Specialist advisors
Jonathan Sargeant
Director of Lay Education, St Francis College
“I care about faith formation, belonging, visioning, faith sharing and inclusion because they are central for churches as they seek to live and breathe Jesus.”
Qualifications and experience: YEA Dip, BTh, MMin, Dip Teach (prim), plus 35 years of ministry experience.
- Defining faith formation
- How faith grows
- What is faith and how can you tell if its growing
- Methods of faith formation
- Exploring the Bible
- Introducing the Prophets
- Exploring the Gospels
- Praying in Anglican ways
- Introduction to thinking theologically
- How to do theological reflection
- Exploring faith and popular culture
- Using film and TV to grow faith
- Understanding St Paul
- Opening the circle to newcomers (and new ideas)
- Why small groups matter
- Training small group leaders
- How growing your faith grows the whole church
- Developing and defining a parish vision
- Putting the parish vision into practice
- What is faith and how can you tell if it’s growing?
- Sharing faith without turning people off
- Faith sharing for shy people
- Talking about faith ideas peacefully
- Being more inclusive
- Auditing your parish for inclusion
- Opening the circle to newcomers (and new ideas)
- Training small group leaders to be inclusive
Bowen Miller
Family Support Minister, Robina Anglican Church
“I believe engagement and community outreach are core aspects of the Church, and are central to faith development and to the church’s role in serving the wider community.”
Qualifications and experience: Dip. Youth and Community Work, Adv Dip. Family and General Counselling.
- Government-funded service delivery
- Aligning service delivery to funding outcomes and objectives
- Building community partnerships
- Counselling
- Reporting, creating reports etc
- Onboarding volunteers in policies and procedures e.g. safe ministry
- Promoting missional opportunities to both the wider community and within the church.
- Database changeover
- Database implementation and use
- Church IT systems
- Onboarding volunteers to missional opportunities
- Counselling
Mary-Anne Rulfs
Associate Priest – Community Ministry, Robina Anglican Church
“In my experience, church and school communities are meaningful for people when they feel they belong. A sense of belonging emerges when our story has a place and value, we feel at home and we have opportunities to share in Christ’s mission alongside others.”
Qualifications and experience: Master of Theology (Chaplaincy Studies) with a focus on connections between faith, belonging and community for people of different generations; 40 years of ministry experience (lay and ordained).
- Reflecting Jesus’ pattern of connection through love
- Actively offering opportunities for participation and serving
- Prioritising a culture of warm hospitality and care
- Welcoming and connecting newcomers
- Appreciating and encouraging each person’s gifts
- Hearing and valuing others’ stories
- Fostering language that celebrates inclusion
- Respecting all ages and stages of life and faith
- Fostering a ‘wide-angles’ vision of the community
Strengthening the community’s shared identity and mission
Facilitating accessible communication for the whole community
Inviting people on the fringes to participate in their areas of interest
Providing opportunities for sharing stories and deepening friendships
Strengthening a culture of engagement through serving
Ensuring physical environment is welcoming
Jackson King
Director of Music, Digital and Youth Ministry Robina Anglican Church
“I believe that being able to effectively connect and communicate with our community plays a vital role in establishing a comforting and welcoming space for all people to encounter God.”
Qualifications and experience:
No formal qualifications but willing to give everything a go!
3 years ministry experience with specialisation in music and technology.
- Modern worship arrangements
- Establishing connections through music
- Song & Service structures
- Consolidating and Coordinating of musicians and music resources
- Service team management
- Church Database management & creation
- Church IT systems
- Audio & Visual technology
- Website creation and management
- Mass communication strategy
Bettrys Lowe
Children and Family's Minister, St Bart's Toowoomba
“I am passionate about finding creative ways to help children engage with the Bible and to deepen their understanding about Jesus Christ.”
Qualifications and experience: B Ed (prim), Grad Dip RE, MA Ed Lead.
Bettrys has almost 30 years of experience in Children’s Ministry and almost a decade of classroom experience as a teacher, working in various schools in South-East Queensland and also the UK. Bettrys currently works full-time as the Children and Families Minister at St Bart’s Anglican Church, Toowoomba.
- Locally written and developed children’s ministry curriculum related to Sermon Series
- Bible based children’s ministry programming
- Mid-week children’s ministry programming (including Kids Club and mainly music)
- Outreach programs for children and families
- Family discipleship
- Workshops to help resource parents/grandparents/carers on discipling their
children - Advice on how to pray with children (age appropriate ideas)
- How to nurture the whole family on a Sunday (why Early Childhood ministry is vital)
- How to build teams of volunteers
- Processes for onboarding and nurturing children and youth who serve in children’s ministry
- Creating a serving culture
- Communicating well with your team
- Identifying and using people’s God-given gifts
- Creative children’s ministry
- Using digital and online platforms to support and resource families
- Sharing digital resources (including kid’s talks, curriculum, ebooks, other)
- Maintaining and growing children’s ministry post-covid
- Digital check-in processes for children’s ministry
- Supporting children with special needs
- Behaviour management
- Including children with EALD
- Using language cards to support children in your program