating to a bible theme – this has been well received by families and the children have really enjoyed the crafts. Well done Tash as it’s very hard to hold a captive audience with toddlers but you have persevered and it has been a blessing.

Each term most groups have a mums’ dinner out – these are always a great night full of great laughter, food and drinks. We have been to Jai Thai, Millars, and The Little River Pub and this term I am hosting a coffee and desert night!

One of my key goals in developing a Christian playgroup mantra is to show love in a practical way and to be generous. Term 3 I asked each playgroup leader

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and group to consider us as a playgroup collecting supplies (new) to give to “Geelong Mums” who provide clothes, toys, toiletries and baby accessories for families in Geelong who are going through really tough situations – many of these are women fleeing from domestic violence and extreme poverty. I was so blown away with the response, and every group just went above and beyond and I took 3 massive car loads of supplies to Geelong Mums who were so appreciative.

Playgroup is a team effort and the leaders we have are amazing! I am so encouraged by them, their commitment to serve so faithfully each week and the time they sacrifice to make this ministry work! We are God’s hands and feet, and this is especially evident in playgroup! It’s a very busy morning!

Keep playgroup in your prayers – this ministry is growing so much every year and we will be needing a few more leaders for 2019 – I ask you to carefully and sincerely pray if this is an area you feel you could serve in. Please come and see me – we can’t do this without our church family serving and helping. I know God will send more people to serve in this ministry. I want to wish Tash (and Shane!) all the best with the birth of their first child and while we will miss Tash for the next little while, we know she will be back and ready to go again when the time is right! Thanks so much Tash for all your love, support, practical help and encouragement you give to me in this role and as a friend.

On a personal note, I want to thank all my amazing leaders. Thank you so much to Lynda, Janet, Jane, Deb, Vanessa J, Di, Dawn and Tash. You are all incredible! My life is crazy busy with working 3 days, plus my own family life so I am so very thankful that I can rely on their commitment and dedication. I look forward to serving again in this role in 2019.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28.“Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven” Matthew 5:16

Blessings, Chelsea Bevan (Coordinator)

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WORSHIP MINISTRY – CHRIS WHITWORTH

As 2018 draws toward an end, I count myself blessed for another great year of leading our worship team.

Alongside faithful worship leaders Andy and Leah and along with Rob O and team behind the sound desk, we have been greatly supported by a wonderful worship team who serves week in and week out who together learns new songs and rehearses early from 8:30 each Sunday to help provide an atmosphere where people can enter into God’s presence and the name of Jesus can be glorified.

We have also had some wonderful moments during a monthly “team meeting” nights where we have prayed over and supported one another. I want to thank my dear friend Jianni Pattiradjawane, who has come alongside me this year to help support me in this role as a friend and mentor. He has invited me on a number of occasions to his congregation at CityLife Church Knox to pass on guidance on how they run as a worship team and a ministry and to help develop me as a leader. The team made me feel so welcome there.

Thank you to my amazing worship team family who help me do what God calls me to do in worship at lifeway and makes leading the one bit easier.

Pastor Rob reminds me that “All are called to serve, but not all are called to lead”. This has reminded me of the importance and responsibility that come with the mantle of leadership and it’s not one I take lightly. Thank you to Pastor Rob, the Elders and my church partnership family for entrusting me with this role for another year.

Here’s to a greater 2019  

PROPERTY – COLIN LE SUEUR

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This year property has had mainly maintenance carried out. With the Car Park having much needed repairs, with the removal of the old gravel and new materials put down in its place. Work was carried out over a four-week period.

We have also repainted the Playground Equipment and the interior of the Church with the addition of new chairs and continuing upgrade of the Multi Media output to Little Lambs area and before too long into the Hall also.

We have also attended to the cleaning of storm water pits in the Car Park area and have repaired Pit Grates.

The fences need constant repairs in part due to vandalism and partly to old age.

We continue to struggle to keep the grounds at a respectable level with so few attending Working Bees.

A big Thank You to ALL those who have attended the Working Bees in this past year.

P.S. We need your help.

MISSIONS – COLIN LE SUEUR

Over the year Pipeline Ministries meeting have been attended. There has been two calls for people interested in going the Philippines on an outreach/working program but due to no response these were cancelled. There was also adverts placed on 96.3 to try and gain interest from other parties.

On a personal note I did attend a call from Samaritans' Purse for a month in Dominica, Caribbean Islands after the hurricanes went through in September last year. A very rewarding experience, I thoroughly recommend people either support or put their name forward to join.

At the last Pipeline meeting there is a possibility that I will go to the Philippines for a 2 to 3-month period (starting mid-February) to teach those interested as much as I can about the building industry. If you have any time available during this time you are most welcome to come over to help.

