BRIAN HOUSTON

“If I had to summarise the qualities that have marked the progress in Australia over recent years I would list qualities such as: a commitment to authenticity; cultural relevance; spiritual passion; the courage to be innovative and to try new things; and the release of young people, as keys.”

PHIL PRINGLE

"I'm not sure we would place ourselves in a position to attempt to teach American leaders anything. We have been blessed and gleaned enormous input from the USA pastors and leaders over the years and continue to do so. However, maybe a distinctive of Australian Pentecostal Christianity is we are mostly local church oriented here rather than 'ministry' oriented. Most business cards and letterheads are not the name of a person but of a church or movement, so the move of God is based upon the church not individuals.

Great contemporary worship and relevant preaching are consistently rated as the highest valued elements of Australian churches by surveyed congregational members. We have attempted to speak in the language of the hearers, meaning we have attempted to be relevant and contemporary to the world we live in with music and messages. Thus the entire culture of our churches becomes geared reaching this generation. We have empowered the next generation to take hold of the ministry of the churches and let their influence be felt throughout the whole church.

We have focused on planting new churches and growing existing churches, thus we have many training opportunities in colleges and discipleship groups. Developing leaders and empowering them has provided a long-term foundation for growth."

ASHLEY EVANS

“The AG in Australia is vastly different from all other world AG movements. It is progressive, innovative, and the dominant force in the evangelical world. Part of our secret is the ability for streams of style and emphasis to breed freely within an over arching belief structure. It allows for complete functional autonomy and at the end of the day, is a fellowship of churches rather than a denomination.

In terms of strong brands within the AG scene, Brian Houston and Hillsong is THE MOST dominant stream. Paradise and myself is another dominant stream. Russell Evans and Planetshakers is a dominant stream.

Brian’s dominant emphasis has been leadership and worship. Russell’s dominant emphasis has been youth and music. My emphasis has been leadership and secular influence.

Two cities, Sydney and Adelaide, provide the greatest influence in the nation.

Brian and Phil Pringle come from Sydney. Russell and I and Danny Guglielmucci (also a major stream in the AG) all come out of Adelaide and out of Paradise.

I don't know whether you got to watch that five minute DVD I gave you, but it will sum up for you what our church and my ministry leadership is all about.

I will send you more info about the AG, but just thought I’d attempt to summarise how I see the nation and who is who.

Hope this helps. This is the most unbiased view you will get I think. All four leaders have a strong voice, and there are others too, but definitely Russell, myself, Brian and Phil are some of the major movers and shakers in the charismatic/Pentecostal/evangelical scene.”

RUSSELL EVANS

“Australia is seeing a significant growth in many churches through it’s reaching out to & raising up the generation of today. The church in Australia is more about being a church that represent's the kingdom in the 21st century than a church with a traditional mindset hence the church is contemporary with a first class attitude to how church can be done. Tens of thousands of youth & young adults are joining churches because they feel it's a place they can relate to & feel a great sense of community & empowerment. The spiritual fathers of Australia have constantly seen the value in raising up the next generation & this has been a hallmark of the church in Australia. As a result you ministries like Hillsong & Planetshakers are having great influence on the world at large.”

TOM HALLAS

“The Holy Spirit is doing a work in both our countries, and the unique desires, struggles, passions, and any moving forward in the things of God in Australia, is part of the Spirit in His work worldwide - moving His people to be more compassionate, relevant, engaged in serving the community, minimizing barriers between the church and community.

Tom's grave concern is that with all that is happening in our lands there would be a greater wave of missionary endeavour among peoples who have not yet heard the Gospel of Jesus.”

VINCENT ESTERMAN

“After being away from Australia for 21 years we have returned to find church-life, especially the high-profile, well-known ones, with great momentum. I put the question to the senior minister of a large church in Adelaide. His reply was that growing churches are growing through Leadership and Vision (though not necessarily through evangelism he added). Everyone is talking "leadership". It is clear that these churches have embraced the Generation X and Generation Y culture. Grey-haired 50-year-old men like myself are less prominent. Perhaps it is because of the color dye. Hillsong has profoundly changed the way worship is done and there is an increasing emphasis on the social responsibility of Pentecostal churches.

"Change" is the operative word and no one seems to be afraid of it. What a contrast to how church is traditionally seen.”

BEN WOODS

“Australian churches have had to become increasingly good at reaching a totally secular audience. Most people have no idea about Christian beliefs namely, who Jesus is or what it is he has done. Since we have been influenced by an American model in recent history we are good at doing church for a biblical founded community. However, with a serious level of secularization in our society we must "Reach Out" like no one has ever gone there before. I believe that the churches who are realizing that His gospel needs to be understandable to the spiritually illiterate are the ones that are seeing huge favour with the young, the old and even the government. This is the way forward for the Australian Church. Presenting Jesus, like He has never been presented, because in reality, to most of our nation, He hasn't been.”

MATT DANSWAN

“Not really knowing where the church is at in the US compared to here it is hard to comment, but I would say that the churches here are now very sophisticated and many are very well run.

Hillsong is the high profile church, but many others are very large and cater for the community really well. All of the publicity surrounding Hillsong has really put Christianity on the map here and people are really opening up to it. It seems there are now high profile Christians in business, sport, politics etc, so I think our country is on the verge of a revival.”

MATT DAWSON

“In 2001 I left California and came to Australia for a 6 month training course with YWAM. It was just after my 18th birthday when I arrived. My plan was to return home after the course to study at Westmont University... I never went home. It only took me 3 or 4 weeks to full madly in love with Australian culture and the unique expression of God's Kingdom that is absolutely pumping here. I live with my wife [who I met here] in Newcastle now, which is a couple hours north of Sydney on the East Coast. The beautiful thing about Australians is their willingness to lay down their personal agendas to focus on the common good... these guys really know how to work together. Loyalty, friendship, laughter, brutal honesty, and togetherness are words that come to mind when I think about the church here in Oz. One of my Australian friends came to me last night after I finished teaching a message on finding life in Christ rather than man's approval…he walked straight up to me with a big smile on his face and messed up my perfectly styled hair-do and told me that it was cause he loved me. He wanted to know if I was being real... cause he loves me. Australians tend not to be interested in how things appear. They want what's real... from their friends, their leaders, and from Jesus. I'm convinced that Jesus is moving so strongly amongst the youth of this nation because they aren't interested in putting on a face. Their hungry and they know it... they know they need something and if they find that something in Jesus... they go all the way with Him. There's no doubt in mind that as the fire spreads amongst Australian youth the world will be impacted by their intensity.”