Who’s who, and what do they do?
The congregation
In Baptist practice, the congregation itself is the primary minister, and the primary authority. Every one of us shares a call to participate in the ongoing ministry of Jesus — healing and renewing the world, and bringing compassion, kindness and hope into our workplaces, neighbourhoods, families, and friendships. That is where most of the ministry of this church actually happens. The congregation, meeting prayerfully to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit, is also the highest human authority in our common life — responsible for final decisions about the direction, governance, and leadership of the church. The people you’ll read about below serve and lead within that wider reality, not above it.
The Host Group
The Host Group is our equivalent of what other churches might call a diaconate, an eldership, a church council, or a leadership team. It is a small team of congregation members who have covenanted together to take on the practical and spiritual work of hosting this community. The name is deliberate. Drawing on the image of a shared feast, hosting means preparing the space, tending the details, holding the vision, and making sure there is room for everyone. Host Group members identify themselves through prayerful discernment and are affirmed annually by the congregation. They carry responsibility for the day-to-day governance of the church, working closely with the pastor, and their meetings are open to anyone who participates regularly in our life. The Host Group currently consists of Eliz Cook, Ian Cook, Rob Davis, Liesl Filippi, and Shelley Taylor.
or phone: +61 493 101 207
The Pastor
Nathan Nettleton has served as pastor of this congregation since 1994 — which means he has been here longer than almost anyone else in the congregation. He grew up in Melbourne’s suburbs, dropped out of university, got kicked out of Bible College, drove trucks for a while, and crashed both a motorbike and a marriage. After such an idyllic preparation for Christian ministry, his first pastoral appointment was working among the street people of St Kilda in the early 1990s. He was ordained as a Baptist pastor in 1994 and completed an honours degree in theology at Whitley College in 1995, followed by a Master of Theology in Liturgical Studies from the University of Divinity in 2001. In our church, he carries particular responsibilities for the preaching, teaching, and ordering of worship and prayer, and for pastoral care. He also writes liturgical resources for a global audience through LaughingBird.net, and serves as a board member of Open Baptists. Nathan is married to Margie, and they have an adult daughter, Acacia, and two dogs. His other obsessions include dog training (because every pastor longs to have someone who will obey them), telemark skiing, and craft-brewed beers. He can hold a basic conversation in Spanish, attempt one in French, and get absolutely nowhere with his few words of Chinese.
Visiting Pastoral Overseers
We have always believed that a healthy congregation needs honest perspectives from outside its own walls. Our Visiting Pastoral Overseers (VPOs) are people from beyond our community — recognised for their pastoral wisdom and experience — who are invited to stay close enough to our life to offer us those perspectives. They are available to any congregation member who wants to raise concerns or questions they would find difficult to bring to the pastor or Host Group directly, and they offer counsel and guidance to the pastor as needed. They visit us for worship several times a year and are kept informed of the significant questions we are wrestling with.
Brett Mitchell is our only VPO at the moment. He serves as the Regional Pastor – Metro, for the Baptist Union of Victoria Support Hub, where he provides pastoral leadership support and development for Baptist churches across the Melbourne metropolitan region. Prior to his current regional role (which he commenced in early 2024), he spent five years as a Church Planting Consultant at the BUV.
or phone: +61 412 771 125
Just at the moment we only have one Visiting Pastoral Overseer, but we are working on appointing at least a couple more in the near future.
Baptist World Alliance
The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is the international communion of Baptist churches and unions, with member bodies in over 130 countries representing more than 53 million Baptists worldwide. Like the Baptist Union of Victoria, it exerts no power over its member bodies, existing instead as a voluntary association for the mutual benefit of all. The BWA holds an international gathering known as a Congress every five years; the 2025 Congress was held in Brisbane. The BWA is currently led by Chair Karl B. Johnson of Jamaica and General Secretary Elijah Brown of the USA.
The BWA also convenes a number of study commissions which meet annually in different parts of the world. Our pastor, Nathan Nettleton, served for many years on the BWA Study Commission on Worship and Spirituality. The previous General Secretary, Neville Callam, visited our church in October 2012, and the sermon he preached on that occasion can be found here.
Baptist Union of Victoria
This church is a constituent member of the Baptist Union of Victoria (BUV) and has been since its establishment. The Union exists to promote the unity of its member churches in faith, fellowship and worship, and to carry out those functions that require a wider resource base than a single congregation can provide. Member churches do not surrender their autonomy to the Union — it may offer advice and support, but it does not seek, or have the power, to dictate or control the mission and community life of its churches. The Gathering of the Union meets twice a year and is open to anyone from the churches.
Historical records indicate that this church holds the honour of having, in 1856, initiated the movement which eventually resulted in the formation of the present Baptist Union of Victoria.
Open Baptists
Our church is also affiliated with the Open Baptists, a new association of Baptist churches in Australia and New Zealand, open to the diversity of people that God gathers into our churches and open to the diversity of ways that God calls us to respond in our local contexts. Open Baptists was initially formed to provide a home for congregations whose convictions and practices were facing censure from more theologically restrictive Baptist structures. It brings together churches that share a commitment to full inclusion, theological openness, and a generous reading of the Baptist tradition — churches that are, in various ways, doing unexpected things within it.
Our congregation was among the founding members of Open Baptists, and our pastor Nathan Nettleton serves on its Board. Its vision of Baptist life resonates closely with our own — and the connection has already proven to be a genuine source of fellowship, accountability, and encouragement for churches that might otherwise feel isolated within the wider Baptist world.
Like the BUV and the BWA, Open Baptists operates on the principle that member churches retain their full autonomy. It is a fellowship of equals, not a hierarchy, and it exists to serve its members rather than to govern them.
