The One Thing Reach Australia

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 resources@reachaustralia.com.au

To support the Reach Australia Online Library head here.

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 resources@reachaustralia.com.au

To support the Reach Australia Online Library head here.

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 ⁠resources@reachaustralia.com.au⁠

To support the Reach Australia Online Library head ⁠here⁠.

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 resources@reachaustralia.com.au

To support the Reach Australia Online Library head here.

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

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 resources@reachaustralia.com.au

To support the Reach Australia Online Library head here.