Tag: Andrew Turner

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A Kingdom Full of Unlikelies

Men fishing Sacred agents

by Andrew Turner

“And I always make sure I invite some people who I’m fairly sure will say no.”

I heard this little off-the-cuff sentence from Melinda Dwight (former Director of Alpha Australia) two years ago, and it’s stayed with me ever since. 

Inviting is an important part of being a sacred agent. We all have our different gifts, ministries and settings, but at the end of the day – in fact all day – we represent the One who is inviting people everywhere into his kingdom. The gospel is news – and it’s also an invitation. 

As representatives of Jesus, we want to be as inviting as he is, whether that be inviting others to lunch, to youth group, home group, Alpha or a church service. Is our invitation as genuine, warm, strong, and gentle as his? And importantly, is it as wide? 

When we think about inviting, or are encouraging others to invite, so often our thought process goes like this: Can I think of one person among my contacts, who may be likely to be interested? And our minds are drawn to those most Christ-adjacent. 

But Jesus’ kingdom doesn’t work like that. Surely we know that he doesn’t only invite those already closest to him. Saul of Tarsus certainly wasn’t. The kingdom is full of unlikelies. And even those who do indeed say no, No, or NO need to know that they are invited. The invitation itself plants a seed. 

“Just know you’re definitely invited“

Imagine how things would change if we shifted the norm from ‘thinking of one person to invite’ to ‘putting the word out to all our contacts’: 

– We’d be almost certain to see a lot more people joining us, and;

– A great many Australians would be receiving multiple invitations, and what would they make of that? 

We know that a lot Australians are interested in Jesus. Where their blockage is a sense that they don’t qualify or wouldn’t be welcome, what’s needed is an invitation. It needn’t be high-pressure, it could be as simple as a text message like this: 

Hello everyone I know within cooee: Our church at West Beach is starting a new series through John’s gospel this week. Also an Alpha Course starting Aug 21. Let me know if you’d like to come along – or surprise me there! Just know you’re definitely invited. 

In Jesus’ teaching, the Sower spreads the seed very broadly, and the fisher casts a wide net, not just a single line. How wide is the net you’re casting? 

Andrew Turner, Director of Crossover.

Andrew Turner is Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries.
Photo by Photo by Cassiano Psomas on Unsplash.

A Kingdom Full of Unlikelies

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Seeking Invitation  

Seeking Invitation


This 2024 Baptism Report is by Crossover, the national Baptist ministry dedicated to equipping churches with resources, training, and encouragement to help Australian Baptists share Jesus effectively. 

With a 42% increase in baptisms over the last 2 years, are Baptists ready for 2025? Last year, Australian Baptist Ministries and Crossover recorded a total of 3,836 baptisms in Australia. That’s a 6.5% increase over 2023’s remarkable number – essentially a 42% increase in two years. That is truly remarkable! 

Baptisms were reported by State: 1 
– 1,134 in Victoria
– 1,073 in NSW/ACT 
– 858 in Queensland 
– 396 in WA 
– 350 in SA/NT 
– 25 in Tasmania. 

Crossover’s prayerful goal is to see twice as many baptisms in 2030 as in 2020. This would require 7.2% cumulative growth each year, represented by the line on this graph. As of now, they are 77 baptisms ahead of schedule! (Perhaps God’s schedule is a steeper line.)

Can We Keep It Up?

Perhaps we should ask whether we can stop it? There are significant signs of a new season in the wider culture, signalled by an increased openness to Christianity, particularly among Gen Z.  

Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptised? Acts 8:36 

Arguably, a few key factors will determine the extent to which our movement will reap this harvest.
These include: 
– Can we identify and remove stumbling blocks that stand in the way of people moving toward Christianity?  
– Are we too selective in whom we invite and include, or reluctant to extend grace? 
– Is there any ‘elder brother’ in us? 
– Can the Baptist movement pivot quickly enough from a defensive stance, built up over decades, to a mode of opportunity?  
– Can Baptists swing from a pessimistic mindset into making hay while the sun shines?

