About CCCVaT
CCCVAT is an association of Christian Community Churches in Victoria and Tasmania [CCCVaT], that have united as a movement, under a common vision and mission, set of beliefs and core values. The movement is motivated by the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20), and committed to spread the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to all people, and to provide a ministry of discipleship for each new believer, so that they will become all that God created them to be.
LEGAL LIABILITY
CCCVAT MINISTRIES LTD [CCCVAT], is a company limited by guarantee, registered on 22nd of October 2018. CCCVAT is not a church, but a charity which exists to provide services to Christian Community Churches as listed on its website. Christian Community Churches in Victoria and Tasmania, are part of a network of evangelical churches throughout Australia, that share Christian beliefs common to the Open Brethren movement. A key doctrine of the Open Brethren Movement, is that the autonomy of each church is recognised and respected.
Each of the churches that identify with the network, are legally autonomous and are alone liable for their activities. The network is not a legal entity, and no legal relationship is created between churches in the network, by virtue of them identifying with the network.
CCCVAT has no legal relationship with any church in the network, does not have authority over them, or to seek to control the activities of any church in the network or otherwise, and churches are not accountable to CCCVAT.
CCCVAT previously operated as Christian Fellowship in Victoria, and later changed its name to Christian Community Churches in Victoria and Tasmania, to reflect its expansion of services to Christian Community Churches in Tasmania. During its entire operation, it has never assumed liability for the activities of any church in the network, or otherwise.
CCCVAT does not act as an agent for any church in the network and is not authorised to accept service of any claim, or to respond to any claim, on behalf of any church in the network, or otherwise
CCCVAT has limited knowledge of the churches it services in the Christian Community Churches network, or their activities.
Constitution of CCCVaT Ministries Ltd
Vision & Mission
Our Vision is to advance the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Mission is to aid and assist churches to grow the Kingdom of God.
Objective
Our core objective is to aid and assist local churches to more effectively reach and serve church and un-churched communities, develop ministry capacity and make disciples of Jesus. Through networking, leveraging of resources and fostering a greater sense of belonging, the movement continues to grow into a mutually supportive Kingdom-advancing network of churches that has ever increasing capacity to impact all in our circle of influence with the Good News of Jesus.
We serve our churches by offering the following support and services:
- Prayer, prayer ministry and support.
- Leader’s forums, retreats and conventions.
- Church revitalisation and planting.
- Counselling and mediation.
- Leadership equipping training and networking.
- Grants for churches to employ leaders undertaking training.
- Child safe protection and safety training [laws and regulations]
- Child Safe Australia [CSA] national licensee
- Training on CSA’s Safety Management Online [SMO] portal.
- Human Resources
- Employment advice and contracts.
- Work Health Place & Safety [WHS] Polices.
- MONIT – WHS app to manage WHS regulations.
- Accounting & Regulatory Services
- Payroll – Single Touch Payroll, Payslips & Work Cover insurance returns.
- Payment and processing of accounts.
- Bank reconciliations.
- Financial Reports.
- ATO – Business Activity Statements.
- ACNC – Annual Information Statements [AIS].
- Policies and guidelines.
- Victorian registrar for Marriage Celebrants, under Christian Community Churches in Australia.
- Employer of School Chaplains under the NSWP and CCTI programs.
Membership
Membership of the association is available to Christian Brethren Churches located in Victoria, and Christian Churches located in Victoria and Tasmania that agree to the association’s ‘Statement of Faith’ and ‘Doctrinal Statement’ and ‘Distinctives’, subject to meeting the criteria of the board of CCCVAT.
CCCVaT Ministries Ltd – New Church Assessment and Application Process
Our History
In the early 2000’s, a group of leaders within the Christian Brethren movement across Australia, met to discuss opportunities for Brethren churches to work together to advance the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and provide mutual support.
Emanating from this in 2003, with the assistance of the Christian Brethren Trust [CBT], leaders agreed to the formation of Christian Brethren Fellowship of Victoria, which was to become CCCVAT. At a national conference in Victoria in June 2008, it was agreed to the formation of a national network of churches. Subsequently, in June 2010, in Queensland, Christian Community Churches of Australia [CCCAust], was formalised.
CCCAust includes Christian Brethren churches from Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia, as well para church groups associated with the Christian Brethren movement in Australia. Representatives of each of the state bodies serve on the board of CCCAust, which collectively represents and serves these state bodies.
