What do you think when you pass a busker? A few coins, perhaps a polite smile — and then you move on.

But for Giles, busking has never been about spare change.

Several days a week, rain or shine, he shoulders his bags, grabs his harmonicas and a homemade percussion shaker, and heads to the local supermarket. He sets out a small sign and begins to play. Some days shoppers linger. Other days, especially in winter, they hurry past and he returns home with just a handful of coins.

Either way, Giles calls it his job.

Since childhood, Giles has lived with mental health challenges that have made learning and everyday life far from simple. Yet he taught himself harmonica through YouTube videos and tips from generous musicians. Music became both expression and purpose.

Years ago, after hearing how one deep water well could transform a community, Giles decided to give half of everything he earned to GAiN’s water projects.

Over the past five years alone, his faithful busking has raised $7,000.

His family has matched his giving. Together, they’ve funded a $15,000 water well in Tanzania — bringing safe water to a community in need. In May, the family will travel there to witness the impact firsthand.

Giles’ offering may look like small change. But it has become living water for hundreds.

His mum once wrote, “He inspires me to give generously — not according to our ability or even capacity, but from a willing spirit.”

Maybe that’s the invitation for all of us.

If you’ve ever considered going on mission, this could be your moment. GAiN has many opportunities to reveal hope and restore life to vulnerable people and communities.
 
And if you can’t go, you can still help bring clean water to communities in need.

Because when a willing heart meets God’s purposes, even spare change can change the world.

The post One Busker’s Faithful Mission appeared first on Power to Change.

Over five packed days, our youth performance team, Amber Lights, performed eight times in seven locations, sharing stories of hope and faith through music with nearly 700 students across six schools and a youth group.

Here’s what God did:

• 59 students asked to connect with youth groups or learn more about following Jesus.
  
• 17 made a decision to begin that journey with Him.
  

But even more than numbers, what struck us was the need:

• Christian teachers and chaplains are longing for support.
  
• Small churches dreaming of reaching their local youth.
  
• Young people are hungry for purpose, hope, and connection.
  

This is the kind of movement we long to see more of — where local churches, missional teams, and everyday Change Makers come together to create pathways for young people to encounter Jesus.

How You Can Be Part of This

If you’re active in ministry — especially through church movements, youth outreach, or evangelism — would you pray about where God might be inviting you to step in?

• Could your church partner in future tours or local follow-up?
  
• Could you support local workers who are faithfully sowing long-term?
  
• Could you join us in praying for these 700 young people?
  

We’re convinced the harvest is plentiful — and more labourers are needed. Let’s keep stepping into what God is already doing.

The post Central West Tour: When God Opens Doors Before You Knock appeared first on Power to Change.

I looked up from prayer before an outreach hour early in the semester, and immediately spotted two girls sitting on the lawn with their laptops. Holy Spirit nudged my heart, and without hesitation, I told the rest of the pairs “shotgun those girls!” and walked over with another student. We quickly connected and found out that one of them, Veronica, was a Christian, who excitedly asked us several questions about how we share our faith, eager to learn. The other girl, Janine, quietly listened in.

Towards the end of the conversation, Janine shared that although her family used to go to church and she believes in God, she didn’t really know how to have a relationship with him, and wanted to learn everything from the beginning. We responded – “you’re talking to the right people!” They were keen to meet up again, and agreed to go through the Christianity Explained course with us – Janine to learn the basics of our faith, and Veronica to learn how to use that tool as a way to share her faith.

As myself and Carla (another missionary) journeyed through the Christianity Explained series, Janine asked deep, thoughtful questions and willingly shared her heart. One significant lesson was on Jesus’ death on the cross, which aligned quite well with the timing of Easter.

While I explained how Jesus was separated from God when he took on our sin, Janine was so touched that she started crying! Then as we reflected on how he suffered and died for our sake, she was filled with so much awe, excitedly saying that she wanted to go home to her mum and ask, “Did you know about this!?” 

On the day of the final lesson, while meeting in a busy café, two nearby students started mocking Christianity loudly. I prayed silently that Janine wouldn’t be distracted, and she wasn’t. In fact, she told us later she hadn’t noticed at all! Then, casually but confidently, she told us she had decided earlier that week to commit to a personal relationship with God. In her words: “I just suddenly felt like I believed everything.”

She shared how much lighter and less stressed she immediately felt, and how she’d begun talking to God first, even before her parents. We celebrated with pizza, and she’s continued meeting up with us for discipleship and Bible study. She and her friend Veronica have even been messaging each other daily, sharing what they’re learning from Scripture. They also both attended our Winter Conference, growing deeply in their faith and God’s heart to use them to also reach others.

It’s been such a joy to witness Janine’s transformation and to see how gently but powerfully God has been leading her. I am still astounded by the undeniable clarity which drew me to walk up to her and Veronica, and the unfathomable, personal love of God who had clearly been already at work and knew His daughter was ready to respond. Please keep praying for Janine as she continues to grow in faith.

