2027 // GENERATIONS

Divergent 2027: Re-aligning Around Our DNA

 

Dear Divergent Family,

 

As we look towards 2027, I am genuinely excited about what is possible for us as a family. I believe we are entering a season where we have an opportunity to unpack our DNA more fully and allow it to shape the way we live, lead and multiply as a Church.

​

Re-alignment

As we look towards 2027, I believe we are entering a season where we have an opportunity to unpack our DNA more fully and allow it to shape the way we live, lead and multiply as a Church.

 

Over the years, God has taken us on an incredible journey. We have discovered more about who we are, developed new expressions of Church, grown into new places and contexts, and seen people take responsibility for the mission in ways we could not have imagined when we began.

 

As we look ahead, I don't believe our next step is to reinvent ourselves.

 

Rather, I believe we have an opportunity to bring the things we have already learned, built and carried into greater alignment with the DNA and calling God has given us.

 

For us, 2027 is therefore a year of re-alignment, not reinvention.

 

Before we talk about structures, rhythms or initiatives, it is important that we remind ourselves of why we exist.

 

Our mandate is Neighbours to Nations.

 

God has called us to carry the good news of Jesus from the people immediately around us to the nations of the world. We care about the person next door and the person on the other side of the world. We care about our neighbourhoods, our cities, our campuses and our communities, while also carrying a genuine responsibility for the nations.

 

These are not two separate callings, but one expression of the mission God has entrusted to us.

 

At the centre of that mandate is our mission:

 

We make ALL IN disciples devoted to His Kingdom Come.

 

That is ultimately what we are here to do. We are not simply trying to gather people into services, fill ministry positions or create programmes. We want to make disciples who are genuinely all in with Jesus and devoted to seeing His Kingdom Come in their lives, their communities and the world around them.

 

We want people to encounter Jesus, be formed by His Word and Spirit, belong deeply to His Church, discover what God has placed within them, and be released into a life of mission.

 

Everything we do in 2027 needs to serve that purpose.

 

Re-alignment therefore means asking an honest and prayerful question:

 

Are the way we structure, lead and live Church helping us become the people and the Church God has called us to be?

 

Where something is working, we want to strengthen it.

Where something needs investment, we want to invest.

Where something has become unnecessarily complicated, we want to simplify.

Where distance or drift has developed, we want to reconnect.

 

And where there are new opportunities for mission, we want to be ready to respond.

 

This is not about making every church, leader or community operate in exactly the same way. In fact, I believe the opposite can happen. When we have greater clarity about our shared DNA, we can have greater freedom to express that DNA appropriately in different communities and contexts.

 

Re-alignment is about bringing our shared life closer to our calling so that more of our energy can be directed towards mission.

Reducing Distance

As we have grown, some distance has inevitably developed between different parts of the Divergent Family. In 2027, I believe we have an opportunity to reduce that distance and become more relationally connected across our leadership.

 

Part of this will mean moving towards one shared leadership table, bringing key local and global leaders together to carry ONE Church together. I don't see this as creating a larger central leadership structure. Rather, I see it as creating stronger relationships and greater access to support.

 

We want leadership to remain distributed, because local leaders need the freedom and responsibility to lead in their own context. At the same time, distributed leadership should not mean isolated leadership. We want leaders to know one another, learn from one another and be able to draw on one another's experience and support.

 

When one church faces a challenge, we should be able to help. When one leader discovers something that is working, others should be able to learn from it. When God opens a door in one place, we should be able to consider whether there is an opportunity for others to participate. The more connected we are, the more capacity we have to carry our mission together.

​

Rhythms we share

 

ONE FAMILY : MORE CONNECTED

One of the ways we can do this is through a clearer set of shared rhythms across the Divergent Family: ONE, Collective, Community Church, Getaways and Summits.

 

These rhythms give us common points of connection without requiring every local expression to look identical. ONE reminds us that we are one Church and gives us opportunities to gather around our shared identity. Collective creates space for connection, equipping, leadership and shared mission. Community Church gives us a primary expression of gathered and scattered Church life within our local communities. Getaways create space for relationship, renewal and formation, while Summits allow particular generations, leaders and ministry areas to gather around shared purpose.

 

These rhythms are not intended to become another layer of administration. They are there to serve the mission by helping us remain connected, resourced and relationally close as we grow.
 

Creating Environments for Discipleship

If we are going to become more connected as a family, the next question is what kind of environments we are creating for people to encounter Jesus, grow as disciples and discover their place in the mission of God.

