The book · Coming soon
Shared Future
A workbook for congregations forming a future together, by Andrew Boyle and Phil McCredden. The manuscript is close to its final draft, and the book is coming soon.
Exploring · Defining · Living
Shared Future
A workbook for congregations forming a future together
Cover concept. Final title and design to come.
A book born from listening
We have written this book for church leadership teams, ministers and denominational leaders. Some readers will be at the very beginning, wondering whether a shared future is worth exploring at all. Others are already committed to a process and want help with the challenges in front of them. It is a practical workbook. It is shaped to be used along the way rather than read once and shelved. There are many questions to discuss with your leadership team along the way.
There is more than one way to form a shared future. The spectrum runs from full merger to loose regional connection, and the right model depends on who you are as the people of God and where God has placed you. The book walks through the types of shared future, the questions each one raises, and the work of leading a congregation through the change.
It also tells the stories. Australian case studies run through the book, including some that did not end the way the people involved expected. The healthier stories still hold grief and friction over buildings, worship styles and who holds power. What sets them apart is how leaders respond.
Where it comes from
The book draws on conversations we began during Melbourne's COVID lockdown in 2021. We interviewed ministers, lay leaders and denominational leaders who had lived through shared future processes over the past two or three decades. We chose interviews over written surveys because an interview follows a leader's story where it leads, and builds the trust that lets people speak honestly about what went wrong as well as what went right.
Six denominations
Anglican, Baptist, Churches of Christ, Lutheran, Salvation Army and Uniting Church stories, gathered by interview.
Every state
Shared future processes from every Australian state, in cities, suburbs and country towns.
Lived experience
Phil led Northern Community Church of Christ through the merger of four congregations, and has since worked with over twenty shared future processes of different types. Andrew was a minister during the amalgamation of four Uniting Church congregations to form Manningham Uniting Church.
About the authors
Rev Andrew Boyle
A Uniting Church Minister of the Word since 2004, Andrew led congregations at Manningham and Ormond through major organisational change, and chaired the Presbytery of Port Phillip East from 2017 to 2020, during a period in which the presbytery reshaped its life to better serve its congregations.
Phil McCredden
Principal consultant of Ecclesia Leadership. A local minister in Churches of Christ for over twenty years, Phil was the founding leader of the ministry team at Northern Community Church of Christ, formed through the merger of four local churches in Melbourne's northern suburbs. He has worked with more than twenty shared future processes across Australia.
Register your interest
The book is not far away. Leave your details and we will write to you once, when it is published, with where to get it. Your details go nowhere else.
The book maps the territory
If your congregation is ready to walk it, Phil facilitates the Shared Future Process with congregations and denominational bodies across Australia.