Six pathways

A process of workshops and retreats that enables church leaders and members to engage with and learn from each other about their congregation's challenges and opportunities. Valuable for congregations exploring a new direction, facing pressures on members, resources or leadership, or seeking to connect with their communities in a new missional context.

At its centre is the forming of signposts. Strategic planning assumes we know the environment and can predict what lies ahead — and in this time of discontinuous change, we cannot. Instead, I guide your congregation to form several signposts for its future: drawing inspiration from the early church, identifying the leadership styles these times need, and honestly reflecting on your history and heritage.

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There is more than one way for congregations to form a shared future. Merging into one church is the best-known path, but it is only one end of a spectrum that runs from full integration to loose connection: merger or amalgamation, interdenominational partnerships, multi-site models, nurture-and-release arrangements, community partnerships, migrant-ethnic partnerships, regional networks and regional connections. Each sits at a different point on the spectrum of independence, and each suits a different context.

The process begins by helping your congregations discern which kind of shared future God is calling you to, before any structural decisions are made. From there I provide skilled facilitation, support and an objective perspective: a neutral third party who ensures all stakeholders are heard, keeps key decisions on track, and gives attention to the different cultures of each church, honouring past contributions along the way.

I have worked with more than twenty shared future processes across the Uniting Church, Churches of Christ, the Salvation Army and Lutheran contexts, in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales; in urban, suburban, regional and rural settings; from two congregations forming one to networks of twelve, as well as denominational strategy work.

Engaging Ecclesia Leadership was crucial for our amalgamation. Phil's fresh perspective and independent facilitation were invaluable. His significant expertise and experience in church mergers were an essential resource.

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The world has changed significantly, and many congregations feel stuck: keen to engage their communities, but unsure how to start. This process teaches leaders and members to identify real connection points in the community and get new missional activities up and running — true innovation drawn from God's wisdom in your own congregation, not a pre-made "one size fits all" program imposed from above.

Your church forms a Missional Experiment Group (MEG) of four to eight people, including the minister, nominated by the church leadership. Over an 18-month journey the MEG attends four intensives — Forming and Listening, Listening, Shaping, and Reflecting and Committing — supported by a trained coach who meets with the group every four to six weeks. Churches choose whether to focus on planting a new faith community or providing missional service in the community.

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New faith communities don't arise from better programmes or stronger marketing. They emerge when ordinary people, gathered in ordinary places, begin to live out the gospel together in ways that make sense in their particular context. I have spent years establishing new faith communities — in pubs, cafes, homes and community centres — and none of them looked like a traditional Sunday morning service.

This is not a packaged programme. It is a collaborative, reflective process that begins with the people and place you already have. Whether you are a minister sensing a calling to this work, a congregation wanting to extend its missional reach, or a denomination seeking new pathways for connection, I can walk alongside you as you discern, experiment and learn.

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Leaders need trusted companions for the journey. Coaching is for leaders exploring new territory who want to gain the most from their efforts. Drawing on years of experience in church leadership and cultural change, I guide you through missional challenges, prioritising your development, effectiveness and personal wellbeing.

Choose from two options:

1. Action/Reflection. Focus on the leadership issues you bring to each session, engaging in a supportive cycle of goal-setting, reflection and action.
2. Coaching/Training. A customised training program focused on self-leadership, leadership of others and organisational leadership, with support to assess, plan and act on your goals.

Either option can be enriched with personality review tools, including the Enneagram and 360° surveys.

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A workshop for congregations, denominations and leaders seeking to navigate the complexities of a new missional context. Research tells us the church is invisible or irrelevant for many Australians. As leaders, we know something has to change — but what? Without losing what we love, we need to dig up the garden a bit.

Through biblical reflection, input and discussion, we grapple with the realities of the post-Christendom context: learning from the biblical narrative of God's people in changing contexts, drawing insights from the early church, rethinking leadership for a new era, and honouring your congregation's history and heritage. Often a natural first step into the other pathways.

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