Recently, Baptist Churches on the Central Coast produced a mini documentary about the history of the Baptist Movement in their region. The Regional Team wanted to share this amazing story with the churches in the region, so planned an evening to screen the documentary.
“Theres been really good networking amongst the pastors, but we wanted to take it to the next level where the churches feel that level of connection with each other” explains Joel Small, Senior Pastor of Erina Community Baptist Church and member of the Regional Team, “not all regions have all churches in driving distance. We’re fortunate that we can come together as one Movement on the Central Coast.”
It was important to the Regional Team that the night created space for fellowship, collaboration, and for people to respond to what they had seen and heard. Hosted at Narara Valley Baptist Church on 14 September, the evening begun with dinner, then a screening the film, leading into worship, and followed by an opportunity to pray and engage.
The event was a collaboration from Baptist churches across the Central Coast. Narara Valley’s hospitality team catered dinner for the over 400 people who attended. Steve and Bec Deal from Bloom Co. led the music, along with musicians from other churches in the region. Rachel Russell, the Children’s and Families Pastor at Narara Valley, and some of the Emerging Leaders from Erina Community Baptist Church, led an intentional primary aged kids’ program with age-appropriate prayer stations.
“The evening was absolutely fantastic in terms of the engagement from the churches,” reflects Joel, “there are twelve Baptist churches on the Central Coast and the majority were involved and engaged. There was a lovely blend of the generations and different demographics. We had to cap registrations as they exceeded 400, which was the capacity of the building.”
The prayer time was split into three “movements” that followed the trajectory of the video. They started with thanking God for what he had done in the past, then they moved into a time of prayer for what God is doing in the present, and ending with prayer focused on partnering with God for the future. Elissa Day, the Regional Team Prayer Coordinator, planned and led that time. Stations including sticking prayers on the wall, engaging with a map of the region, and filling a jar with responses of what people thought God was calling them, their church, or the region into.
The Regional Team took the opportunity to share some of the initiatives occurring across the region. Phil Blair, Senior Minister of Green Point Baptist Church and Regional Minister highlighted some new church planting initiatives and spoke about church health. Louise Eccleston highlighted the Emerging Leaders program and invited all emerging leaders and young adults in the room to stand and prayed collectively for them as the future of the Movement in the region. Joel led a time of communion.
“Often times when we think about the Body of Christ we think very locally in terms of our church and how the members of the local church make up the Body,” explains Joel “but when you collaborate as a region your church is just one part of the Body, not the whole Body itself. There’s such value in gathering in a broader arrangement, as a wider and fuller expression of the Body of Christ.”
“We’re not in competition,” explains Joel, “we celebrate each other’s successes. There’s such trust between the pastors on the Coast, and we hope that through events like that, that will flow into the culture of the churches as well.”
“The spirit of the night was wonderful,” reflects Joel, “it was just exciting to be in a room of different churches on the coast coming together in unity. It felt like we just wanted to keep going. When Phil gave a concluding blessing and asked if people wanted to do this regularly there was overwhelming support.”
Going forward, it is clear to the regional team that this could become a regular event, with thoughts already turning to finding a bigger venue for 2026. “I’m really excited to see what will come of this,” says Joel, “I feel like it’s going to have lots of positive roll-on effects.”