Attending to the Basics

Baptism numbers are not only correlated to the ebbs and flows of wider culture, but more directly to what our churches prioritise. They are highly correlated to invitations – to read the Bible together, to Alpha, to church, and to entrust and submit oneself to Christ in baptism.

‘Invitation should be our watchword across the rest of the decade.’

Baptism Resources

Crossover is continuing to invest in baptism resources. Such as, a new booklet for kids and youth, and the Count Me In brochure being translated into a whole range of other languages. There’s also National Baptism Week continues to spotlight our privilege and responsibility to invite more and more people into life in God’s kingdom. Finally, stay tuned also for a major new evangelism training course being developed for release later in the year.) 

  1. Each association gathers data as best it can from a dispersed movement, and some conservative estimation forms part of the total figure. ↩︎

February is a great month for churches to decide whether they’ll participate in the Australian Baptist Easter Offering. The Easter Offering is an expression of gratitude for Jesus and a commitment to unity as we work together to share His message with others.

Seeking Invitation

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Preparing a Gospel Talk

Sacred Agents

Preparing a Gospel Talk

By Andrew Turner

Last week Andrew Turner wrote on Becoming a Gospel Prepper. This week, he shares a few insights on what sorts of things to ask while preparing a gospel talk about Jesus.

Lots of opportunities to share Jesus come informally, conversationally, and at random moments. But sometimes you’re given a little notice, to prepare a talk about Jesus and his kingdom. How to put it together? There are too many ways to describe.

But once you’ve jotted down some thoughts, here’s a few questions you can ask of it:

Is it big enough? The gospel is revolutionary news! Don’t turn it into a mere life-hack (and bear in mind people are generally only expecting life-hacks). ‘Make a tree good,’ says Jesus, ‘and its fruit will be good.’ How freaky is that – to make a bad tree good?

Is it small enough? The gospel is news of cosmic proportions. But how does it also touch on the little lives of little people? It’s one thing to describe the enormity of God … and another to say ‘And he’s concerned about you. He’s asked me to come and talk to you.’

Is it long enough? Unless you’ve only been given 5 seconds, you’ll want to say more than just “God loves you.” Tell a story, give an example, describe the response God would like.

Is it short enough? Jesus is the master of this (and, OK, everything else). It’s not the way of God to overwhelm people with 181 proofs followed by ‘Checkmate!’ Instead, give enough information to intrigue, to draw out inquisitiveness and questions.

Trust God to work powerfully even through your weaknesses

Is it you enough? If you’re old, don’t need to pretend to be young. If you’re not a good speaker, better to apologise (once) and do your best, than to put on a different persona.
Be just who you are … trust God to work powerfully even through your weaknesses or ordinariness.

Is it them enough? That said, if you’re old and they’re young, you need to speak in terms that they can get. Think about what life looks like from your hearers’ point of view and be sure to empathise.

Is it telling enough? The gospel is news. There are facts, information that needs to get into their heads and hearts. What do they need to know that perhaps they’ve never been told, or has slipped their minds, or has been suppressed?

Is it asking enough? The gospel is also an invitation. If your hearers can walk away from your talk thinking, ‘Well, that’s nice to know’ – then an opportunity will have been missed. Give some next steps and see who might be willing to take them!

Preparing a Gospel Talk

Andrew Turner, Director of Crossover.

Andrew Turner is the Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries.  Top Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

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Becoming a Gospel Prepper

Becoming a Gospel Prepper

By Andrew Turner

The Good Samaritan must have had some margin in life, don’t you think? Loving your enemy-neighbour that much surely took quite some admin! Bothering to attend to the battered stranger in the first place. Then there was all the over-and-above: Time taken to get him to care, money spent for treatment and recouperation, forty bucks for the deluxe donkey-wash.  

Who has the time and money ready for that sort of spontaneous act? Uncomfortably, my first answer is ‘Not me’, and my second answer is, ‘The person who loves their neighbour the Jesus way.’ So going forward as a sacred agent, I have adjustments to make.  

