The One Thing

Joining the discussion is Matt Varcoe, Pastor at Grace City Church in Sydney, known for his mission-driven approach. They tackle the challenges of addressing faith with Australia’s growing non-religious demographic. Matt shares innovative strategies for engaging the local community and building relationships without pressure. He highlights the importance of creating safe spaces for open dialogue about life's meaning, ultimately making faith discussions more accessible and inviting for those skeptical of religion.

What you call them depends a lot on your spiritual background - they could be Bible studies, community groups, cell groups or fellowship groups … what they should always be though, is the one place where the Christian growth really gets going. If we want small groups to flourish, we need to think through how we build the right small group culture. SHOW NOTES Growth Groups, by Col Marshall Leading Better Bible Studies, by Rod and Karen Morris Pathways Bible Studies, by Matthias Media Church In A Box Marketplace’s Small Group Studies

Do you want to grow the members of your team as disciples of Jesus? Do you want to empower them to be on mission with you? Then begin loving them enough to provide them clear role descriptions - not only of the roles they’re going to play, but how they contribute to the wider mission of your church or ministry.

Hate them or love them, meetings are still a crucial part of leadership. Teams have to be organised, informed, allowed to contribute and sent out - unless you want to do all the work yourself. So, if you’re going to lead well, you have to learn to run meetings well. What are the types of meetings you need to run? How often do you need to run them? And how do you make sure they achieve their purpose? Scott and Derek let you know. SHOW NOTES Death by Meeting, by Patrick Lencioni A great note taking tool to record what happens in a meeting, including Evernote and Microsoft OneNote Asana online project managing software

Ministry Dashboards – what are they, how do they work, and why should you want one? When you’re trying to work out how a ministry is going, there’s actually a place for data, statistical trends, and bright and shiny graphs. Scott Sanders and Derek Hanna speak to two Adelaide ministers who’ve managed to put Ministry Dashboards to great use. SHOW NOTES Vital Signs by Tony Morgan The Ministry Dashboard Session with Andrew Mitchell and Tim Clemens, from Multiply18 Simple Church, by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger Examples of different Ministry Dashboards: Church health indicators Church health indicator examples Grace City Ministry Dashboard

You’re a minister of the Gospel - you’d love to tell someone about Jesus, of course! But Christianity is increasingly on the nose in Australia and around the world. What do you need to do in order to side-step the cultural landmines that lie between you and a soul-saving conversation? Live from Multiply18, Scott Sanders and Derek Hanna speak to prominent Christian blogger and agent provocateur Steve McAlpine on PERSUADING an audience as you set about PROCLAIMING the gospel. SHOW NOTES The Disappearing Church: From Cultural Relevance to Gospel Resilience, by Mark Sayers The Jordan Peterson Podcast How Not To Be Secular, by Jamie Smith Our Secular Age: Ten Years of Reading and Applying Charles Taylor, by Collin Taylor First Things Journal

How does a Christian balance enjoying God’s goodness and sacrificing your life? The reality of life ‘under the sun’ is that the everyday circumstances of life - the highs, the lows - are full of mundane stuff, and multiple options, choices and sacrifices... This episode we talk to Mikey Lynch, author of The Good Life In The Last Days and see how a Christian ministry worker should go about making decisions. SHOW NOTES The Good Life In The Last Days, by Mikey Lynch The Prodigal God, by Tim Keller The Reason For God, Tim Keller Guidance And The Voice Of God, by Phillip Jensen and Tony Payne The Word, One To One

The most difficult question in any ministry has to be, “What should I be doing… now?” What’s next on my agenda? Al Stewart tells us setting priorities in ministry is a must. It’s too easy to follow a particular passion down a rabbit hole, and wake up to realise you’ve forgotten something truly important. SHOW NOTES Google Inbox, by Gmail Google Calendar How to add reminders in Google Calendar

Ministry apprentices can play an integral role in building a culture of training in your church. But what are the top three issues that apprentices have, as they take on a ministry? And maybe just as important, what are the top three issues you want to address in years you’ve got them? SHOW NOTES The Trellis and the Vine, by Col Marshall and Tony Payne The Ministry Training Strategy ‘G8 Conference’. The 2019 event will be posted here Passing the Baton, by Col Marshall

If we take a step back and remind ourselves that we’re trying to reach Australia with the Gospel, it doesn’t take long to realise that it’s a job too big for even the most capable person to do on their own. So, if we’re going to make a dent in that challenging task, we need to become church leaders who aren’t just thinking about doing ministry...but thinking about multiplying themselves. SHOW NOTES Multipliers: Leading Beyond Addition, by Todd Wilson Free Multiplication Assessment by Church Multiplication All for the Kingdom, by Ben Pfahlert & Katie Omrod Pipeline: Succession at every level, by Lifeway.com The Building leaders Down Under Tour, brought to you by Geneva Push