The One Thing

By Reach AustraliaReligion & Spirituality Christianity

The One Thing episodes

April 28, 2024347: Building Project Challenges (Kate Stace)
A building is more than just a rain shelter! How people see the building and how it's used can be a great asset to gospel work. Vine Church has gone through the process of renovating and rebuilding an inner city church.
Kate Stace is the Director of Ministry Operations. She shares:
Thinking about the next generation as you build

Why you should explain how a building project is connected to gospel work

Considering not just the people use it, but the people who walk past too

The expected time burden for the staff in pulling the project off

Getting people to give towards a building

Housing the church while the project is going on

TOOL BOX:
Building Project resources Kate has made available
Advice on during and after builds from Andrew Robson
Kate's email if you have questions
Scott Sander's if you need more details on fundraising

CREDITS:
The One Thing is brought to you by Reach Australia.
For ideas or questions please email [email protected]
To support the Reach Australia Online Library head here.
34 min
April 22, 2024346: Building Management Principles (Kate Stace)
When you have a church building and people who don't attend your church want to use it, what questions should you think through first?
Kate Stace from Vine Church is the Ministry Operations Director at Vine Church in Sydney. She shares:
Why what happens in your church building matters

Using your site as a mission field

Priorities for what the building is used for

Policy nuts and bolts

Questions to ask before outsiders use the space

Church members using the building and why they should

Mistakes Kate's made (and what she learned from them)

TOOL BOX:
Building Management Resources Kate has made available.

CREDITS:
The One Thing is brought to you by Reach Australia.
For ideas or questions please email [email protected]
To support the Reach Australia Online Library head here.
24 min
April 15, 2024345: Why You Might Be Breaking the Law: Music Copyright For Churches
Have you ever noticed the bits of writing at the end of the song you are singing? It should include the acronym CCLI. Christian Copyright Licensing International does not police the law in copyright, but is there to serve the church in making sure we adhere to the laws well and serve our musician brothers and sisters. Bhavani Marks visits us to talk about:
What you need to pay copyright licensing for and who do you need to pay it to.

This can include: playing songs, playing music in the foyer, live streaming, movies and clips of movies, etc.

Reporting and licensing can be an administrative pain, but it is important act of love and obedience.

Other tools that CCLI provides like SongSelect.

How and when churches should be reporting and why it matters to CCLI (and song writers).

TOOL BOX:
CCLI Australia
Song Select
Reach Australia National Conference

CREDITS:
The One Thing is brought to you by ⁠Reach Australia⁠.
For ideas or questions please email ⁠[email protected]⁠
To support the Reach Australia Online Library head ⁠here⁠.
14 min
April 08, 2024344: Does Australia Need Another Church Management Platform?
Australia has seen a number of church management platforms. Do we need another one? ChurchSuite (an online management system built in the UK) is coming to Australia this year. Scott Sanders asks Gavin and Paul from ChurchSuite about how their platform will benefit Australian churches:
Why putting 'people before programs' is so important.

How the platform is designed for people who love tech and those who don't

The relationship between discipleship and database

Helping churches ask the question: Where is the one sheep that is getting lost?

The uniqueness of the platform having 'tags' and 'keynotes'

Is ChurchSuite here for the long term?

TOOL BOX:
churchsuite.com.

CREDITS:
The One Thing is brought to you by Reach Australia.
For ideas or questions please email [email protected]
To support the Reach Australia Online Library head here.
29 min
April 01, 2024343: The Great Name Tag Debate
Vine Church uses name tags, Hunter Bible Church does not. In this episode Toby Neal (Vine Church) and Dave Moore (Hunter Bible Church) face off in a debate about whether name tags are helpful in church.

Arguments for:
Community: They can help people connect as addressing people by name helps with relational interactions

Follow up: Having a check in process helps to get new people's contact details and helps with the followup process after Sunday

Pastoral care: Name tags can be used to see attendance and help reach out to people if they aren’t turning up to church
Arguments against:
It adds a step of complexity to people coming into church

If you train a good welcoming team, you don’t need name tags

It can make church feel like a corporate event when it should be a relational environment
TOOL BOX:
177: Better Welcoming 1
178: Better Welcoming 2
Gospel Growth and Community ebook
28 min
March 25, 2024342: Short Evangelistic Books: Useful or Useless?
Are Christian books still a powerful tool for evangelism? Rory Baxter has been publishing books as cheap as he can, to get them into the hands of as many non- Christians as possible. Here's his take on how they've been effective in churches.

Scott and Rory talk about:
Rory's own story about learning the gospel with dyslexia

What is it about books? You can take it are your own pace, it is easier to give people a book, it sits with people and you can give it away easily

Shorter books allows all types of people to engage with the gospel and they get to the point quickly

Books are a supplement or an addition to evangelistic work within the church. If everyone leaves with a book, they have access to the gospel whenever they want and can return to it anytime.

