Conference Timetable

Ecosystem Workshop: Mission

This workshop explores the key principles for creating church as a healthy ‘mission’ ecosystem. Graeme and Scott will help you think through the key systems and structures for moving not-yet Christians into the life of church.

Speakers:

Graeme Fuller

Grahame lives on the Central Coast with his wife Megan and three kids, Joelle, Lani and Tim. He is one of the ministers at EVChurch working in the mission, maturity and ministry areas, which means he spends most of his time leading others to mobilise evangelism, teach the Bible, and training leaders. He also enjoys the beach, reading and loves hanging out with his family.

Scott Sanders

Scott Sanders serves as the Executive Director and is responsible for ensuring Geneva’s vision is implemented. He leads our Recruit and Assess Teams. During the last 7 years Scott has been involved in leading Australia-wide church planting research, developing Geneva’s assessment tools and working alongside church leaders and planting couples to see over 65 churches established. He lives in Sydney, is married to Natalie, has 4 beautiful daughters, and is a member of Vine Church + St Michaels in Sydney.

Workshop: Personal Evangelism & the Ecosystem

How do we mobilise everyone to be on mission, both personally and as groups? Where does personal evangelism fit in the church ecosystem? This workshop will explore how to capture everyone with the vision of the lost – setting a high bar on the expectation that every person will be captured by a vision of the lost and a desire to see this church ongoingly grow with newly converted people.

Speakers:

Sam Hilton

Sam lives in Newcastle and currently works as the Mission Pastor at Hunter Bible Church. He is married to Prue and has four beautiful girls. He loves hanging out with the kids on the weekend, getting to the beach & drinking coffee. His great passion is sharing the good news of Jesus with people in Newcastle.

Ecosystem Workshop: Community

It’s so important that we build biblical communities rather than big crowds.This workshop will help churches and leaders build churches that love newcomers well, helping them find a place to explore the Gospel and grow towards maturity in the local church.

Speakers:

Tim Clemens

Tim is the Lead Pastor of Grace City Church. Tim grew up in Sydney, is married to Emma and has two children, Brooke & Tyler. He describes himself as an entrepreneur with the heart of an evangelist, and wants to see lots of bible-based churches planted all over Australia. He and Emma started Grace City in 2014. Tim loves preaching, surfing, and good coffee.

Amy Townsend

Amy is the Membership and Ministry Director at Grace City Church. Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matt 9:37) so after running her own business for six years, Amy made the decision to spend two years doing a Ministry Apprenticeship (MTS) with Grace City Church. One thing led to the next, and Amy now works full time at Grace City and studies part time at SMBC. She is married to Jesse and in her free time you’ll usually finding her crocheting (or making jewellery or knitting or planting succulents!).

Workshop: The Integration Engine

How do you move people into the life of the church? This workshop will unpack the systems and structures you need to move people from community, to crowd, to regularly attending church and becoming committed to your church family.

Speakers:

Amy Townsend

Amy is the Membership and Ministry Director at Grace City Church. Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matt 9:37) so after running her own business for six years, Amy made the decision to spend two years doing a Ministry Apprenticeship (MTS) with Grace City Church. One thing led to the next, and Amy now works full time at Grace City and studies part time at SMBC. She is married to Jesse and in her free time you’ll usually finding her crocheting (or making jewellery or knitting or planting succulents!).

Ecosystem Workshop: Church Operations

The support structures to ensure ministry is done are vital for any church. Andrew Mitchell and Kate Stace will look at some of the key ministry structures and systems needed to grow healthy churches.

Speakers:

Andrew Mitchell

Andrew is Executive Pastor in the leadership team of EV Church at Erina and oversees the planning and reporting cycle. Andrew has been serving in various church governance and pastoral leadership roles since 1983. He has also held senior executive positions in the insurance, merchant banking and social service sectors. This has given him the opportunity to see many approaches to organisational planning and reporting.