In 2027, Community Church and Collective will become increasingly important rhythms of gathered and scattered Church life, with each carrying a distinct purpose.
 

Together, they give us an opportunity to create healthier environments for discipleship formation and for people to grow through the different stages of their journey with Jesus.
 

We want to become increasingly intentional about the pathway from:
 

New believer → Disciple → Servant → Leader → Multiplier
 

Community Church and Collective

 

The two rhythms therefore work together. Community Church gives depth, belonging and local formation, while Collective creates broader connection, equipping and opportunities for multiplication. Together, they can help us build a more intentional discipleship culture where people know what their next step can be and where leaders have the support they need to help others take those steps.

 

This is particularly important because I believe we need to create more space and capacity for community-based and community-focused Churches to emerge. Our goal isn't simply to gather more people into the expressions of Church that already exist. We want to see healthy expressions of Church multiply into new communities, and that requires leaders, resources, relationships and the freedom to respond to opportunities as they arise.

 

If we can create environments where people are continually being formed, equipped and released, multiplication becomes a natural outcome of discipleship rather than simply a strategy we impose. The person who arrives as a new believer should be able to find community, grow in their relationship with Jesus, discover their gifts, begin serving, develop leadership and eventually help someone else take the same journey.

​

Re-taking Positions Lost

 

As we look honestly at our journey, there are also places where we have previously carried responsibility, influence or ministry that we no longer occupy in the same way. In 2027, I would like us to identify those places together and consider what it might mean to re-take positions that have been lost.

Locations

​

There are some areas where this feels particularly important for us. We want to rebuild our presence in Woden and Weston, strengthen our presence across Southern Tuggeranong, and rebuild our presence within universities. These are not simply locations on a map. They represent communities of people, relationships and opportunities for the gospel that we believe are worth investing in again.

 

In Woden and Weston, we want to see a renewed expression of Church and mission that is genuinely present within those communities. Across Southern Tuggeranong, we want to rebuild the relationships and local presence that enable us to serve and reach the communities there. And within our universities, we want to once again see a strong missional presence amongst students, developing communities of discipleship that can reach students, form leaders and send people into the wider mission of God.

 

This isn't about competing with other churches or trying to reclaim territory for the sake of an organisation. It is about recognising opportunities for mission that are consistent with our calling and asking whether God might be inviting us to step into them again.

 

In doing this, our instinct should always be to look for the people who are already positioned to carry something. Who is already there? Who has the relationships? Who has the credibility? Who could be equipped? What support would make this possible? And how can the wider Divergent Family come alongside what is already emerging?

 

Our strength should be that a leader doesn't have to carry a new opportunity alone. We should be able to bring the resources, relationships, experience and encouragement of the wider family around the people who are closest to the opportunity. In this way, re-taking positions lost becomes less about rebuilding what once was and more about creating the conditions for new life, new disciples and new expressions of Church to emerge.​
 

Generations

Another major priority for us in 2027 will be the generations. We want to become increasingly intentional about Kids, Youth, University, families and the relationships between generations across the whole Church. This will necessitate our discipleship of parents as primary disciplers in their children's lives.

​

This means moving beyond thinking about these as individual ministry departments and instead recognising that the whole Church has a responsibility for forming the next generation. We want older believers to invest in younger believers, younger people to have genuine opportunities to contribute and lead, and families to experience the Church as a community that helps them follow Jesus together.

 

This is ultimately about discipleship. If our mission is to make ALL IN DISCIPLES, then we need to ask how we are intentionally making disciples at every stage of life.

​

Kids, Youth and University

As part of this generational priority, we will continue to strengthen the teams and environments around Kids, Youth and University. One practical expression of this in 2027 will be the creation of two part-time paid positions for each of our three generational focuses: Kids, Youth and University.

​

Our heart in doing this is to create strength and dynamism in each of these areas. We don't want the responsibility for an entire generation to rest on the shoulders of one person. We want to create teams with enough capacity, diversity of gifting and shared leadership to develop ministry, invest in people and respond to opportunities as they emerge.

 

These positions will work together to build healthy teams and environments that disciple, empower and release the next generation. We want each generational focus to have the strength to develop its own vision and ministry culture while remaining deeply connected to the wider mission and DNA of Divergent.

 

The objective isn't simply to fill ministry positions or create more activities. We want to develop environments and leaders that can disciple, empower and release the next generation.

 

Our children and young people are not simply the future Church. They are part of the Church now. We want them to encounter Jesus, know Scripture, experience the presence of God, discover their gifts, serve others, develop leadership and participate in the mission of God.