I think preparation is the key. Careful preparation opens up windows for spontaneity, as any romantic will tell you. So what would it look like to be a gospel prepper? 

Preppers are people who stockpile food supplies - a cupboard of food supplies.

Not standing back or standing still

‘Preppers’, of course, are people who stockpile supplies in case of a future disaster. Sacred agents similarly have an eye on the future. We’re not oblivious to the dark powers and spiritual forces in the world, so putting on the armour of God is good preparation for standing firm. But part of that armour, in Paul’s metaphor, is “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

So standing firm does not mean standing back or standing still! 

Are we fitted out to cross that road and help that bleeding stranger? To run up to that chariot and share with the Ethiopian official? To make the most of every opportunity with gracious conversation? The peace we have with God means we prepare not out of a sense of doom or lack of control in this crazy world – but with all the assurance of the one who naps in the boat before calming the storm. The peace we have with God is a shalom we can share in radical ways like the Samaritan. It shows and tells the good news that what’s upon us – and right up in our face – is not a zombie apocalypse, but the kingdom of God. 

Gospel Prepper’s Checklist

Here’s a very basic Gospel Prepper’s Checklist:

TIME: You can’t schedule sudden opportunities. But why not arrange a code-word you can say/text to your friends/family that means, ‘Sorry, I’m delayed by an opportunity to show and share Christ’? Just having that conversation in advance could be helpful all round.

MONEY: A gospel-opportunity fund – even if it’s only enough to buy someone a meal – it’s set aside and ready to go when the opportunity comes.

WORDS: Memorise a basic outline of your own testimony/gospel outline, cleared of jargon and tangents and practised on your Christian friends – so you really are ‘always prepared to give an answer’ when asked about your hope.  

Imagine how effective we’d be at sharing Jesus if we were prepped up like that? How prepared are you? And what would you add to the checklist? Discuss!

Becoming a Gospel Prepper

Andrew Turner, Director of Crossover.

Andrew Turner is the Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries. 

Future Church

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But Who Are You Really?

But who are you really

Sacred Agents

Andrew Turner of Crossover reflects in his Sacred Agents blog.

We all have some fear of exposure, of being really seen. (I accidentally drank some invisible ink the other day. I went straight to the hospital, but it was 12 hours before they saw me…) Many have the occasional nightmare along the lines of going to church and realising they’re wearing no pants. 

But doesn’t that raise the question of Who are you at the deepest level? 

Whilst you may fear being revealed as a fraud due to your incomplete discipleship, this is not actually your deepest level. If absolutely everything was to be told about you, the main headline would be this: You’re a precious child of God, dearer to him than life itself. 

This should not only comfort, but also embolden us. I’ve long been convinced that the #1 key to missional effectiveness is neither tools nor technique. They’re both important, and why at Crossover we invest in resources and training. But more transformative by far is identity. 

Bringing the Kingdom

Do we really believe that we are representatives of God’s kingdom? The name Sacred Agents came from a conversation I had with a group of 10-year-old boys who thought that being a pastor must be the most boring job ever. “No, it’s much more like being a secret agent!” I said.  

Do we think of ourselves as ‘bringing’ the kingdom of God into every room we enter, every conversation we join, every new day we wake to? It sounds astonishingly arrogant even as I type it, except for two things: Christ himself said that he sends us even as the Father sent him (John 20:21), and the kingdom we bring is not arrogant at all – and so neither is the way we are to bring it. 

Responsibilities in the Family Business

Now except for very rare cases, there’s no need to be a secret as well as a sacred agent. We should be seen – and such self-disclosure can readily be navigated without arrogance. The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed (Romans 8:19) – and that is not merely future-us, but here-and-now-us too by the grace of God! 

So next time at a party someone asks ‘And what do you do?’ let’s face it, you’re not going to say ‘I’m a spy for Jesus.’ No, you’re still going to say you’re an architect (which is strange, because you’re a hairdresser). No, no, remember in true fact you’re a precious child of God. And not a baby, simply to be carried, but an heir, with responsibilities in the family business. 

