You may have heard around the place talk of “doubling the number” of gospel-centred Christians in Australia, or the idea of praying for and working toward an annual “five percent conversion growth” goal. It’s showing up all over the place. In June of 2025 TGCA gathered a group of Christian leaders to pray and work on what we might do together. We prayed, heard a bunch of papers, discussed and debated various proposals. Following on from that day, a small group worked on refining the statement, and the Council returned to it for a final endorsement. Here’s what we came up with:
We acknowledge God works out all things according to the counsel of his will and in his mercy saves his people through the faithful preaching of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the glory of God, as a movement of Reformed evangelicals in Australia, we commit to pray for and work toward a doubling (at least) of the number of gospel-centred Christians in our country over the next fifteen years.
We will pray for and work toward:
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- seeing 5% conversions (as a percentage of annual attendance in our churches and ministries);
- the gospel going to every socioeconomic, ethnic, and community group within our nation—especially those currently under-reached;
- a doubling of the number of men and women with the necessary conviction, character, and competency in full-time Christian ministry and missionary service.
I find it in turn exciting, daunting, galvanising, and inspiring. I hope you do too. I trust a little commentary will be helpful.
A Prayer
First, it’s a prayer. We’ve not called it a vision or a mission statement. We’ve not talked about KPIs or Big, Hairy Audacious Goals. The Spirit goes where he pleases. God will prevail. Jesus will be glorified. We’re just along for the ride. But God in his kindness and mercy has us “along for the ride” in a significant way. He calls us to pray to him and invites us to participate in his mission. It is an earnest, heartfelt prayer that God be kind to us in bringing about a significant change in the cause of the gospel in Australia.
Modest and Ambitious
Second, it’s a specific prayer. It’s concrete. It’s a prayer that God would double our numbers over the next fifteen years. I think that’s both modest and ambitious.
It’s modest. A doubling of what is in effect only about three to five percent of the population isn’t much. It names our tribe (“gospel-centred Christians” or “Reformed evangelicals”) without claiming or implying that God isn’t at work outside our immediate circles. Of course he is. And its imaginable. Compared to the prayer that “all Australians would become Christians in the next six weeks”, I can imagine a doubling in fifteen years more easily.
But it is ambitious. If answered it would change things significantly in this country. Think about the churches and ministries you are involved in. Double isn’t business as usual. It would be remarkable. It would have a wide impact. And it would require constant prayer, faith, hard work, and an appetite for change.
Conversion Growth
Third, it names conversion growth. That’s what the five percent is in there for. We don’t want to spend fifteen years moving deck chairs on the Titanic. No one wins if everyone just swaps churches. Rather, we want to see people go from death to life, from without hope to hope, from judgement to salvation.
The figure of five percent strikes many as far too small. I agree. It’s almost embarrassingly small. However, before you dismiss it, have you considered what we’re actually asking God to do? Imagine a church of one hundred people. What would it take in one year for five people who are currently not even close to repenting and trusting in Jesus to make that move? Conversion on average takes (in my experience) at least a year from a cold start. Let’s say (generously) that fifty of those hundred Christians are actively and self-consciously praying for non-Christians they know. Let’s say twenty-five of them are at a point where they could invite those friends to an evangelistic course. And let’s say half of them, say twelve, accept the invitation. What would that mean?
It would mean running a four-to-six-week evangelistic course twice in one year. To run that course you’d need a team. You’d need at least someone to open their house, someone to cater, a presenter, some support crew, and a bunch of training. And evangelistic courses typically start but rarely finish the process. Most people actually put their trust in Jesus during the follow-up course, or in one-to-one ministry, or a newcomers’ growth group.
If twelve people do one of those courses, half of them get to the point where they need follow-up, and half of them become Christians, then that’s three people who come to the Lord. That’s a huge outlay of prayer and effort. For many churches, it would involve a change from zero courses per year to two, and to a whole cultural shift in the missional culture of the congregation. All to see slightly fewer than five percent conversion growth in a year. If your church is seeing more fruit than that, great! Let us know what you’re doing. Most aren’t. Not even close.
Not Just People Like Us
Fourth, the prayer goes out of its way to say that we’re not okay with conversion growth just coming from “people like us”. We are praying for the gospel to be “going to every socioeconomic, ethnic, and community group within our nation—especially those currently under-reached.”
Our mob (Reformed evangelicals) track middle-class and educated. Over the next fifteen years we want to go out of our way to see the gospel break those demographic wine skins. To even make a dent in that direction will require new resources, new churches, new determination, and new gospel workers. It won’t just happen.
Full-Time Gospel Workers
Fifth, we are praying for a great increase in full-time gospel workers. We stole this one from Jesus (Matt 9:37–38), so it’s hard to object to. Such labourers don’t grow on trees. They are raised up as people pour time and energy into identifying and mentoring suitable men and women who are in turn able to teach others (2 Tim 2:2). It’s slow, hard, and patient work. But it’s a prayer with the stamp of Jesus on it, so let’s pray (and work) with confidence that God will answer the prayer his Son gave us to pray.
This is what we’re praying and why we’re praying it. Wouldn’t it be grand to give glory to God in fifteen years for his grace and kindness should he have answered this prayer? I’d be beyond delighted. I trust you would too.
