In our post-Christian society, it is tempting to assume a decline in identification with formal religious faith equates with a loss of belief in general. Interestingly, studies showing that about two-thirds of people would self-describe as spiritual, or spiritual-but-not-religious, or spiritual-and-religious have challenged this possible correlation.

As a chaplain, Kate visits and cares for religious and non-religious people, those of different faiths and none. She is interested in people and their spirituality, how they perceive it, and how she can support and scaffold them in a deeper understanding and experience of reality.

This seminar introduces the idea of spirituality, including a very brief historical overview and a discussion of what spirituality is, and where an understanding of spirituality fits in Christian ministries.

If you’ve ever gone looking for good Christian content on the internet, you’ll probably have found it a frustrating experience! But for many Christians around the world, their access to good teaching is limited, and places like YouTube provide an easy and accessible way to learn more about our great God. And as more and more of us live our lives online, it’s so important that there is excellent, biblically-sound, relevant content available to find – and that exactly what our September speaker Zoe Earnshaw is setting out to provide.

As an experienced TV producer, and a Bible college graduate, Zoe is passionate about creating excellent content that will help real people understand the Bible in light of its whole story, and apply Biblical teachings to our real lives. In 2023, she started her own YouTube channel, Real Life Bible, as a new and fresh way of doing just that. At our September gathering, Zoe will share her rationale and strategy behind how as a Christian she’s using YouTube to (God willing!) reach many people with the content she’s creating. She’ll also give us some tips and tricks for how to get started as a Christian content creator – or even just how to improve your online presence and up your visual game (better zoom calls, anyone?). Whether you’re a digital native, or just interested in hearing about how Zoe is using her gifts and her experience to serve God and his world in the online space, you’ll find this an encouraging and inspiring evening.

You’ll also have a chance to connect with other Christian women, enjoy some delicious food, and hear more about what The Greenhouse has to offer to women in different industries, workplaces, churches and stages of life. We’d love to have you join us!

Can’t make it in person? Join us online! We’d love you to share in the experience.

Do you know someone who cares about the environment but doesn't know Jesus? Many of us do. Studies show that environmental crises are a leading source of anxiety, especially in young people. Is the gospel good news for people who are about the environment? If yes, then how? "I'm not good at bringing up the gospel in regular everyday conversations." Is this you? It's often hard to engage in spiritual conversations in Australia these days. But conversations about the environment can actually turn into deep spiritual gospel conversations if we see how the Bible speaks to these issues. Donna will share what she has learned the past 18 months writing her book on the topic "Good News for the Earth" and share how it's possible to encourage people towards faith, and help them see how the gospel is Good News for the Earth and also for them. For those who want to delve more deeply into this topic, Donna will be hosting a series of three online training events prior to this meeting as part of our Greenhouse Training Ground. Those will be August 5th, 12th and 19th. Register here.

You’ll also have a chance to connect with other Christian women, enjoy some delicious food, and hear more about what The Greenhouse has to offer to women in different industries, workplaces, churches and stages of life. We’d love to have you join us!

In the western world we now talk about loneliness as an epidemic. Studies reveal that feeling lonely is very common among the adult population - even in young adults. Research shows this is having a huge impact on our mental and physical health.

As a community of redeemed relationships with God and one another, the church is uniquely placed to offer friendship and even relationship skills training to our local communities.

Our world is broken and God’s call to every one of us, who calls ourselves a follower of Jesus, is to partner with him in the restoration and reconciliation of all things. Sadly, women have often been held back from using their God given gifts and graces, particularly in leadership, and when this happens; it's not just them who suffer. Their families do, their churches and communities do, and the world does. What are the barriers preventing women from using their voices in the way God calls and gifts them to? What can we, and the organisations we are a part of, do to bring change? Why does this matter so much?At our June Greenhouse Gathering, experienced leader and CEO of Baptist World Aid Melissa Lipsett, will share why she is committed to raising up women to use their gifts, particularly in leadership. She will give us some insight into what that looks like in her context, as well as some ideas for how we can all be better leaders, and better at encouraging the women around us to use our gifts and graces to serve our families, our churches, our communities, and our world.

What makes for a great conversation? We’ve all experienced them – conversations with other Christians that leave us feeling encouraged, challenged, inspired and uplifted. Yet so many of us feel like our own lives are too “ordinary” to be worth talking about. How can we be better at talking about the work of God in our own lives, and hearing from others how he is at work in theirs?

For nine seasons, Jenny Salt practiced the art of conversation on her podcast Salt: Conversations with Jenny. Each episode featured a conversation with an “ordinary” Christian, sharing their experience of serving an extraordinary God. Along the way she learnt a lot about how to ask good questions, what it means to listen well, how to draw out the threads of the gospel from people’s lives, and how we can all have better conversations – conversations that encourage, challenge and grow each other in our love and service of Jesus. At this month’s Greenhouse Gathering, she will share with us some of the conversations she most treasures, and the things she picked up along the way about learning from each other.

