Tom leads the City Church, Canterbury and Mobilise, the students and 20’s ministry of Newfrontiers. He has a well deserved reputation for being the worlds most enthusiastic person!
Who is your leadership hero? Why?
More than one single person, different guys have influenced me at different times: Simon Petit, who as a young Christian was someone I aspired to be like. Mike Betts was quite formative. Joel Virgo has helped me to grow. PJ Smyth has been like an older brother type.
How long have you been in leadership?
Been a Christian eleven years, and started leading a small group after two years, the Canterbury student work after three, became an elder after five, and lead elder two years ago.
What was your first leadership role?
See above!
How long have you been in your current role?
Two years
How long has your church been established? Did you start it?
20 years. It was started by Chris Smith.
What has been the growth curve of your church?
The church started with 50 people, grew quickly to 150 within a couple of years, then to about 250 by the early 90s, then took a bit of a dip and now is approaching 400.
What has been your biggest leadership challenge?
Myself. Dealing with huge dreams of city impact and seeing growth but not ‘big-G’ growth. Reconciling the dream with reality. Handling the disappointment of not seeing more while celebrating all that God is doing.
What has been your greatest leadership success?
Getting the church on mission, getting them on church plant mindset. Seeing new elders come through who are different from me, but secure and loving their role and having clarity about their roles. Heaven on earth!
How are you developing new leaders?
First of all we have opportunities for younger guys to teach/preach. We have a preaching team that meets regularly, made up of elders and emerging teachers. The church has a huge emphasis on discipleship, which means, for example, that every student is being discipled and is expected to disciple someone else. The really strong leaders invest in emerging strong leaders, while group discipleship is more for “followers”. This is on top of the regular small group system. Discipleship of the adults is more sporadic and complex, and we are looking at the best way to disciple non-students (students make up about 50% of the church).
How are you continuing to develop your own leadership gifts?
By visiting other churches, meeting with guys further ahead than me (iron sharpening iron), reading.
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