This week marks the start of QB’s Regional Gatherings for 2026. We’ve already travelled to Hervey Bay and North Brisbane with much more to come during October.
You won’t want to miss celebrating what God has been doing across our churches, ministries and regions, as we connect with one another, and pray for the greater things ahead.
Gatherings are open to the whole QB movement. Pastors, bring your whole ministry team, including staff, governance leaders and volunteer ministry leaders. Charter group leaders and leaders from QB services and ministries, including Carinity, QB Schools, QCCC, Baplink and QB Centre staff, bring your teams too.
Come to a gathering in your region or join multiple gatherings if you serve across different regions!
A reminder that Regional Gatherings 2026 are happening across Queensland, starting next week!
You won’t want to miss celebrating what God has been doing across our churches, ministries and regions, as we connect with one another, and pray for the greater things ahead.
Gatherings are open to the whole QB movement. Pastors, bring your whole ministry team, including staff, governance leaders and volunteer ministry leaders. Charter group leaders and leaders from QB services and ministries, including Carinity, QB Schools, QCCC, Baplink and QB Centre staff, bring your teams too.
Come to a gathering in your region or join multiple gatherings if you serve across different regions!
Here are some of the key highlights and decisions from the previous two QB Board meetings for your information.
The Board noted in reports that there are disruptions to the normal operations of Pastoral Services for the rest of the year while staff undertake the significant work of developing and implementing a new data management system.
A change of name for ‘Cooktown Baptist Fellowship’ to ‘Cooktown Baptist Church’ was approved.
A change of name for ‘Baptist Church Park Ridge’ to ‘Park Ridge Baptist Church’ was approved.
A change of name for ‘Global Mission Church of Gold Coast’ to ‘Eeum Mission Church’ was approved.
The Board approved the nomination of Mr Bill Robertson for another 2-year term on the Baplink Management Council.
Mr Ryan Rourke and Mr Lincoln Wulff were both appointed to the Hillcrest Christian College Board.
Mrs Sue McQuay was appointed as the new QB Archivist. Dr David Parker’s service in maintaining QB Archives over many years was acknowledged with appreciation.
The Board noted a Cyber Risk Assessment update submitted by Baplink, based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework and a publication relating to Frontier AI Cyber Threats from the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD).
Updates were presented on the progress of Vision 33 Pillar initiatives as well as the progress of processes to advance the Incorporation of Carinity.
Please continue to pray for the men and women of the QB Board as they provide vital governance oversight of the QB ministries that support and minister on behalf of our local churches.
Who in your church might be ready to take their next step in theological study, ministry, or education?
Morling College’s Open Night is coming up on Thursday, 29 October 2026, and we would love your help in sharing this opportunity with your congregation.
Open Night is a chance for people in your congregation to learn about Morling’s courses, meet our faculty, ask questions, and discover how study could equip them to serve Christ in their church, workplace, and community.
The event will be available in person at Morling’s Brisbane campus and online, making it easy for people to attend wherever they are. Those interested in studying Education should join the online session to connect with our Education faculty and learn how flexible online study could fit into their lives.
You may already be thinking of someone in your congregation—a young adult considering ministry, a volunteer leader wanting to deepen their understanding of Scripture, or an educator seeking to connect their faith with their practice. Your encouragement could be the invitation they need to take the next step.
To make it simple for you to share Open Night in your church, we have prepared a set of promotional resources, including:
Walk the World is coming up! As a church, plan to join in this fun, community building and faith growing prayer event over the weekend of 6-8 November (or whenever else suits your church calendar!).
Walk the world is about getting out into your local area and praying together. Pray for your community and pray for the world. Make the most of this opportunity to connect as a church and engage with your neighbourhood, all while enjoying God’s beautiful creation.
If you’ve got ten minutes or two hours, there’s ways for everyone to get involved. Leigh from NSW shares: “It’s great to have creative ideas that encourage our church to engage prayerfully.” And Phoebe from TAS says: “We love being part of this annual nation-wide event!”
Queensland Baptists is seeking a part-time Safe Spaces Coordinator to join our Pastoral Services team working 2 days per week.
The QB Safe Spaces Coordinator provides specialist advice, support and practical guidance to churches, congregations and the denomination to promote and maintain safe environments for children and young people.
The role supports the denomination to meet its child safety responsibilities by providing advice to churches, developing practical resources, monitoring compliance for denomination-led activities, maintaining awareness of legislative and regulatory requirements, and representing the denomination in relevant safeguarding and interfaith forums.
A key focus of the role in the next 12 months will be to finalise the implementation of the 10 Child Safe Standards and Reportable Conduct Scheme across the denomination by completing and refining supporting resources, assisting churches to embed the Standards into their practices, and providing practical advice and support to enable ongoing compliance and continuous improvement.
The role will encompass a wide variety of day to day tasks associated with general communications, data management and filing, responding to enquiries and reporting on compliance related matters to the QB Board.
If you or someone you know is passionate about helping churches reach their full potential in children’s and youth ministries and would enjoy contributing to the work of Queensland Baptists, we’d love to hear from you.
Please contact David Elvery, david.elvery@qb.org.au, Director of Pastoral Services, for more information. To apply for the role please contact Sarah Piwari, sarah.piwari@qb.org.au, Operations Manager. Applications should be received by the end of business 30 October 2026.
Queensland Baptists is seeking a part-time Operations Support Officer to join our Pastoral Services team for a 9-month contract, working 3 days per week from our QB office in Mitchelton.
This role will provide valuable administrative support across communications, data management, meetings, interviews and the transition to a new CRM system. We’re looking for someone who is organised, detail-oriented, adaptable and passionate about serving the QB Movement.