Cassie Jarvis, campus missionary in Brisbane 

The post From Curiosity to Commitment: Janine’s Journey to Faith appeared first on Power to Change.

When I followed up with Amar soon after, she opened up about how her family in India—originally from a Sikh background—came to follow Jesus. Their decision to embrace Christ has come at great personal cost, yet their faith has remained firm in the face of hostility and persecution from their own loved ones and wider community.

I asked her, “What led you and your family to believe in and follow Jesus?”

She replied, “We encountered Jesus through many miracles that God graciously did in our family, especially healing. No other god could do what Jesus did. We were so excited to share about Him, but others didn’t believe us. They treated us as traitors to our community and said, ‘We have thousands of gods—why is your God the only true one?’ My dad was even hospitalised for a few years because of the pressure from our community. But God is good. This year has been the most peaceful our family has experienced in a long time.”

I then asked how she managed to stay strong in her faith.

“We’ve seen Jesus’ power with our own eyes—we can’t deny it,” she said. “I believed in Jesus when I was 14, and over the years I’ve become so thankful. I know who I am in Christ. I don’t need to follow the crowd or seek identity in relationships with boys like many of my peers do.”

When I asked if she had any dreams for her time at university, her face lit up.

“Yes! I’d love to see a South Asian Christian group on campus,” she said, “where we can meet regularly, encourage each other, and reach more South Asian students.”

Praise God, Amar and I now meet regularly for discipleship and for praying into this dream. I truly believe this is God’s work. Gathering South Asian Christians and reaching others from their background has long been on our hearts and in our prayers.

*Name changed for privacy.

The post “Why Is Your God the Only True One?”: Amar’s Story of Faith, Miracles, and Mission appeared first on Power to Change.

I loved going home to the UK this Summer – the church I grew up in is known for its amazing music – and this Advent season it didn’t disappoint.  The choir at St Alphege was spectacular and their Christmas Services are full of visitors.  My church here in Australia has fantastic Christmas activities but I wonder how many of our visitors come back in the New Year?

What about your church?  Have you got a plan to reconnect with these new or lost people? 

What would it take to connect with these awesome people – that have an interest in Christianity – but aren’t part of a regular faith community?

Many of you may have anticipated this issue – compounded by Australian summer holidays – and provided newcomers with an information pack about what you do and how you can meet their needs.  You may have chatted to them after the service or activity and personally invited them to come again.  You may have even managed to grab their contact information (Woo Hoo!!).  

So now is the time to follow up…..  and for those of you who grabbed some contact information a great way to get to know someone is over a cup of coffee  (yes, I do live in Melbourne and a cold drink may be more relevant for you or even a bubble tea depending on the culture of the area you are in).  This “get to know you” cuppa is a great start to start showing God’s love and care to someone.  The purpose of the meeting is to connect with them and find out more about them, their life, circumstances and where they are on their spiritual journey and what their needs are.  The fact that they are willing to meet with you indicates that they are at least curious.

Some great questions to ask are:

• Tell me a bit about yourself?
• What made you come to our church ?
• Did the message make sense to you? (if they came to a Christmas service)
• How do you think our church can help you?  (let them identify their next steps first, this helps them own it)

It might be good to have some resources to have with you such as your churches worship times and activities that you have such as playgroups, English classes, and Alpha.  They may be ready to come to church and it is always nice to have someone that you know there for the first few times you go who can introduce you to other and help them feel part of the community.  Sometimes someone isn’t quite ready to join corporate worship and an offer to read the bible with them over a cuppa using a Discovery Bible Method to discover the basics together using a tool like in MyFriends.network can be great way to help someone along their spiritual journey.

But what if you didn’t collect peoples contact details?  Ask your congregation who they asked to come to celebrate Christmas at church.  Did any of them recognise any of the visitors … Ask your church members to arrange for a cuppa to connect with their friends, family or neighbours and show God’s love to them through prayer and caring from them – meeting them where they are at on their spiritual journey and supporting their needs – intentionally living like Jesus.

MyFriends helps everyday Christians connect intentionally with their friends and give them the tools, skills and confidence to have spiritual conversations with their social networks. Contact Fiona.Dunn@Powertochange.org.au to learn how to run MyFriends at your church or join us over zoom for an online MyFriends course to find out what its all about.

The post Maximizing connections with a cuppa! appeared first on Power to Change.

“But what I didn’t expect was how much I would be poured into from God through our main speaker for the winter conference, through connection times with students, and through workshops that I helped lead,” she reveals.
“It was very encouraging, and God really blessed me with how much I was serving, but I was still poured into over the five days.”

Ashley, who hails from Minnesota in the US, believes going away on a conference allowed her to connect with students on a deeper level than during campus outreach events. “The messages in the seminars and workshops were all God and Bible-centred and it was a great time connecting with students who you already knew before, but so many other new people as well. Having that time and space to rest, reflect and connect with other people makes it really special.”