Kate Stace

Kate is the Director of Ministry Operations at Vine Church in Surry Hills where she helps make sure the church is run well. Kate loves thinking about how things are organised and reckons most people underestimate how influential operations are in ministry. Before she was at Vine Church, Kate worked in schools ministry at Crusaders and originally studied business. Kate is married to Jackson, and enjoys making desserts and a good practical joke.

Workshop: Leading through others

Every church has some system in place for gettting people to serve. A key shift every church leader needs to make is leading through others or leading through team leaders (someone who has a large area of responsibility). This workshop explores the how of developing Team Leaders as part of the church ecosystem.

Speakers:

Rhett Harris

Rhett is married to Karina and they have 4 children. He has served at EV Church (Central Coast, NSW) since 2002. Rhett became the inaugural executive pastor for ‘Ministry’ (part of he ‘Five Ms model’) in late 2009, now with over 1000 members serving in ministry teams across church.

Ecosystem Workshop: Building Leaders

One of the biggest challenges in churches is having enough leaders. How do you get people to serve? This workshop will explore the practicalities (poetry & plumbling) of getting people to serve, the building blocks for creating a ‘teams’ culture and intentionally developing leaders. During the workshop, we’ll look at case studies from Church by the Bridge (James Galea, Ministry Pastor) and MBM South West Sydney (Grant Borg, Church Planter).

Speakers:

Rhett Harris

Rhett Harris will be speaking at this workshop on Building Leaders, including exploring the practicalities (poetry & plumbling) of getting people to serve, the building blocks for creating a ‘teams’ culture and intentionally developing leaders.

Cathie Heard

Cathie and her Husband Andrew Heard planted EV Church on the Central Coast in 1996 which has seen hundreds of people in that area and beyond come to know Jesus. Cathie is the Director of Coaching at Geneva Push and loves being a coach and particularly helping people learn how to be great coaches of others in order to encourage people in their ministry.

Grant Borg

Grant is saved by Jesus, married to Clare, and the proud father of Leah and Amber. Born and bred in the Fairfield suburb of Horsley Park, Grant spent his childhood exploring the outback and riding dirt bikes. He is right at home in the South West of Sydney and plans to proclaim the good news of Jesus there for many years to come.

James Galea

James is the Ministry Pastor at Church by the Bridge, Kirribilli and is married to Charlotte and they have three kids, Audrey, Grace and Thomas. James loves preaching, comedy, instant coffee and birdwatching.

Workshop: Evangelism Courses in the Ecosystem

Churches often hunt around for the killer program. The reality is that evangelistic courses often work only when they are part of a healthy church with a comprehensive mission plan. This workshop will help you think into how you use an evangelistic course as part of the church ecosystem.

Speakers:

Dave Robertson

Dave is the Unichurch Campus Director and one of the Mission Pastors at Hunter Bible Church. He has been involved in coordinating the running of mission structures for over 7 years and he and his wife Katie have been a part of HBC for 12 years.

Workshop: Culture and the ecosystem

Australia is in the midst of ‘gospel climate change’ or has the tide finally gone out? Steve McAlpine from Third Space will help us navigate the big shifts in thinking that have and are shaping our current Australian culture. Steve will help us navigate what this means for our churches and how we can respond.

Speakers:

Steve McAlpine

Steve McAlpine is approaching an age which would be a more than useful Test batting average. He is a pastor of Providence Church Midland in WA, is married to Jill and together they have two children, Sophie and Declan. Steve grew up in Northern Ireland, but apart from rolling his “r’s”, and talking too fast, is a West Aussie through and through. He has degrees in journalism and theology and enjoys combining the two through writing and blogging, especially on matters of church planting and cultural negotiation for Christians in the increasingly complex West.

