The One Thing

Reach Australia
  • 4.7 (62)
  • CHRISTIANITY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

One solid, practical tip for gospel-centred ministry every week. Reach Australia is a network of churches - working together to seeing thousands of healthy, evangelistic, multiplying churches across Australia.

  1. 3 HRS AGO

    450 What are your Sunday gathering debriefs actually achieving?

    In this episode, Derek Hanna is joined by Paul Young (planter of Providence Church Bayswater, Perth) to think about how church teams reflect on Sundays, and whether those debrief conversations are actually helping the church grow in mission, or just recycling obvious feedback. They explore how different churches approach Sunday debriefs, what often goes wrong when they drift into planning or post-mortems, and how teams can use that time more effectively to focus on big-picture strategy, prayer, and gospel priorities. Rather than tweaking slides or reviewing logistics, Paul argues that this time is best used to step back, pray, and work on the larger questions of mission, growth, and where God is at work in the life of the church. In this episode: Why many Sunday debriefs don’t add much valueThe risk of turning debriefs into planning meetings or critique sessionsHow to shift from details to big-picture strategy and prayerQuestions that help teams focus on mission and gospel growthHow to use shared team time for decisions you can’t make aloneToolbox: Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp (Chapter on Glory) The Church by Edmund Clowney The Church on Mission by Craig Ott Planting the Word by Erin Crider Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni Credits:  This episode was brought to you by Lending Hands Mortgage Brokers The One Thing is brought to you by ⁠⁠Reach Australia⁠⁠ To pray for Reach Australia, join our ⁠⁠WhatsApp Group⁠⁠ For ideas or questions please email ⁠⁠resources@reachaustralia.com.au⁠⁠ Support Reach Australia's online library

    23 min

  2. 6 DAYS AGO

    449 Mapping the mess: the difference an org chart makes for your church

    Church life can get messy quickly. In this episode, Scott Sanders chats with Chris Rhooleht about why having a simple serve chart can help bring clarity to ministry, showing who’s doing what, where responsibilities sit, and where people might be carrying too much. They discuss how serve charts can help churches care for people well, identify gaps in ministry, and plan for the future. In this episode: Why every church should have an serve chartHow to spot ministry overload and unclear responsibilitiesPractical tools to help you map your teamsUsing serve charts to plan for growth, staffing, and church plantingToolbox: ⁠Lucid Chart⁠ ⁠Miro Chart⁠ ⁠Guide to Church Staffing by The Unstack Group Blog Post⁠ ⁠Contact Us for More Resources⁠ Credits:  This episode was brought to you by ⁠Exdia⁠ The One Thing is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠Reach Australia⁠⁠⁠ To pray for Reach Australia, join our ⁠⁠⁠WhatsApp Group⁠⁠⁠ For ideas or questions please email ⁠⁠⁠resources@reachaustralia.com.au⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Support Reach Australia's online library⁠

    28 min

  3. 22 APR

    448 Great Monday staff meetings: lessons in leading teams

    Most staff meetings feel like a drain. Too long, unclear, and full of talk that changes nothing. But what if your weekly meeting could actually strengthen your team, sharpen your culture, and leave people encouraged?  In this episode, Andrew Mitchell (Executive Pastor at EV Church on NSW's Central Coast) joins Pete Hughes to unpack why great staff meetings are one of the most overlooked leadership tools in ministry, and how to run them well. • Why the best staff meeting may not be about decisions at all• How healthy meetings shape culture across the whole church• A simple framework that creates energy, clarity, and momentum• The common mistakes that make meetings frustrating and ineffective• Practical ideas for small teams, not just large churches Key points:  Why the main weekly meeting isn’t for making decisionsHow to structure a Monday meeting, from lunch to prayer to trainingThe hidden cost of mixing decision-making with culture-buildingWhy encouragement and shared stories aren’t optional extrasWhat smaller teams can actually apply without copying everythingToolbox: Andrew Mitchell’s terms of reference staff meeting document  Credits:  This episode was brought to you by Safe Ministry Check The One Thing is brought to you by ⁠⁠Reach Australia⁠⁠ To pray for Reach Australia, join our ⁠⁠WhatsApp Group⁠⁠ For ideas or questions please email ⁠⁠resources@reachaustralia.com.au⁠⁠ Support Reach Australia's online library

    17 min

  4. 15 APR

    447 From 5 to 37: how one church reworked their evangelism course invitation

    The Point Community Church in Port Macquarie, NSW was growing at 10% a year, but barely anyone was actually becoming a Christian. When they benchmarked themselves against other churches, the gap was stark: other churches were seeing 5–7x more non-Christians come through their evangelistic courses. So they asked hard questions about what was actually happening, and made a series of deliberate changes, especially around how they invited people into their evangelism course. Registrations jumped from 5 to 37. Around seven people came to faith, with ten more still exploring. Derek Hanna talks with Steve Covetz (Lead Pastor) and Kate Stace (Director of Ministry Operations) about facing brutal facts, mobilising a whole church to invite, and what actually moved the needle. Toolbox: Discover Magnet used by Kate and Steve Mission ebook by Dave Jensen Evangelism in the Local Church by Dave Jensen and Paul Brennan Previous Reach Australia Conference Resources Mission Consults by Reach Australia Credits:  This episode was brought to you by Safe Ministry Check The One Thing is brought to you by ⁠⁠Reach Australia⁠⁠ To pray for Reach Australia, join our ⁠⁠WhatsApp Group⁠⁠ For ideas or questions please email ⁠⁠resources@reachaustralia.com.au⁠⁠ Support Reach Australia's online library

