Helpful Articles & Resources

Jackie Hill Perry’s OneLove 21 talks are now exclusively available on the KCC One App in text, audio and video formats. 

At OneLove women’s conference last year, international speaker, author, and Hip-Hop Artist, Jackie Hill Perry joined the KCC platform to speak on the topic ‘Made for More: Created for Holiness.’  

In her opening talk ‘The Holiness of God’ Jackie invited delegates to describe God’s nature, and to consider why ‘holy’ is an unpopular word. She claimed that while many of us are comfortable with the fact that God is loving or kind, we are uncomfortable with God’s holiness and judgment—traits which are seemingly at odd with His good nature.  
For this reason, Jackie turned to Isaiah 6:1-7 to show women the true meaning of holiness, why it is beautiful, and how it makes God a consistent and unfailing source of hope of humankind:  

“If God is holy, that means He cannot sin. If God cannot sin, that means He cannot sin against you. If God cannot sin against you, doesn’t that make Him the most trustworthy being that exists?”  

In her second talk, ‘The Unholiness of Idols’, Jackie challenged delegates to consider the unholiness of idolatry by comparing the characteristics of idols against those of a holy God. In doing so, she showed us the foolishness of putting our full trust in anyone or anything that is limited and destructible. Because God is holy, only He who cannot sin is worthy of our full devotion and worship:  

“…it is good news that your idols can be destroyed. And that your God is indestructible.”

The OneLove 21 talks are now exclusively available on the KCC One App in text, audio, and video formats.  

‘The Holiness of God’ by Jackie Hill Perry (OneLove 21) | Read | Listen | Watch 

‘The Unholiness of Idols’ by Jackie Hill Perry (OneLove 21) | Read | Listen | Watch 
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Download the KCC One App to access thousands of talks and resources today!  

​Have you been blessed by our free KCC One App? 
 
This June, we are inviting you to sow into the KCC One App Library Fund with a tax-deductible gift. By joining us in building KCC One, you will ensure that our library is updated with high-quality biblical content for you and future generations under Christ.
 
Learn more about our ‘Sow For More’ fundraising campaign or sign up now to give a One Off or Recurring Gift! 

Sowing into the ministry of KCC is an investment of a different kind. It is an investment that returns so much more, not only for the life of the ministry, but for you, your family, and for future generations under Christ. ​

40 years ago, KCC received helpful income from selling copies of the convention talks through cassette tapes and CD’s. Delegates could get them hot off the duplicator an hour after convention or posted out as gifts to friends and family.  
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Providing this service was a great way to extend the impact of the ministry and generate income for us, but when iTunes, free content and video-on-our-phones came along, that part of our ministry all but disappeared.  ​

So, in April 2020, we got to work and launched our new app, KCC One, our 21st century version of a “cassette tape ministry”. We purpose-built an app that could be accessed by smart phones, tablets, and notebooks, and filled it with over 1,800 convention talks and resources that you can watch, listen to, or read. KCC One also provides delegates with timely event information and seamless ‘Donation’ functions.  

This is just the start.  
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We have so much more planned for this app, and hope to update it with even more features and content so that God’s word can be immediately available to more people, in more places, at more than just event times.  

This June, we are inviting you to sow into the KCC One App Library Fund with a tax-deductible gift. By joining us in building KCC One, you will ensure that we: Continue to capture and create high-quality, biblical content for the library;  Launch and build features of the library that make the app as user-friendly and beneficial as possible (and that users have asked for!); Carry on sharing thousands of resources from our sermon library for free; and Launch a low monthly subscription plan offering the latest from conventions and brand-new, exclusive content created just for KCC One – all aimed at deepening your Christian life.  It is our prayer that in return, KCC will be able to share its resources with many more who need it, strengthening them to stand firm in their walk with God, and sustaining them with His Word for generations to come. ​

Sign up now to give a One Off or Recurring Gift!  
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Download the KCC One App for free. 

We are pleased to announce that Clinical Psychologist, Dr Jonathan Andrews, will return to speak at BASECAMP men’s conference this year.  

Hosted by Katoomba Christian Convention, BASECAMP is an annual event for men who want to know God better. Each year, we see thousands of men gathered around God’s word and encouraged to run the race with their eyes fixed on Jesus.  

Jonathan is a Clinical Psychologist who has spent 20 years working with adults helping them to overcome depression and anxiety. His life motto is to live with his “heart in mind” and encourages others to also live this way, frequently sharing at churches and schools in regional and remote areas.  

