Hi Fiona, tell us a bit about yourself?
I’d love to tell you that I’ve been a Christian all my life and I have always found it easy to share my faith with my friends – but of course that isn’t true! My mum was a Christian and took us to Sunday School every week – so I learned about the bible and values it held and like everyone else I got confirmed and thought that was it. I moved away to go to University and would go to church with mum when I went home and although I thought I was a Christian I was far from God! Moving to Glen Waverley, in the suburbs of Melbourne in ’99 there was this new church just round the corner and a friend invited us to go. I wanted my kids to have the same values and understanding of faith that I did. Even though I was far from God – God had been walking with me and created a strong, supportive community around me and when six months later my mum passed away and my marriage imploded God had set things up to enable me to survive – and eventually flourish. He set me on a path of really having a good look at myself and making a move from a successful corporate career to want to make a difference and use my skills at World Vision International as their Global Head of Learning and Development and at the same time go to Bible College and two years ago I joined Power to Change which is a non-denominational organisation that seeks to fulfill the Great Commission. I work with the Church Movements team that partners with churches to help them regenerate, grow and church plant.
Can you tell us about the MyFriends course?
I love the MyFriends training and lifestyle – it’s based on Jesus’s life and biblical principles. Jesus spent the first part of his ministry building relationships and that is how MyFriends starts. We look at who in our lives – our social circles that we would like to know God’s Love – His amazing radical love for His children. We put our social places that we go to and the people we know on our Daisy chain – then we simply pray for them and ask the Holy Spirit to prompt us to care for them in our own small authentic ways. This might be sending an encouraging text, popping round with a meal when they are sick, or inviting them to an event. I think as Christians we are good at doing these things, MyFriends helps us to be intentional about them. Then as friendships develop deeper, and as the Holy Spirit prompts to share what God is doing in your own life, pointing out where He is working in your friends life and sharing Jesus’ story. The training also covers how to disciple someone who has questions or has just accepted Jesus as their saviour with simple Discovery Bible Studies and teaches them to do the same with their friends. I love the multiplying process that this can be – disciples that make multiplying disciples – creating a movement just as Jesus did. What I love about the MyFriends lifestyle is that helps me be intentional about sharing my faith authentically and with confidence – because I want my friends to know God’s love, let the Holy Spirit soften their hearts, and to have an opportunity to make a decision for themselves!
How many different denominations and Anglican dioceses have used the MyFriends training?
Power to Change is very blessed to work with a wide variety of denominations as our training is based on the bible. We have worked with Anglicans in Melbourne and Sydney, with the Baptists, Churches of Christ, Salvation Army, Christian Community Churches and Seventh Day Adventists and we have seen God work in exciting ways. We have seen congregations grow by 100% in just 12 months, children’s ministries be re-established after COVID and churches planted using MyFriends training.
What factors do you find causes Christians to hesitate sharing their hope in Jesus?
Australian society has changed quite radically over the last 20-30 years. The last ABS Census showed that Christianity is now in the minority with less than 44% of Australians identifying as Christian and the number of regular church attendees less than half that again. Christianity has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in the last decade and the gap seems to be wider between people as fear, post-truth and cancel culture has become more mainstream. I totally understand why people find it hard to share their faith openly. I also think that the approach to share our hope in Jesus needs to change to meet people where they are, based on their needs – just as Jesus did. Jesus healed the sick and then shared the Good News of the Kingdom of Heaven. I like the approach that MyFriends takes – focusing on the relationship first – showing God’s love by the way we treat our friends, showing God’s love for them, praying and caring for them – these things are the basis of creating strong friendships and letting God and the Holy Spirit do the heavy lifting. I find that quite freeing – I don’t need to “convince” anyone – I just need to live a life as Jesus taught, provide information when the Holy Spirit prompts and God does the rest!
How might the MyFriends course help an Anglican parish that have never done any evangelism training before?
MyFriends training is based on the life of Jesus – this is a great start to any evangelism training. Jesus started with the relationships he had with John the Baptist and his disciples. MyFriends starts with our own friends and social networks – things we already have. The people we already know at work, at the gym or sports club, through our kids, walking group and the people we meet every week in our day to day lives. MyFriends teaches us to be intentional with these people, to grow our relationships deeper, create trust so we can share where God is working in our own lives …. and to take it further as the Holy Spirit guides. This might be quickly for someone who is seeking faith and already has questions or slowly for others. Over nine weeks we intentionally Love, Pray and Care for our friends and develop ways to share our hope in Jesus with a supportive group of people and developing a lifestyle that Jesus taught and fulfilling the Great Commission and Acts 2:39 – “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Run MyFriends as a pilot with a small group of people that have a heart for evangelism and see how it works in your context.
How can I evaluate the MyFriends training for my church?
Jesus said “come and see” and so do we! Join one of our virtual online training courses this year via zoom and take part as a participant and find out what it is all about. Use the Free Student Self enrolment code “PTCMyFriends24” to access a free course. We’d love to know what you think. Once you have attended a course and you have some facilitation skills you can run it yourself in your context and we will provide you with full facilitator materials.
If you would like know the content of modules, the theology behind the course and how it is run we have a free short elearning “Taster” course – just create a free MovementBuilders.org.au account (Register in the top right hand side) and go to:
Course: MyFriends Taster – find out about MyFriends course (movementbuilders.org.au).
You can also contact Fiona.Dunn@powertochange.org.au to see if there is a facilitator near you. Alternatively, you can join one of the online cohorts from your home or with your small group. Here is a 2024 Term 4 training schedule.