An Assembly of Moderators

What is the collective term for a gathering of moderators; a coffle; a singular; or mabe a gaggle? (See below for details on what these terms actually mean and why I suggested them.) Perhaps we should just stick with 'an assembly of moderators' - as long as you understand that this meeting had no constitutional status or powers.

Robert Benn, the very model of a moderator-general, invited all the state moderators to assemble in Sydney for some fellowship, sharing and prayer. He organised it during the week of meetings of GAA committees. I've never served on any of these committees so I wasn't aware that they all meet in the same week, but apparently they do, and it therefore made perfect sense to suppose that at least some of the state moderators would be scheduled to be in town anyway... and sure enough, it was a good assumption.

Gary Ware of South Australia and Bill McRae of Western Australia were in Sydney for committee meetings, as were Bruce Mellor of NSW and Robert himself, although they live in Sydney so it wasn't such a big thing for them. I was the only one who 'commuted' just for the day because I thought it was a great idea and worthy of the time and cost.

We met for a couple of hours across lunchtime and some very fine sandwiches materialised as if from nowhere to keep us going into the afternoon.

We discussed a wide range of subjects with no fixed agenda. Each of us shared something of our experiences as moderator, our challenges and our visions. It wouldn't be fair to report minute detail here, but it is sufficient to say that I feel very challenged by the situation of the smaller states and (in a different way) by the way in which NSW has worked hard to restructure and reshape for evangelism and church planting.

My own personal conviction, which I shared with the group, is that the Australian church should be one church meeting once a year in one Assembly (and I don't mean just the moderators). Under that Assembly we should have radically reorganised Presbyteries that are structured and resourced for church planting in currently unchurched (or under-churched) areas.

It might be a long way off, but if we never start talking about it, nothing will ever happen!

"Coffle" is a collective term for a group of slaves chained together. "Singular", believe it or not, is a collective term for a group of boars. "Gaggle" is of course the term for a group of geese. It has something to do with the noise of constant chatter.