In the middle of church growth and change, Paul Owens found himself running from one Sunday to the next.
Through coaching, he discovered space to reflect, tools to lead with wisdom, and fresh clarity for shepherding God’s people in Canberra. Paul Owens is the senior pastor at Stromlo Christian Church in Canberra.
What was life and ministry like before you started coaching?
I was just stuck in the seven-day cycle. Head down, get Sunday done, move on to the next week.
Coaching wasn’t my idea, I was given a coach through the Leadership Development Program, but I quickly realised how much I needed it.
Having someone alongside me who listens well and asks wise questions has been incredibly helpful.
Can you share a moment when coaching really changed the game?
One session stands out where we talked about our morning service. We’d been growing steadily for years, and I came in thinking the problem was obvious.
We were going to run out of seating. In my head I could already see people crammed into the aisles.
But as my coach kept asking questions, the real issue surfaced. It wasn’t the adults at all, it was kids’ ministry.
We were going to hit capacity in our kids’ spaces far sooner. That insight completely reframed things.
Instead of panicking about chairs, we started planning a new structure: two morning gatherings, same building, but double the leadership capacity and double the space to grow.
By the end of the session I felt relief, clarity, and a plan I could actually take to our team.
What makes coaching unique compared to just getting advice?
The thing about coaching is that you don’t get handed the answers. And sometimes that’s frustrating!
I’ve gone into sessions thinking, “Just give me the tool that fixes this.” But my coach doesn’t do that.
Instead, he asks the kind of questions that make me slow down, think harder, and do the work.
Occasionally he’ll pull out a helpful resource, but mostly, he makes sure the solutions come from me. That’s what makes it stick.
What have you discovered about yourself through this process?
I’ve learned that I’m a verbal processor. I can wander around in my own thoughts forever and think I’ve solved something, but until I say it out loud, I haven’t really nailed it.
In fact, by the second or third session I realised something surprising: within 10 minutes of talking, I’d usually reach a whole new level of clarity.
Suddenly I could name the real issue and sketch the next step forward. That’s been huge for me.
How has coaching reshaped the way you now lead your team?
I’ve started using coaching skills myself. Instead of giving staff or leaders my solution, I try to listen carefully and ask questions that draw out their thinking.
The result? They own the solutions. They’re more engaged, more invested, and more strategic.
That shift has been crucial as our church grows. We’ve had to move from doing ministry with people to leading leaders who do ministry.
That’s a tough transition. There’s even grief in it, because people love hands-on ministry.
But when they help name the challenges and identify the opportunities, they embrace change far more willingly.
What difference has coaching made for you, and how can we be praying for you?
The big difference is effectiveness. I work hard, but I don’t want to get two years down the track and think, “We set things up the wrong way.”
Coaching helps me avoid that regret by keeping me focused on long-term fruitfulness.
Please pray that I would be increasingly fruitful in ministry for the gospel and the glory of Jesus, and that the people I lead would be fruitful, too.
My hope is that more and more people in Canberra would come to know and love the Lord Jesus. Canberra desperately needs the gospel, just like everywhere.
When your senior pastor isn’t leading — or at least, not leading well — what should you actually do? Today we drill into that tension without sugarcoating it. It’s not just about calling someone out, but about understanding yourself, your role, and how to navigate tricky dynamics without blowing things up or burning out.
- How your own wiring shapes the frustration you feel
- Clear signs of an actual leadership gap, not just normal friction
- Why senior leaders may stall under pressure
- The unavoidable paradoxes built into second-chair roles
- How to challenge a call without turning it personal
- When and how to raise concerns so the conversation stays productive
TOOLBOX:
Leading from the Second Chair by Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson
How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge by Clay Scroggins
Paul Harrington’s talk on Humility in Team Ministry Part 1
Paul Harrington’s talk on Humility in Team Ministry Part 2
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
The best part of my (Scott Sanders) role at Reach Australia is working alongside church planters and church leaders to see them start new churches and see churches move towards health and growth.
