About Exponential Australia
Exponential Australia is a community of activists who champion the cause of healthy church multiplication. It has been formed to see church multiplication stimulated across Australia. Our vision is to see multiplication become a primary and widely embraced measure of success in the church. If our 10 year vision goal is achieved, the church in Australia will be irrevocably changed with leaders raised and new missional churches of all sizes and shapes across all denominations and movements being planted throughout our nation.
Based on NCLS research that we have commissioned, it is estimated that in Australia only approximately 2% of Australian churches (estimated to be 200 churches) plant a new church in any year. NCLS have also reported that in the 20 years to 2011, 50 more churches closed every year than were started.
Our 10 Year Vision is to see 1,000 new churches planted every year resulting in 5,000 new churches being planted over the next 10 years and leading to 45,000 additional salvations over this time.
Our Strategic Focus
Exponential Australia has 6 Key Strategies with which to engage with leaders and ministries:
- Strategic Prayer for multiplication in Australia
- Fostering Collaboration amongst the various tribes
- Stimulating Thought Leadership to provoke innovation
- Aggregating and Producing Resources to facilitate best practice
- Conducting Events to envision and equip
- Connecting with participants to stimulate multiplication
Our Board of Directors
Tim O’Neill | National Leader
Tim leads A2A (the Acts 2 Alliance) a network of churches in Australia. He is founding pastor and chair of Tailrace Community Church, a church that they planted 30 years ago. Over that time Tim has been active in equipping and mentoring church planters across various movements.
Charlie Burke| Network Director
Charlie Burke has been working across the body of Christ in Australia in evangelistic, church planting, and networking capacities for the last decade. Charlie has enormous heart for connecting the global body of Christ for the cause of missional effectiveness and collaboration. Charlie currently serves as the Executive Ministry Director for Exponential Australia, while also leading a local expression along with his wife Jessica, in Blacktown Western Sydney.
Wayne Krause | National Chair
Wayne is an experienced leader with a demonstrated history of working with religious institutions. He has strong professional skills in Vision Casting, Team Building, Coaching, Discipleship, and Pastoral Theology. One of Wayne’s greatest passions is speaking with secular people, listening to their stories and seeing them grow as lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.
Wayne holds a D Min in Church Planting and Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary and serves as the Director of Adventist Mission and the Cities Strategy Leader in the South Pacific for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Rob Nyhuis | Director
Rob is the State Executive Officer and National Chair of the Churches of Christ in Australia. He is married to Anna and, for ten years, they led a multi-campus church which planted a variety of local multi-ethnic and global congregations. Rob holds a Ph.D. and his findings on ministry formation practices are currently being used to develop leaders in a range of church contexts and sizes.
Dave Ferguson | Director
Dave is President of the Exponential Conference in the United States and is an award-winning author. He is also founding and lead pastor of a missional multi-site community which is considered one of the most influential churches in America. Dave also provides visionary leadership for New Thing an international church- planting movement.
Peter Hammer | Director & Secretary
Peter leads the operations of Harvestnet, a church planting movement aligned with Australian Christian Churches (ACC). With a heart for empowering church planters, he is committed to nurturing and supporting individuals as they embrace their God-given calling to establish thriving congregations throughout Australia. Peter serves as Executive Pastor at Centrepoint Church and, along with his wife Eudora, pastors a campus in the southern suburbs of Perth.
Edi Stephenson | Director
Edi Provides leadership to Building A Discipling Culture, working with churches around Australia to seek to play a small part in waking the “sleeping giant” of Australian Christianity to again steward the gospel fruitfully. Edi is on staff at Crossway Baptist church.
Julie Anne Laird | Director
Julie-Anne spends her time training Churches around Australia on relational evangelism. She works with ministry teams, gifted evangelists and the everyday Christian. She has a passion for people to know Jesus but also a passion for every Christian to be able to integrate their faith into every part of their lives as well as feel confident and comfortable to live it out and talk it out.
Michael Hands| Director
Rev. Michael Hands is a committed follower of Jesus, husband to Sarah, father of three and Lead minister to the Newlife Family of Churches. Passionate about renewal, Michael believes in the power of discipleship and Holy Spirit-led ministry to renew and refresh the decline of the Western church. Newlife Family of Churches is a movement of four (currently) Churches across South-East Queensland committed to seeing more people more like Jesus by planting and leading local, thriving churches. Michael loves reading, exercising, and having wild adventures with his family.
