Beyond the walls of the Church

Like most National departments, we aim to have a representative Community Engagement Leader is each state:

NSW/ACT Josh Hammann

WA Aaron Pryce

SA Garry Lynch

VIC Daniel Sanders

QLD/NT Phil Cutcliffe

Darren Braund and Andrew Harper stepped down from their role as SA and NSW/ACT leaders; we thank them for their hard work and amazing loyalty to Community Engagement. We are currently looking to fill the state leader role in Tasmania.

Training and Equipping

During 2021 and 2022 we continued to train ACC pastors and leaders using the following methods and formats:

Diploma of Community Services

This course is designed to equip people to think and act differently regarding community transformation. In partnership with Alphacrucis and ACC Community Engagement we were able to offer this course in person and online during 2020.

Course Participation:

2021 – 26 Students

2022 – 30 Students

Our goal is to have a trained person in every ACC church.

ACC Community Engagement Summits

During 2021 and 2022, the Community Engagement team hosted three summits, two online and one in person.

Summit – April 2021

Over 100 people attended the ACC Community Engagement Strategic Summit on the Gold Coast during National Conference week in April 2021. This was a great opportunity to hear from the national community engagement leader, Paul Bartlett, and the NAYBA national leader, Nic Mackay, on the future direction of community engagement in Australia. It was also an opportunity to gain valuable feedback from those in attendance on how their churches are positioned to engage their communities and what the community engagement leaders can do to assist this endeavour. Guests were also able to hear from and connect with the Red Frogs and Kids Hope teams.

Online Summit – September 2021

Over 200 people attended via zoom for the Summit focusing on Mental Health. Clinical psychologist, Garfield Thompson from Alta 1 was the guest speaker and gave practical tips for pastors to assist where possible, with the mental health of their community.

Online Summit – August 2022

Matthew Barnett from the LA Dream Center joined as our guest speaker. Matthew is one of the great leaders in community engagement and he was able to encourage and inspire the pastors and leaders who joined the zoom. We had over 150 register to join the online summit.

Round Tables

After two years of pandemic and lockdowns we’ve learned that community engagement is as important as ever for our churches. Round table events provide an opportunity to share stories as well as learning from the experience of others.

Round tables were held in QLD/NT and VIC during 2022 and other states will host pastors and leaders in 2023.

Breakout Sessions at State Conferences

ACC Community Engagement continues to host breakout sessions at each of our state conferences. In 2022 over 250 people attended a community engagement breakout session.

Goals and Vision

Our Vision is to partner with ACC pastors and churches to strengthen the way in which they influence and serve their communities. We will help them in their community work from transactional programs to transformational. We achieve this through training such as the Diploma of Community Services. One day “Building strong Communities” seminars. Roundtable discussion and shared learning through to coaching.

In the past 10 years we have seen our churches go from 62% Engagement in Community to 93% ( NCLS ) we have identified however there is a gap between professional services for community and the everyday church attendee.

It’s our goal over the next two years to create discussion, thinking and training to help bridge that gap.

Importantly as community attitudes and values are shifting at a rapid rate, we have a goal to develop and adapt our training to better equip churches in this changing environment.

Lastly we want to thank the State Presidents for providing great community engagement leaders in each state and the National Executive for making sure Community Engagement has a voice, in particular we are much appreciative of the Stream we are doing at National Conference.

Paul Bartlett National Leader: Community Engagegement