I received this text message this morning from a church leader:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Last night was the final night of Alpha and I wanted to thank you all for your prayers and ministry since the opening night. Praise God, 5 people indicated that they had accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and invited Him into their lives, and are keen to come back next week to start reading John! We have 2 others who want to read John with us to work it out more.
There’s much follow-up work to be done and we pray that all will be the good soil where the seed grows deep, bears fruit, and multiplies. Please take a moment to join me in thanking God and praying for these people!
Praise God – this is great stuff
I want to reflect on the importance of us as leaders driving this. And how you don’t need to be the evangelist, but you need to have an urgency and desire to reach the lost.
God’s heart is for the lost—he wants all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3–4)—and I reckon that those who lead his church must have this same heart, not as a side project but as a central theme in their lives and ministries.
In the church planting world, we look for someone being ‘evangelistically urgent’.
This is how we describe it in our Church Planting Questionnaire. They’re people who are particularly gifted “Evangelists,” constantly finding themselves in conversations about Jesus to the amazement of those around them.
While church planters may have this ability, it’s important to distinguish this from what someone needs to possess to plant or lead a church or ministry.
What church leaders need is a deep conviction that the lost need Jesus—a conviction that bleeds out into how they preach and how they speak to their people.
This is not the characteristic of being a capital “E” Evangelist. This is the characteristic of being deeply convicted of the gospel as the only hope of life for a lost world and allowing this conviction to shape their behaviour and priorities as a leader.
These gospel convictions aren’t just for church planters—they’re vital for leaders of established churches too. We need to keep reflecting on the reality of heaven and hell, whether we’re leading in a way that points people to Christ, and if our gospel convictions are driving a deep desire to see the lost saved. In our Leadership Development Program, we help leaders shape their preaching, leadership, and team culture around this mission focus.
How do we grow in evangelistic urgency as leaders – some ideas …
Paul urges Timothy (2 Timothy 4:5):
“But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”
1. Consistently model patterns of reaching the lost
Begin with small, consistent time to personal evangelism.
Pastors through the years have shared tools they’ve used to motivate their teams toward reaching the lost—praying at a regular time for key people weekly, intentionally scheduling time for evangelistic conversations (carving out time in the calendar).
Be open to trying different things – sometimes even just going to the same shops and trades each time can build a relationship that leads to gospel conversations.
Dave Jensen reminded me recently that God uses a variety of means to see people won to him. Try out new ways to create opportunities for personal evangelism.
2. Share your evangelistic experiences (especially failures)
I love hearing stories of transformed lives. Look for them in the lives of your church family and share them.
Share your own stories of success and failure. There are loads of contexts to be doing this.
3. Create accountability structures for yourself
I would encourage you to do this as an eldership/ministry team. At my home church, we’ve done this primarily through the phrase 3–1–1:
- 3 people you pray for
- Every week
- For one year
It’s hard to encourage others to do this and not do it yourself.
4. Churches should measure and celebrate evangelistic activity (not just conversions)
I’m not much a celebrator—cakes cost so much!—but we need to cultivate a culture in our ministries and teams and churches of celebration – for the big moments of conversion, and also the smaller inputs where we see our church members being bold in sharing the gospel.
When we celebrate both the big and small wins in evangelism, we build the culture over time that gives focus and weight to the evangelism that is taking place.
I love the big celebration moment of a baptism, but also just the regular question: “Who’s become a Christian this week?” Stop and give thanks to God that he’s moved someone from death to life in our church community.
A final word – come join us & wrestle together
This year’s conference is all about mission. My prayer is that church planters, church leaders, and their teams will be convicted of the urgent need to be reaching the lost and continuing to do the work of an evangelist.
Many of us working in ministry are organising resource-heavy Christmas events and juggling the end-of-year craziness.
On top of all that, perhaps you’re getting emails from people leaving ministry teams for next year.
Looking at the 2025 rosters, you might be seeing large amounts of blank space. Together with your own feelings about how the past year has gone, this time of year can seem rather overwhelming! So, what can we do?
