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Each individual church is self-governing, but commits itself to work together with other churches in the movement for the purpose of mutual support and reaching the community with the power of the gospel.
The Assemblies of God in Australia was formed in 1937 and has experienced consistent growth, particularly in the last twenty years. It adopted the new name of Australian Christian Churches in 2007 and currently consists of more than 1000 churches with over 375,000 constituents, making it the largest Pentecostal movement in Australia.
In our churches you’ll find vibrant, contemporary Christians who love the Lord Jesus Christ and express that love in lively praise and worship and healthy community.
Australian Christian Churches are Bible-loving, Evangelical and Pentecostal and are about connecting people to Jesus Christ.
Australian Christian Churches are a movement of Pentecostal churches in Australia.
ACC STATE PRESIDENT
Ps Paul Bartlett
Paul is a visionary and innovative thinker; he is passionate about serving a vision greater than his own. In a season where the church has had to re-invent itself, Paul is committed to challenging and equipping local church pastors and leaders. Paul is the author of two books, Thank God It’s Monday and his recently released book Re-Think It. Unlearning how we think to reach a changing world that’s thinking less about church.
As an ACC State Executive Member for the past 16 years, Paul continues to be passionate about seeing healthy pastors and leaders in our State. He is focussed on providing Pastors and Leaders opportunities for mentoring, supervision, and connection with the State Pastoral team. Paul is also energised by the state’s four focus areas, Church Planting, Raising Young Influencers, Building a Discipleship Culture and Awareness of Indigenous Culture.
Paul served as the leader of Lighthouse for 22 years and has recently transitioned out of this role. Lighthouse is a well-known, trusted, and influential church in the region that meets the needs of people in the community through a variety of initiatives. Additionally, Paul is the national leader of ACC Community Engagement, which focuses on equipping churches to think and act differently regarding community development. Based in Wollongong, Paul has been married to his wife Annette for 35 years and have three adult children and two grandchildren.
STATE EXECUTIVE
PS DARREN BONNELL
Vice President
Darren, together with his wife Bronwyn, leads The Chapel Collective a multisite Church in regional NSW. Darren has served on the State Executive for 8 years overseeing Church Planting and serving as the Vice President since 2018.
Darren has a passion to position people to live their God appointed purpose and to raise churches positioned for their God appointed future.
His loves are his wife, the gorgeous Bron, and their three children. Darren is known for his conviction, authenticity, and love of sports.
PS KEN FISCHER
State Secretary
Ken has been involved in pastoral and leadership roles within ACC churches since he was a teenager and is grateful for his Pentecostal heritage. He has been happily married to Mandy since 1986 and they have 2 adult sons and have recently welcomed their beautiful daughter-in-law into the family.
Ken is the former Senior Pastor of Embassy Church, Belmore Sydney and now serves as a volunteer on the pastoral team at Embassy. He loves seeing people’s lives changed through the power of the Holy Spirit and authentic church community.
When Ken is not in church ministry, he enjoys working in the community as a funeral celebrant where he meets many incredible people who would probably never attend church.
Ken has served on the State Executive since 2018 and is looking forward to being even more connected with pastors and churches in the movement for this next season.
PS ROZ ZAIA
State Executive
Roz has been married to Mark for 38 years, having raised three children who are now adults.
Roz grew up in Sydney, surrendered her life to Christ in her 20’s, and was called from school teaching into the ministry. Roz and Mark pastored their church in Newcastle together for thirty years and in 2020 Roz took on the Senior Pastor role by herself. Macquarie Life Church has a strong emphasis on church planting, family and local community.
Roz is passionate about demonstrating, teaching, and raising authentic healthy leaders and churches. She loves hiking and custard tarts. Roz was elected to the NSW & ACT State Executive in 2016. Roz and Mark have a long standing involvement and influence within our State and the ACC movement.
PS MARK ZSCHECH
State Executive
Mark and Darlene serve as Lead Pastors of Hope Unlimited Church (Hope UC) with campuses in Charmhaven, Gosford, Peninsula, Newcastle, Maitland and Port Stephens, as well as internationally in the US and India. Mark lives on the Central Coast of NSW with his wife Darlene and they have 3 daughters Amy, Chloe, Zoe Jewel, son in laws Andrew & Hosanna, and 6 grand children.
Mark and Darlene have also launched Hope Rwanda: 100 Days of Hope and Hope Global in Rwanda, Cambodia and India, runs 4B Media and 4B Serve, have developed a Diploma of Screen and Media course in partnership with Alphacrucis, and launched the “Can We Pray For You” campaign.
Mark is a gifted, innovative, and strategic leader who will bring great experience and wisdom to his role on the State Executive.
PS LOU ANTONIUS
State Executive
Louise (Lou) Antonius along with her husband Felix lead Eastcoast Church, Caringbah in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire. Lou has been part of Eastcoast Church for 18 years. After serving on the Pastoral team for 11 years in various leadership roles, Lou transitioned into the Senior Leadership of Eastcoast Church 4 years ago.
Lou’s leadership and preaching style endears and inspires people across all generations. She loves and believes in the local church, and deeply understands the church’s role in sharing the hope of Jesus Christ to the world, starting with the local community. From her own experience of serving God while raising her three young children, Lou is passionate about creating opportunities for all of God’s people to serve and participate in ministry in any stage of life.
Lou is focussed on raising and releasing people into God’s calling, and believes that everyone within the church can have a vibrant and vital relationship with Jesus, and that all Christians play an important role in the wider body of Christ.
PS STEPHEN LOTT
State Executive
Stephen (Lotty) and his wife Cie are the Senior Pastors of Life-House Church, a growing multi-campus church in Northern New South Wales. Lotty is an innovative and highly relational leader devoted to making disciples who are released into their God-given purpose to advance the kingdom. He is an inspiring preacher, engaging hearers with heart, humour and a hunger for the Holy Spirit.
Lotty’s passion for raising and releasing the current and emerging generations is seen throughout his leadership as the NSW & ACT Director of Youth Alive. Initiatives such as the Youth Alive Academy are seeing young people developed and planted as leaders in their home churches.
Lotty and Cie have been married for 20 years, have four amazing children and love living in “paradise” on the Coffs Coast.
WE BELIEVE
We believe that in order to receive forgiveness and the ‘new birth’ we must repent of our sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and submit to His will for our lives.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is both God and man, is the only one who can reconcile us to God. He lived a sinless and exemplary life, died on the cross in our place and rose again to prove His victory and empower us for life.
We believe that sin has separated each of us from God and His purpose for our lives.
We believe that the Bible is God’s Word. It is accurate, authoritative and applicable to our every day lives.
We believe that the Bible is God’s Word. It is accurate, authoritative and applicable to our every day lives.
We believe that in order to live the holy and fruitful lives that God intends for us, we need to be baptised in water and be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables us to use spiritual gifts, including speaking in tongues which is the initial evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit.
We believe that God has individually equipped us so that we can successfully achieve His purpose for our lives which is to worship God, fulfil our role in the Church and serve the community in which we live.
We believe that God wants to heal and transform us so that we can live healthy and prosperous lives in order to help others more effectively.
We believe that our eternal destination of either Heaven or hell is determined by our response to the Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back again as He promised.