from Tim O'Neill

​Ongoing Coaching
Ongoing coaching is absolutely essential and it’s something we would insist upon if we were to help you to plant a church. We would normally expect the ongoing coaching to extend over two years.
The coaching covers 5 key areas starting with Personal Coaching which picks up on the findings from the ESA Assessments.
Planning assistance is then provided as part of the ongoing coaching as we will help you to plan what your church plant will look like and how to go about it, as well as developing a written Planting Proposal.
Coaching will then assist with navigating the Practicalities you will face. This will include issues like your legal structure, insurances, working with children and vulnerable people policies, ACNC registration and many other practical issues.
Pre Launch Coaching will then help you to develop a launch strategy, develop your launch team and bring shape to your future church.
After the church has been planted, Post Launch coaching will help you to navigate the issues you will encounter as you lead and grow your church.

Season's Greeting from us at A2A to you and to yours,
It’s that time of year again when we are all preparing for Christmas. The joy of celebrating the birth of Jesus with family, friends and our churches is blended with the busyness of the season as we prepare for carols, Christmas services, unexpected pastoral needs and whatever else may be happening.
And then for many there’s the chance to have a break, to wind down and reflect on the year that has just passed. It’s also a wonderful time to look to the future.
Personally, I like the change of tempo over January when the world seems to go into slow mode. People are generally in chill mode, on holidays or getting back from them and without packed calendars and stress influenced expectations. I enjoy getting away from the never ending list of things that need to be done and taking time to relax and to ponder; to pray and to dream, to think about the future and to plan and to prepare with renewed energy for the months and year ahead.
I think that there’s probably a strong correlation between the quality of my reflection time in these weeks at the beginning of the year and the quality of what I do through the coming year.
For me this time is a Revelation 4:1,2 time. John saw a door that was open before him and the risen Jesus said to John “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” So John did, and immediately he was in the Spirit, seeing things from God’s perspective rather than from man’s perspective.
God’s perspective will always be one of vision, mission, love and hope. I know that when I see the future through my own eyes I am at times blinded by obstacles and reasons why not, fear of failure and of lack of critical resources, providing a doorway for lack of hope to so easily creep into my spirit.
Open door times like this are precious, but we must be able to position ourselves to see them and like Moses did at the burning bush, to turn aside rather than to keep on going.
My encouragement for you is that over the coming weeks you will be refreshed and that you will take the time to seek the door that is standing open in heaven and take time in the Spirit to see the times ahead through the eyes of Jesus.

2020 A2A National Conference
Can you believe that it’s only just over 4 months to our National Conference?
The 2020 A2A National Conference will be a magnificent time of inspiration, fellowship, envisioning and impartation as we turn the clock back to the book of Acts and then turn the clock forward to today and tomorrow.
Running from 5pm Monday 27 April to Wednesday evening 29 April, we will have experienced practitioner and church consultant John Finkelde running optional afternoon workshops on the Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons that will help you grow a healthy church. John will be focusing on keys for churches that are around 100 in average congregation size.
Added to this we will have a range of amazing speakers from throughout A2A speaking on topics from the book of Acts that are of critical importance to us today.
The conference will be held at Mantra on View in Surfers Paradise. Bookings made before 31 December will receive a discount, so we encourage you not to wait but book now. CLICK HERE
Please encourage people from your church to come along to the Conference and be inspired and impacted.

Emerging Leaders Initiative​
We have just seen the first cohorts of young and emerging leaders complete the Advanced Certificate in Leadership by completing the 2 year ELI leadership coaching program and we are thrilled with the feedback.
Congratulations to Mark Ansell and his team for putting on such an amazing program. And of course congratulations to all candidates who are completing the ELI program this year and moving into the next phase where we will seek to see them find their niche as pastors, planters or ministry leaders.
The Advanced Certificate in Leadership is a certificate issued by A2A and is not a certificate accredited by the TEQSA

National Leadership Team Observer
We are delighted to let the movement know that Rebekka Battista has been invited to be an observer at all  National Leadership Team Meetings throughout 2020. We see this as an important step both to gain fresh perspectives on the NLT and also to help provide a “next steps” pathway for ELI graduates.