It might sound counter-intuitive, but one of the best things you can do is to carve out some time to stop. Time to pray and reflect on the year, and from that, plan for the year to come.
As leaders, taking time out to prayerfully evaluate and reflect gives us the opportunity to process the emotions of the year.
We’ll be more likely to identify areas for improvement, make changes before situations escalate, to give thanks for how God is working, and allow time to celebrate. If we just plough on year-after-year, our ministries run several risks: hitting maintenance mode, being reactive (rather than proactive), or losing focus.
We all appreciate leaders who are thoughtful. Wise leaders who aren’t rash, but who make careful decisions based on reflection.
Strategic leaders, who have considered the big picture and the longer term. Intentional leaders who have considered the vision of their church or ministry, and are shaping their programs around it.
These are the types of leaders that we can aspire to be.
So how can we do this?
- Personal reflection
Before you get to your teams, take time to consider your own heart in ministry.
This could be a whole day, or just a couple of hours alone to prayerfully reflect on the month/year just gone.
Some helpful questions to consider might be:
- What’s been going well?
- What hasn’t been going well?
- How is your relationship with God?
- What three words describe your heart?
- What is one thing you could do to improve your relationship with (as relevant): God, your spouse, your kids, your friends?
- Where are you turning to for comfort?
- What is draining you? Is there anything you could delegate?
- What lies are you believing?
Finish by spending some time in prayer.
- Staff reviews
It’s important to have a system for staff to be reviewed by church leadership, and where feedback can flow both ways.
If this isn’t already set up, maybe you could suggest it to your church leadership.
Work out a time before the end of the year, and make it something nice – go to a local café, or do something different to your usual meetings.
This can create a helpful atmosphere for giving and receiving feedback.
- Review in teams
Sit down with your teams to reflect on the year.
Celebrate the wins, and plan for the year ahead.
It’s helpful to revisit your purpose statement during this process, to evaluate whether or not the specific ministry is reaching its goals. Now, Where, How is a great tool to use for this.
If you find that you keep hitting brick walls, maybe it’s time to consider whether to cease a particular ministry.
- Calendars
As you plan for the year to come, does your church have a mission calendar?
f so, make sure this is locked in before all other church events. This will ensure that you remain intentional about mission and that it doesn’t get crowded out by other elements of church life.
Consider how other ministries relate to it, so that the whole church ecosystem is working together, rather than being siloed.
Maybe you need to set up a shared calendar that all the key leaders can access/edit, so that key dates and events don’t clash.
Once again, create a deadline for this to be finalised.
The end of November can be a helpful aim, so that December and January can be approached confidently, knowing that the coming year is already planned.
You can then focus on building momentum where you want to.
- Reflect over several years
Keep records so that you can think back over years and notice trends.
Are there barriers that have derailed you (or specific ministries) consistently over the years?
Are all ministries still in line with the purposes of the wider church? Are there areas that need to be reined in? It’s really helpful to have a system that allows you to track this over time.
If you can get those five things in place, hopefully you’ll have more confidence diving into next year.
Other questions to consider
What if I’m part of a team that isn’t keen to reflect and plan?
One option is to set an example in your other teams and ministries, and share some of the benefits you’ve discovered from reflection and planning. Hopefully they will catch on.
How do I get my own ministry team organised to do this?
Set a meeting time and be clear beforehand about the purpose of the meeting.
It could be helpful to give them the questions ahead of time, so they have a chance to reflect and come prepared.
These types of meetings are often better received if they are relaxed and conversational, so try to create that atmosphere.
Meet in someone’s home if you can, or in a café.
Enjoy some nice food together, put on some background music. All those things can help create a positive atmosphere.
How do we make sure it doesn’t become a whinge fest?
Reflection and evaluation can so often take a negative turn. Some ways to prevent this:
- Find the wins and celebrate them, giving them as much airtime as the areas for improvement.
- The atmosphere: Background music, food and drinks, maybe a café.
- If the negative feedback is a direct result of your leadership, try not to be defensive. You want to create an environment where people can be honest and open. Be sure to make time to process that feedback at a later date with a trusted friend or colleague.
