Brent
becomes Pastor (1982-1992)
Cultural Mix
At the time when Brent and Pat joined the Fellowship there was actually
a strange mixture of Christian cultures. One could recognise a "Charismatic"
culture. This group was typically people who had transferred from traditional
churches, preferring quieter forms of worship and perhaps artistic expression
such as dance, and sometimes an intellectual approach to Scripture. Then
there was an "alternative lifestyle" culture. These were typically
new converts perhaps a little hippie, musically in the folk genre, and
did not fit with the educated, conservative middle class that some of
us aspired to. Most of this group was to follow Alan Stephenson when he
established Mt Albert Christian Fellowship.
The third culture was "Pentecostal", personality-wise they were usually much more extrovert, loud and bold, who in worship called for a full emotional involvement. So for example when Scripture said shout to the Lord that was what was meant and that they did. The people in this group came from a variety of backgrounds but their Baptism in the Spirit was probably rooted in the Pentecostal churches rather than traditional denominations.In the years leading up to Barents induction the "charismatic" and the "Pentecostal" cultures were being melded together as in a marriage. Change was gradual and no one really wanted to surrender their uniqueness or real preferences. But we were all basically educated middle class type people and the trend was towards sameness and eventually one culture would emerge. These human traits of personality struggles, politics, and other tensions in this period make them feel like the "dark ages"
Leadership
Brent's induction brought to an end the era of "committee rule".
The induction was held in the Wagener's lounge. The place was fairly crowded
and although it was a big lounge it does give an indication of size at
the time as nearly everyone went along. Including Pat who had to discharge
herself from Hospital with 24-hour-old baby, Berwick. There were a number
of big names there and there were some good prophetic words for the Church
and Brent and Pat. Now that Brent was Pastor the Fellowship came more
and more to reflect him and his vision. There was little change in the
composition of the leadership team. What change there was considered and
involved only one or two at a time. The committed base of members remained
reasonably intact for the next ten years or so. In some ways they were
very stable years.
Ministry
In a congregation of around eighty adults there was always an expectation
of contribution from the floor in our worship services. For example there
was space for prayer, prophecy or song. On occasions we might even pray
for one another and sometimes people would be called out on a word of
knowledge for healing or prophecy. There were no regular altar calls or
even an altar call ministry. This was how we saw body ministry. There
came a major change to this when Brent attended a John Wimber conference
and at about the same time a Conference with Clarke Taylor. The changes
implemented by Brent, as a result of these conferences were to open up
a new era in ministry expectation. Out of this we were taught, both in
word and deed, "Power Evangelism" or as Brent preferred "moving
in the anointing". Change still came relatively slowly but from then
on I would say that the momentum began to build.
Evangelism
Evangelism has been talked about for as long as I can remember. Yet
our growth and new members in most cases came by transfer. When Brent
gives his testimony with regard to evangelism he speaks of a time when
he took an extended fast and asked for a heart for evangelism. I can remember
this and from that time on the number of people making commitments to
Christ has been a feature of our church life. Though even yet it has not
significantly increased our regular attendance. For all the years we were
at the Epsom Normal Primary School Hall people would come and go and there
seemed nothing we could do to get the numbers much over a hundred. Clearly
the building was limiting our growth.