    27 min

  5. 7 APR

    446 When church can’t function without you: breaking the always-needed cycle

    If you stepped away for a month, would your church stall? The hero complex in ministry rarely announces itself. It feels like diligence. Responsibility. Sacrifice. But underneath can sit something more dangerous — the quiet belief that everything depends on us. In this episode, we explore: What the hero complex really is and why it shows up in gospel ministry The warning signs, from micromanaging to confusing busyness with fruitfulness How our identity in Christ steadies us when things go well or poorly When to say no, and how to do it with clarity Why building teams and sharing responsibility is part of faithful leadership If you’ve ever felt indispensable, exhausted, or quietly resentful that others don’t carry what you carry, this conversation is for you. Toolbox: Steve Waugh’s Cricket Highlights Reach Australia’s Coaching Program Credits:  This episode was brought to you by Exdia  The One Thing is brought to you by ⁠⁠Reach Australia⁠⁠ To pray for Reach Australia, join our ⁠⁠WhatsApp Group⁠⁠ For ideas or questions please email ⁠⁠resources@reachaustralia.com.au⁠⁠ Support Reach Australia's online library

    18 min

  6. 31 MAR

    445 What your bookshelf says about your ministry: reading as leadership formation (Rory Shiner)

    You can usually tell what’s going on in a pastor’s ministry by what’s on their bedside table. Not the books they recommend, but the ones they are actually reading, half-reading, or quietly avoiding. Rory Shiner opens up his own reading habits and presses the question most of us avoid: are we still being shaped, or just repeating what we learned years ago? Are we still the kind of people who are learning, so that when we open the Bible we are not simply repeating ourselves, but speaking with fresh clarity shaped by a life still being formed by God’s word? In this episode: What your current reading habits reveal about your ministryWhy finishing books is often the wrong goalThe kind of reading that actually feeds preaching over timeWhy reading ahead matters more than scrambling each weekWhat poetry, fiction, and biography give you that ministry books cannotHow shallow reading shapes shallow instincts in people workWhy curiosity fades in ministry and why it is worth protecting Toolbox: Biblical Critical Theory by Christopher Watkin Collected Poems by Les Murray Poems Chosen by Paul Kelly The Discarded Image by C. S. Lewis One Forever by Rory Shiner Forgiven Forever by Rory Shiner Raised Forever by Rory Shiner The World Next Door by Rory Shiner Credits:  This episode was brought to you by Lending Hands Mortgage Brokers  The One Thing is brought to you by ⁠⁠Reach Australia⁠⁠ To pray for Reach Australia, join our ⁠⁠WhatsApp Group⁠⁠ For ideas or questions please email ⁠⁠resources@reachaustralia.com.au⁠⁠ Support Reach Australia's online library

    41 min

  7. 24 MAR

    444 What last year's church launches are teaching the rest of us

    Church planting is often treated as something only large churches can do. The latest Growth and Change report suggests otherwise. Across the Reach Australia network, smaller churches and unlikely partnerships are launching new congregations and reaching people who were never going to walk into an existing church. This episode explores what last year’s church plants are teaching the rest of us. If most Australians still don’t know Jesus, the question isn’t whether churches feel ready to plant, but whether we are organising our ministry to reach the 95% who aren’t in church. In this episode: Why new churches continue to reach new peopleThe rise of partnerships between churches to plant togetherHow smaller churches are multiplying through intentional leadership pipelinesThe tension between filling staff roles and sending church plantersPractical first steps for churches wanting to move toward church planting Toolbox: Reach Australia’s Full Online Resources Library Growth and Change Report 2025 Church Planting Podcast Multiplication Partner financially with Reach Australia Credits:  This episode was brought to you by Exdia  The One Thing is brought to you by ⁠⁠Reach Australia⁠⁠ To pray for Reach Australia, join our ⁠⁠WhatsApp Group⁠⁠ For ideas or questions please email ⁠⁠resources@reachaustralia.com.au⁠⁠ Support Reach Australia's online library

    22 min

  8. 17 MAR

    443 If you only preach on giving when you’re behind budget...

    When was the last time we preached on generosity — and it wasn’t because the budget was tight? Money is one of the clearest windows into our trust, our fears, and our worship. Yet many of us only speak about it at the AGM or when pressure rises. In this episode, we reflect on generosity not as fundraising, but as discipleship. We talk about: Why giving flows from the grace of the gospel, not guilt How to build a culture where generosity is normal and joyful The risk of only addressing money in crisis moments How leaders can model generosity with integrity Practical steps to start shaping generous hearts this month Toolbox: Jehovah Jireh My Provider Song  Giving Generously by Rod Irvine Neither Poverty Nor Riches (New Studies in Biblical Theology Series) by Craig L Blomberg Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki Gospel Patrons website The Journey of Generosity stories Partner financially with Reach Australia Credits:  This episode was brought to you by Safe Ministry Check The One Thing is brought to you by ⁠⁠Reach Australia⁠⁠ To pray for Reach Australia, join our ⁠⁠WhatsApp Group⁠⁠ For ideas or questions please email ⁠⁠resources@reachaustralia.com.au⁠⁠ Support Reach Australia's online library

    26 min
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One solid, practical tip for gospel-centred ministry every week. Reach Australia is a network of churches - working together to seeing thousands of healthy, evangelistic, multiplying churches across Australia.

Information

  • Creator
    Reach Australia
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    435
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 350730
  • Show Website
    The One Thing

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