The One Thing

Does being across a church’s finances mean doing it all yourself? And how do you know if things are going wrong, if you don’t know the questions to ask?

What will faith in Australia look like in 2019? Join Derek and Scott as they tackle the demography of belief with trends expert and social analyst Mark McCrindle.

You’ve decided that an event is the best way to connect with the community you’re trying to reach for the Gospel. But how do you ensure that event is free of the sort of ‘speed humps’ that make a mess of new relationships?

Church administration may not be the most exciting topic for ministry workers, but it’s certain to have a significant impact on your Gospel reach.

How essential is it to survey your church? Well, you can’t minister to people you don’t understand. Their views of the world may be warped, but they still have to be negotiated if you’re going to bring them closer to Jesus.

We want to connect with our communities, so we can connect them with Jesus. But how do you go about understanding what our community looks like, what makes it tick, what questions its members are asking?

In the final show of 2018, Derek and Scott look back on the 37 episodes that have come before and choose three each that gave them the most practical ‘one thing’ lessons to learn from.

‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’ – you might have the best plans in place, but if they don’t take into consideration your ministry’s culture, you could find yourself fighting an uphill battle.

Evangelistic Courses should be at the heart of our plans to mobilise our church on mission. Not just running them, but how we make them accessible so that people feel comfortable in inviting their friends.

There have been a multitude of books written on the topic of sharing your faith, but does personal evangelism taken on a new look in the 21st century? What are the cultural challenges to preaching the Gospel now that we are post-Post-Modernism? Scott Sanders speaks with Dr. Sam Chan, author of Evangelism in a Skeptical World, to see what are the essentials when approaching a generation who no long...

Australia has an increasing Asian population, a reality that many traditionally Anglo-Saxon churches are having to deal with. Should ministry to the many facets of Asian culture be left to Asian churches, or are there helpful cross-cultural ministries that ethnically different churches can plant? Scott Sanders speaks to Australian evangelist, lecturer and A.B.C., Sam Chan, to work out sensible way...

It’s very easy to celebrate the big milestones in the Christian life - you start a new ministry, a new congregation, a new church … it expands to 50, a hundred, two hundred people. And there doesn’t seem to be anything you can’t do in God’s name. But what about the other side of the coin? What about when ministry dreams are dashed, when churches close, when people turn their back on the Gospel? Go...

While we need to reach the cities with the Gospel, this can’t be at the expense of those 3 million Australians in regional and rural areas. And if we’re going to engage with them well and wisely, then we want to understand how evangelism differs for those who don’t live in highly urbanised areas. Does community work differently in the country? Do we need to present ourselves differently? What goes...

If Sundays are a key place where non-Christians come for the first time to experience Christian community, and Sundays are meant to be a time for Christians to enjoy singing the truths of the Gospel together, how do you build a healthy, engaging, music ministry from a small pool of people that isn’t cringeworthy. In short, how do you handle music on the small scale? Derek and Scott talk to gifted...

Today’s episode of THE ONE THING is aimed at helping you discover THE ONE THING to keep in mind when you set out to make graphics and all those other things that go into good communications. To help us with making the right decisions, we’ve invited Rachael Vant, who leads the communication and marketing team at EV Church on New South Wales’ Central Coast. SHOW NOTES 14 sites for inspiring sermon s...

Church planting is hard work, even when you’re in familiar territory. But travelling to a regional area that lacks ministry resources and family support can make breaker ground for Jesus much, much harder. This episode Derek Hanna talks to Jai Wright, a church planter in Northern Queensland, to discover what really makes a difference in ministry when you leave the big smoke behind. SHOW NOTES Mini...

Healthy churches aren’t just those who grow their members in spiritual maturity, but ones that seek to grow the church of Christ overall. In short, healthy churches plant more churches. But how do you go about growing the sort of people who will want to be church planters? Derek Hanna and Scott Sanders discuss the ‘best practice’ approach to growing your own church planter. SHOW NOTES Here are thr...

If you’re not posting on social media, you’re just not … social. These days social media giants like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are the way in which people share the multitude of digital moments in their lives. So how do you, as a church, make the most of these digital interactions? Scott and Derek talk to Gus, a former social media guru for major consumer electronic and FMCG brands for all...

A critical part of leadership is recognizing that your fruit grows on other people’s trees. Many churches are waking up to the fact that every pastor is an interim pastor, and this maxim plays out at every level of your church’s leadership pipeline. Tod Adkins from Lifeway Leadership shows us how e very role in the local church is an interim role, and every leader is not successful until they have...

The Australian church often looks to the US church for what’s next – you can think of them as our big R&D department over the other side of the pacific. Today’s special guest, Daniel Im, is here to help us get a handle on how the North American church is going, and what’s worth taking note of. SHOW NOTES The State of Church Planting in the US, from New Churches The New Churches website No Silver B...

Mission isn’t about just running a single event. It’s planning a year that brings people closer to God. So how do you be more deliberate about your calendar, to more effectively help and serve those who are seeking begin to experience Christian community and explore the Gospel? In this episode we talk to Sam Hilton, the Mission Pastor from Hunter Bible Church and ask him to give us the key princip...

Leadership that deliberately shares authority is leadership that has an eye on the future. It mobilises, empowers and equips others to achieve significant tasks and fulfil substantial roles. Some people call this delegation, but we think the word “empowering” provides a better picture of what’s involved. And we speak to Grahame Fuller from EV Church about how to hand on responsibilities without ‘d...

How do you go about recruiting volunteers for ministries across the church? How early is a member of church invited to be involved in ministry? Are there different ways for recruiting for different ministries? And, how do create a culture of serving across the whole church? And to help us solve those conundrums, we’ve invited Cathie Heard, one of Reach Australia's Directors of Coaching, to sor...

This week on ‘The One Thing’, we’re going to look at the Life-Cycle of the Team - how they start out, the stages they’re likely to move through, and what you have to be ready for, before they really get going. To help us with that, we’ve got a real team guru to join us at the microphone - EV Church’s Ministry Pastor, Rhett Harris. He’s had a huge amount to do with founding, fomenting and finalisin...

There were far too many questions left unanswered, so… Following on from Episode 18, Matt Varcoe from Grace City Church returns to talk about strategies for contacting and preaching to people who identify as having ‘No Religion’. SHOW NOTES Evangelism: How the Whole Church Speaks of Jesus, by Mack Stiles Apologetics Canada Grace City’s Conversations That Matter resources Evangelism in a Skeptical...