As Christians, we spend a great deal of time thinking about spiritual maturity, and working on strategies to become more mature in our faith. But what does it mean to be emotionally mature, and how should we think about emotional maturity as Christian people? How might growing in our emotional maturity impact how we work, how we connect with our families and friends, or how we approach the ministries we’re involved in? And how can we grow in our emotional maturity?

At our March Greenhouse Gathering, Lauren Errington, social worker and Director of the Family Systems Institute, will help us think through why emotional maturity is important, how it is different to and intersects with spiritual maturity, and how being Christian impacts how we think about this area of life. She’ll offer examples of how growing in our emotional maturity can benefit not only ourselves but those around us, particularly as it impacts our work, our ministry and our relationships. And she’ll give us concrete and practical tips on how to grow in our emotional maturity in 2024.

Christians throughout the history of the church have engaged in many and varied ways to help them live for Jesus. Many of these spiritual practices have been forgotten or misunderstood, but they provide us with a rich heritage of spiritual disciplines that help aim our love and desire towards God.

At our February Greenhouse Gathering, Di Morgan will introduce us to some of these forgotten practices, helping us explore and consider what practices might be most valuable for each of us in living wisely and faithfully in our responsibilities and relationships this year, aware of the challenges in doing so.

Our hope is that this evening will inspire us all to take realistic steps towards developing regular life practices that will help us to keep our fixed eyes on Jesus in 2024.

Have you written a book, but you have no idea where to start when it comes to getting it published? Or you have an idea for a book, and would love to get some great advice on whether it’s worth writing? Or you’re just interested in learning more about how the publishing industry works, behind the scenes? At our first Greenhouse event for 2024, you’ll have an opportunity to meet two women working at Acorn Press, Head of Publishing Susannah McFarlane and Managing and Commissioning Editor Kris Argall. They will share their experience about how to go from an idea to a published book, and Learn moreanswer any questions you have about the process. This is an amazing opportunity to connect directly with the publishers – an event not to be missed!

You’ll also have a chance to connect with other Christian women, enjoy some delicious food, and hear more about what The Greenhouse has to offer to women in different industries, workplaces, churches and stages of life. We’d love to have you join us!

Have you been wondering about The Greenhouse and whether it could help you to thrive in the places and spaces that God has called you to? Are you just wondering what it’s all about? Join Katrina Clifford and Louisa Raggatt for an information session. We will share with you what The Greenhouse is offering our members in 2024 and answer any questions you may have.

This session will run into the first Gathering of the year so we invite you to stay on to experience that as well.

Books are often described as mirrors or windows - they can help us see our own lives reflected in the pages, or allow us a view of lives and stories that are different from our own. This is just as true for kids as they read as it is for adults, which is why reading is such a powerful experience for young people. But how can we, as the adults in their lives, have helpful input into what and how they read? In particular, how can we be equipping our kids to be readers who bring their faith to the windows and mirrors of the books they read?

Penny Reeve is an award-winning Australian children's author who loves thinking about how faith and children’s literature intersect, and in particular how children’s books help kids grown in their faith. At our November Greenhouse Gathering, she'll be sharing her experiences of writing books for children that encourage spiritual growth and questioning, and will help us think about how as adults we can both model and equip our kids to read in ways that will nurture their faith. She will share some strategies for tackling books that have perspectives we might not agree with, and how to choose books that encourage our kids to grow in their love of Christ and their care and empathy for others. We'll also have a chance to do some crowd-sourcing of great children's books - whether books we enjoyed as children, or books the kids in our lives love - just in time for Christmas!

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We have all experienced the power of a good story. Whether fictional stories in novels, TV shows and movies, or true stories in biographies or the news, a good story has the power to not just entertain and inform us, but to shape us, to move us emotionally, and to empower us to think and live differently. As Christians, we are people of story - it's how God communicates with us, through telling us his story through his word.

Rebecca Abbott and Penny Mulvey have been storytellers for as long as they can remember, as professional writers and journalists and in their personal lives. At our October Greenhouse Gathering, they will be sharing with us their own stories, including the story of how and why they began their award-winning podcast, Run Like A Woman, to tell the stories of other Australian Christian Women. They'll give us some insights into how media organisations use stories and how we can read them well. And they'll help us think about how we can be using our own life stories to grow God's Kingdom, both in the media and in our relationships.

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What do you need to turn your idea into reality?

Imagine having an idea that could make a meaningful impact on the world, but not knowing where to start or how to bring it to life. So many women have ideas for starting a new business or developing a new ministry but these ideas often fail to take shape. Getting from a great idea to a tangible reality often takes time, energy, commitment and financial resources.

Madeleine Galea works for a private philanthropic trust committed to providing support to turn innovative ideas into reality. At our Greenhouse Gathering this September, she will share why Christian women, like you, should consider asking for funding to get your ideas off the ground. You will gain insights into how to write compelling grant applications that effectively communicate your ideas.

