Tim O'Neill - Exponential Australia“The church in Australia needs to press the reset button”
8 September 2023
Pastor Tim O’Neill has spent more than a quarter of a century championing the church in Australia. But he’s got some strong thoughts about how it needs to change if it’s going to survive.
“Churches in Australia are perfectly designed to produce the results we are currently seeing,” Tim says. “And if you have been paying attention, you will know that’s a problem.”
Tim says there are five things Australian Christians need to do to “press the reset button” if they want to see a move of God:
Engage in audacious, harvest-directed prayer
Make disciples who actually follow Jesus’ teaching
Redefine what we are known for
Pioneer new models of churches and ministry
Equip and send workers into the harvest
Tim is the Director of Exponential Australia, an organisation that works to see “church multiplication stimulated” across the Australian Christian landscape. So, what does “church multiplication” mean? Is it just about planting churches?
Tim says multiplication ministry is what happens when Christians have a mindset change and begin to focus not just on growth – or even just on making disciples or planting churches – but on making disciples who make disciples who make disciples and planting churches that plant churches that plant churches. The result is exponential – a move of God.
“Multiplication was always God’s intent,” Tim says. “Christianity is meant to be a multiplication ministry. But all too often, it becomes like a farm dam rather than a river flowing through the countryside irrigating vast tracts of land.”
Tim points out that Jesus said he would make his followers “fishers of people”.
“If every person who became a follower of Jesus led just one person to faith a year, and if each of the new followers of Jesus led one more person to become a follower of Jesus each year, within ten years, there would be more than 500 new followers of Jesus. That’s multiplication ministry.”
Together with his wife Sharon, Tim leads Tailrace Community Church, a church they planted 29 years ago – so he’s no stranger to the challenges of church planting.
Now, as Director of Exponential Australia, Tim has the opportunity to encourage Aussie church leaders and planters with podcasts, conferences and events that resource them for the task and provide a community of support.
This October, Exponential will host its National Conference with thought leaders from across the world sharing on the main stage plus 40 breakout sessions— all around the theme of “Igniting a culture of multiplication”.
Conference delegates will explore how to ignite six critical elements of “multiplication culture”: rapid multiplication; audacious prayer; empowering leadership; intentional disciple-making, and dynamic church planting.
Keynote speakers include Jossy Chacko, Pete Greig, Jon Tyson, Joel Chelliah, Melinda Dwight and Rachel Hughes.
