"We have an enemy, but it's not the person sitting beside you. Your enemy is not in this room."
Pastor Brian Houston was addressing the crowded conference that is Hillsong Church's largest annual event. Thousands of pastors were nodding, some ruefully, as they were once again reminded that they are on the same team, united by a common goal.
"We honestly believe that the local church is the hope of the world, and we can do more together than we can apart," commented Craig Groeschel, pastor of Lifechurch.tv.
"We're committed to maximizing the resources God has entrusted to us, so we have made the entire library of LifeChurch.tv Resources and Ideas available for free at https://open.church/"
Larger churches are increasingly aware that their capacity allows them to contribute to growing churches in a powerful way.
"Our aim is to use the latest technology to reach as many people as possible, and to help other churches to do the same. If they can benefit from over 30 years of experience, they don't need to reinvent the wheel and can use their resources more effectively" says Hillsong Leadership Network Team leader Andy Hopper.
To that end, the church has launched the Hillsong Leadership Network Portal at www.hillsong.com/Network/onlineopenweek, where church leaders from around the world can participate in bi-annual Google Hangouts.
In these 'Open Day'-style sessions, Hillsong's department leaders will discuss strategies for running their departments and ideas for the future. The portal also provides complimentary access to a growing pool of resources such as training manuals, job descriptions, images and artwork packages, templates and more.
"If the apostle Paul was alive today, he would probably be doing Google Hangouts rather than writing letters," Andy quips.
Recently influential leadership expert John Maxwell launched www.iequip.church, a free series of leadership videos which allow church members to host round-table talks in their community, with a view to training others in leadership and sharing their faith.
This growing body of resources could be the key to the continued growth and unity of the church worldwide. The Australian Institute of Sport chaplain Peter Nelson says the AIS is engaged in this same technology linking sports together for similar maximum benefit.
Grace Mathew is a Sydney-based writer who specialises in interest pieces, travel writing and writing in general. To commission Grace to write for your publication, or speak at your event, email grace.mathew@live.com .
Grace Mathew's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/grace-mathew.html