“Imagine…”

• God blessing the church with vision
• God touching lives
• God giving new life
• God restoring hope
• God answering prayer
• God granting bolder faith
• God giving new opportunities
• God transforming communities

“… according to his power that is at work within us”

Imagining and praying for transformation must be accompanied by hands on action. One of BBC’s values is this:  “We aspire to minister, each one, according to our God-given abilities”. Together this year we can see God at work in and through the church and into our communities “… according to his power that is at work within us”.

• Kids of 70s and young adults of 80s
• Musical events
• Camps and house parties
• Brigades and youth groups
• Mission trips and outreach events
• Home groups

As well as the A4 sized “Personal Profiles”, we are looking to display photos, about A5 size, and other artifacts, which tell the comprehensive life of BBC during those years.   We also envisage a parallel audiovisual display of videos and power point presentations which tell other parts of the story.

Can you help? Your contribution will be appreciated.

Do you have photos or other artifacts that would be good as reminders of the life of BBC in the 1970s and 1980s?   We will return originals, or you could scan and e-mail, or send CDs, of photos (uncompressed) for the Reconnect Gallery of Memories.   If we can’t display your good ones, then we’ll have to use our mediocre ones!

Post to BBC at: Reconnect 2010, Belconnen Baptist Church Inc., PO Box 4178, HAWKER ACT 2614.

Or e-mail to:      reconnect-2010@belconnenbaptist.org.au

Click Here to return to the MAIN Reconnect 2010 page

Reconnect-2010 will enable us to give thanks to God for the people of Belconnen Baptist as they were then (1970-1990) and as they are now. We want to display the impact of its vision and its people in Belconnen, throughout Australia and the wider world… now 20, 30, 40 years on.

To do this we need your help.  We would love to hear from everyone who was associated with BBC between 1970-1990 in one or more of the following ways:

1) send us an e-mail or a letter telling us which years you were at BBC, what brought you to BBC and from where, the significant things you experienced while with BBC, and what you have gone on to do since that time,

2) fill out a personal profile (see proforma) with the above information and include photos of yourself both then and now (This must fit on an A4 page and be readable at 1 metre),

3) put together a PowerPoint presentation (5min limit) with all of the above and more that fills out further the same themes (to be shown in a “Then & Now” session at the weekend),

4) come to the weekend and share in person (and send us (2) above to include in our personal profile display).

Our aim is to recognise and honour what God has done amongst us over the years and to create a witness to each other and those that follow us.

We are also keen to develop a Gallery of Memories.  Please follow this link to find out how you can contribute.

Click Here to return to the MAIN Reconnect 2010 page

Nearly 40 years have passed since September 1970 when a group of Christians calling themselves the Belconnen Baptist Fellowship advertised a church service to be held in the Page Primary School in Petterd Street, Page, ACT.  This was the first public event in the life of the community that spawned the eventual formation and development of the Belconnen Baptist Church.

Prior to this event there had been many monthly meetings held in fellowship member’s homes during which there had been much casting of vision for what could eventuate.  The history of what did eventuate has been a mix of innovation and conservatism that has influenced the discipleship of many Christians over nearly 40 years.  The spiritual life spawned over these years has expressed itself in many ways both within and far beyond Belconnen.

We invite you to revisit the early history of Belconnen Baptist and its influence through its hundreds of members.  We are considering doing a number of things around the 40^th anniversary of that first public witness at Page Primary School.

1)    We want to invite all who have contributed to and benefited from fellowship at BBC in the 1970s and 1980s to share their reminiscences – sending a letter, e-mail, audio or video greeting and update on yourself and maybe joining in our weekend event.

2)    We want to be inspired by the reach of the witness of the fellowship within and beyond Belconnen and through the lives of members and of their children.

3)    We want to reflect on the visions that founded us, the visions that developed amongst us, and not neglect the visions that have at times divided us and spawned departures into different territory.

4)    We want to celebrate the work of God’s Spirit in our lives as a consequence of having been part of the history of BBC.

