Summit is the peak annual gathering of CCVT churches, agencies, and members to be inspired and trained, to participate in the AGM, and to connect with each other. It is held in May each year, in different locations, and attendance is encouraged by all leaders in our churches and agencies.
‘Future Now’ Summit 2024
The ‘Future Now’ CCVT Summit will be held at Berwick Church of Christ on May 22-23 2024.
With encouraging signs of local growth, leadership development, and fresh vision, congregations across Victoria and Tasmania are enthusiastically embracing change. Remaining at the cutting edge of optimised impact, though, needs ongoing courage and initiative as we continue to lead the way.
We need not fear what tomorrow brings, for the Lord is with us (Isaiah 41:10), and it is he who transforms us with the renewing of minds equipped to discern the will of God (Romans 12:2). Now is the time and the season to outwork it. Now is the time to step boldly into a favoured and fruitful future.
We trust that you enjoy a fabulous program that will stimulate ideas and innovation to equip you to multiply your effectiveness.
May 2024 be our best year yet, a year in which we look ahead together to how God is leading us into tomorrow while also living in his favour today. Let’s embrace our “Future Now!”
Summit Speakers
Dave Ferguson is the lead pastor of Community Christian Church, a multi-expression missional community that is passionate about “helping people find their way back to God.” Community has grown from a few college friends to reaching thousands of people in Chicagoland and around the world. Dave also provides visionary leadership for the international church-planting movement New Thing and is the CEO of the Exponential conference on church planting which operates internationally, including in Australia. He is an award-winning author of books that include The Big Idea, Exponential, On The Verge, Finding Your Way Back To God, Starting Over, Hero Maker and most recently B.L.E.S.S. 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbour and Change the World.
Dr. Ruth Powell is Director of NCLS Research (since 2007), which focuses on church vitality and community spirituality and wellbeing. She also holds a position as Associate Professor and Research Fellow at the Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre at Charles Sturt University, and is an Honorary Professor at Alphacrucis College. Ruth is a member of the: International Society for the Sociology of Religion; Society for the Scientific Study of Religion; Religious Research Association; Australian Association of Mission Studies; and Australian Association for the Study of Religion. She serves as editor for Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion and has been a member of the Distinguished Book Awards Committee, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and the chair of the 2021 Religious Research Association Awards Committee.
Summit Program
Wednesday May 22:
8.30am Registration
9.30am-4pm Summit Day 1
4pm-5.30pm CCVT Inc AGM
5.30pm-7pm Summit Dinner
7pm-9pm Celebration Event: Ordinations, Affiliations, Inspiration
Thursday May 23:
8.30am Registration
9.30am-4pm Summit Day 2
Electives
BLESS Evangelism with Dave Ferguson
5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbour & Change The World
When you’ve been transformed by God’s love, you can’t help but want others to experience the same grace and freedom. But how do you share it without scaring them away or offending them? For most Christians, “evangelism” is an intimidating word that suggests handing out tracts to strangers or doing other awkward things. But what if there was a more relational and authentic way to share your faith with your friends, neighbours, and coworkers Jesus’ way was to be a blessing to people. By consistently using the same BLESS practices that Jesus did you can bring love and grace not just to individual lives but your entire neighbourhood and community – one person at a time.
Recruiting, Developing, and Mobilizing Leaders and Volunteers! with Sue Ferguson
In this workshop Sue will share some simple tried and true practices that Jesus modelled that she has learned and used in over 30 years of ministry! These practices are effective ways of inviting people into service and difference-making Kingdom work, as well as empowering and equipping them to do so! And these practices work in every ministry area – arts, children’s ministry, first impressions, small groups, and more!
Developing a Discipling Culture with Anna Nyhuis & Ben Kumar
The root cause of many of the challenges we face in our ministries are a lack of discipleship. This will be a guided workshop to draw on the wisdom of the people in the room, the successes and the failures, regarding developing an effective discipling culture.
The Kaleidoscope of Culture with Kristie Misdom
Cultural differences are not only based around ethnicity, language, or the emblem on our passport. We all have different “cultural” backgrounds. Sporting culture, academic culture, food culture, generational culture – all impact the way we work, communicate, and relate to each other.
In this elective we will explore the Kaleidoscope of Culture. What is in front of us may not change, but our perspective can!Using eight dimensions of culture, as developed by Erin Meyers in The Culture Map (2014), we will explore frameworks that allow us to ‘refocus’ our perspective on cross-cultural communication and work interactions.
Food for Thought with Stephanie Woollard
How to “engage” your business people to grow your church
Recruiting, empowering, and equipping business people in the marketplace to pursue the great commission.