The One Thing

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...

Term 4 is not the time to slow down, we have great opportunities in events like Christmas but also planning for 2024. Make sure you are ready to go. You need to ask questions like: How do I make the most of Christmas and more importantly what comes next for people who are interested in finding out more? How are you increasing mission heat leading up to Christmas and in January? Have I planned out...

"Referring people on to experts is an act of love". Lauren Errington is asked about when is it a good time for someone to see someone professionally about a mental health issue. She recommends asking ourselves: Do you have the expertise? Do you have the capacity and time to deal with this? How do I have the conversation that someone needs some help? Who should they see? SHOW NOTES: Reach...

Pastors what to help people, but when does this desire get the way of actually helping people?  Lauren Errington from the Family Systems Institute addresses some of the questions we need to ask when it comes to helping people, even well intentioned help:  - Who is actually responsible for what? - Have we confused empathy with needing to feel all the feelings the other person is feeling? - Is...

What is 'rest'? In our last episode we saw that rest was more than sleep and not working. Derek and Scott look at the work of Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith on different types of rest. 1. Physical Rest Giving your body a rest. 2. Mental Rest It could be that you need to give your mind a rest. 3. Emotional Rest We can get emotionally tired when we are not paying attention to our emotions. 4. Spiri...

Is the reason that gospel workers are tired because they don't understand what rest is? Derek and Scott discuss three myths of rest: Myth #1: Doing more work does not make us better workers:  Truth #1: Resting makes us better, more effective workers Myth #2: I don’t need to rest, that’s what holidays are for Truth#2: You can’t binge your rest, it needs to be a habit Myth #3: I get some sleep e...

What advice would you give your younger self, especially in ministry? We asked Al and Kathy Stewart and Laurel Hall and asked them what they would say in Part 2 of our learning from elders. "I need you to manage your time and you want to really focus on ministry and really go for it. But also you got to be give your family strong marriage, your kids. Remember, your little kids are only  littl...

What advice would you give your younger self, especially in ministry? We asked Gary Koo, Peter Moore, Greg and Emma Lee and asked them what they would say as Derek and Jo reflect on their wisdom. "One piece of advice would be, do I truly trust that God's sovereign and I'm not in control? The second piece of advice: Do I actually know who I am to the point where I'm happy for peopl...

How do we think about our money and resources as Christian disciples? Yoel Frank has written a book to help us practically think through what it means to be a disciple with money. 1. Live Simply 2. Give Habitually 3. Spend Missionally 4. Invest Impactfully 5. Steward Wisely SHOW NOTES: The Barefoot Disciple Webpage ** If you purchase the Barefoot Disciple from this link , Yoel will donate the proc...

Money is a taboo topic for churches, and there has been some ministries that have brought disrepute to the gospel through the misuse of money, Yet we need to manage and talk about money and generosity as churches not just for budgets but because money management is a part of being a disciple. Jo talks with Tish Maier, Reach Australia's Support Manager, about how and why ministers need to talk...

There is caring for people who are in need and there is disciple making. But do these things need to be at odds? Sally Sims is the Care Ministry Coordinator at Christ Church, St Ives, on Sydney's North Shore. She's author of Together Through the Storm A Practical Guide to Christian Care and she sits down with Jo Gibbs to talk about how pastoral care can be disciple making.   SHOW NOTES: Sa...

There's times when life falls apart and things just don't turn out as we planned, and they're often unexpected things that turn up that are not in your diary. It can be a matter of time before gospel workers are overwhelmed with requests and needs. How do we manage all this? Sally Sims is the Care Ministry Coordinator at Christ Church, St Ives, on Sydney's North Shore. She's au...

People think they come to church 17% more than they actually do!  Scott chats with Richard Sweatman and Antony Barraclough about their new book Unmissable church with advice for pastors and members of churches to encourage people to come to church more regularly. In this episode they look at whether going to a small group is enough, what excuses people make for not going to church and how do you b...