Network Learnings – Geneva Push

12 years ... 114 churches ... what are we learning?

Over the past 12 years, what started as Geneva Push – a church planting network looking to see hundreds of churches evangelised into existence – has expanded to be Reach Australia, serving both church plants and the established church and looking to see thousands of healthy, evangelistic, multiplying churches across Australia.

During this time, as a network, we’ve learnt a lot. Some of those lessons have been difficult, some have been a joy, but all have helped us sharpen and reinforce our conviction that healthy, evangelistic, multiplying local churches are the key to reaching Australia with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so having seen 114 churches launched throughout the network, we wanted to pause and reflect on what was working, what needs attention moving forward and at every point give thanks for the amazing work God has done in drawing people to himself through all these churches.

Below is a summary of some of the key findings from a survey we sent out to our planters and church leaders. There’s encouraging truths and hard truths, but our commitment as a network is to face reality, learn from it and move forward with those learnings for the good of the wider Gospel ecosystem in Australia. Our prayer is that God will use what we’ve learnt to strengthen all our convictions about what He is doing in Australia. Our prayer also is that you will join us as we seek to reach Australia for Jesus.

You can explore the network learnings by following the links below. In each area, you’ll see the data, some analysis, as well as some next steps for the network and for each one of us.

1 - Evangelistic Impact

Key to Geneva Push from the start, and a key driver behind Reach Australia, is following God’s heart to see people come to know Jesus. For Geneva Push it’s been seeing “hundreds of churches evangelised into existence”, which fits within our vision for Reach Australia to see thousands of healthy, evangelistic, multiplying churches across Australia. So as we looked at churches across the network, we wanted to see how we were doing in achieving this goal of reaching the lost, celebrate what God had done in that, and look for ways to keep seeing – under God – more people come to know Jesus. Here’s what we found.

Analysis

1 – The first thing to note with evangelistic impact is that church plants (generally) have a much greater impact than established churches in those first few years. While comparisons are often difficult in this area, as a general rule the conversion percentage in most churches across Australia is less than 2%. While it varies significantly, we’re seeing church plants average in the first few years around 4% conversion rate. That is, for 50 people in the launch team, 2 of those will become a Christian that year. In the next year of the 75 people on Sundays, 3-4 will have become a Christian.

2 – The second thing we’re seeing is that the drop in evangelistic impact after 3 years. We think this has to do with the impact of the church planter having less time to focus and mobilise people towards mission, and more time them having to create systems that facilitate a healthy church community. Until they can bring a second worker on to help them, it would seem to be their time is spread across too many areas. We’re exploring ways to help planters with this.

Next Steps

We plant because we long to see God honoured through the formation of new communities around Jesus through the salvation of the lost. As a network, this has always been our heart, but the next steps from here is for us to work out how we support those who lead churches, maintain mission heat over time, in growing communities.

2 - Church Growth

Over the past 30 years we’ve seen a steady decline in church attendance. Over 50% of churches across Australia have less than 50 people attending regularly, and the average age of those within churches is well above the national average.

In short, churches across Australia are smaller, older, and we’re shutting the doors of more churches than we’re opening. But the church plants in the network tell a different story.

Analysis

While church planting is an inherently risky prospect and we know that not all will survive, and not every church will reach sustainability and/or survive, overall we are seeing some encouraging trends. For example:

1 – Within 2 years, most church plants are larger than the mean average church size in Australia (50). One of the trends that we’ve seen over the past 4-5 years in particular is that the larger the launch team for a church plant, the quicker they will grow in the early years.
2 – As opposed to a study done in Australia in 2008, we’ve seen 87% of churches that have been planted in the network remain open, having reached or are moving towards sustainability.
3 – Without the ability to supplement the ministry of the church from external income sources that many established churches have (i.e. owned / rented property), most church plants are reaching sustainability after approximately 4-5 years.

Next Steps

There are many factors that contribute to the above figures – from where the plant was, to the size of the launch team, the strength of the sending church, the giftings of a planter – but we’re also seeing confirmation of areas we’ve invested in as a network. On the bedrock of prayer and humility that God will ultimately to the work of calling people to Himself, we see that: a) A rigorous assessment process helps planters and planting couples prepare to (or not to) plant evangelistic, healthy churches; b) “bootcamps” that connect planters and give them space and material to plan and reflect well for the task they’re embarking on; c) well supported planters (husbands and wives) through coaching and planter connections in those first few years help planters achieve what they set out to do in ways that are consistent with the Gospel.

They’re investments we will continue to improve and make available to every potential and future planter and planting couple that wants to reach the lost through church planting. They’re investments we will continue to make available and improve to every potential and future planter and planting couple that wants to reach the lost through church planting.

3 - Leaders Health

The work of Reach Australia, for both planted and established churches, is focused on leaders and their teams. The first three of our core competencies for leaders are aimed at helping them be spiritually vibrant, theologically-driven and emotionally healthy & intelligent. A healthy church starts with these kinds of healthy leaders. And so as we looked at the state of the churches across the network, we wanted to check-in to see the state of those leading them. You’ll see in the graph a selection of some questions from each of these areas.