These responsibilities may include designing hotels or hairstyles, but if you’re consciously a temple of the Holy Spirit in every meeting room, classroom and chatroom, they’ll never be the same again. 

Thanks so much to all who have supported Crossover through the Australian Baptist Easter Offering. Later-in-the-year contributions from churches and individuals are very welcome as an investment in Helping Australian Baptists Share Jesus. See crossover.org.au/offering 

Andrew Turner, Director of Crossover.

Andrew Turner is the Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries. Photo by Marten Newhall Unsplash

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Route Options for Repenters

Route Options for Repenters

Sacred Agents

Andrew Turner of Crossover reflects in his Sacred Agents blog.

I find Jesus wonderful and endlessly fascinating, so when opportunities arise to talk about him, I’m rarely at a loss for material. But yacking on about Jesus is only one part of evangelism.

There’s another part that comes less easily to me, and I think to many across our movement. In fact, if every Australian who speaks for Christ could get together for a seminar, I reckon we should spend at least half of it on this: Inviting a response.

The gospel is news, it’s an announcement to be proclaimed. But it’s news-with-personal-implications. It’s an invitation, it’s a proposal. So we not only seek to make plain the goodness of God, but also to offer steps of faith in response. Sacred agents are guides for others – not blind guides like some Pharisees, but ones who know the way to peace with God because we’ve taken it ourselves.

Sacred Agents are Guides

Inviting a response is not always about an alter call while Ira Sankey sings Beneath the Cross of Jesus. If a work colleague is curious about why you go to church, it may simply be ending your answer with, “Would you like to come along and see for yourself?”

One challenge with this, however, is figuring out what level of response your listener/s may be ready to make. You can ask questions, read body language and look for clues. But it can be hard to know. Is this person ready to repent, be baptised, and identify fully as a Christian? Or is their next step simply to pick up a Bible or come to Alpha or watch a clip online?

Thankfully, we don’t need to offer only one response. When Google Maps gives me directions to reigning-quiz-champions Knightsbridge Baptist, it gives me several route options. Here’s the best and most direct way, in bright blue. But here are other steps too that will ultimately get you there.

Here’s the best and most direct way, in bright blue. But here are other steps too that will ultimately get you there.

Being cautious, we often assume that people aren’t ready to go straight to the foot of the cross. But this can mean we offer people tiny, incremental steps that result in a circuitous and not-so-scenic route to peace with God. If we only offer small steps, it can even suggest that getting to God is like a long mountain climb, not a particularly helpful gospel image. It’s true many are not ready to go straight to Jesus, but they need to know that they can.

Giving Options

On the other hand, if we only offer giant steps, then the only alternative to a big Yes is a No. So why not give options? “If you want peace with God, you can have it today, you know. But if you just want to check it all out, why not come along to Alpha, or read John’s gospel?”

We may be surprised by some who are indeed ready for a big step of faith. And we may also be surprised by some whose small steps turn into big ones.

Andrew Turner, Director of Crossover.

Andrew Turner is the Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries. Photo by Manfred Richter (CC). Thanks so much to all who have supported Crossover through the Australian Baptist Easter Offering. End-of-financial year contributions from churches and individuals are very welcome as an investment in Helping Australian Baptists Share Jesus. See crossover.org.au/offering

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Assembly Report 2024

Mid-year Assembly Report

Mid-Year Assembly

It was a good mid-year Assembly, with an update from Scott Ambrose on the search committee process, input from Scott Pilgrim, Executive Director at Baptist Mission Australia (BMA) and with a significant focus on Boreham College provided by Matty Coppin. The Boreham College brochure is now available on the Tas Baptist website. 

Maddy Svoboda spoke about the new discipleship coaching course staring this June. At last year’s muster, Tim Piesse from Crossway Church in Victoria spoke about discipleship. He explained how the Crossway congregation felt they didn’t have a clear idea of how to make disciples. As a result, the church formulated the course, ‘Building a Discipleship Culture’. This course outlines intentional ways to put the mission of God back into the hands of everyday people.  

