PLT Parish Update July 2024
PLT Parish Update July 2024 – Ann O’Brien
Throughout the month of July, other than trying to stay warm & well, the PLT have focused on a number of key topics including but not limited to:
- Raising Fathers & menAlive, two key events we will be hosting in our parish for men in our community;
- preparation & planning for our third Leadership Summit, to be held on Thursday 8th August;
- preparation & planning for our next Alpha, to commence 25th September; and
- continued PLT member support to our ministry coordinators.
Additionally, in order to become better leaders ourselves & to help us raise up new leaders aligned to missionary renewal we attended our monthly coaching session with our international coach for missionary renewal Ron Huntley & for July reflected on where we’re at as leaders & as a parish in our journey of missionary renewal.
Raising Fathers & menAlive – Final preparations & promotion activities have been a key focus for the PLT. These are two very
important events our parish will be hosting to support, grow & nurture men, both within our parish & the wider community.
Raising Fathers is a one-night program run by menAlive & is renowned world-wide for powerfully impacting the lives of entire families. This is a free event & will be held Tuesday 20th August from 7.30 to 9.00pm in the CRC McCormack building. For more information or to book visit https://www.trybooking.com/CSUBB
menAlive is a two-day retreat to bring men together to renew their faith in God and to encourage them to become an active force of renewal in the church. This is a paid event ($45 pp) to be held on Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th October in the CRC Cafeteria. A brief description of the program is outlined below:
- Saturday 5th – 8.00am to 9.00pm – Guest speakers, workshops, journal, morning & afternoon tea, lunch & BBQ dinner.
- Sunday 6th – 8.30am to 1.30pm – morning tea & lunch. Session ends with all participants attending the 12.30pm Mass.
This event is designed to provide a more immersive experience for men to delve deeper into their relationship with God. For more information or to book visit https://www.trybooking.com/CTXJR
Leadership Summit #3 – Our next Leadership Summit will be held on Thursday 8th August & will be attended by our ministry coordinators along with various ministry members that have attended our previous summits. The purpose of the summits is to align & grow our current leadership (ministry coordinators) & participating ministry members to a culture of missionary renewal using the 5 systems of a missional culture – worship, evangelization, fellowship, discipleship & service.
Our next summit will ask our participants to reflect on the activities of the first two summits, the steps they have taken & evaluate what is/isn’t working well & what support they might need to continue to align the culture of their ministries to missionary renewal.
Next Alpha – commencing 25th September – The PLT also commenced planning for our next Alpha, our key program for evangelization. Having completed our first Alpha for 2024 on 12th June we reflected on the broad impact this program has had on our participants & the parish as a whole, that being the fruit it produces in terms of spiritual growth & formation as well as discipleship & service. We will therefore shortly announce an Alpha Reunion to encourage participants to reflect on their own experiences & foster a culture of invitation within our community that enable us to invite others to an encounter with Christ through Alpha.
PLT Support to Ministry Coordinators
This is a topic regularly discussed at our weekly PLT meetings. The importance for the PLT to continue to support our ministry coordinators in their every endeavor & aligning their efforts to missionary renewal is a constant focus for the PLT. With 28 ministries in our parish & over 130 active volunteers, it would be impossible for Father Richard alone to attend to the needs, growth & development of each of these ministries. It is for this reason, at the advice of our international coach for missionary renewal Ron Huntley, that the PLT are assigned ministries as a key contact & means of support to assist with varying needs & to grow their ministries aligned to missionary renewal.
Coaching with Ron Huntley
Finally, we wanted to share with you all some key points in relation to the PLT’s ongoing coaching with Ron Huntley. Our session during July was one that surfaced mixed emotions within the PLT. Ron asked us to reflect on where we are in terms of ourselves as leaders & as a parish community in our missionary renewal journey & efforts. He asked us to think about what we thought was working well & not so well so for full transparency we would like to share with you a summary of the outcome of this activity:
WORKNG WELL
PLT – work well together, supportive, encouraging, high level of trust. Maturing & uniting. Lift each other up. Space to express vulnerabilities. Despite ongoing challenges (resources & other) still passionate about our mission. Increased productivity, progress, discussion, love & support.
Leadership Summits – progress made with ministry coordinators. Better understanding of 5 systems of MR. PLT support to ministries very productive. Spirit in the community – alive & flourishing.
Alpha – people encountering Christ & moving toward ministry & discipleship.
Growth in sense of community. More people staying after mass for community & fellowship. May be due to increase in time b/w masses. Encouraging.
NOT WORKING WELL
Resources – time, energy, money & people.
Discipleship – difficult to grow, not at full potential.
Next generation of leaders – mobilising new leaders based on strengths.
Alpha – new leaders. New/second Alpha team.
Formation – growth, low numbers. Same people who attend.
Lower number of men (vs women) serving in ministry.
As a PLT we recognize that in order to grow as leaders, we must be open & honest in regularly evaluating our efforts & gaps, both as individuals & as a team if we are to grow, solve problems & be empowered to take the necessary steps to produce fruit that will last for generations to come.
Frankly, parts of our reflection were challenging, particularly around the various resource challenges we face as a PLT & as a parish. Through scripture & prayer however we can all be reminded that Jesus takes what little we have & multiplies it in order to grow His Kingdom, just as can be recalled in the Gospel of Matthew (14:13-21), in the feeding of the 5,000. Ron was also encouraged, despite our challenges, at the level of passion & commitment of the PLT, our ministry coordinators & our parishioners in recognizing & continuing to search for solutions that will enable us to continue to grow as a warm, welcoming & missional parish community.
Finally, as we endure the final month of winter, the PLT acknowledges the enormous privilege & responsibility to each of you & the parish community & are devoutly committed to continuing to discern God’s will for our parish & act accordingly.
God bless & Warmest Regards,
Ann O’Brien (on behalf of the PLT)
Evangelisation Coordinator