Reflection and planning are important parts of the ministry toolbox for healthy and effective leaders.
They help us to be proactive in our thinking and planning for the future.
Though they may take time, it is time well spent!
A replay from your favourite episodes and coming at a timely part of the year:
Derek and Scott look at the work of Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith on different types of rest.
1. Physical Rest
Giving your body a rest.
2. Mental Rest
It could be that you need to give your mind a rest.
3. Emotional Rest
We can get emotionally tired when we are not paying attention to our emotions.
4. Spiritual Rest
Reconnecting with God
5. Social Rest
Different relationships can ones that build us up or drain us.
6. Sensory Rest
Especially with screens.
7. Creative Rest
Creative rest is not about putting a demand on your creative ability; that’s not rest, that’s work. It is the opposite. It’s allowing white space in your life and giving room for your creativity to show up. Creative rest lets you focus on your basic need for wonder. You can enjoy fulfilling that basic need in ways that don’t put any pressure on your being creative. Yes, creativity may bloom from the seeds planted, but creativity is not the objective, only rest.
Summary
- Don’t have to do all of these every day, or every week. But it is helpful to be aware that there are different ways to rest and different people will rest in different ways
TOOLBOX:
Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity by Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith
TED Notes from Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith
TED Talk from Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith
Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
Atomic Habits by James Clear.
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.
MTS (Ministry Training Strategy) seeks to multiply gospel workers through ministry apprenticeships to win the world for Christ.
We interviewed James Hoey (Director of Partnerships) and Clare Merkel (Partnership Developer).
Can you tell us how Australia compares to the rest of the world in training gospel workers?
We see dwindling church numbers, empty parishes, diminishing staff resources, increasing migration – we are very focussed on the needs we’re not meeting in our own backyard.
We tend to see ourselves as under-resourced in Australia. But actually, on a global scale, we are exceptionally well-equipped – especially when it comes to training and equipping new workers for gospel mission.
We have some of the best theological colleges and best ministry training schemes in the world.
We need to ‘climb the back fence’ and look out over the expanse of God’s global mission field – fields that are ripe for the harvest, but begging for workers.
We need to ask ourselves the question – if we don’t send out global harvest workers, who will?
Do pastors in Australia want to train people?
A lot of ministry workers don’t actually think that training is part of their job – or if they do, they’re not doing it!
One in two pastors said that training people for ministry and mission shouldn’t be one of their main roles (2021 National Church Life Survey of senior ministry staff in mainstream Protestant churches in Australia).
(Data: https://www.ncls.org.au/articles/gap-between-aspiration-and-actually-developing-new-leaders/)
These are worrying statistics. Training others shouldn’t be an add-on, it should be core to the identity of a gospel worker.
If we go back to the Great Commission, Jesus didn’t just say to make believers, but to make disciples.
The gospel really began to spread when Peter and Paul began to identify and train new leaders, such as Timothy, whom they knew they could entrust with the gospel.
You can’t separate telling people the gospel from training them how to do the same.
What do you think stops pastors from training the next generation of gospel workers?
Pastors might hesitate to approach young people because they know that ministry is such a challenging field to be in.
They hesitate because of funding concerns. They hesitate because they don’t know how to structure training, or how to sort out the administration required to set it up.
We also hear people saying that training others is inefficient – well, that’s how it seems in the short term!
Gospel workers get stuck in the ‘seven-day cycle’ – just needing to get this sermon done, these prayers written, this item ready for Sunday.
They can struggle to see that whilst training people uses some of their valuable time, the net gain from having more workers for the harvest is so much greater.
Perhaps they feel that when they invest the time to train others, those workers just move on to other churches or other mission fields anyway, so there’s no efficiency gain.
That comes back to shifting the perspective from our own backyard to the global harvest. That capacity isn’t lost, it’s a great gain for God’s global mission.
What we need senior gospel workers to do is not get too focussed on the barriers, but to trust in the sovereignty of God, and identify future workers for the harvest. If they are willing to do that, MTS can help with the practicalities!