Maddy is starting a Tasmania cluster for this course that will involve fortnightly, group coaching calls from June. The course will go for one year, with an option for a second year. IT will cover how to embed discipleship practises in the life of our churches. Churches participating include Newstead, City, Riverlands, and Summerhill. If this sounds like something you want to be part of, there’s still time to join, contact Maddy for more information. 

What God is Doing

The Assembly provided a great opportunity to see what God is doing amidst our Tasmanian churches.  

Nicholas Alexander from Lifeway Church spoke about the two new Student Pastors at their church Stuart Crabtree and Morgan Read. For more info see our recharge articles on each. 

As Franz Brosch takes the helm from Owen Muskett at Wynyard Baptist church, he shared some of his interesting back story.  

Anthea Maynard gave an update on Fostering Hope. She shared about the ongoing need for mentors and how Fostering Hope’s Mentoring program and training provides kids in care a “friend with purpose” and offers them another positive relationship as part of their therapeutic web. Tas Baptist strongly supports Fostering Hope in several ways, including financial assistance that comes from a generous gift from Baptcare. 

A Reimagining Journey

Scott Pilgrim spoke on the ‘reimagining journey’ in the context of May Mission Month. He pointed out that with BMA on their own reimagining journey, both groups can share the synergies and learning opportunities with each other in this rapidly changing world time we find ourselves in 

His talk was timely for both Tas Baptists and BMA, especially with May Mission Month underway, and for Tas Baptist as we celebrate a significant step forward with the launch of Boreham College. 

Scott Pilgrim considered the current global context, along the changing nature of our Tas Baptists context, and proposed we re-imagine what God’s Spirit can do in and through us as we take intentional steps on the journey that includes: 

Re-affirming and celebrating “Missio Dei” and reframing change, for example, embracing a default attitude of expectancy in God as a people of faith, rather than suspicion, uncertainty and fear.  

Courageous Questions

Scott posed several courageous questions:  
– How does the decline of Christianity in the west impact the future of western mission agencies?
– How does Jesus’ new wineskins metaphor speak to us about mission opportunity in existing and potential locations?
– Are we willing to let go of power and control in genuinely embracing global south partnerships?
– What is the future of sending from Australia?
– How does Jesus’ turning the tables metaphor challenge us in our approach to mission?
– What is our future in an increasingly culturally and religiously diverse Australia?
– Where are we stuck and what do we fear?

Over the past 18 months Tas Baptists have done a lot of Looking, listening, learning – looked back … looked to each other … looked to others … and looked to the Spirit … 

Scott finished his talk by highlighting the importance of contextualisation in a changing world and by providing quotes and examples of innovative, collaborative expressions. 

“Contextualisation is a very difficult thing to do. It challenges deeply ingrained understandings and practices and demands radical and uncomfortable shifts in mindsets. But it’s so desperately needed in our changing world if people are to experience the good news of Jesus in ways they understand.” Claire TC Chong

He pointed out that Boreham College is a good example of Innovation and collaboration going hand in hand with contextualisation

Paul Manning (Baptist World Aid) spoke about some of his recent experiences visiting Nepal.

“Innovation and collaboration go hand in hand with contextualisation… Across the globe, God’s Spirit is raising up new missional partnerships and collaborations. Let’s be a part of what the Spirit is doing!” Steve Sang-Cheong Moon

Assembly Report

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Supporting the Supports 

Picture of stone pillars through binoculars for Sacred Agents

Sacred Agents

Andrew Turner of Crossover reflects in his Sacred Agents blog

One of the beautiful strengths of the Baptist movement is our conviction that all believers are priests. Within those four words are numerous deep truths around access to God through Christ, participation in mission and ministry, and responsibility in the church. Everyone has a part to play.  

Everyone Has a Part to Play

But they don’t play it equally. As in a Shakespeare, one actor has a hundred lines and another has two. One may play four different parts, another is simply a tree. Jesus’ parables of responsibility often feature uneven participation, too. One servant’s entrusted with ten talents, another five, and another one. So uneven participation is not surprising – even among those who’ve been given the same amount of lines or talents, some give everything they’ve got, and some don’t.  