Analysis

There are a number of areas that stood out to us as we looked at these three areas side by side. The first is that planters generally reported that spiritually they were tracking well – even amidst COVID. They felt connected to God, were finding their identity in Jesus and had healthy habits around maintaining their spiritual vitality. The second is that a combination of planting, ministry and COVID were draining the emotional tank. It wasn’t panic stations, but they were certainly feeling the effects of what has been a challenging couple of years, and leading within that environment. The third was a trend in planters relational connectedness that we’ve seen and suspected previously, but which was confirmed in their responses. That is, that while they identified as having close friends, their connectedness with people who would replenish their emotional tank and help them feel rested, was lower than it needs to be to sustain long-term overall health.

This is not surprising – the rigours of planting and the demands of getting a church plant up and running can be all consuming. Yet the adrenaline and workload of the first couple of years isn’t sustainable in the longer term, and long-term health and ministry will be undermined if they are disconnected from relationships and contexts that help them rest and recharge.

Next Steps

As mentioned, healthy, Gospel-centred churches start with healthy, Gospel-centred leaders. And so we’re continuing to make considerable investments in planters and leaders across the country. Here’s some areas we’re continuing to develop and grow:

1 – We’re growing our coaching network. Every planter (husband and wife) and every leader across the network has a Gospel coach. This coach walks alongside them and helps them move towards their goals for planting and ministry in ways that reflect their Gospel convictions. Over the past 3 years we’ve expanded our 1-year training program for coaches to a 2-year program that includes ongoing professional development and supervision. This training is free of charge so that we can raise up and support existing and future leaders in their Gospel work.

2 – We’re expanding our wives network. The Geneva Push (planting) wives network has existed for the past 6 years, with the view to supporting and connecting planter wives in their crucial role within the church plant. Reach Australia is now looking to expand this work to the wives of those in established churches, in order to keep supporting the first team in any church, the husband and wife.

3 – We’re continuing to develop our planting and development intensives. As a network, we’re continually learning and growing from our experiences. For both our planters and our established leaders, we’re continuing to feed back in current learning around reaching and maturing people in Christ to the intensives we run each year. These intense moments of leadership connection helps leaders feel supported, contextualising learnings from across Australia into their own churches and leadership.

4 - Multiplication & Training

One of the biggest challenges we’re seeing in the church landscape is the question of leadership. Not merely senior leadership within churches, although that is a significant challenge, but leadership throughout all aspects of church life. In fact, we would argue that neglect of the latter leads to a reduction in the former, and ultimately stunts the ability for multiplication. So as we looked at our church plants, we wanted to explore how multiplication and training was going in their contexts.

Analysis

As mentioned previously, we’ve identified this as one of the biggest challenges facing church planting, church leadership and the growth of the local church moving forward. Here’s some of the ways in which we’re trying to help churches across the network and across Australia address this challenge.

1 – Helping leaders build a training mindset. In the rigours of planting and ministry, it’s often easier to focus on the short-term and getting things done rather investing in the longer-term and investing in others who will get things done. So as part of helping planters and leaders build a training mindset, we’re baking into our planter bootcamp, and our ongoing leadership development material, tools to make leadership training part of our DNA so that we invest in the next generation of leaders from the beginning.

3 – Assisting every church plant develop the next generation of Gospel Workers. Church plants are amazing opportunities for young leaders, and we’ve done studies that show that leaders who experience those early few years of a church plant, go on to plant healthier churches themselves. So we’re encouraging every plant to take an apprentice if possible, and working to provide some financial assistance through the Gospel Future Fund to facilitate this. Alongside their on the ground training, we’ve also created a 1-year program for apprentices to give them access to key Gospel leaders across the country who will help embed Gospel convictions around ministry that will shape how they think about their leadership.

Next Steps

1 – Helping leaders build a training mindset. In the rigours of planting and ministry, it’s often easier to focus on the short-term and getting things done rather investing in the longer-term and investing in others who will get things done. So as part of helping planters and leaders build a training mindset, we’re baking into our planter bootcamp, and our ongoing leadership development material, tools to make leadership training part of our DNA so that we invest in the next generation of leaders from the beginning.

2 – Helping local churches build a leadership pipeline. Leadership though isn’t limited to those who will go into full-time Gospel ministry. So over the past couple of years we’ve been rolling out a “Building Leaders” day to help churches think through how to raise leaders across every aspect of church life. That is, how to help leaders build a leadership pipeline in their own local context, no matter the size of their church, so that the local church can grow to maturity and mobilised towards mission.

3 – Assisting every plant and every plant develop the next generation of Gospel Workers. Church plants are amazing opportunities for young leaders, and we’ve done studies that show that leaders who experience those early few years of a church plant, go on to plant healthier churches themselves. So we’re encouraging every plant to take an apprentice if possible, and working to provide some financial assistance through the Gospel Future Fund to facilitate this. Alongside their on the ground training, we’ve also created a 1-year program for apprentices to give them access to key Gospel leaders across the country who will help embed Gospel convictions around ministry that will shape how they think about their leadership.

