PASTORS

The Awakening West movement is based firmly on the basis of the pastors of a city coming together in unity, to provide mutual support and accountability, to encourage each other in their ministry, and to equip and empower the members in their congregations to work together in the common mission of demonstrating the presence of the Kingdom of Christ in our communities.

For pastors to work together they need to agree on certain basic principles and purposes. For example, pastors in Hobsons Bay, who have been praying and working together for about two years now, have found their associating together such a blessing that they have agreed to enter into covenant with each other. The present draft of this covenant is as follows:

Draft "Covenant" for use by the Pastors Network of Hobsons Bay

Our unity stands upon the following principle's :-

1. We accept the Nicene & Apostle's Creed as a simple expression of our beliefs
2. We accept that there is only one Church in the City but many congregations
3. We accept that together we pastor the City as well as our local congregations
4. We accept that we are accountable to each other in areas of integrity and ethics

Our covenant is that we agree to the following:-

1. To pray for other pastors and churches by name
2. To seek to discover "the heart" of other pastors
3. To bless other pastors and churches
4. To work together to bless the community
5. To work together to build the Body of Christ in the City
6. To pray together for our community
7. To share resources and programmes
8. To seek opportunities for joint ventures
9. To respect each local congregation in the City
10. To encourage individuals in local congregations to be involved in combined church initiatives
11. To ensure that any movement between local congregations is with the blessing of the local pastor
12. Not to accept criticism of other pastors or churches
13. To do whatever we can to restore broken relationships
14. Not to allow differences to divide the Body
15. Reject competition between churches
16. Don't give up trying to build links with other pastors

We encourage all pastors to involve themselves with the Melbourne Pastors Network, whose aims are similar to ours but on the scale of the whole City of Melbourne. Many pastors attend the events of this network which fosters prayer by pastors for our city. We have had numerous stimulating Consultations with world leaders in pastoral ministry and city reaching, but for many pastors the highlight is the annual Pastors Prayer Summit. Are you going to the Summit this year from Monday 12th to Thursday 15th August 2002, at the CYC Conference Centre, COWES, Phillip Island? Hobsons Bay pastors are! Registration forms are available HERE.

The aim of this section of the website is to provide easy means of communication between pastors, so that they can know what is happening in the wider church, to tell them of opportunities for fellowship, discussion and training with other pastors, and to provide resources for use in their work as leaders of Christ's flock.

Some of the facilities we are planning include a pastors online discussion forum, alerts of useful or stimulating articles on the Web, directories of other websites worth a visit, news of coming events in the body of Christ, and a place for pastors to publish their own insights.

We hope you will visit these pages regularly as the resources are developed, and we welcome your feedback about what is provided and what you would like to see.

Move on now to read more about other groups involved in Awakening West, beginning with the Intercessors ....

Now read about the role of Intercessors

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