We Baptists rightly love our culture of volunteerism – no one is forced to give anything – it’s all given freely from the heart. This is lovely, but it can also have a shadow side. 

Pillars of Your Church

There are some roles, like Treasurer or Worship Coordinator that are complex and involved and pretty much require a super-volunteer. But who has that much time to give? It’s the rich (who can live off reduced paid-work hours), the active-retired, the under-employed, uni students during summer, and those doing court-ordered community service.

These are the ones who have the time to be pillars of your church. Not so much the single parent, the small business owner or the full-time worker. Now there are some beautiful saints among the former list. But the criteria you really want to be using for such important roles has more to do with spiritual maturity and gifted capability than simple availability. 

Photo of stone pillars for Sacred Agents Supporting the Supports

Supporting the Supports That Need Support

So a church can look wider in its search for pillars, if it is willing to look for supports that need support. If your church pillar needs to be so strong they can stand alone, you’re building a culture of self-sufficiency and stoic independence – not conducive to healthy church community? 

Staffing is not the only alternative to this. That single parent may be able to serve as a Worship Coordinator if the church provided them with some babysitting. For some roles the church may be able to provide an expense account, or pay for training, or carry some of the load in a hundred other possible ways. 

Asking ‘Who is God calling to this Role?’

It’s more complex than simply asking ‘Who has time to do X? Only Jenny? Well, Jenny it is then.’

It begins with asking ‘Who is God calling to this role?’ and then ‘How can we release them into it?’ It’s complex, but so it the body of Christ. Beautiful community is quite interdependent, and it is a witness in itself.    

Andrew Turner, Director of Crossover.

Andrew Turner is the Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries. Thanks so much to all who have supported the Australian Baptist Easter Offering – which funds Crossover to Help Australian Baptists Share Jesus.

Photo by Diogo Nunes on Unsplash

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A Particular Kind of Boldness

Picture of a knight through binoculars for Sacred Agents

Sacred Agents

Andrew Turner of Crossover reflects in his Sacred Agents blog.

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Acts 4:31 

A Particular Kind of Boldness
It takes courage on multiple levels to live as a representative of Jesus Christ. Courage before Christ himself, to have the nerve to say Yes, Lord, I’ll be your person in this place as opposed to Master, I know you are a hard man … so I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground.

It takes courage on multiple levels to live as a representative of Jesus Christ.

But courage also, of course, in the face of the world, because when we endeavour out in Jesus’ name, we’re likely to receive the same full gamut of different responses that Jesus himself received – welcomed and honoured through to mocked, despised and rejected. 

Vulnerable to Rejection

Now this is nothing to do with success or failure. If you board a ship and share Christ, all 100 passengers may receive you happily. Or they may hate you and throw you overboard. Neither outcome necessarily means you’ve represented Jesus well or badly. Each could be a beautiful worship and service to Jesus. The point is, it’s out of your control. There is no way to program the mission of God so that an outcome is guaranteed. God refuses to simply reprogram the robots, but instead makes himself vulnerable to rejection. (Paradoxically, wonderfully, he wins our hearts through having his broken.) 

The point is, it’s out of your control. There is no way to program the mission of God so that an outcome is guaranteed.

The Boldness We Need

So the boldness we need, and the boldness the first disciples sought and received from God, is not an imperviousness to rejection, like a coat of armour so strong we can simply crash through and feel no pain. On the contrary, it is the courage to feel that pain.  

It’s interesting that the word gallantry has two main definitions: ‘Great bravery in battle’ and ‘polite and respectful attention in courtship’. Do you see how these are linked? Both involve the willingness to be shot down.

It’s interesting that the word gallantry has two main definitions: ‘Great bravery in battle’ and ‘polite and respectful attention in courtship’.

The boldness that sacred agents need by the Spirit is this Christlike form of boldness. It steps out from behind safe cover. Takes the first steps forward toward the other because they have God’s attention and God’s respect. Is prepared to suffer pain, but it takes pains not to inflict it.