A2A Pastoral Leadership Development Programme
As the new year is soon to begin, just a reminder that A2A offers a high quality, flexible and inexpensive Certificate in Ministry. The A2A Pastoral Leadership Development Program comprises a range of first rate theological subjects offered via distance education, combined with a number of practical workshops.
The A2A Pastoral Leadership Development Program fulfils the educational requirements for ordination as an A2A credential holder.
For more information about the A2A Pastoral Leadership Development Program, contact Dr Andrew Corbett or MORE INFO HERE
The Certificate in Ministry is a certificate issued by A2A and is not a certificate accredited by the TEQSA

​Redress Scheme
We are still in discussions with Australian Christian Services in relation to entering the Redress Scheme through them. ACS have clarified that only those churches that have their insurances with ACS Mutual are eligible to join the Redress Scheme through them. This means that all but 3 A2A churches can join the Redress scheme.
We have been advised that across the board, so far over $400 million has been paid out to 3,500 claims under the Redress Scheme with the average cost of claims being $80k per claim. There are another 2,000 claims in the pipeline. Actuaries have assessed the potential claim total of all Redress claims nationally as likely to be around $9 mil.
Apparently the most common issues are youth pastors who act like they are still part of the youth group and hence give rise to claims as a result of inappropriate actions.
We have until 30 June 2020 to join the scheme. We are currently of the opinion that all A2A churches that are eligible to join this Scheme should do so by this date. Most of our questions are now answered however we are awaiting a response from ACS before we can finalise our position. We envisage that we should be in a position to take next steps early in the new year.

Reminder - Credential Requirements
Just a reminder that there are a number of requirements that all A2A requires of all who have the privilege of holding an A2A credential. These requirements include:

• Complying with A2A’s Working With Children requirements,
• Meet the required ongoing development requirements,
• Attending the A2 National Conference, and
• Attending all Leaders Together days.

These are important to ensure that we are all equipped and up to date and so that our culture is collectively shaped in a healthy way.

2020 Leaders Together
Leaders Together in 2020 are scheduled to be held as follows:
Feb 13 The Rock, Tas
Feb 18 Gateway. Vic
Feb 20 Our Church, Qld
Feb 22 Coast & Vines, South Aus
Sep 15 Gateway, Vic
Sep 17 Catalyst, Qld 
Sep 19 Almond Grove SA
Sep 23 Legana, TAS

NLT Retreat
Once again the National Leadership Team will be coming to Tasmania for a Retreat on Tuesday 11 Feb and a NLT meeting on Wednesday 12 Feb. We would highly value your prayers that we will discern the Spirit’s leading for the coming year during this time. Please encourage your churches to pray for us for and at this time.

Helpful Habits
Recent conversations have reminded me of how important it is to develop the helpful habits that will “train ourselves to be godly”.
One lady in the church I lead is relatively new to faith and has had many major challenges through the year. She knew it was going to be a hard year with a rollercoaster of ups and downs and she realised that she needed to be closely connected to God and in community, and so she resolved that she wouldn’t miss a Sunday through 2019, and she hasn’t!
I realy admire her commitment to the life that Jesus offers her and her commitment to the steps she must take to seize hold of it.
An elder in my church this week told me that this year he resolved to journal (SOAP) on scripture every day, and he has without missing a day. This is a mature Christian who has been in the faith as long as I have, and yet he spoke with joy (and probably wonder) about how God has worked in him this year, strengthening and bringing fresh life to his faith.
These are two great habits to encourage throughout your churches as we come into the new year.

