Australia for Christ is happening in 2028 and delegates at this week’s Australian Union Conference constituency meeting had an opportunity to explore how they might become involved.
Delegates discussed in groups the opportunities, and the need for prayer, participation and commitment.
South Pacific Division president Pastor Glenn Townend shared learnings from the PNG for Christ experience in 2024.
“We did a lot of training . . . they taught simple methods of reaching people, not making it difficult, so every member could be involved,” he explained. “Now some of these methods might not work here but if we keep it simple for people it’s going to be helpful.”
Making a noticeable impact in the lead-up to the PNG campaign was church members doing outreach in the community, including helping people with disabilities and women in domestic violence situations, Pastor Townend said.
“They were doing things in the community that people noticed and nobody else was doing— it made a huge difference.”
He said people were united and aligned with the same focus—and prayer was pivotal to the success of the campaign: “I believe it was only because of prayer—the local people did not expect to have the results that they had. It was special for them, incredibly so, and out of that it challenged the rest of us in the Division and in leadership.”
SPD Ministry and Strategy director Pastor Terry Johnson said, “I think it’s the most exciting thing that we can be part of.” He shared his own experience of PNG for Christ and encouraged delegates to begin preparing to share the gospel in new ways.
“We want you to think about how you are going to get engaged between now and then, what’s it going to look like for your church and for your conference to be involved in Australia for Christ,” he said.
Pastor Johnson noted that Australia has been blessed with record numbers of baptisms in the past two years, and is on track for another record year.
“That just shows you that God is preparing the soil right here . . . so that there will be a harvest by the time that 2028 comes around,” he said. “And when we think about that harvest, we should be thinking of 10,000, of 20,000, of 30,000 people joining our Church . . . imagine doubling the Church number in the space of the next three years!”
Leading up to Australia for Christ, Australia will extend support to the Trans Pacific Union Mission’s TPUM for Christ initiative in 2026 and the New Zealand Pacific Union Conference’s NZPUC for Christ campaign in 2027.