We want to give opportunity for all to express their attachment to some part of our history whether able to travel to Belconnen in 2010 or preferring to contribute either memories of the past or updates on the intervening years.  We would hope to collate all such contributions into a form that can be shared together and also distributed to all contributors maybe on a DVD.

Can you see yourself somewhere in this diagram?  We all spent some time inside that large circle, involved with the visions of earlier days and contributing to them via our involvement and our interactions with each other.  Many of us have moved on in various ways and have taken something of those days with us to different cities, different countries and certainly different cultures.  Your story could inspire – please consider contributing to our reconnection.

For those able to be present in person we envisage a range of activities which could include:

• Catching up with Page, Belconnen and Canberra as it is now;
• Social occasions to meet and renew fellowship with those not seen for quite some time;
• Times of reflection on significant events and relationships of early BBC life and how they have influenced us;
• Time for prayer for those who continue the visions both in Belconnen and in other places;
• Reflections on our life pathways that have touched back then but are now leading in different directions;
• Reflections by current BBC leaders on how the past has shaped and is shaping the present;
• A celebration of our past and a commissioning for our futures.

The exact “shape” of Reconnect-2010 will be determined by your contribution.

To assist us in getting started with this please let us know some of the things that were significant for you (and for any of your family).  These significant things may be particular time periods, particular activities, particular challenges, particular visions – whatever you choose.  Your list of significant things will enable us to shape our reconnection. For most of us the past contains both positive memories and some disappointments.  After 20, 30, or nearly 40 years perhaps we can benefit by reflecting on both in a spirit of thankfulness for life’s journey.

Please also help us by sending us e-mail addresses for family and friends that you had when you were a part of BBC.  Do please also remind us of when your friends were involved as our records for those who did not formally join in membership of BBC are thin.

Sincerely,

Steering Group,

Garth Eichhorn, Ian McTaggart, Bruce Millar, and Bruce Morey.

Click here to return to MAIN Reconnect 2010 page

Or Click here to move forward to the Programme page

There are 3 options for payment.  Please pay the amount that equates to the registration and events that you would like to attend as you filled out on your registration form.  Choose your preferred method and follow the relevant instructions  –

Direct Debit

1. Use your on-line banking facility to enter these details -  BSB 082906 A/c 466224970 A/c Name – Belconnen Baptist Church (Reference: R2010 <your surname/initial>)
2. Please ensure you accurately enter the reference details so that we will know who has credited our account, and to check off that you have paid.

Cheque

1. Make out a cheque payable to “Belconnen Baptist Church”
2. Post it to PO Box 4178, Hawker, ACT 2614

Credit Card

1. Pay using your credit card through PAYPAL (a secure method using the PayPal link below)
2. Please note that no financial information is stored on this site
3. According to your registration form, click on the “Yes Please” button to select your desired option
4. After each selection, wait for the page to refresh
5. Scroll down to the  “My Registered Events” panel at the bottom of the page
6. Increase or decrease the quantity of each selection should you need to, and hit “Enter” to effect the change
7. If you would care to make a donation, it is in increments of $10
8. Please click “Yes Please” and then select the “number” of $10 you would care to donate by entering that number into the box under “My Registered Events” (i.e. for a $50 donation enter in 5)

Event	Cost per person	Click to register
Registration	$10
Saturday light lunch	$10
Saturday Celebration Dinner	$40
Sunday lunch	$15
Donation to event costs	$10

At the PayPal site, do not login, but simply choose the ‘Continue’ button

CLICK HERE to return to MAIN Reconnect 2010 page

Or Click here to move forward to the Contribution page

In order to register for Reconnect-2010, please complete this form.  If you prefer, you can print this form, complete it by hand and fax it to 02 62551207 or post it to PO Box 4178, Hawker, ACT 2614

Once your registration form is submitted, please go to the Payment page by clicking here to complete your registration process.

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you there!