A sign of how precious the time was for students was that they already organised a reunion a few weeks after the conference, she says. “It was really cool after our main speaker gave a talk on identity in Christ. I looked around the room, saw students, and was able to chat with a student after the talk about our identity in Christ and how that’s such good news that we have this firm foundation and security that we don’t have to try to people-please or try to get our identity from other people, relationships, our jobs, our futures, our dreams, our hopes,” she says.

“In Christ, we have this firm security that surpasses everything. Because of our identity in Christ, we are able to live from love and not for it. So everything that we do is not trying to earn God’s love. It’s not trying to earn other love. It’s coming from a place of love. And the security that love will never leave us as children of God. That was a great thing to be reminded of.”

After the talk, Ashley was alarmed to see that a student sitting next to her had tears in her eyes. “I was like, ‘Oh no, is she okay?’ Then I realised she was overwhelmed with peace from a deeper understanding of God’s love for her, that she didn’t have to try to get that from anywhere else, but she already really has it in Christ.”

As she heard students’ stories, Ashley realised what a privilege and honour it was to have God move through her to encourage or serve another student.“ Freedom is the main word that I took out of the conference. There’s freedom in surrendering to God. The world might say the opposite, but we live in an upside-down kingdom.”

The post Living from Love appeared first on Power to Change.

Faith-building, says Suan Lee, doesn’t always require dramatic events; instead, it often flourishes in the simple, everyday interactions we have with others. Suan emphasizes the importance of genuine presence and heartfelt care, echoing the famous saying, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” This genuine care, Suan explains, is guided by the Holy Spirit and constantly covered in prayer.

She has found remarkable success in integrating faith into casual settings, like at her local gym, in exercise classes, and at a cafe. One of Suan Lee’s key strategies is to make the most of ordinary interactions. Whether she’s chatting with gym-goers or meeting up for coffee, she emphasizes the importance of being present and open to where God leads. She notes that real faith growth happens when people feel truly heard and valued, and this is made possible through a foundation of prayer and the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

By using Discovery Bible Studies (DBS) in these relaxed environments, Suan Lee creates spaces where people feel comfortable to explore faith. Building faith in everyday moments involves lots of prayer, attentive and active listening, and building authentic relationships.

These informal settings are just the beginning. Starting with informal gatherings like cafes and Bible study groups is a great way for new believers to begin their journey. These settings can lead people to find their place in a church community, where they can receive the support and structure needed for spiritual growth.

If you’re eager to build others on their journey of faith, getting involved and being present in these spaces is an excellent place to start! Suan Lee’s story is a powerful reminder that meaningful connections and genuine care, nurtured through prayer and spiritual openness, can lead to profound spiritual growth.

The post Growing Faith in Everyday Moments? appeared first on Power to Change.

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What do you study Lauren, and why?

I study Secondary Education, majoring in HPE and Maths. I want to be a teacher so I can work with students in reaching their full, and often untapped potential. I had many teachers throughout my own schooling that inspired me, and I’d love to inspire the next generation.

You spent your summer in Japan on Mission Megumi. Why, and what were some of the highlights? 

I went on mission to Japan because, last year, I felt the Lord was calling me out of my comfort zone. Going to Japan was exactly that, I didn’t know much about the language, culture, or people. 

On arrival, I quickly fell in love with Japan, the university students we met were so wonderful and the Power to Change Team there were so welcoming. I certainly grew in my trust and reliance on God in the outreach space

What are some principles of leadership that inspire you? 

I think the key principles for me are grace, love and fun. They’re super applicable for daily life, often reorienting me back to the mindset of, ‘What would Jesus do?’ 

What are you trusting God for this year? 

I am trusting in God’s strength. I very easily slip into doing everything myself, and not always asking for help.  This year I am leaning into weakness, simply so that there is less of me and more of God in the way I do life, throughout the highs, lows and challenges. 

The post Trusting in God’s Strength appeared first on Power to Change.

My family has identified 100 houses around ours and look for ways to connect with them, get to know them, and start spiritual conversations. We drop off biscuits at Christmas, flowers at Easter, and look for other opportunities to care for them – like helping a neighbour move house.

Our neighbours, as with yours, are not just those whose houses are near our own. Neighbours, by definition, are people in relationships, the people near to you.

You may have programs that help connect outwards like special interest groups like a play group, a craft group, English lessons, or a market. Door of Hope Church in Launceston uses their amazing site, The Old Woollen Mill, to connect with as many people as possible in their community. You could learn more about that by joining us at Multiply where Door of Hope Church will welcome us and show us their disciplemaking pathway.

To find out more about or register for Multiply Disciplemaking Churches Conference , head to https://powertochange.org.au/multiply

The post Relationships are Key appeared first on Power to Change.