Asking God for Boldness

The more we can take that posture and those steps in all the places God sends us, the more likely we are to in fact receive a very positive response. So let’s spend less time calculating our chances and more time asking God for his kind of boldness. If you’re thinking of inviting someone to church, or Alpha etc – worry less about whether they might say no, than about how their life may be if no one invites them at all.

Andrew Turner, Director of Crossover.

Andrew Turner is the Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries. Thanks so much to all who have supported the Australian Baptist Easter Offering – which funds Crossover to Help Australian Baptists Share Jesus. It’s not too late to still contribute if you haven’t.

Photo by Manfred Richter (CC)

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The Turning of the Tide?

book with pen and graph for sacred agents crossover

Sacred Agents

Andrew Turner of Crossover reflects in his Sacred Agents blog.

I blinked and had to look at the number a second time: 34 percent! Each year we gather the number of baptisms reported by Australian Baptist state associations, and there was a 34 percent increase from 2022 to 2023. Wow! But what to make of it? 

It could be a whole range of things. Perhaps Australian Baptists got a whole lot better at reporting! (I imagine plenty of baptisms go un-counted, and while that’s frustrating for statisticians, it’s rather how things should be in a decentralised movement like ours.) 

Or was it a post-Covid bump? Possibly, but I’m not convinced. Was it our National Baptism Week initiative? No, given the six-month lag in collecting the numbers, they’ll show up next year. I had been expecting a rise of over 20 percent simply based on what I was hearing anecdotally from pastors and leaders. But 34 percent is remarkable – what could possibly explain it? 

Is the wave of baptisms another indication of the ‘turning of the tide’?

Could It Possibly Be Jesus?

Well, I think the answer could possibly be Jesus. Why on earth would so many people want to be baptised? Hang on, why would they not? Let’s remember that belonging to God’s family through faith in Christ is the normal and sensible thing given the unfolding of his kingdom, the place in it he offers, and the promise of his Spirit! We can get lost in studying the tea leaves of culture and economy to see whether people will or won’t like Jesus – and find that we believe more in the power of culture and economy than in the power of the gospel to captivate people of all cultures and economies. 

That said, I do wonder whether wave of baptisms is another indication of the ‘turning of the tide.’ The church in the West has long been adjusting to the end of Christendom and the loss of (mandatory) popularity that entailed. Many have become resigned to endless decline – a narrative that’s entrenched itself even as church participation has increased. 

New Theist Movement

As Western culture increasingly becomes a spiritual desert, however, should we be surprised that spiritual thirst increases?

As Western culture increasingly becomes a spiritual desert, however, should we be surprised that spiritual thirst increases? Along with stories of baptisms, I’ve been inundated with stories of ‘gate crashers’ – people (especially young adults) walking into churches that neither advertised nor invited them – and asking to be introduced to Jesus and Christianity.  

Ten years ago the ‘New Atheist Movement’ held the floor among Western intellectuals, but it has died much faster than any church it mocked, and in its place we now see the ‘New Theist Movement’ – including such opinion-leaders as Jordan Peterson, Tom Holland and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (now openly a Christian). For more on this see Justin Brierley’s The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God book and podcast.  

So are we seeing the turning of the tide – even the beginnings of revival? It’s 20 years too early to say. But keeping our heads – indeed keeping our eyes on Jesus – our confidence to live for and witness to him should be based on him, rather than the fickle fashions of our culture.

Let’s be absolutely confident in Christ, and in pointing people to him, regardless of whether they’re likely to applaud or imprison us. 

Andrew Turner, Director of Crossover.

Andrew Turner is the Director of Crossover.
Crossover exists to Help Australian Baptists Share Jesus.

This article appears on his Sacred Agents blog

Please support the Australian Baptist Easter Offering – which funds Crossover to Help Australian Baptists Share Jesus. For information on how to participate and run the offering, see crossover.org.au/offering.

Photo by Isaac Smith on Unsplash.

A turning of the tide?

Read ReCharge

February 2024

When is a person ready for baptism?

When is a person ready for Baptism?