Final Thoughts
I was journalling recently on the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 and reflected on why the 1 talent person behaved as they did, burying their talent so that it would neither multiply nor be lost. I was struck by the reason the man gave, Matthew 25:25 records the man as saying “So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.”
He was driven by fear. Fear kills vision and initiative. Fear causes us to protect what we have rather than see what we have grown and multiplied.
Fear that people will leave, that they wont like us, that we wont have enough resources, that we will make a mistake… Fear comes in so many forms and it always immobilises.
But that’s not God’s plan for us. When we “come up here” we see through the eyes of faith rather than fear. The two don’t easily co-exist. One or the other will generally win and become dominant. Which one is it to be? Faith or fear?
My prayer for all in A2A is that the festive season will be a time of joy and refreshing as we remember that day God placed His feet on this earth and why He came - to seek and save the lost. My prayer is also that as 2020 dawns you will “come up here” and enter a faith filled year where you will see what you have been entrusted with multiplied.
Blessings,


Tim O’Neill
President, A2A (the Acts 2 Alliance)

If you have any questions or want more information about the Conference, accomodation or how to book your place, contact Liz on 03 6327 4538 or at liz@a2a.org.au and she will be happy to help.
I know that over recent years we have had a sense of anticipation that the next conference would be the best one yet, and we have never been disappointed. I firmly believe that the 2020 A2A National Conference will be the best one yet, and that it will be an important time for our movement as we meet together, soak in the Word of God and receive from the Spirit of God.

“Pastor’s Wife!”  Now there’s a phrase I’ve fought and hated for 25 years.
 
Name one other profession where the partner has this automatic tag line with a bucket load of expectation?
 
I can’t think of one other profession.
 
Nor can I think of one other profession where there is an expectation that the partner will give up their career, their interests, their spark to “follow,” “support” and enable a two for one deal.
 
There are couples who make decisions to work in the one business and where the business might lean more towards one partner’s wiring and interest.
Likewise, there are couples who facilitate or enable one another’s careers.
 
But in each of these instances they are decisions made between the couple for the couple’s interest.
 
In church world “pastor’s wife” is an expectation often placed on a woman by church culture and history.
 
 I have fought to be a pastor in my own right for 25 years.  I remember about 6 years after we church planted I applied to do my Masters and asked a very well known Christian leader if there was any way I could have my Social Work Degree and my experience as a church planter credited as part of the process.  I was told, “I couldn’t ride on the coat tails of my husband.  My husband had church planted not me.  I was simply his helper…the pastor’s wife.”  
 
Some may go well that was over 20 years ago things have changed.
 
I sat at a breakfast two years ago and every pastor at my table was acknowledged as being present and welcomed except for me.  Now I don't’ think I’m such an awful person that I’m not worth acknowledging and anyway Christians are meant to be warm, welcoming and caring, so the only reason I can think for the lack of acknowledgement was a refusal to see my role and position and to simply see me as a “pastor’s wife.”
 
I could go on…
 
I know in time and tradition it was once a highly respected title.
 
But as I look down through the corridor of time, I’m not sure that it is the best we can do.
 
There are women who are pastors in their own right. Their husband may be a pastor but so are they.  They are both equal, able to pastor in their own skill set and gift mix.
 
Then there are the job sharers.   Women who, like their counterparts in business want to job share the ever broadening and demanding role of pastor.
 
Limited funds often mean the church can only employ one not both.  
 
Rather than acknowledging the shared role fearing the financial implications we relegate the woman to “pastor’s wife.”  She’s not really working, she doesn’t really have a role but if she doesn’t perform or live up to the unspoken expectations of her job description then we will need to call an all-night prayer meeting for revival so she learns to be a good supportive wife.”  Expectations become blurred, unrealistic and often confusing for all.
 
Then there are women who know their role is not to job share or to be a pastor.
God has positioned them in other roles in other sacred spaces in our world.
These women have vital contributions to make to the world, to the church, to humanity in those spaces.
 
Unfortunately, many of these woman have felt no alternative but to give up on their own dreams and gifts, to follow their husband and to take up the role of pastor’s wife.  A role they are neither equipped for or gifted in.
 
So what do I want to see happen across A2A?
 

1. Acknowledge the women who have gone before us. Many women who have been pastors in their own right but who have only ever achieved the status of “pastor’s wife.” You know in your heart you have been a pastor.  You know God has seen you pastor and we say, ‘We see you, we acknowledge you and we salute you.”

