The One Thing

It's one thing getting feedback, but what about receiving and looking for feedback. We continue our series on feedback. In this episode we look at Look for feedback means you will be more open to receiving it. As a leader you create a culture of feedback when you ask for it. Keep mind who you are asking feedback from: their role, experience and authority. When receiving feedback notice your ow...

Feedback is an essential part of developing people in ministry. We need to know how to do it well. Here are some tips for giving good, effective feedback: Using a tool called the SBI tool Being clear on the purpose, people, place, timing, tone and followup of feedback Making sure we are clear on the purpose of feedback: to make people better Making sure feedback is part of our culture, therefore i...

Feedback is such an important part of the culture of a growing church. Why don't we do it? Recently, we received some feedback in the Reach Australia resource library that we needed some new tools on feedback so welcome to the next few weeks as we look at the idea of feedback. Why do we not give feedback? We have had some back experiences with feedback We are worried what it will do to the rel...

We continue our exploration into how AI can help us in ministry. In this episode we go beyond CHATGPT to look at marketing, writing and other uses for AI in ministry. CHAPTGPT for brainstorming, coming up with a marketing plan and sharpening emails. Text to Image AI for producing kids ministry resources and illustrations for sermons. Creating reels (short videos for social media) using AI Using AI...

AI has become an phenomena in the world. We're exploring how something like CHATGPT can be useful for ministry and where it cannot be substituted for person-to-person ministry. Analysis: Finding trends in data and preaching: repeated illustrations, hobby horses, proportion of application Limitations: AI is not aware of copyright issues Chatbots on church websites have limited value. They might...

Term 1 is on the way. What do I need to think about? Reminding people of the vision. Dripping vision into all things we do. Giving people a plan for the year. Have a plan for: preaching, mission, serving (recruiting, developing, onboarding and celebrating). Plan to plan for the year. Plan your holidays. Make sure you are bringing on new staff well. Planning out Easter, which is early this year. We...

Dr Patricia Weerakoon discusses why our churches need to have clarity about gender, orientation and identity from pastoral, theological and medical perspectives.   There has been significant shifts in people presenting with transgender issues since around 2011-12 Biology - sexual gender, orientation and identity Making distinctions between personality, stereotyping and sexual identity Engaging...

Rory Shiner would love to make "Christianity weird again" and so has written a book on the cross.  His third book in his backwards trilogy, Forgiven Forever, is  practical and accessible. In this chat he and Jo talk about: We need a book on the cross to help us live it out. Forgiveness in world of cancel culture. Forgiveness helps us deal with the shame, the inner grandma, that bot...

Merry Christmas from Reach Australia and The One Thing Crew! SHOW NOTES: Follow us on socials  ⁠Instagram⁠  ⁠Facebook⁠  ⁠TikTok

Last week we looked at how important it is to celebrate in ministry. This week we do something a little different and talk about what we, in the Reach Australia Network have to celebrate:  The National Conference in May, and the encouragement it was to see so many people in the room and the great things they took away to learn to be better at community. New church plants that have launched thi...

The thing about December is that it is a month of celebrating as we draw near to the end of the year, and as we celebrate Jesus coming into the world.  But when it comes to ministry, why is celebration so essential? Jo and Scott talk about the importance of celebrating in ministry and not just in December.  Today we cover: Why celebrate and the importance of 'smilestones'. The importanc...

Dubbo Presbyterian has had a history of good evangelical work, but as Allan Blanch and Dave Ferris explain, some key changes have had a big effect on their growth over the last few years. Clearer outcomes has meant that the church is ready to buy into the vision of the church Moving staff from congregational oversight to working as a team Moving from rosters to teams very quickly (and whether they...

Southside Presbyterian Church grew from 100 to 300 people over three years, but interestingly, the pastors decided that they didn't need to grow the staff team. Instead, they've focused on ingraining a culture of teams, instead of having a philosophy of church members just being put on a roster. Ross Wilson and Ben Mansfield (pastors at Southside) share: Their team dynamic has changed quit...