 

This will require investment in people, training, resources and environments, but it will also require the wider Church to take ownership of the next generation rather than leaving that responsibility to a particular ministry team. By creating stronger teams around Kids, Youth and University, we believe we can generate greater momentum, creativity and capacity for discipleship and mission across every generation.

​

Re-laying Pathways

 

As we do this, we also need to re-lay some of the pathways through which people move into the life and mission of the Church. 

​

As we have grown, some of those pathways have become less clear. We want people to be able to understand how they can move from connection into community, from community into discipleship, from discipleship into serving, and from serving into leadership and mission.

 

These pathways aren't intended to become rigid programs. They are intended to remove barriers and create clarity. A new person should be able to see how they can become connected. Someone looking for deeper discipleship should know where to go. A LifeCommunity leader should know where they can find support. A person beginning to discover their leadership capacity should be able to see what their next step might be.

 

When the pathway is clear, more people can move forward. Our goal is not to build a complicated system. It is to create a Church where the next step is increasingly visible, accessible and relational.
 

LifeCommunities

At the heart of all of this is a conviction that has been central to our understanding of Church: we are not a Church with smaller communities; we are a Church of smaller communities.

 

LifeCommunities are therefore not simply another program that sits alongside the rest of Church life. They are a fundamental expression of how we believe Church should function. They are places where people can experience belonging, pastoral care, discipleship, prayer, mission and genuine Christian community.

 

That means we need to invest in LifeCommunity leaders and give them the support, resources and pathways they need to flourish. The question isn't simply how many groups we have. The more important question is whether people are becoming more deeply connected to Jesus, to one another and to the mission of God.

​

Dsciplr - Shaping Convictions - Building with Community - Living for the Cause  

We also have an opportunity through Dsciplr to strengthen the way we communicate, disciple, connect and participate in Church life.

 

We will be joining in the  development of Dsciplr as a primary platform for communication, discipleship, community, mission and Church life across the wider family. Used well, it can help people discover opportunities, access resources, stay connected to their communities and find clearer pathways into the life of the Church.

If you have not joined DSCIPLR - you can join by clicking your local gathering link in the DSCIPLR PAGE. This will take you to Dsciplr and simply follow through the joining process. 

 

This is not intended to replace face-to-face relationships or local leadership. Rather, it should strengthen them by making it easier for people to communicate, share resources, discover what is happening and remain connected across the wider family.

​

Divergent Global School of Mission and Ministry

In 2027 we wil be relaunching what was previously our GlobalGen Full-Time Internship. The Divergent School of Mission and Ministry will be key in our discipleship and leadership development focused from neighbours to nations. 

This will operate as a Global Initiative with students and participants from around the entire Divergent Global family. ​

This will be at first a Full-Time environment, creating space for growth, reflection and development.
 

The School is not intended to replace local discipleship or mission. Its purpose is to strengthen them by giving people access to biblical depth, theological understanding, ministry development and missional formation.

​

This becomes particularly important as we think about multiplication. If we can equip more people, we can release more leaders. If we can develop more leaders, we can support more communities. And if we can support more communities, we can create greater capacity for mission.

​

I want us to think of the School not simply as an educational program, but as a resource that can sit underneath and strengthen what is already happening in local churches and communities.

​

Moving Forward Together

 

When I put all of these things together, I don't think we are looking at a new Divergent. I think we are looking at an opportunity to become more fully the Divergent we have always been called to be.

 

We have an incredible DNA, an incredible family and leaders across Australia and around the world who are already carrying significant things for the Kingdom. I believe there is more capacity within us than our current structures always allow us to express.

​

That is why I am excited about 2027.

​

I believe this year can help us create the alignment, connection, pathways and support that allow that capacity to be released. It can help us strengthen local leadership rather than replace it, connect leaders rather than centralise them, and create shared rhythms that serve mission rather than simply create more activity.

​

Most importantly, it can help us keep our eyes on the reason we are here: Neighbours to Nations, making ALL IN DISCIPLES devoted to His Kingdom Come.

​

That is our mandate and that is our mission. Everything we do in 2027 needs to help us live that out more faithfully and effectively.

​

I am genuinely excited about what we can strengthen, build and release together in this next season. I believe there is much more ahead of us, and I believe the best way to step into it is not by becoming something different, but by becoming increasingly aligned with who God has already called us to be.

​

4Life, 
 

Josh, Ange and the Divergent Leadership team