Do you have one tip for future trainers?
Pray – ask the Lord of the harvest to raise up men and women from within their church, to send out into his harvest field (Matthew 9:38).
What advice would you give to senior leaders looking to identify apprentices?
When looking at who could be suitable, we always want to come back to our three keywords – character, conviction, and competency. That’s what matters most – not someone’s age or demographic.
There is a real danger that we can be too focussed on recruiting a narrow bracket of 20-28 year olds.
The reality is that God is calling all of us to participate in his mission, and it’s a great blessing to have gospel workers from many different ages and stages of life.
Someone in our team recently launched a training program called ‘Prime Time’ for people aged 45 and over.
What about Christians who are at the end of their working life? Could they do an apprenticeship at church, and be trained in preaching or pastoral ministry?
If we’re willing to be more flexible in our approach, we’ll realise that there is a whole host of potential gospel workers waiting to be raised up for God’s harvest.
—
MTS helps churches set up ministry training programs. They can help churches develop a personal vision for training, identify funding models, develop recruiting and training strategies, and provide support for administrative issues.
MTS have systems and structures they can introduce to support both the trainer and the apprentice, so that everyone – including the church – is blessed by the experience. Reach out to MTS for more info.
Working out what sort of team you are is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your team.
Three types of teams:
- Shark tank – competitive teams
- Petting zoo – too nice
- Mediocracy – nothing happens
Working out what sort of team you have
- New people
- Conflict
- Reflecting on change and conflict as a team
What sort of team do you have?
TOOLBOX:
Harvard Business Review allows a limited number of articles to be downloaded for free.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
Silos, Politics and Turf Wars by Patrick Lencioni
The Politics of Ministry by Burns, Chapman and Guthrie
Polarization and the Healthier Church by Ronald Richardson
CREDITS:
This episode was brought to you by the Team Development Program
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
Why are so few men and women stepping into gospel ministry?
Maybe cultural pressures are making the costs of ministry feel too great. Or maybe we’re simply recruiting the wrong sort of people into ministry to begin with.
I wonder though if, at least, one problem is: we’re not providing the right sort of training for fruitful gospel ministry today.
We need to ensure that we are actually training men and women for gospel ministry in the right ways but in order to do that, we need to ask the hard questions:
1. Are we training leaders, not just teachers?
People often assert: “the only competence requirement in 1 Timothy 3 is being ‘able to teach’.”
That claim suffers three problems: firstly, it’s not true; secondly, it leads us to recruit the wrong sort of people; and thirdly, it makes us neglect the right sort of training.
In 1 Timothy 3, the Apostle Paul describes the pastor as “an overseer” – a word used to describe the role of an administrator.
An ability to lead is also included in the metaphor of a “shepherd” or “pastor” who oversees the flock (Acts 20:28; Eph 4:11-12). In fact, Paul even explicitly honours “the elders who are good leaders” (1 Tim 5:17).
The pastor is not just a teacher; he is also a leader. In many contexts, ministry training focusses on one-to-one Bible reading and walk-up evangelism.
These activities are important but if we only train people to teach, we are training them for just 50% of their task.
We need to train men and women to not just teach but also to lead: to cast vision, oversee teams, multiply ministries, start something new and apply the gospel in the life of the church.
2. Are we training teams, not just individuals?
Our natural temptation is to focus on the man or woman training for gospel ministry. That’s not wrong.
In fact, the focus on individuals is right there in Paul’s personal charge to Timothy: “the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim 2:2).
We want to raise up many individuals like Timothy! And yet, did you notice that Timothy’s mission is to entrust the gospel not to one person but many people?
In fact, that’s the pattern of ministry we find in Acts – teams of men and women proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth.
So we shouldn’t just focus on training one man to one day become the senior pastor of a church, good though that is.
We should be training cohorts of men and women for different and complementary roles in the body of Christ – not just the senior pastors but teams pastors as well.
And where we can, we should be training them together as a team.
