Welcome to your Association’s 2024 Annual Report, sharing how God has been at work throughout 2024 in the varied areas of ministry we undertake as a movement!   

As I reflect on the huge variety of ministry that is undertaken across our churches in each part of our state and territory, I continue to be thankful to God for how he is at work among us. 

2024 saw further progress in the 2023-25 strategic plan agreed at our 2023 Assembly, as we continue under God to pursue our Gen1K Vision.  The key areas in this season are: 

1. Developing Leaders: More leaders, and greater diversity in our leadership base – both men and women, and leaders from diverse cultural backgrounds.  Plus playing the long game by also prioritising developing leaders from their younger years. 
   
   
2. Mobilising Healthy Churches: including increasing the rate of multiplication of new congregations.  For the second year in a row we have planted new churches at the rate of 5% of our total number of churches.  Mobilising healthy churches is also about working with churches to see greater health, through support, consultancy and other assistance.
   
   
3. Partnering together:  Further strengthening our regional networks and teams as they put in place contextual expressions of the Gen1K Vison. It also includes enhancing our strategic support services (particularly around technology) to enable us to better coordinate our mission and how we support churches, and working closely with our affiliated Baptist groups to maximise our Kingdom impact. 

20 new churches were planted across our movement.  According to research by the church planting group Exponential Australia, in 2024 NSW/ACT Baptists planted the most churches, relative to our size, of any Christian movement in Australia.  This is not about planting churches for its own sake – always primary must be lives impacted and transformed by the Gospel.  However, we know that healthy Christian community is a key enabler of effective gospel ministry, so we give thanks for these new churches! 

It was a great blessing to see the significant progress in engaging, equipping and learning from our CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) leaders, and to experience many more of these gifted and committed leaders leaning into broader community within the movement.  We have much to learn from each another. 

We continued to be blessed in 2024 with additional income from 2 major grant streams – one for planting churches and development of leaders generally, and the other specific to Baptist Youth Ministries.  We are grateful for these contributions to our collective work, without which it would not be possible to maintain the current level of ministry and support. 

In 2024 our Annual Assembly, as part of The Gathering, continued as a multi-day event providing opportunity for prayer, reflection and focus on our future plans as well as AGM business.  It also allowed time to discern the Processes for Churches and Pastors regarding Affiliation, Baptist Values, and Marriage.  This has provided an agreed roadmap for processing these matters.  We appreciate the clarity these processes bring, while recognising these matters continue to be challenging. 

We continue to engage with government in areas of advocacy over the year, from matters around religious freedom with our state government, to issues of the housing crisis with our federal parliamentarians through the national Baptist Converge gathering in September. 

I continue to serve on the NSW Govt 16-person Faith Affairs Council – representing Baptists and the broader evangelical family, building relationships across faith groups and speaking into government policy. 

2024 was another relatively stable year in the Association’s staff team.  I continue to be enormously thankful for all the staff God has brought together to serve through our Association ministry.   Their heart for the gospel and for our movement is inspirational. 

Please continue to be in prayer for us as a movement.  Pray for our churches and our leaders.  Pray for strong, missional engagement in our communities and that people may be drawn to Jesus through our witness and care.  Pray as we move forward after the decisions we have made around the issues of affiliation, Baptist values and marriage – for grace and wisdom to be present in abundance. And pray for God’s ongoing supernatural work among us by his Spirit as we continue to pursue our Gen1K Vision of 1000 healthy churches in a generation!