Alan Au became the Senior Pastor at Captivate Presbyterian Church in North Ryde, Sydney when it was a church in its infancy. The church had a rocky start after the planter stepped down due to moral failure. Seven years later, the church has been growing and is prepping to start their second service. The complicated history of Captivate Presbyterian Church How Alan equips and gives responsibility t...

Dave Jensen (EV Church, Central Coast) and Anna Cox (Reach Australia) are twins born into a ministry family, but they have very different stories. After growing up together hearing the same gospel message, Dave walked away from Jesus in his 20s. Anna describes herself as a rule keeper and Dave as a rule breaker - how did that impact their relationship? This is part one of a two part series explori...

Dave Jensen (EV Church, Central Coast) and Anna Cox (Reach Australia) are twins born into a ministry family, but they have very different stories. After growing up together hearing the same gospel message, Dave walked away from Jesus in his 20s. Anna describes herself as a rule keeper and Dave as a rule breaker - how did that impact their relationship? This is part one of a two part series explori...

In this second part of the conversation Ben and Mark dig into how ecosystem thinking works in a multi-ethnic church.   You should listen to the first part of the conversation. Loving God (especially on a Sunday) Think about who's up front Think about how they are presented Consider different prayer styles  Consider singing in different languages Mission Use story telling When reading th...

If Australia is a multi-ethnic nation, how can that be expressed in a church community? How multicultural should we be aiming for churches to be? What are some of the practical aspects of becoming a multicultural church? In the first part of this two part conversation Pete Hughes talks with Ben Ho, from the Centenary church plant in Brisbane and Mark Boyley from MBM Church in Sydney about how and...

For centuries, Christians have dispatched missionaries to far-flung regions, carrying the gospel to those who have yet to hear it. Australia, too, has been a participant in this mission. Now, those individuals to whom missionaries were sent are making their way to our shores, and this is indeed a tremendous blessing! Pete chats with Kamal Weerakoon who has recently completed a PhD on migrant Chris...

In August 2021: there were 3.0 million permanent migrants in Australia who arrived since 2000 India was the top country of birth among permanent migrants (439,700 people) 59% of permanent migrants were Australian citizens (1.8 million people) 89% of permanent migrants reported being proficient in English (2.7 million people). How do we think about this as churches? Jo sits down with Paul Webb from...

Looking at planting a church, or supporting a church plant, but not sure where?  Here is a list of the places we need to plant in the next year: Place 1: Ipswich & Surrounds (Queensland) Hugely growing area!! Projected growth 185,500 in 2022 to 318,200 in 2031  Place 2: West Melbourne (Victoria) A lot of people from south and central Asia moving into the areas  Place 3: North & So...

Can we learn anything from church planting books or should we just get on with ministry and just plant churches? SHOW NOTES: Derek's top 5: Center Church by Tim Keller Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer and Daniel Im Nuts and Bolts of Church Planting by Aubery Malphurs Honest Church Planting by Tom Bennardo Apostolic Church Planting by J.D. Payne Scott's Top 5 Planting Churches Cros...

5 Dysfunctions of a Team is a great tool from business guru Patrick Lencioni. This has been used as a tool in our new team development program. The fundamental dysfunction of a team is a lack of trust. Jo talks with Rhett Harris about about how and why trust matters to a team. They look at: What is trust? How is trust and safety connected? Why is trust is so important to building an effective team...

It's the time of year where we need to start planning 2024! Derek talks to Des Smith from Trinity Church Lockleys about how to plan out a preaching series: Is it the role of the senior minster or is this something that can be delegated? What are the principles we need when planning out a series and why smaller passages might be better? Why seasons of the year and genres of books matter when pl...

We all have identity issues and it has become the hot topic around the place at the moment. But how does it affect gospel workers particularly? James Lewis from Norwest Anglican church reflects on his own experiences as he prepared talks on identity: How did this series come about and how did it work? Is identity formation really a big issue? Why busyness is bad for identity, even when you love mi...