LITTLE LAMBS CRECHE – JANET FAULKNER

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Thank you to all Leaders and helpers for their amazing love and care for our crèche children as well as bringing fruit each week, coming early to set up and staying back to clean up. It has been such a blessing to be able to attend services regularly because of all those who give of their time to serve in crèche.

God has provided us with a great space for crèche and playgroup with lots of great indoor toys and outdoor equipment. We currently have 15 lifeway children attending from ages 1 to 5 years with 1 main leader and 2 helpers on each week. Each of our leaders and helpers have a current working with children’s check, have read the child safe policy and code of conduct and filled out a ministry application form.

It was wonderful to see so many visitors come to the ‘who will you bring?’ service. We had 21 children attend creche. A huge thank you again to Jane Killey, Lyn Ross, Cathy Instrell, Bek Atherton, Lyndal McDowall, Danijela Vasilevski and Bianca Jennings who were our creche leaders for the morning.

We now have a TV in our creche/playgroup room so that we can hear what is happening in the service. Thank you so much to Rob Oldfield who has set this up for us.

We have 2 children starting school and lifeway kids next year.

Janet Faulkner

SOCIAL MEDIA – MARTIN RENNHACKKAMP

Most of 2018 was “business as usual” for the social media ministry at Lifeway. Even though I was away for 2 months, Pastor Rob Chaney and Chris Whitworth assisted and we kept the social media ministry running during that time as well.

Facebook

We have been posting a teaser, a sermon ready post and a devotion for most services throughout the year. From time to time we posted a special song or a

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special announcement. Over Christmas we post more songs and messages as it suits the season.

We currently have 137 regular followers. Over the past 28 days, we’ve had 92 post engagements, which resulted in 150 people reached.

Web site

During the past two months, Pastor Rob Chaney and Chris Whitworth moved the Lifeway website to a new platform (WIX). This platform is more cost-effective and easier to manage content with. During the move, they also updated the look and feel of the website to a more contemporary style.

Currently we have the following sermon series on the new website:

Our values Open doors Vital signs Beautiful mess Jonah

Any new sermon is kept on the Sermons page for a week. Sermons that are part of a series are then archived to a particular page for that series, together with its video and other promotional material.

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There are also great informative pages on the website, as well as interactive pages for prayer requests and a contact page which works like the connect cards we have in church.

Request

We ask for your on-going and prayerful support of this young ministry. Please like our Facebook page, in order to receive the notifications and visit our website for any information you need. Please keep us in your prayers as we reach out to members of our church and our wider community.

ADMINISTRATION – SHANE GELLERT

It has again been such a pleasure to serve as Office Administrator of Lifeway in 2018. What a blessing to be able to help keep Lifeway running so that God’s name may be proclaimed in this community.

One of the highlights was to help organise the church camp, which was held on May 4-6. This was a fun, relaxing time at Camp Wilkin in Anglesea, and was a great time of getting to know others better.

I have been meeting monthly with the business operations group (with Rob Chaney and Dean Wilkie) and I thank them for all of their help. Although we have been without a business administrator this year, we have still been able to get things done. A special thanks to Dean for his hard and professional work as finance administrator.

The office hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings 9-12, and Wednesday afternoons 2-5. Please come in and see me if you have anything I can help you with. I’m also happy to talk to you after the service on Sundays.

LIFEWAY KIDZ – MARK CONSTANTINE

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Hello everyone – my name is Mark Constantine, the leader of Lifeway Kidz. I would like to thank Matt, Dean, Declan, Megan and Vanessa for their support and help this year.

Foundational, consistency, persistency is my moto. Empowering our children with the PROMISES OF GOD. Making sure they know that they are just as valued as us adults.

Please keep us in your prayers and if you have a calling to help in Lifeway Kidz please see Pastor Rob. He will guide you in the right direction.

Knowing you’re are a child of God no matter what age you are is key to a great life. It does something to us that’s unexplainable. If Lifeway Kidz can help bring that revelation to the children, their lives and ours will be better for it.

Thanks for the honour of leading Lifeway Kidz for another year. Let’s not be better or worse next year – let’s just be consistent.

LITTLE TEAPOT CAFÉ AND PLAY – SARAH CHANEY

So much has happened this second year of Little Teapot. At the Thanksgiving and Fundraising dinner in November 2017 we dreamed about moving from surviving to thriving in the next season. Well, with sincere thanks for your generous support, we are definitely beginning to thrive as a charity! It feels like our roots have been getting stronger in this last year enabling us to have a more secure foundation to help, love and serve the community!

Here are the highlights from the last year!

1. Increased sense of a ‘Home Away From Home’ for many. We have 65-70 sales each day at Little Teapot which means very approximately 140 people (min) are coming through the doors each day (including children), resulting in tens of thousands of people visiting Little Teapot each year. What we love the most however is the sense of home they feel when they come. Verity described it as ‘a big beautiful envelope of love and loveliness’ and Kat called Little Teapot ‘Our new home away from home’. From people struggling with children with special needs, to those who are sleep deprived or who just

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want a couple of minutes to drink a coffee and rest to those needing a hug Little Teapot is providing a second home and community for many families in Lara and beyond. Our group of regulars has grown deeper and broader in the last year.

