Late last year, I was invited by our Mission Centre President, Meredith Carr, to attend a staff gathering at Tiona, scheduled for February 2026. Meredith’s intent for this particular gathering was to provide an opportunity for the team to ‘fill their cups’. She had observed early in her arrival to Australia that the staff had been greatly impacted by the uncertainty they had been working in for the past 3 years and felt the need to address it. Her desire was to provide pastoral ministry and the opportunity for them to reconnect with each other in deep sharing, and focus on how they could ‘rejoin their role to their souls’. This became the theme that would guide our exploration for the week.
I said ‘yes’ to the invitation, sensing I could draw on years of study and personal growth, my career as a psychotherapist and counsellor, and that of a minister, to pull together a program that would ‘meet the brief’ so to speak.
Our days started with coffee, conversation and a willingness to go deep quickly. We explored how our brains get wired up in the early years of life, how we form the beliefs that ultimately underpin the foundation of our behaviours, and how our personality forms as a result. There were moments of joy and lots of laughter as each one shared about their unique personality traits and patterns, recognizing the differences between each but also the similarities, the frailties and the strengths when at our best and our worst. Awareness was raised around how easy it is to get caught by the repetitious nature of our patterns, potentially leading to burn out, stress, anxiety and false beliefs about ourselves, and the impact this has on how we live out our ministry. We upheld the importance of self-awareness; the practice of ‘noticing’ and ‘choosing’ versus the default settings we humans are often governed by. We tended to our inner selves through meditation, journalling, prayer, worship and sacrament, and reconnected with each other through song, laughter, confession and affirmation. Surrounded by, yet immersed in nature, we rejoined our souls to our callings, to each other, and our common goals.
The church across Australia has certainly been in a season of ‘winter’, as we’ve navigated the uncertainties around Mission Centre leadership and how the church will express its Mission into the future. It has been, and continues to be, a difficult road to travel for all those who choose discipleship. As I shared with our staff this past week, I’ve been reminded that we walk this road together as members, volunteer ministers and staff. No one more or less valuable than another; each one called to bring their own uniqueness. But before any role we might play in the life of the church, we are first and foremost, people. Each one worthy of acceptance, patience, grace. Each one sharing a desire to be grounded, to be nourished, to be supported in their ministry. I see us as a community that can challenge and build us, that has the grace to let us go and welcome us back as our lives flex, and offers forgiveness when we get things wrong.
It has indeed been a privilege to share with and provide ministry to our Mission Centre staff, in the fullness of community, and I feel incredibly blessed to walk beside each one of them, be guided, challenged and ministered to by them. I look forward to the future with hope and a sense of anticipation and confidence that God goes before us as we companion one another in Mission.
Leigh Lonsdale