Power To Change

Fruitful Church Planting!

Imagine planting five house churches in four years. This is what Poh Choo and her husband Phil have done in Melbourne through the Basic Church network under the umbrella of Churches of Christ. Poh Choo is also a missionary with Power to Change serving with me in the Church Movements team.

Poh Choo's motivation to get involved in planting house churches was her passion for disciplemaking.

"In Basic Church, we keep programs really low and emphasis training our people to be a disciple of Jesus," Poh Choo explained. This focus is shaped around loving God, loving others, and making disciples.

"We focus on developing a personal relationship with God, learning to hear from and obey Him. We seek to love, care, pray for one another, and then reach out to the lost. Disciplemaking is in our DNA. Part of our culture is that everyone who comes to Basic Church will eventually understand that Mission is very important. Basic Church exists to serve the Great Commission."

House churches can provide a natural introduction to Christian community for those who don't follow Jesus. One of the Basic Church gatherings in Melbourne is made up of young adults. They invited a friend, Dawn (name changed), to visit and she felt comfortable walking into a home and meeting in that space.

God's Story!

- By Stuart Brownscombe, Youth MInistry

At the end of Term 2 (before Sydney went into lockdown), the younger Bible Study group were exploring the big picture of God’s story. We had started in Genesis and were making our way through Exodus. The topic for that afternoon: The Ten Commandments.

I explained the setting to the students, that God had rescued his chosen people from Egypt and was now telling them how they were to live as His people. Miles was surprised by this. He asked how people were supposed to know how to live before God had given them the commandments. We turned to the book of Romans where Paul says that the law is written on our hearts and our consciences.

Our Amazing Finance Team

- Geoff Folland: National Leader-Strategic Engagement

After 25 years on campus in Sydney, I moved to Melbourne last Easter to take up a national leadership role. I'd always enjoyed sitting across the table from a student, having a laugh, and engaging with God's Word together. It was a privilege to see God at work before my eyes.

But I was always aware of those quiet servants in our HQ who processed our finances, tracked down insurance policies to cover our events or processed new missionary applications. Our work on campus - or in schools, churches and the community, couldn't happen without them.

Almost all of them raise financial support to serve in mission this way. We praise God for these servant-hearted missionaries. We need three important roles (salaried, 1 supported).

These are the roles that are so important to us:

1. Experienced Finance Officer
2. Major Partners Manager
3. IT Manager

If you know anyone who might be suitable for any of these positions, please let us know! Please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Humble Pumpkin

~ by Suan Lee Campbell, a missionary with Church Movements Ministry

This is the story of a humble pumpkin in my backyard. It began with the awful news that we were in another snap lockdown, the last one being 2 weeks ago. I felt down and guessed that others would too. There was a big pumpkin sitting on the kitchen bench and a bag of 5 Kg. flour in the pantry. Put the two together and I began baking with a friend who lived with us. 120 pumpkin scones later, we packaged them up with a note of encouragement* for the neighbours in our street. It was one way I could connect with new neighbours and show some care. A few friends in the neighbourhood did the same for their neighbours.

“I was feeling frustrated…and I lost my new Bible!”

This is the story of two weeks, two students, one domestic tourist, a non-Christian dad, flat ear pods…and three new Christians on campus in Brisbane!

"When we opened our eyes...God opened Sam's!” Andrew, the leader of the international student ministry at QUT, met with new missionary Josh to share the gospel on campus, he was burdened. As it got closer to exams, there were fewer students around. So they prayed that God would lead them to someone whom the Holy Spirit had already prepared.

They opened their eyes, stood up and initiated with a student who was walking towards them. They discovered that Sam had been hurt by his experience of church in his home country. But, as they talked, it was evident that he did not understand the Gospel. As they shared how Sam could come into a relationship with Jesus, his eyes were opened and Sam invited Jesus into his heart. Sam has continued to meet with Andrew & Josh to learn more about his new relationship with God!

3 Great stories of how God is at work.

~ by David Evans, a missionary with Church Movements Ministry

Student prays for a sign

Do you believe that God places people in your life on purpose?

I met Andrew at a café. I was sitting down, and he walked past with a banged-up knee in a brace. He was hobbling along, and it looked quite uncomfortable. I asked him if he wanted to sit down. He thanked me but continued to stand while he waited for his order. We began chatting about how he injured his knee and what he is studying. In return, Andrew asked me what I was studying. Many students on campus ask me this same question.

I simply say, “I’m not studying. I help out with the Chaplaincy meals program here at the Uni and talk with students about life and faith related matters.” I quickly added, “I am a follower of Jesus and I like to encourage and pray with people.” I offered to pray for him and the healing of his knee.

Food Safari at Monash Uni!

The basic idea was to invite Victorian Uni students to meet together in small groups and go on food outings together. Students were given incentives as they attended these meet ups (e.g. Netflix voucher). The aim was to help incoming students get connected to the Power to Change community. Especially given the lockdown last year, we saw this as an opportunity to serve the student community and help them be connected.

The Digital team at Power to Change HQ lent their expertise to get promotion and registration working. And praise God – we saw nearly 100 people signup for the initiative!

2020 Annual Report

Our 2020 Annual Summary is here!

We are so excited to bring to you the great things God has done in spite of the COVID pandemic. Our numbers are indeed lower than last year, but we are thankful for the virtual capabilities we have developed. This included discipleship, sharing the love of Jesus and some breakthrough advertising on Instagram. Our humanitarian aid partner, GAiN, moved from working with people who were planting churches to providing relief for many in these same locations. Join us in the good news by reading our 2020 Annual Summary below!

To open the report click here, or the links above.

~ Your friends at Power to Change Australia

Stories