Geneva Push

‘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 longer even consider God a question worth considering. SHOW NOTES Evangelism in a Skeptical World: How to Make the Unbelievable News about Jesus More Believable, by Dr. Sam Chan Two Ways To Live The Bridge To Life  Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Sceptical, by Tim Keller A Doubter’s Guide To Jesus, John Dickson One To One Bible Reading, by David Helm The Bigger Questions podcast with Rob Martin from City Bible Forum

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 ways of making contact with the cultures around you. SHOW NOTES Communicating Christ Cross-Culturally, by David J. Hesselgrave Planting Churches Cross-Culturally: A Guide for Home and Foreign Missions, by David J. Hesselgrave Leading Multicultural Teams, by Richard and Evelyn Hibbert The Multiply14 Conference – Multicultural Ministry, at Geneva Push Resources

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? God is still in control - we know that - but how do we make sense of the tough times … see them rightly? Live with them in a way that still brings glory to God? Derek Hanna and Scott Sanders talk to Dave McDonald, the National Director of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, is a pastor, preacher and evangelist who has seen the heights and the depths of ministry … and come through the other side with sound advice to offer. SHOW NOTES Hope Beyond Cure, by Dave McDonald More Than A Carpenter, by Josh McDowell

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 into good communication in a country context, so the Gospel can shine the brightest? Join Scott and Derek as they plumb the depths of this complex issue with Bruce Bennet from Orange Evangelical Church. SHOW NOTES How To Reach and Plant in Regional and Rural Australia, with Ross Pethybridge from Dalby Presbyterian Church and Bruce Bennett from Orange Evangelical Church

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 Christian musician and Magnification Pastor Trevor Hodge to find out the shortcuts to great worship music. SHOW NOTES The Establishing a Music Ministry in Your Church Plant webinar with Phil Percival from Emu Music, at Geneva Push Resources Trevor Hodge’s Magnify Network  Then Sings My Soul, by Phil Percival Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God, by Bob Kauflin Worship by the Book, by Don Carson Songs of the Saints: Enriching our singing by learning from the songs of scripture, by Mike Raiter and Rob Smith

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 series artwork by Steve Kryger from CommunicateJesus.com A graphic gem for church planters, from Geneva Push Resources - The Communications and IT course provided by Church In A Box - Communications workshop from the Multiply18 Conference, with Gus McCowatt, Rachel Vant and Andy Hobbs - Sam Jensen’s graphic design services at Virtual Church Assistant

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 Ministering to regional rural Australia with Bruce Bennett, from Orange Evangelical Church Speak to Mark Short at The Bush Church Aid Society How To Reach and Plant in Regional and Rural Australia, with Ross Pethybridge from Dalby Presbyterian Church

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 three steps to help someone transition to becoming a church planter… 1. Do the Church Planter Competency Assessment, deployed by Geneva Push - https://genevapush.com/get-assessed/   2. Share Church planter stories - https://genevapush.com/search/?_sft_category=church-planting-stories   3. Start something new, like a Simply Christianity course or a new ministry

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 the tricks of the trade. SHOW NOTES The Communications and IT course at Church In A Box Marketplace A team to show you how to do IT effectively: New Front Door The Australian Bureau of Statistics' QuickStats site ID.com.au – The Population Experts

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 developed at least one successor. SHOW NOTES Succession at every level, by Tod Adkins Transition plan: Seven secrets every leader should know, by Bob Russell 5 Leadership Questions episodes on this topic: Pastoral succession Leadership pipelines: content Leadership pipeline: the people 90 Second Leadership - Succession 9-Box , with Todd Adkins

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 Bullets, by Daniel Im

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 principles for planning a Mission Calendar. SHOW NOTES Questioning Evangelism,  by Randy Newman A Better Story - God, Sex and Human Flourishing, by Glynn Harrison The Bigger Questions podcast, by City Bible Fellowship The Mobilising for Mission course, on Church In A Box Online

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 ‘dumping and running’. SHOW NOTES Here's the all-important 25% discount code for the Building Teams course at the Church In A Box Marketplace. Just enter BTTOT025 when you reach the payment window. The Coaching & Delegation course with Peter Mayrick, on Church In A Box Online The Building Teams course with a host of ministry experts on Church In A Box Online Building Leaders: Blueprints for Developing Leadership at Every Level of Your Church, by Aubrey Malphurs and Will Mancini The One Minute Manager Meets The Monkey, by Ken Blanchard

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 Geneva Push’s Directors of Coaching, to sort it all out for us - or at least, give us THE ONE THING we should be keeping our eye on. SHOW NOTES The Building Leaders Booklet, courtesy of EV Church Building Leaders: Blueprints for Developing Leadership at Every Level of Your Church, by Aubrey Malphurs and Will Mancini The 5 Leadership Questions Podcast from Lifeways Leadership, presented by Todd Adkins, Eric Geiger, and Daniel Im

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 finalising teams over the years … and he’s here to share his hard-won lessons, plus THE ONE THING we need to know about our own teams. SHOW NOTES The Building Teams course on Church In A Box Online.  (Discount/Promo code: BTTOT025) An article explaining The Tuckman Stages of Group Development, supplied by the ToolsHero website Also, a Salvation Army hand-out PDF showing the Tuckman stages as a flow chart, and graphed for easy understanding, for use with your teams Google’s Re:Work site on what makes for a great team

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 World: How to Make the Unbelievable News about Jesus More Believable, by Sam Chan

The media just called my church! In the words of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "Don't panic!"

According to the 2016 Australian Census, Australia is one of the least religious nations in the developed world. 7 million Australians identify as having ‘No Religion’. So how do you start ‘talking religion’ to someone whose core belief system is built on the idea that religion doesn’t matter? Join Derek and Scott as they quiz special guest Matt Varcoe on designing missions that target this vital demographic. 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 World: How to Make the Unbelievable News about Jesus More Believable, by Sam Chan