If you or someone you know has strong administration skills and would enjoy contributing to the work of Queensland Baptists, we’d love to hear from you.
Please contact Sarah Piwari, sarah.piwari@qb.org.au, Operations Manager, for more information or to apply for the role.
Position: HR Consultant Division: Operations Reports to: Director of Operations Employment: 6-month fixed-term contract, full-time or part-time
Queensland Baptists is looking for an experienced HR Consultant to help strengthen and embed practical people practices across the QB Movement.
This is a unique opportunity to build HR foundations that make a lasting difference. Including developing policies, processes and frameworks across the employee lifecycle while providing practical, day-to-day HR support to leaders and teams.
What you’ll do
Develop and implement practical HR policies, procedures and frameworks.
Support leaders with day-to-day HR advice and people matters.
Ensure HR practices meet compliance requirements and recognised best practice.
Optimise QB’s Employment Hero HRIS.
Build sustainable people processes that leaders and operational staff can confidently maintain beyond the contract.
Work collaboratively to foster a safe, respectful and high-performing workplace aligned with QB’s values.
About you
We’re looking for someone who is practical, collaborative and confident across the HR generalist space. Someone who enjoys creating structure, improving processes and partnering with leaders to make HR work well in practice.
Experience developing HR frameworks, knowledge of Australian employment legislation, and experience with HRIS platforms (particularly Employment Hero) will be highly regarded.
Recently I was able to hear the latest statistics from Ruth Powell who works at the National Church Life Survey group. This group has carefully gathered all the latest information from all churches in Australia. As a person focused on church planting, I was eager to hear how things are progressing and what other denominations are doing in this space. Well, the results are in and it seems like God is moving powerfully in the space of Church planting.
In the last five years, the volume of church plants across all denominations has doubled! Since 2021 over 230 churches have been planted. Perhaps the most exciting statistic is that these church plants are growing and the majority of the growth is new Christians (62%). Church plants are recording an average of 16.1 new attendees per year and 9.9 of those are first-time commitments. We have known for a long time that one of the most effective ways to reach the unreached is through church planting and these statistics bear that out.
The most effective church plants (at reaching the unreached) have three aspects that seem to bring health. Firstly, they have a clear discipleship pathway from new Christian to volunteer leader. Secondly, they are reaching young adults and have a focus on young people. Thirdly, the churches that run Alpha are seeing 40% more new Christians than those that don’t. Although overall church attendance has flatlined in the last decade, church planting seems to have a correlation with growth. The Baptist denomination has moved from 4th largest to 3rd largest since 2001, and the ACC has moved from 5th, to second. The ACC have planted 22.4% (247) of new churches since 2011 and the Baptists account for 19.4% (218). Seventh day Adventists 126, then Anglican 120, then it drops by over half from there. Obviously, we are not in a race against other denominations, but this simply shows that denominations that plant churches are growing and denominations that don’t, are not.
I think the most exciting stat of this whole report is the escalation we are seeing in church planting. From 2019 to 2025 the number of new churches is growing (44,69,86,99,11,145,163). Clearly, God is inspiring this church planting movement across all churches. As part of Vision 33 we believe God has called us to plant and revitalise 100 new churches. We are seeing new churches being planted already and there are several in the pipeline for 2027. The size of your church is not relevant in this discussion, we are seeing churches planted from small, medium and large churches. Next year we will be starting the first of our church planting learning communities. These learning communities will be useful for a church getting ready to plant or a church that is planting or has just planted! They will create a structure that will enable your team to hear about best practise and strategize next steps over a two-year period. The journey will be taken with other groups who are on a similar journey but at all different stages, which will facilitate peer learning and sharing wisdom.
I believe that God is calling us to respond to the needs of Queensland. Our State is growing rapidly and there is new openness to the Gospel, especially in the younger generations. Please contact me for more information and we can discuss your next steps.
Every day at Carinity Education Gladstone, youth workers help students navigate challenges that can make learning difficult.
Sometimes that support starts with something as simple as a check-in at the classroom door. These interactions can be easy to miss, but for a young person they can change the course of their day.
More than 170 students – many of whom had disengaged from mainstream schooling or were at risk of doing so – are supported at the Special Assistance School.
In Carinity Education Gladstone’s classrooms, youth workers work alongside teachers each day, providing guidance and encouragement.
Senior Youth Worker, Megan O’Grady-Falahee, says no two days are exactly the same – is building trust is at the heart of the role.
“My day involves checking in, providing emotional and behavioural guidance, helping students regulate their emotions and re-engage with learning, and working alongside teachers to implement individual strategies,” Megan said.
“Building trust starts with being consistent and non-judgemental. I take the time to get to know the young people at their own pace and show them that I genuinely care about their wellbeing.”
The relationships formed between youth workers and the young people are often built gradually through small, everyday interactions.
“A moment that really stayed with me was when a student who was initially very withdrawn gradually began seeking help and attending more regularly,” Megan said.
“Toward the end of the year, they told me that having someone check in each day helped them feel like they belonged at school.”
Fellow youth worker Kelly Stewart said: “One of the most rewarding moments is when someone who was initially reluctant to engage begins opening up and seeking assistance.”
“Seeing them develop confidence and make positive changes reminds me that even small interactions can have a lasting impact.”
“The small wins often mean the most: a student smiling after a difficult day, reaching a goal, or simply feeling comfortable enough to ask for help.”
For Megan, the goal is not simply helping students through difficult moments, but giving them the confidence to navigate what comes next.
“I hope that the support I provide helps them develop confidence, resilience and positive coping skills they can carry beyond school.”
