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Aussie Churches on the Move!
14 June 2000
Many Australian churches are going through a real growth phase right now,' reports Mal Fletcher, who is currently on a speaking tour of the continent.'And the signs are that they are gearing up for a new period of growth as they invest more and more in leadership development alongside community action work.'
Australia has seen great growth particularly in the charismatic wing of the Christian church. Over the past 15 years, pentecostal and charismatic movements have gone from being largely unknown quantities to respected groups today.
The major churches, which provide great models for both church planters and leaders of established works, are well led and increasingly involved in community work. Yet they have not lost their drive for preaching the gospel and seeing people changed through the power of Christ.
Recently, the nation's Bulletin magazine - Australia's equivalent of Newsweek - featured a cover story on the growth of these churches and the style of their presentation, teaching and social work.
Youth Alive Australia, the major youth wing of these movements, now reaches hundreds of thousands of GenXers and teenagers directly in a year. Mal Fletcher was a key pioneer of this movement and its first national director and he paid tribute to its current leadership: 'Youth Alive is the most dynamic and influential national Christian youth movement I have seen anywhere in the world. It is well-led, by gifted GenX leaders, and it is well positioned to become a major influence in Aussie GenX and Gen NeXt culture.'
Australia was once called, by the U.N., 'the world's first post-Christian country.' God, it seems, love to do what people least expect him to do! He is building something very Christian in the land down under!
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