And so that you can put Madeleine's advice into practice, we will share about two opportunities where you can apply for funding here at ADM - through our Women in Ministry Support Scheme, and the new Greenhouse Pitch Night.

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So many of us women these days feel exhausted, don't we? We're constantly giving - to our families, our workplaces, our churches, our communities. Often we spend so much time caring for others, that our hearts grow weary. We know as Christians that we are saved by grace, but so often we try to live our day-to-day lives by our own strength. How can we instead learn to sustain ourselves by grace?

Hebrews 13:9 has been a great inspiration to our August guest speaker, Sarah Condie: "it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace." At this gathering, Sarah will share with us the story of Katherine Gell, a Puritan woman living in the 17th century, a woman who was committed to giving, to serving, and to the social good. And she'll share her own story of being a Christian woman in our times, and how she has learned to strengthen her own heart through the practice of Biblical meditation. Sarah will explain what Biblical meditation is, how to practice it, and why she thinks it's a key to spiritual wellbeing in our busy and demanding lives.

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If we just look around us, here in Australia or in the Western world, it is easy to conclude that Christianity is in decline. What we often fail to see, is how quickly the gospel is spreading and the church is growing in Africa, Asia and Latin America, along with Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle East. In Asia alone, Christianity is growing at twice the rate of population growth. Historically, the Western Church has put great time and resources into overseas missions and evangelism, but the rapid growth of the church has created a critical shortage of Biblical leaders and resources in the Majority World. As a result, tens of millions of believers are struggling to grow in Christ.

The Langham Partnership, established by John Stott in the 1970s, seeks to address this shortage. They walk with the global church to biblically equip leaders and pastors to multiply disciples, believing that this is best accomplished as God’s people understand and apply God’s word. It is a vitally important ministry, with long-term impacts, as local Christians are raised up and trained to serve their communities.

At our July Greenhouse Gathering, Jill McGilvray, Chair of the Langham Partnership International Council, will be sharing more of what Langham does, why it does it, and how it is impacting our Christian brothers and sisters in the Majority World. She’ll share about extraordinary people she’s met, inspirational stories she’s heard, and how we can be praying well for this mission. And she’ll introduce us to a Langham Scholar studying here in Australia, who has been sponsored by Langham to complete her PhD to strengthen and equip the church in her home country in Asia.

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We're all increasingly aware that we need to be talking to young people about sex, consent, porn and a whole host of other things that sound pretty stressful, to be honest. These conversations, though necessary, seem incredibly complicated and very high-stakes. What if we don't feel equipped? How do we work out what we want to say? Isn’t it going to be super awkward? Emma has spent the last twenty years pushing through the awkward and grappling with these conundrums with the high school students she teaches and with younger kids in her own parenting. She is passionate about inspiring and empowering parents and significant adults to wade into these tricky spaces and have these essential conversations with the young people we love and care for.

At our June Greenhouse Gathering Emma will speak about how desperate the kids and teens in our lives are for us to overcome our discomfort and start having these conversations. She’ll provide some insights, suggest some ways in and help us talk through the obstacles and the rewards.

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"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” The words spoken by God to Joshua as he appointed him leader of the Israelites have proven both challenging and comforting for many Christians stepping into a new role. And particularly for those leading people and organisations through the last few difficult years, the knowledge that God is with them has been foundational to their capacity to continue through the hardships and the stress.

At our May Greenhouse Gathering, Clare Steele will be sharing her experience of serving as CEO of Compassion Australia through a global pandemic. She will help us understand what Compassion is seeking to do in the world, her vision for the organisation and the people it cares for and empowers, and her experience of being a female Christian leader in the aid and development space. Along the way she'll share some wisdom on leadership, some encouragement and inspiration, and some great stories about the places she's been and the people she's met.

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If you’re a first language English speaker, you will never have had to wonder what it feels like to only be able to read God’s word in your second, third, or even fourth language. For many of our First Nations brothers and sisters, however, this is not something they have had to wonder about – it is their reality. In fact, of the 120+ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages in Australia still spoken today, only one has a full Bible translation.

At our April Greenhouse Gathering, Amy Cruickshanks will share her experiences as a translation consultant with the Bible Society Australia, working with Aboriginal Christians around the country to translate the Bible into their heart languages. She’ll talk to us about why this work is important, how it is preserving languages at risk of being lost, and how it is a way for us to love our Indigenous brothers and sisters. And she’ll share some great stories about the people she’s met and partnered with, and some amazing things she’s learnt about language, along the way! If you’re interested in hearing what God is doing to bring his word into the lives of people right here in Australia, this is an evening you won’t want to miss.

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Podcasts have been around for almost twenty years, but for many of us, the form has only become a regular part of our lives much more recently. We listen to podcasts to be informed, to be entertained, to be challenged, and to be comforted. But how should we think about podcasts as Christian women, and how can we sort through the thousands of podcasts available to make the most of our listening time?

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