2. New to the Community & Suspended Coffees. With thanks to the Little Teapot families we have given out a further 322 suspended coffee & cake vouchers to mums doing it tough or new mums in the area this year. In this last year we’ve also started running our New to the Community free morning tea sessions more effectively and are now finding that they are turning into a Teapot mums group after, which is incredible. We also enjoy having representatives from local Lara organisations that help families coming along.

3. Volunteer impact growing. We continue to be amazed at the impact volunteering is having on helping so many struggling with different challenges. Each volunteer finds an accepting and safe community at Little Teapot. We currently have approximately 50 generous staff and volunteers at any given time.

4. The Thanksgiving & Fundraising dinner last year. It was a great community building event. Together just over 100+ of us raised $12.2K which was so very helpful. This dinner also helped initiate the generous donation of better air conditioning at the cafe from the Lara District Community Bank and Terry & Yolande Cleary at Ray White in Lara, as well as the donation of wonderful outside play equipment from St. Anthony’s playgroup.

5. Review Conducted. A consultant and generous advisor to the board, Derek Bradshaw, conducted a review after the fundraiser which significantly helped improve our organisational structure, clarify the board’s activities and overall helped us work towards being more sustainable for the long term.

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6. We are more financially stable. We have seen an improvement in our ability to cover our costs. We are currently breaking even most months and at times are slightly profitable meaning we are able to start repaying our $20k loan.

7. Lara District Community Bank came on board as a Major Sponsor and donated an incredible grant of $13k which enabled us to install artificial lawn in all grassed areas at the cafe! All the families love the new grass! It has been so beneficial to us and the community in lots of ways! We had a wonderful and fun garden party with the community to celebrate.

8. Partnership with Lifeway Christian Church has strengthened. We’ve seen multiple Little Teapot families be referred to one of the three Little Lambs playgroups run by the church. We also loved sharing the love of the Easter story as Little Teapot families went to the holiday program run by the church then came across for an Easter party at the cafe after. A number of our volunteers and Little Teapot families have also come along to church services and other events. We love seeing those in the Little Teapot community find even more connections, support and hope this way. Currently (as at Nov 18) 21 or our 51 active staff/vol are part of the Lifeway Christian church community. We are so truly grateful for the support the church community gives Little Teapot Cafe & Play.

9. Little Things coffee & welcoming Jianni onto the board. We love our coffee beans now supplied to us by Little Things coffee, a social enterprise that gives all its profits to World Vision. Jianni Pattiradjawane who runs Little Things coffee and has a career of business development in the coffee industry, is about to join the board of Little Teapot.

10.High Teas. We hosted two very lovely High Teas for families and women on Mothers Day this year. We are looking at how we can develop our High Tea options in the future through special events and children’s parties!

11.Our new manager Cindy. In June of this year, after a 4 month search, Cindy Hirst joined us as our Cafe Manager, a result of the review. Chez Anderson

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and Sarah Chaney had been sharing the day to day operational management role previously. Cindy has settled in so well. We are very pleased she has come to lead our team of incredible staff & volunteers.

12.Prayer @ Teapot. A few from our Little Teapot community or from Lifeway Christian Church have a small gathering once a month to pray for all the Little Teapot families and for the precious anonymous prayer requests they write down and put into the ‘Prayer Teapot’ at Little Teapot. We also continue to pray as a team every morning for each and every person coming into the cafe each day that they’d know how loved they are.

As we look back on the last year we are amazed! We are grateful to our God who we believe inspired this dream of Little Teapot, a place where everyone is loved and accepted for who they are. We are grateful to be part of a mission partnership with the church community at Lifeway! We are also so grateful to every staff member and volunteer that contributes so much! A special thank you to Chris Whitworth, Tash Gellert, Carol Bailey and Sarah Constantine who are part of our key leadership team this year at Little Teapot, who all call Lifeway home as well as John Harper, Rhonda Douglas and Jianni Pattiradjawane who are members of our Little Teapot board. Although all the roles are fun and rewarding at Little Teapot there is also a lot of hard work and commitment that goes in!

We would also like to say a very special thank you to Chez Anderson who gave so much to help pioneer Little Teapot in our first 2 years. Although Chez is stepping down from one role we’ll still get to enjoy her fun and loving presence as she volunteers with us. We also want to thank John Pelchen our Board Chairman who after 3 years is stepping down from the board. We are so grateful to John for seeing the vision of Little Teapot in the early days, thank you so much for your wisdom and generosity over the last 3 years.

With love from Sarah Chaney on behalf of the board of Little Teapot Cafe & Play

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