CLICK HERE to return to MAIN Reconnect 2010 page

Friday 1 October

Informal welcomes

Saturday 2 October

0900	Opening, Welcome, Orientation - Bruce Millar	Church Centre
1030	Morning Tea	Church Centre
1100	Free time or optional group time
1230	Lunch	Community Centre
1400	Initial Reflections Session - Bruce Morey and Colin Thomson	Church Centre
1530	Afternoon Tea	Community Centre
1600	Free time or optional group time
1900	Celebration Dinner - Programme to be confirmed	Belconnen Premier Inn, Benjamin Way, Belconnen

Sunday 3 October

0845	Reconnect Celebration Service - Garth Eichhorn	Church Centre
1000	Morning Tea	Church Centre
1030	Free time or optional Congregation - Garth Eichhorn
1230	Lunch	Community Centre
1400	Final Reflections Session - Bruce Morey and Colin Thomson	Church Centre
1530	Afternoon Tea	Community Centre
1600	Communion Service - Roger Ellem and David Moyes	Church Centre
1830	Optional Evening Congregation	Church Centre

Monday 4 October

Informal farewells & any extension activities

Alongside the programme above….

The Reconnect Display will operate through both days in the Church Centre Small Hall and will be a congregating point for the various groups or “cohorts” that make up BBC’s 1970-1990 community.  Here we will celebrate the kids of the 70s, the Young Adults of the 80s, the Musical Events of 70s & 80s, the Camps, the Outreach events, the Brigades, the Youth Groups, the Mission trips, the Home Groups, the emergence of vision for church life and mission and its realisation in BBC’s early years and now beyond to wherever we have all gone in our diverse lives of mission and service to God.

Breakout areas will be available in both the Church Centre and Community Centre for meetings of the various cohorts that comprise our “earlier years” community.

We plan a quiet area for prayer and personal reflection and a pastoral care team for participants to relate to with any matters that may benefit from sharing with another.

CLICK HERE to return to MAIN Reconnect 2010 page

Or Click here to move forward to the Registration page

Imagine the opportunity to spend time with the people who shared in a common vision, goal and ministry? Well you can!

We’re holding a gathering to reconnect with the first 20 years of the life of the community of faith that became and grew as Belconnen Baptist Church.

When?

2-3 October 2010 at the Belconnen Baptist Church Centre

This gathering will include:

• Some of the initial vision-builders
• Some who grew up as children during the 1970s and 1980s
• Youth groups members and their leaders
• Boys & Girls Brigade members and leaders
• Home group members and leaders
• Missionaries that were sent out during those years
• Deacons, Elders, and Pastors.

The formal program will commence on Saturday morning and complete with a communion service on Sunday afternoon.

During the two days we will share in some plenary sessions,  a celebration service, a celebration dinner, lunches together and also special interest group activities or free time for more reconnecting.

Informal activities for welcome, farewell, and extended interests maybe available on Friday and Monday.

A feature will be a display of people’s stories, activities of the period, inspirational stories of where people have gone. Photographs and videos and music will create a multimedia dimension to this display.

A key vision for the weekend is to create encouragement through seeing how God has been at work in the lives of those who came to BBC, stayed a while, then moved on into the wider service of God in diverse ways and places.

Make sure you watch this site to find out more.

Click Here to return to the MAIN Reconnect 2010 page

Or Click here to move forward to the Invitation page

Reconnect-2010 will revisit the people and events of the first 20 years of the life of Belconnen Baptist as a fellowship and then as a church. It will consider the impact of its vision and its people in Belconnen, throughout Australia and the wider world… now 20, 30, 40 years on.

From this page you can find information on the following…

• An Introduction to Reconnect-2010 – what is it all about?
• The proposed programme for Reconnect-2010
• Your Invitation to Reconnect-2010
• Submit your contribution to Reconnect-2010
• Register for Reconnect-2010 by clicking here and using the form
• Part of the registration process is to pay, which can be done here

Further information will be added to this page as it becomes available in the coming weeks.

To ask questions about Reconnect-2010 contact us

By e-mail to reconnect-2010@belconnenbaptist.org.au

By post to Reconnect-2010, PO Box 4178, Hawker, ACT, 2614