Different books will work for different people so we need lots of different books but books about Jesus are the most effective in evangelism

Get good books and give them out widely, don’t let cost get in the way because people will read them

TOOLBOX:
10 Of Those
Wandering Bookseller
Matthias Media
Word 1 to 1
12 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Easter.

CREDITS:
The One Thing is brought to you by Reach Australia.
For ideas or questions please email [email protected]
To support the Reach Australia Online Library head here.
18 min
March 18, 2024341: About Growth And Change By Andrew Heard
Andrew Heard has a new book out, Growth and Change. Over the coming weeks we'll be posting conversations that Jo and Scott had with Andrew about the book and its background on the Reach Australia Podcast (our longform podcast).

In this episode of The One Thing, Jo and Scott reflect on their conversation with Andrew. Here are some of the things that they loved:
He works through these struggles biblically and practically

He doesn’t rush to the pragmatics, rather focuses on how the hearts of church leaders need to be in the same place as God’s heart

This then flows into everything - principles of ministry, focus, pragmatics

He challenges ‘what is it we are focusing on?’ - more clarity and directs our energy into the right things.

He challenges the desire in our world to want to measure - why numbers matter, how to use them to assess ministry.

TOOL BOX:
Watch for the 4 Episodes with Andrew Heard on the Reach Australia Podcast (usually comes out on Wednesdays)

‘Growth and Change’ by Andrew Heard

Reach Australia Ministry Framework ebook

CREDITS:
The One Thing is brought to you by Reach Australia.
For ideas or questions please email [email protected]
To support the Reach Australia Online Library head here.
18 min
March 11, 2024340: What St Faith's Changed To See People Converted
St Faith's Anglican Church in Sydney's Northern Beaches has made significant changes to how they think about mission as they pray to see more people saved. We talk with Marcus Druitt from the church about what he has found to be the effective elements of evangelistic courses.

In this episode we discuss:
The important contexts of an evangelistic course, including thinking about your mission funnel and the wider ministry ecosystem.

That more effective gospel presentations are often home grown or adapted for their context

There are some great presentations out there: Alpha, Christianity Explored, Olive Tree Media, Nua (a Scripture Union course)

Using something that is already there to keep the ball rolling. To write your own homegrown course, start with one presentation and then alter it according to what worked and what didn’t work

The teacher teaches, the Spirit convicts, the Christian witnesses around the table

Understand the underlying principles and convictions of the gospel, and adapt that into your context
26 min
March 04, 2024339: Personalising Feedback
God has made us all different. We need to keep this mind when we do the whole thing of feedback: experience, personality, gender, cultural background and their role.
We need to be:
Thinking about the relationships around us and getting to know the people we need to give feedback to.

Caring personally and challenging radically leads to good feedback.

Making sure that people know their role so they know what they are supposed to be doing, but personalising it to "where are you?" and "where should you be?"

Keeping mind some people need to be challenged and some people need to be encouraged.

Keeping mind some people are sensitive and some people need be given more clear feedback.

Thinking about the importance and challenges of cross gender feedback.

Considering different cultures and how they give and receive feedback.

Reflecting on real delegation and roles.

Remembering that different people have different emotional responses to feedback.

TOOL BOX:
⁠Radical Candor⁠ by Kim Scott
⁠6 Steps⁠ to Radical Candor
⁠One Page Summary⁠ of Radical Candor
⁠What women in ministry really want from their senior pastor⁠ by Clare Deeves
⁠The Culture Map⁠ by Ern Meyer
⁠Leadership and the Culture Map⁠
⁠Level 1 Coaching⁠ with Reach Australia.

CREDITS:
The One Thing is brought to you by ⁠Reach Australia⁠.
For ideas or questions please email ⁠[email protected]⁠
To support the Reach Australia Online Library head ⁠here⁠.
30 min
February 26, 2024338: Enhancing Your Team's Success With Rhythms of Feedback
Feedback needs to be something that is a regular thing, but it also needs some formal rhythms of review.
Importance of regular reviews for staff and other leadership

Asking key questions: What are you doing well? What could you do better? What do you need to develop?

Also gives opportunity for others to raise things to develop the culture of the ministry and team

Importance of reviews as individuals and teams

Staff getting reviews at least once a year and teams reviewing each quarter

Starting the review process as a team leader: start with yourself

Starting the review process as a team member: ask for it

Pros and cons of 360 reviews

TOOL BOX:
⁠335: Silent Congregations: Exploring the Unspoken Barriers to Providing Feedback⁠⁠
⁠⁠336: How to Give Effective Feedback⁠
337:
Put it in your calendar!
26 min