Workshop: Youth Ministry in the Ecosystem

What are the big principles you need to be thinking through when understanding how Youth fits into the church ecosystem? We will speak about the false dichotomy of Youthwork, Youth size dynamics, understanding the key pathways INTO and OUT of Youth, how to assess your Youth/Young Adults health, how to build deeper kids & youth across the whole of church and how to invest well with leaders. This workshop will split into those with Youth Groups under 50 and those with Youth Groups over 50 to better understand the size challenges.

Speakers:

Tamara Boyle

Tamara has been involved in youth ministry at EV Church for the past 10 years, 7 of which as part of EV Youth’s executive leadership team. Tamara heads up the team of Year 7-9 leaders at EV Youth and loves seeing them grow in their personal godliness, gospel vision and confidence in sharing the gospel with teenagers.

Workshop: Building a training hospital

As we seek to reach Australia with the gospel, we can’t do it unless we have a multiplying mindset. We’ve got to raise up the next generation of leaders for our churches, as well as ensuring our teams are trained well for the ministry set before them. Eugene will spend this workshop helping to develop a multiplying mindset for your church.

Speakers:

Eugene Hor

Eugene leads the team at GracePoint Presbyterian in Sydney, a multi-site church community which he and his wife Pauline planted in 1999. They have 2 teenagers, Ashleigh & Joshua. Eugene also serves at Christ College as adjunct lecturer in preaching.

Workshop: From Rosters to Teams

How do you move from rosters to teams? Team pastoring requires a significant shift and culture change for most churches. This workshop is more a case study – Matt Lehmann, Church Planter and Senior Pastor at Trinity Inner South in Adelaide shares the 24 month journey the church, staff team and he as leader went through to move from rosters to teams.

Speakers:

Matt Lehmann

Matt is the Senior Pastor at Trinity Inner South in Adelaide which is part of the Trinity Network of churches who have planted 7 churches in Adelaide since 2001. As a network they are working towards having the spiritual fitness to plant a church a year. God has really blessed Inner South in its first three years and they are prayerfully seeking to continually grow evangelistically sharper.

Workshop: Operations for a church plant

Geting a church started is hard work. One of the big questions faced by the church planter is ‘where do I start?’ Andrew Mitchell has extensive experience working with new churches to set up the ministry support structures and systems. This workshop will look at the key ministry structures and systems needed to start a healthy church.

Speakers:

Andrew Mitchell

Andrew is Executive Pastor in the leadership team of EV Church at Erina and oversees the planning and reporting cycle. Andrew has been serving in various church governance and pastoral leadership roles since 1983. He has also held senior executive positions in the insurance, merchant banking and social service sectors. This has given him the opportunity to see many approaches to organisational planning and reporting.

Workshop: Marriage & Ministry in the midst of conflict

Conflict is an inevitable part of leading any church – no matter was size or where you are on the lifecycle. How does your marriage flourish in the context of significant conflict. Dave and Ruth Sheath who lead The Lake’s church in NSW’s Central Coast reflect on what they’ve learnt over a lifetime of marriage and ministry.

Speakers:

Dave & Ruth Sheath

Dave(married to Ruth) is the founding pastor of The Lakes Church since its inception in 2002. The Lakes is located in Tuggerah on the Central Coast. After 18 years meeting in school buildings, The Lakes recently moved into their own purpose built ministry centre. Dave and Ruth have three adult children and two daughters-in-law.

Ruth is married to David, together they planted The Lakes Church. As church has grown Ruth has been involved in serving this church family in many ways, including training and mentoring ministry trainees and volunteers. She counts it a privilege to have such a long and deep involvement as part of the church and the wider community. Ruth loves spending time with her 3 adult children and 2 daughters in law. As a professional supervisor, Ruth supervises and coaches a range of ministry workers.

Workshop: Developing Women Leaders in the ecosystem

How do you grow serving convictions for women in your church? How do you get the ask right for serving? What are the ministry opportunities for women? What structures do you need to put in place to encourage more women to serve in your church? This workshop will explore these questions and give you practical ideas for implementation in your church.