3. Are we training women, not just men?
The Old and New Testaments are replete with examples of godly women who teach God’s word and lead God’s church.
Just think of Euodia and Syntyche who are “coworkers” in the gospel with Clement (Phil 4:2-3). Or Phoebe or Lydia who serve as a deacon and household leader (Rom 16:1; Acts 16:13-15).
Not to mention Deborah who judges Israel and Huldah who prophesies over Judah (Judg 4–5; 2 Kgs 22:14–23:3).
It’s good that we’re eager to train up more men like Timothy and Titus to plant and pastor churches. We should be equally excited to train up more women like Tryphena and Tryphosa who can partner together in ministry.
Godly effective female leaders don’t just exercise a ministry to women in the church; as mothers and sisters in Christ, they also play a vital role in discipling men (1 Tim 5:1-2).
Just as “the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!”, we can’t say “We don’t need to train women!”
In fact, “woman is not independent of man, and man is not independent of woman” (1 Cor 11:11) – so let’s train both men and women for leadership in the church.
4. Are we training the “why?”, not just the “how?”
Many of our churches have established ways of doing ministry. Clear models of how to preach, how to lead a small group and how to read the Bible one-to-one.
But the danger of being so clear on the “how?” is that we’re not clear on the “why?”
Why do we preach the way we preach? Why do we lead small groups using this method and not that? And why do we disciple people by reading the Bible one-to-one? Why not another way?
The “why?” questions are always the hardest.
But if we don’t train people to ask “why?”, we risk creating clones of ourselves. Men and women who carry a kind of missional imperialism that imposes a cookie-cutter ministry on every church in every context.
We need to train people in wisdom so that they can critique any ministry practice, even our own.
5. Are we training a love of people, not just a love of ministry?
In many cases, young men and women train for ministry out of a love for ministry.
That’s not wrong in itself. After all, it’s hard to see someone flourishing as a gospel worker – let alone blessing others – if they don’t have some desire to teach God’s word and lead his people (1 Tim 3:1).
And yet, a love of ministry itself is not only insufficient, it’s dangerous. A disproportionate love of ministry can very easily turn inwards and become a vanity project.
God’s word and people become the collateral means to a self-serving goal. In the end, a love of ministry is just a love of self.
Are we training men and women to love people more than ministry? Are we encouraging them to enter people’s lives and apply the gospel to their hearts?
And are we reminding them to be humble and “endure all things for the elect” (2 Tim 2:10)?
6. Are we training resilience, not just rest?
Don’t get me wrong: rest matters. Our mental health and personal well-being are important and we should beware the dangers of burnout.
As finite creatures, our limitations are not a defect but a design – God is God and we are not.
And yet, the reality remains: gospel ministry is hard work. Paul describes his ministry as “suffering as a good soldier of Christ”; he equates it with the discipline of an athlete and the hard work of a farmer (2 Tim 2:3-7).
Gospel ministry requires resilience as much as it demands rest. Suffering is part of the warp and woof of gospel ministry (see 2 Cor 1:6).
We need to train men and women to rest in the sovereignty of God. But also, to work hard, give of themselves and persevere in God’s grace.
That means being honest with them about the costs of ministry, allowing them to endure hardships of their own, and inviting them to work hard as a servant who has only done our duty (Lk 17:10).
How do you actually measure whether small groups are actually working? Richard Sweatman from Hunter Bible Church joins us to unpack what matters most – from clarifying purpose, to tracking attendance trends, to assessing leader health, group dynamics, and individual growth. He shares practical tips as well as pitfalls to avoid when appointing leaders or multiplying groups.
TOOLBOX:
- Example survey for measuring group health
- Leading Small Groups That Thrive by Ryan T. Hartwig, Courtney W. Davis and Jason A. Sniff
- Richard’s Review of Leading Small Groups That Thrive
- Unmissable Church by Richard Sweatman and Antony Barraclough
- Being a Small Group Leader by Richard Sweatman
- Writing a Small Group Study by Richard Sweatman
CREDITS:
This episode was brought to you by Youthworks
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