5 - Leaders Reflections

We asked church leaders to reflect on what they’d wished they’d known before they planted. You can see five of the recurring themes from leaders below.

1 – Work on YOUR character. Love & bear with others. This reflection centred around leaders reflections that one of the biggest obstacles in planting and growing healthy churches was themselves. This was less a reflection on the competencies needed for planting and leading (although they were raised separately) and more of an awareness that their driven-ness to see their church planted and reach people exposed heart issues. To this end, many identified that before competencies and pragmatics, or even working at identifying other people’s heart issues, it was their character that needed to be worked on, and from that point, loving and bearing with others as they did the same.

2 – Work on your marriage before, and through seasons of planting. A key conviction in our network is for those who are married that the first planting team is the husband and wife. It’s for this reason they come to bootcamp together, that there’s both a mens cohort and a women cohort (wives network) and that each has their own coach in those crucial first few years. One of the challenges though in those first few years planters identified was that how married couples continue to work well together in ministry, through different stages of church growth and different seasons of family life. The reflection from planters here was that being aware, and conciously working on this as you plant, was key to a healthy marriage, healthy leadership, and ultimately a healthy church.

3 – Training & leading through others from Day ONE. All leaders was to train, equip and deploy others in the work of ministry. Yet in those early years of planting, the workload and hustle to get it off the ground often results in spending more time doing it yourself because of the short-term payoffs (it’s faster, the quality is often better) rather than sacrificing some short-term wins for long-term gains. This reflection from planters consistently said that if they did it again, they would spend much more time investing in the raising up of leaders from day one, in order to facilitate health and growth down the track as the church grows.

4 – Small adjustments & gains are better than hitting home runs. As one planter in the networks says “Hungry rats run faster.” While not all would express it this way, the kernel of truth in here is that there’s a higher level of uncertainty in church planting, and much more public exposure (often), which can push leaders to look for the silver bullets rather than patiently laying the foundation that will serve for years to come. This is a hard tension to hold, as sustainability (or lack thereof) is always a looming question, but the reflection from planters was that rather than oscillating between possible silver bullets, it’s generally better to iteratively build and improve on small things that are gaining traction.

5 – Follow the areas God is leading. Prior to planting, all our planters build a strategic plan for who they’re trying to reach, and how they might reach them. This is good and healthy practice. But these plans are not the Gospel, they’re not set in stone, and in the uncertain and ambiguous environment that church planting is, a consistent thread from planters was around the need to keep testing the waters and seeing where the opportunities for Gospel work existed, and where God might be working, and be willing to follow those paths (with reflective thoughtfulness) even if this wasn’t part of the original plan.

Network Learnings - Some Conclusions

While what we’ve presented above is just a snapshot of what we saw in the network learnings, it’s given us confirmation of some of the areas we’re already working in, and some encouragement to lean more strongly into others. Here’s some areas as a network, based on what we’ve seen in this survey, that we’re going to push into:

1 – Planters are healthier when they do it together. From the start, we’ve always been a network. Shared convictions, shared vision, shared learnings. We’ve seen over the years that the more we connect planters through training and coaching, the healthier both them and their churches are. To this end, we’re committed to continuing to keep sowing into our bootcamp trainings for planters (men & women), the cohort connections between planters in the same stage as well as those who have gone before them, growing the wives network, and walking alongside those who have a heart for the lost and want to explore planting.

2 – We need to keep our eye on missional effectiveness. We don’t want to just church plant. We want to see churches evangelised into existence…and keep evangelism at the heart of those churches that now exist. So as we saw in the network learnings survey, we want to help plants not only launch with missional effectiveness, but maintain that missional effectiveness over time even as they grapple with growth barriers. This has been, and will be, a key area of work for the next few years in the Reach Australia network, both for plants and established churches.

3 – Leaders are built not bought. Even as we give thanks for the 100+ churches that have been planted across the network, we know that we haven’t even scratched the surface of reaching Australia. And the biggest blockage to the next 200 church plants, and the hundreds of vacant established churches across Australia, are leaders. So, having already started, we’re investing significant time and energy into helping churches grow the leadership pipelines in their church for both mobilising saints for the work of ministry where they are, as well as raising up those they will send out into the harvest. Buying leaders is a short-term strategy. If we’re going to reach Australia, every church needs to be building leaders for the work of Gospel ministry wherever they are.

4 – There’s no silver bullet – we need to keep trying new things. That is, as we’ve done over the past 12 years, we need to keep exploring fresh and innovative ways of expressing the same Gospel in different cultures, at different times, to reach new people. Church Planting, and church planters, are uniquely placed to do this, but to do it, they need support, encouragement and permission as they do whatever it takes to see the lost come to know Jesus.