David Wraight has written an extensive paper, which identifies the fundamentals upon which the Christian Brethren movement was founded and explores how they are still relevant today. You can download a full copy of our history here:
Christian Brethren history, by David Wraight
Tasmania’s formal connection with the Victorian churches began early in 2004.
The below paper is a synopsis of events leading to the association of Brethren Churches in Tasmania with CCCVAT and the CBT.
1B-Origins-of-Tasmanian-Churches-Incorporations-into-CCCVAT-via-CBFV-CBT
Our Distinctives
Movement not a denomination:
CCCVaT is a movement of like-minded local churches, predominantly from a Christian Brethren heritage, that have united under a common vision and mission, set of beliefs and core values.
Leadership by influence:
Leadership of CCCVaT is via relationship, trust and influence rather than hierarchical authority and enforced compliance of organizational obligations, liturgy, leadership validation and behavioral expectations.
Autonomy of church affiliates:
We believe in the autonomy and self-governance of the local church, but we affirm and value unity and mutuality across our movement and are committed to support and empower each other to advance God’s kingdom and provide opportunity for many others to know and follow Jesus.
Evangelism and discipleship:
We are driven by the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). We are committed to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people and to provide a ministry of discipleship for each new believer, so that they will become all that God has designed them to be.
Scripture:
We are committed to the Bible as the foundation and final authority for life and ministry. We encourage all in our movement to study it diligently, apply it daily, and teach its truth to others.
Prayer:
We are committed to prayer as the means by which we communicate with God and He communicates with us. We view prayer as the ‘powerhouse’ of the Church and essential to effective ministry and mission. We are dedicated to pray for the salvation of the lost, the advancement of God’s Kingdom in the world, and for the empowerment of God’s Holy Spirit of all in our movement so that they may live by the commands and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Priesthood of all believers:
We celebrate and practice the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:4, 5, 9; Revelation 1:6, 5:10). We believe that through Christ we have been given direct access to God (1 Timothy 2:5), God is equally accessible to all the believers, and every follower of Christ has equal potential and validity to minister for God in all aspects of faith and church, according to the gifts God has given them (Romans 12:3-8 & 1 Corinthians 12:7-13)
Plurality of leadership:
We believe in the plurality of leadership where the local church is led by a defined group of leaders with equal authority, with the pastor being viewed as one among equals.
Ordinances:
We observe two ordinances, full immersion baptism and communion. We practice full immersion baptism as a public declaration and representation of a Christian’s spiritual union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:3-8). We regularly celebrate communion in our local churches, usually weekly, following Christ’s instruction to do this to remember Him (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
Statement of Faith
We believe the Bible as originally given by God is divinely inspired, infallible, entirely trustworthy, and is the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct, from which we can know:
God:
There is one true eternal creator God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Creation:
God created all things, making man and woman in His own image and for relationship with Him.
Sin:
Sin entered into the world through human disobedience following the rebellion of Satan against God.
Christ:
The Son, Christ Jesus, was born of a virgin and lived as a sinless man. Out of the abundance of God’s love the Father gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die to save all people from sin. Christ rose from the grave defeating the power of sin.
Salvation:
The death and resurrection of Christ brings salvation by grace through faith to those who repent, seek forgiveness, and believe in Him.
Spirit:
The Holy Spirit, following Jesus’ return to His Father in heaven, lives within those who have salvation as a comforter and guide, guaranteeing their eternal hope.
Life:
Those who trust in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour are called to live a transformed life and as such we have the responsibility to:
- Encourage other Christians through meeting together for worship and fellowship;
- Uphold moral directives and ethical values contained in the Bible as expressed within the context of their personal life, their marriage life (the covenantal relationship of one man and one woman), and their relationships with others;
- Share the good news to all the world;
- Be active in expressing God’s love through social justice.
Eternity:
Jesus is the only way to a relationship with God. Those who have received salvation have eternal life as joint heirs with Christ. Those who do not believe in Christ are separated from God for eternity.
Return & New Creation:
Christ will return as Lord to the earth and everyone will see him. There will be a new heaven and a new earth.
Doctrinal Statement
While the doctrines expressed in the Statement of Faith are recognized to be universal and the primary belief of a Church or denomination, there are a number of secondary beliefs that Churches or a denomination proclaim. Although secondary. they are nonetheless important and form part of our beliefs and understanding of the Gospe and guide to what we preach, teach and counsel in accordance with these convictions.
