You might not ever plant a church, but you should be looking for people who can. Where are you going to send them if you think they might be suitable?  Hopefully you'll send them straight to the Church Planter Questionnaire on the Reach Australia website. Here's what you need to know about it before you send them the link. Gospel Workers Questionnaire: For anyone considering serving in ministry. Church Planters Questionnaire: Specifically for those thinking about leading a church...

Chris Mann (Cornerstone Box Hill, Sydney) and Rob Abboud (MBM Church Blacktown, Sydney) launched churches in 2024! What happens when you aren't prepared Seeing and getting your teams working The difference between week one and week two The process of seeing new people start to get integrated What makes a good lead-up process, including the assessment process Keeping alignment on track with both the launch team and new people coming in Watching for the moments of God...

Term One: It seems an eternity away. After all, we haven’t even got to Christmas yet! But the key to starting strong in Term One is getting on track in Term Four. Think ahead about the five important things for Term One Ensure you’re ready to welcome new people coming into church Aligning new leaders and staff is crucial. How will you do it? Be prepared for mission opportunities: plan ahead Think ahead about the 5 important things for term 1 Make sure you are ready to catch...

"We become bolder in our local mission when we see what God is doing globally." Being a healthy church means being concerned what God is doing throughout the whole world. Wei Han Kuan thinks that Charles Perry (the evangelical founding bishop of Melbourne) got it right when he said in 1851 that “the best means of ensuring the health of the local church is a vital commitment to world missions.” How do have the conversation about how many missionaries you're supporting in global...

How does global mission partnership work? "In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now," (Philippians 1:4-5). The Philippian church was not just concerned about how the gospel was going in their city, but where Paul was ministering as well. Partnerships at a church and an individual level Missionaries on home assignment at your church - what's helpful and what's unhelpful? Why link the visits of...

Carey Neiuwhof has looked at some of the changes in North America, but what about the changes in Australia? We are closing more churches than starting. Is closing a church a bad thing? Fill in the blanks: we only have one church for every XXXX people in Australia How long do Australian churches take to become viable? Why too much funding is a problem for church plants Why authenticity matters Doing it alone: when does it work? What to look for in a planting core team TOOL...

25% of people in churches will have switched in the last 5 years. Changing churches is hard, but it's meant to be. When is a good time for people to move churches (geography, kids and families)? What are some of realities of people switching? How do pastors pastor people doing a switch (both leaving and gaining)? What about people moving to a church plant?  TOOL BOX: How to Walk into Church Unmissable Church 301 How do I Help People come to Church? (Part 1) about...

Retirement is more than golf, gardening and travel. Once someone finishes work, they enter a new phase of life. Philip Hayes (EV Church, Erina), a retired eye surgeon, thought about what would happen if we used this as a great opportunity for the gospel. He's developed a great ministry to help others transition to this new stage of life. Phillip talks about: The life of a retiree is not what you think Retirees work better together. How do we get them together? Realigning their hearts to...

The timeline for some people is that they meet their spouse, get married, and prepare to have kids. (It's not everyone and we love people who are single or kids is not an option for them!). But some people find themselves about to have kids, but are at a congregation that does not have a kids program.  Geoff and Wendy Lin from Holy Trinity in Adelaide talk about how they prepare couples for kids. Here is what they cover:  What people can do before they have kids to develop great habits ...

Youth and young adults have unique challenges. Karl Bonner from Northlight Anglican Church shares: Changes from school to post-school: from programmed to self-initiated Church provides constancy when there is a lot of change Effects of COVID on people leaving school Differences between adults and young adults Young adults are less likely to conceal their sins, but are less likely to continue in good habits? Appropriate levels of responsibilities How to teach them in ways that...

How do we help kids adjust to all the changes of moving to high school? Kids are going through a lot, but some churches sometimes miss the opportunities to help kids move from kids ministry (often on a Sunday morning) to a youth ministry (often on a Friday Night). Chris Jones and Annemarie Rivers from Youthworks help us think about this. What are kids going through as they finish Year 6 Kids finishing kids ministries well Youth ministries "catching people" well Three key things to...

The gospel reminds us that we are sinners, but also broken and fragile people. As people come to church they come with their various mental health issues. Keith and Sarah Condie discuss what is the role of the church in helping people. It is not our job to fix people. Church can be really good for people as they deal with the issues. The importance of watching and listening to people who might need help. Doing something is better than doing nothing. Don't be afraid to ask "Are you...

