Kevin Meyer
During the first weekend of November 2024, the pastors and councillors from our churches gathered at Fels Retreat near Paulpietersburg to have the annual synodical church councillors’ retreat.
The weekend started with a presentation of the synodical budget by Rupert Uhlmann (Kirchdorf) and evening devotion by Pastor Marlon Hiestermann (Uelzen). This was then followed by a braai hosted by the Lüneburg congregation. This braai was a long-anticipated chance for friends, both old and new, to meet and catch up with one another.
After a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast, the attendees all gathered in the church for a Morning Devotion by Pastor Dieter Schnackenberg (Cape Town). Following this, it was time for the conference to begin in earnest. The theme for this year was “Differential Leadership Structures”.
The first two sessions, led by Pastor Christian Straeuli (Greytown) looked at the duties, both spiritual and temporal, that are entrusted to the leaders of a church; this was backed up by passages from Acts chapter 6. It was clear from the Q&A session in plenary, that this topic sparked a lot of discussion and debate in the different groups.
After a tea-break, Bishop Helmut Paul (Durban) presented 3 proposed leadership structures that Synod is considering, namely: “Internally-differentiated”, “Bi-differentiated”, and “Multi-differentiated”. Each of these structures uniquely assigns spiritual and temporal duties to various leaders in the church.
Pastor Martin Paul (Arcadia) then led the final Q&A session, wherein some valuable feedback and ideas were shared. The consensus was that there is certainly merit to these new structures and that different congregations can implement them according to their unique situations.
The retreat closed with Bishop Helmut Paul (Durban) giving feedback on various synodical matters and Pastor Werner Straeuli (Wittenberg) holding a closing devotion.
Following this a delicious lunch was served, goodbyes were said, and everyone made their way home.