We believe that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” by which we understand the whole Bible is inspired in the sense that holy men of God “were moved by the Holy Spirit” to write the very words of Scripture. We believe that this divine inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the writings—historical, poetical, doctrinal, and prophetical—as appeared in the original manuscripts. We believe that the whole Bible in the originals is therefore without error.
We believe that all the Scriptures center around the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming, and hence that no portion, even of the Old Testament, is properly read, or understood, until it leads to Him.
We also believe that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction (Mark 12:26, 36; 13:11; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; Acts 1:16; 17:2–3; 18:28; 26:22–23; 28:23; Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 2:13; 10:11; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21).
Our full doctrinal statement can be downloaded below:
Doctrinal Statement
David Wraight
Paul Gould
Adam Bryant
Conrad Parsons
Ann Morison
Andrew Hodgson
Pynqi Gorgonia
Raelene Gould
Nathan Keen
David Wraight
David provides leadership to the movement, developing resources and initiatives that equip and enable local church leaders and communities to advance the Kingdom of God, grow the Church, reach and serve the unchurched and plant new churches.
Prior to his current role, David served as the International President of Youth for Christ (YFC) and for ten years resided with his wife Jenny in Denver, Colorado. YFC is a global movement that targets unreached and unchurched teenagers. During the time David led YFC, it expanded its reach into 140 nations, connected with over 50 million teenagers, developed a prayer movement involving 235,000 prayer intercessors and grew its staff to 35,000.
David is the author of two books: The Next Wave, which describes how the world can be reached through empowering young people; and Kingdom Come, which explores what happens—or what should happen—when God’s Kingdom comes in a person’s life, in the Church and in the world. David and Jenny have three children, four grandchildren and are members of Warrandyte Community Church.
Paul Gould
Paul is responsible for budgets, church support and grants, compliance, marketing, meetings, polices and guidelines, systems and various other tasks as part of CCCVaT’s mandate to aid and assist its churches grow the Kingdom of God.
His past experience includes various general, marketing and merchandise management roles in fast paced automotive and recreational vehicle industries, loyalty programs, retail franchising and the chemical industry. The experience gained in these roles has equipped him to provide the expertise needed to serve and develop these ministries for CCCVaT.
Paul is married with four children.
Adam Bryant
Adam Bryant has been our serving School Chaplain for the past 9 years. During this time he has been fortunate enough to build many strong connections with staff and students within the community and journey with them through life’s unexpected ups and downs. It has been a privilege for him to walk with people through some of the most intimate a personal times in their lives.
His role takes me where the people are this could be on a camp, in the welfare building, on the basketball court, at a school camp, at breakfast club, playing downball on the quadrangle, in the staffroom etc – all with the intention of developing positive connections with students. On top of this more organic connection he also has regular one on one catch ups as the need arises.
Conrad Parsons
Conrad was born in Sydney and grew up in the Blue Mountains & also in Adelaide. He became a Christian in 1986 just before entering training as an evangelist.
He has three ministry degrees including a Doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary.
Conrad has been coaching evangelists since 2001, and now also trains leadership coaches from all over the globe.
He is responsible for identifying, equipping, mobilising, and providing ongoing support for pioneer church planters. He is also responsible for catalyzing and facilitating existing churches in the movement to help them revitalize their congregations and churches.
Ann Morison
Ann has a heart for advancing the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, having served in church, schools and radio, using the music she writes, records and sings. She also leads children and women in connect groups and ministries.
Ann is keen to work alongside local churches to help them discover the type of ministry that will best suit their local community, their church resources and people and the needs of children and families in the area.
She has access to a range of ideas and resources that can be sourced to connect with families and present the church as a place of caring and support where people are welcome and have the opportunity to meet Jesus.
Andrew Hodgson
Andy has been a Christian for most of his life and is currently serving at Ringwood Community Church.
He is a gifted singer and guitarist and has a passion to develop and deploy the youth and young leaders of our churches in the Kingdom.
He is married to Rachel and together they have three children.
Pynqi Gorgonia
Pynqi assists the General Manager in a variety of duties to serve our churches more effectively.
She has a wealth of experience, especially in graphic design having worked in a studio in New York.
Her main responsibilities are to assist in the marketing communications and the events of CCCVaT.
Raelene Gould
Raelene provides regulatory support and compliance for churches and manages the accounting and payroll functions for our member churches.
Nathan Keen
Nathan is back! After serving as PA to George Buchanan, Nathan worked as a web and email designer. He is now assisting Paul and the churches with OHS and IT.