A CITY TO CITY INITIATIVE TO invest in the health and growth of AUSTRALIA’S CHURCHES
Hear Tim Keller, the founder of Redeemer City to City, talk about Revitalise Australia, a program which works extensively and intensively with ‘stuck’ churches, to help them transition into growing churches. Click below to watch:
City to City's Revitalise Australia program brings together the proven training, coaching, and funding tools that have been developed over many years in Australia and overseas, puts these tools in the hands of seasoned and fruitful church leaders who serve as Lead Consultants, who then work with multiple churches and leaders over a year-long revitalisation consultation to bring new health, life and growth to those churches.
City to City Australia (CTCA) – the church planting agency founded by Tim Keller – is growing rapidly. In August 2021, CTCA launched Revitalise Australia, a program of consultancy to see good local churches and leaders grow into great, multiplying churches and leaders. CTCA is calling for interest and engagement from denominations, leaders and para-church organisations to the 12-month program.
“It takes more than a great church to reach a city; it takes a great movement of churches.”
As Australian Christians, we all know the stories of doom and gloom – the rising percentage of ’nones’ - those who claim no religious affiliation – and the decline in the percentage of church attenders. At one level, this should not be distressing. It’s quite likely that a fair portion of this decline is the evaporation of Christian nominalism, given that there is no cultural status, or ‘pay-off’ any longer in identifying as a Christian. In fact, it's quite the opposite. As McCrindle Research put it:
"…this data suggests the spiritual change taking place in our nation is not a mass de-conversion of Bible-believing and church-attending Christians but instead the decline of cultural Christianity in a time of increasing secularism and religious plurality.” (Click here to read the full research report)
However, data suggests there are some genuinely worrying signs as well. Somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters of Bible based churches have either plateaued or are declining.
What’s more, an increasing population, especially in the cities, means that the proportion of the population that identifies as Christian is falling fast.
One key to seeing gospel revitalisation is the planting of new churches. Tim Keller famously called church planting “the research and development unit of the church”.
Church planting is only a part of the picture, and perhaps a small, but important part. McCrindle research estimates that there are over 13,000 churches in Australia, more than the total number of schools. If we can assume that half of them are Protestant (6500), and, let’s say, two thirds of them are Bible-based (4500), then that means there are around 3000 Bible-based churches that are currently in decline or have plateaued. At City to City Australia, we believe that God is able to bring new life and health to churches that wish to flourish and grow.
That’s why City to City Australia has embarked on a new focus, alongside its deep, ongoing commitment to church planting. Called Revitalise Australia, it brings together the proven training, coaching, and funding tools that have been developed over many years in Australia and overseas, puts these tools in the hands of seasoned and fruitful church leaders who serve as Lead Consultants, who then work with multiple churches and leaders over a year-long revitalisation consultation to bring new health, life and growth to those churches.
See below for more details on what we provide and how our 12-month program works:
To download the brochure with all the details, click below:
Let us come together and Revitalise Australia!
To set up a meeting with City to City Australia to talk about joining Revitalise Australia, get in touch via the webform below: