Phil McCredden

My passion is seeing congregations shape themselves around a mission to make a difference in their local communities.

I am an experienced leader, facilitator, trainer and coach. For over twenty years I was a local minister in Churches of Christ, and I led the ministry team at Northern Community Church of Christ for thirteen of them. In that time we merged four local churches, established a community centre, and developed a multi-congregational approach to creating new faith communities in non-traditional settings, including cafes, pubs and community centres.

I hold a Bachelor of Theology majoring in counselling and a Master of Arts majoring in leadership. I have worked as a consultant, trainer and coach to ministers, church leadership teams, congregations and denominational systems, drawing on that experience to help churches facing similar transitions in a post-Christendom world. I have worked with more than twenty shared future processes across Australia, helping congregations grapple with their future and engage their local communities. I have also guided cultural change and strategic planning for congregations, denominations, schools and theological colleges, working with the Uniting Church, Lutheran, Churches of Christ, Baptist and Salvation Army denominations.

I am also co-authoring, with Rev Andrew Boyle, a workbook for congregations exploring, in the midst of, or embarking on a shared future. It draws on interviews from every state of Australia across six denominations, as well as lessons from our own experience of leading shared future endeavours.