 
I also want to acknowledge the women who gave up their dream, their gift, their career, their talent to serve the church and husband and who in doing so felt a bit of who they were died for the sake of everyone else.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
 

1. Have open honest discussions.

The 2 for 1 Deal.  The church may not be able to afford both of you as pastors and yet you are both pastors.  The church is getting a 2 for 1 deal.    Whilst financially the resource may not yet be there belief can always exist. Belief for many is sufficient. The acknowledgment liberates the soul. So let’s acknowledge and be honest. We have two pastors and they are both amazing and we’re getting a 2 for 1 deal.  How amazing!
 
Give appropriate titles and freedom. You don’t necessarily want an income but you want to help the church but you’re not a pastor.  You might be an administrator, or an accounts, or …. Whatever it is name it up for what it is.  But don’t just stick the label “Pastor’s wife” over it because we’re too lazy to come up with an appropriate name.  believe me no man would settle for “Pastor’s husband.”
 
Release women into the market place. If women want to be in the marketplace because that is where God has called them then this is the best space for them to be in for everyone.  Celebrate what they do.  Acknowledge it.  Don't expect them to pick up an extra bucket load of work.
 
 

1.  We drop the tag line “Pastor’s wife” from our vocabulary.

I so want to see this tag line dropped.
It’s not us being our best.  Let’s give an amazing gift to the next generation of women coming up.  Let’s see who they are, what they are.  Let’s acknowledge the God given call on their life.
 
4. We drop the never clearly defined expectations which go with the label ‘Pastor’s wife.’
Let’s define the role. 
Is she a pastor in her own right who needs employing?
Is she job sharing with her husband?
Does she have a career all of her own which needs to be released and respected?

I'm wrapped that there is currently a resurgence of people around Australia asking how to plant a church that reaches people who don't go to church. 

This is an incredibly exciting time with so many men and women both young and not so young wanting to explore new ways of doing church and to discover new ways that they can reach their communities!

The good news is that we will soon be putting on a one day workshop that is available to all prospective church planters, irrespective of movement affiliation, denomination or style. The only thing we want to see in common is a desire to reach our country with the love and good news of Jesus by pioneering new works.

Oscar Muriu who has planted hundreds of churches around the world shared some incredible wisdom at the recent A2A National Conference when he spoke on 9 important keys to effectively planting churches. One of these keys was to plant rabbit churches that can be birthed and multiplied quickly rather than rhino churches that are slow to birth and have a high mortality rate.

Legendary church planter Ralph Moore seeded a rabbit church planting movement in the US where over 2,300 rabbit churches have been planted with some of these rabbits growing to be rhino churches of over 2,000 in size. 

Oscar and Ralph aren't saying that small rabbit churches are better, but they are advocates of planting simple rabbit churches that have the potential to become rhino churches.

The good news is that we will be running a 1 day Church Planting Workshop on Saturday 24 August at Our Church in Burleigh Heads, Queensland where we will be unpacking principles and practices that will help equip you to plant rabbit churches that have the potential to become rhino churches.

In the workshop we will be addressing a range of topics that include:

• who you need in your core team
• what the church you plant can look like
• how to reach the community
• how to put in place a disciple making strategy
• how to develop an effective launch strategy
• how to develop a financial model that will work
• how to pray in preparation to plant
• how you can get coaching to help ensure that your plant is successful.

If you are being stirred about the possibility of planting a church, make sure you book your place and come along. And definitely bring prospective team members to help them catch the vision and develop understanding of the steps involved in planting a new church.

Details for the workshop are:

• Where: Our Church in Burleigh Heads, Queensland
• When: Saturday 24 August 2019
• What Time: from 10:00am to 4:00pm (Registrations commence at 9:30am)
• Whats The Cost: $30 for registration and a light lunch
• RSVP: Using the Registration Form here

I'm excited that I see many across Australia being stirred at present to consider the call to church plant. If that's you, then this will be an invaluable workshop to help you understand key principles and work out the steps to take to embark on this exciting journey.

​If you have questions or want further information, call me on 0419582781 or email me at timo@a2a.org.au. 

Tim O'Neill,
President, A2A (the Acts 2 Alliance)

ps - if you are interested in having a workshop in your region that will help you to discover how you can plant a church, send me an email and we'll see what we can do.