ABOUT

Paul Bartlett

As Paul Bartlett tells it, some of his most important lessons about faith and leadership were learned court-side in his seventeen years as chaplain of the Illawarra Hawks National Basketball team (NBL).

“During my first day on the basketball court, the head coach pulled me aside and said: ‘Hey Rev, let me tell you your job on this team … stay out of my way!” Paul writes in Re-Think It, being sidelined “was a gift.”

It was an opportunity to unlearn and relearn; about faith, church, community, leadership and power. These were lessons that have shaped his leadership at local, state and national levels. First at Lighthouse in the Illawarra, where he and his wife Annette led as Senior Pastors for 23 years and more recently as the State President of Australian Christian Churches (ACC) NSW & ACT where he has led over 300 churches through drought, fire and a global pandemic. Paul is also the National leader of ACC Community Engagement, for over 1,000 churches where he has successfully helped train and coach Pastors and Leaders to mobilise their churches toward their community.

In a time where the church has had to re-invent itself, Paul is committed to challenging and helping local church pastors and leaders to think differently - even if it means putting some of our most cherished assumptions about ‘doing’ faith and church under the microscope.

His first book, Thank God it’s Monday, encouraged Christians to look more outwardly by challenging the idea that God’s presence and purpose is seamless and available to every person, every day of the week not just Sundays. His follow up book, Re-Think It, is the next step in that journey – and at times an uncomfortable exploration of faith that leaves the reader feeling optimistic about the place of church in community.

Paul lives in the Illawarra with his wife of 36 years Annette, surrounded by their 3 adult children and their families.