All Authors

Phil Brown

Director of Oikos Australia

Phil has been involved in ministry for the past 26 years in Australia in pastoring, planting churches, managing aid organisations, training pastors and lay members in spirituality and outreach. For the past 4-5 years he has enjoyed vision casting and mentoring leaders while supporting the planting of some 40 new churches and missional groups in Western Australia.

His love of learning has led him to study theology, history, psychology and sociology. Currently studying at a Doctoral level he is researching Discipleship and Evangelism in Missional Groups and Churches. He believes that fresh expressions of Church and Faith Communities are needed to reach average people in Australia and other countries. His heart is to see Movements develop which advance the Kingdom of God. His passion involves teaching in spirituality, prayer ministry and desires to see people connect with God in deeper and more intimate ways. He has led seminars throughout Australia and internationally.

Phil Walters

Website and Magazine Editor

Phil is married to Esther and lives in the Central Qld coastal town of Yeppoon, where, after returning from a number of years in the UK, they planted a new church.

In 2005 the church transitioned into simple church. For 10 years Phil was a prison chaplain with Prison Fellowship and he and Esther ran their home as a half-way house for ex-prisoners. Phil enjoys being involved in local Community Radio and running the local Salvos Family Store.

Phil edits the Oikos Magazine

Kate Brown

KATE BROWN is married to Phil Brown (Oikos Director) and together with their 4 children, Brayden, Ellyse, Jamison, Kieran, they reside in Eagle Point in south-eastern Victoria

Joshua Lawson

JOSHUA LAWSON lives in Portsmouth, Ohio, with his wife Sarah and their three kids.

Frank Viola

FRANK VIOLA is the well-known author of many books, including Pagan Christianity, Reimagining Church, and more recently God’s Favourite Place on Earth. He blogs regularly at www.frankviola.org

Jamie Ivey

Jamie Ivey is married to Aaron and lives in Austin, Texas with their four children. She writes a great blog jamieivey.com which is a lot about their family and the things God teaches her through being a wife and a mom. She loves to read, family nights, and going on dates with her man!

John Fischer

JOHN FISCHER is an author/singer/songwriter who resides in the USA. www.catchjohnfischer.com

John Murchison

vergenetwork.org

David Nott

Advisor for Youth and Children's work and mission

David Nott is OIKOS advisor for Youth and Children's work and mission in and through simple church. He is Manager of Youth Services with Youth for Christ in Warragul, Victoria and is happy to speak with anyone seeking answers to such questions as 'What do we do with our youth/children in our group?' ' How can we as a simple/home church effectively start to reach young people in our community?'

Leah Lesesne

Leah Lesesne is a professional counselor in Atlanta, GA. Her and her husband are a part of Grace Midtown Church and have a small urban farm in their backyard. You can check out her blog at www.leahlesesne.com

David Milne

Dave and Sue Milne (movenetwork.org) are from Wollongong. Dave is an engineer who has increasingly devoted his time to making disciples at Wollongong University. He trains others to do the same in the Illawara and around Australia.

Mike Breen

Mike Breen has been an innovator in leading missional churches throughout Europe and the United States. He and his wife Sally live in Payleys Island, Sth Carolina, where he serves as the leader for 3D Movements, an organic movement of biblical discipleship and missional church helping established churches and church planters move into a discipling and missional way of being church.

Peter Fowler

Oikos National Team

PETER FOWLER and his wife Cheryl are both West Aussies although they have spent a considerable amount of time on the East Coast. In mid 1995 Peter was fighting for his life having contracted a very virulent form of malaria. God gave him a dream of a new church and told him he would live to see this happen. Since that time, he and Cheryl have been on a very exciting journey and now believe that the house church movement is where God wants them to be. Peter serves on the Oikos National Team

Cameron Butler

CAMERON BUTLER is the Chaplain of the Melbourne Football Club (AFL) and National Director of Sports Chaplaincy Australia, the leading recognised body providing chaplains to high-performance, development and local sports throughout Australia. He serves as the Australian representative on the International Sports Coalition Serving the People of Sport Council.