One in five people in Australia are dealing with a mental health issue at any given moment, and gospel workers aren’t immune. Keith and Sarah Condie from the Mental Health Institute unpack how to maintain mental wellbeing. The difference between mental health problems and maintaining good mental health The gospel’s impact on our mental wellbeing How to look after our minds, body, relationships and walk with Jesus Three big things to get right Why self-talk matters Being a better...

"The sin of empathy" is a phrase attributed to family systems psychologist Dr Edwin Friedman.  Matt Waldock of Manchester City Church explores why empathy is unhelpful in ministry and compassion is a better way of thinking. Compassion is suffering with someone Empathy is feeling the pain that they feel But you cannot help someone if you are in pain yourself The person with the most anxiety often has the most power We need to pay attention to how other people's anxiety effects our...

What should we think about the 4th term? 1. Mission: Dust your mission calendar off. For summer it can be a big mission season, for others it is the slow season. For those who are prepping for that big mission, now is the time to get things going. Really important to have a next step for what will happen for people coming to Christmas NB Your mission calendar is where you mission funnel drives your diary.   2. Leadership: this is all about a season of transition.  Onboarding new...

Public bible reading is something people often take for granted. But hearing God speak to our community is the highlight of our church gatherings. How do we practically speaking, read the bible well?  Backyard Bard, Simon Camilleri gives us some pointers: Historically, when the people of God stop reading the bible, they go off the tracks.  The sermon is not just the ministry of the word and the bible reading is not the tick box at the start. When people expect less from the bible...

Dive into this system of working out where disciples are at: sleeper (uninterested non-Christian), seeker (interested non-Christian), consumer (uninterested Christian) and disciple (interested follower of Jesus). Daniel Im is the Senior Pastor of Beulah Alliance Church in Edmon. Daniel and Scott talk about: How do we preach to these four types of people mentioned in the system The process of ongoing steps (how I want to keep discipling people), first steps (how I need to get people...

We want to make sure that a gospel presentation is accurate and effective, so what makes for a good gospel presentation? Dave Jensen is from Evangelism and New Churches in Sydney. Dave talks about: Three key ideas to make a good presentation Three key components to effective evangelism There are presentations that can distract us from effective evangelism. Evangelism is not just for the benefit of non-Christians but also for the growth of Christians. "What is a Christian?" is...

Reach Australia is about reaching Australia, but our network is spilling over to other countries as well. Josh Johnston from The Tron Church in Glasgow was part of the team that came to Reach Australia's National Conference this year. He reflects with Scott Sanders about: The work of gospel in The Tron Church lately The importance pathway thinking Learning to think Now, Where, How The encouragement of being a part of network TOOLBOX: Greg's Workshop will be coming soon... The...

Healthy church teams are such an important part of being a healthy church. Ray Galea talks about the differences of building a team from his time at MBM, and inheriting a team from his time with Fellowship Dubai Ray talks about: The importance of looking of the fruit of the Spirit rather than the gifts of the Spirit in your team Working out a clear structure Knowing yourself as a leader, you don't have to have all the answers Learn to be a good learner and listener to the team...

The grief of a losing a child is something that no one should have to endure. Nancy Guthrie might be known to many as a great Bible teacher but she and her husband have experienced and incredible amount of of grief in their lives with the loss of not just 1 but two children.   *** THIS EPISODE DOES CONTAIN ISSUES OF GRIEF AND LOSS, IF THIS RAISES ISSUES FOR YOU PLEASE ASK FOR HELP ***  Here are some of the things that she has had to process in all of this: The suffering God gives...

There has been a greater awareness of neurodiversity in our world today, Bec Baines explains how churches can be better equiped to minister to people with different forms of neurodiversity as we see the gospel include all sorts of people. Neurodivergence can include the Autism spectrum, PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), dyslexia, dyspraxia, down syndrome; anything that involves the neurons in your brain. We need to be addressing what is...

Adjusting churches for including people may not be as expensive as you might think, in fact it is not merely about the building. Disability comes with age, so we are all facing it at some point! Louise Gosbell has spent a lot of time thinking about disability and ministry. Making a building accessible - where it happens in the Bible Why ministry to people with disabilities is so much more than just accessibility What you need to know about recent overhauls to the discrimination act ...

What do we need to think and do when it comes to term three? Often it's a good time to dive into longer term planning and recruitment for the next year. Raising leaders for next year Strategic plans for next year Keeping people focused on vision Digging into your small group ministries Get into the important but not urgent things like budget for next year Getting leaders away for thinking, reflecting and planning Getting people to recruiting conferences (see below) Planning...