Jonathan first appeared on the KCC platform at BASECAMP 2021, when he shared a talk titled, “A Reconnected Heart”. His talk impacted many men as he highlighted the loneliness epidemic in Australia, with men in their middle years feeling it most significantly from lack of support and connection with others. Jonathan posed a solution to this problem: A “three-way connection” with self, others, and God. 

Jonathan explained that connection is important because it is commanded in Scripture. Proverbs 4:23 emphasises the need to be connected to “self” through the guarding of one’s heart. He explained that the heart is the “seat of our psychological functioning”, for out of the heart flows thoughts, feelings, behaviours and reactions. The creation account in Genesis also shows that humanity was created for relationship—for God decided it was not good for “man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18) The talk ended with some practical tips for how men can initiate more meaningful connections with one another.  
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Joining Keynote Speaker, Malcolm Gill, Jonathan will deliver a short talk which explores the theme “Called to be Sons: Living Under God the Father”, while empowering men to be confident in their God-given identity and purpose.  

Get a taste of Jonathan’s teaching: 

Article: Four Ways to Help Your Teens

Jonathan offers 4 tips for understanding your teenage children, remaining connected to them, and responding to them in constructive ways.  

Article: From a Psychological Perspective, It Isn’t the Pandemic You Need to Worry About
 
Jonathan exposes the ways that the pandemic and financial crisis has shaken up perceptions of personal identity. He then highlights how having faith in a creator can be advantageous when one’s identity is threatened.  

Download the KCC One App to hear his talk, “A Reconnected Heart” from BASECAMP 21 

Stay up to date with BASECAMP

The Onward Youth team shares 3 reasons for why Christians should care about diversity. ​

This year at Onward Youth, we will be tackling the question: “Doesn’t Christianity crush diversity?” But what do we mean by ‘diversity’? While ‘diversity’ is a non-negotiable that our generation will fight for, should we as Christians care about it too?  

The dictionary definition of ‘diversity’ is the state or fact of being ‘different’ or ‘unlike’ another. This means that anyone with a different nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, family, social background or religious upbringing is diverse to you.  

Sometimes, it can be easy to embrace diversity, as it enables us to enjoy new experiences and to have a well-rounded view of the world we live in. Other times, diversity can thrust the Christian into tricky situations, for difference can lead to disagreement, tempting us to compromise on our beliefs to avoid conflict.  
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So, how should the Christian respond to our culture’s fight for diversity? We believe that Christians should care about diversity, and here are three reasons why:  

1. We are created in God’s image  

​The Bible tells us that God created all human beings in His image (Genesis 1:27). This means that no matter our ethnicity, background or lifestyle choices, every human was created by God with equal purpose and value. Humanity with all its differences was made to reflect God’s goodness, and heaven will reflect a unified family of God’s people from ‘every nation, tribe, people and language’ (Revelation 7:9).  

3. We were once alienated from God’s family 
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As believers, we may be tempted to stay in our Christian ghettos and to reject people who have a very different lifestyle to us. Perhaps we may even look down on people with different morals and ethics, or secretly believe that we’ve been saved because of how good we are. But the Bible clearly states that by God’s standards, “no one is righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10) In fact, the only thing that distinguishes God’s people from an unbeliever is His incredible grace (Ephesians 2:8) and undeserved mercy (1 Peter 2). Before God called you to give your life to Jesus, you were in the same position as the unbeliever and considered God’s enemy. So, how can we reject people who live differently to us, when we used to live out-of-sync with God too? 

While there are good and valid reasons for the Christian to embrace diversity, there still stands the question of how we can live with people who disagree with us, and to do it in a way that is loving AND true to what we believe in. This is what we hope to address at Onward Youth next week where Apologists Dave Jensen and Amy Orr-Ewing will be joining us to address the big question: Doesn’t Christianity crush diversity? 

Onward Youth will be happening on Friday, June 24th at The Concourse in Chatswood, NSW. Tickets are $29 per person and includes:  
 Full access to in-person event  Conference booklet  Access to Onward Deep Dive (exclusive three-session online youth program to do in groups or on your own, including talks and questions to explore the topic more)    
Onward Youth will also be available via Livestream for those living outside of Sydney and unable to travel to the event. Contact our office for a code to access these tickets. 
 
For more information or tickets, visit us at: https://www.onwardevent.com 

Stay up to date with Onward

Bible teacher and Author, Nancy Guthrie, will be returning to Australia for OneLove women’s conference this August. ​

We are thrilled to announce that Bible teacher and Author, Nancy Guthrie, will be returning to Australia for OneLove women’s conference this August. Hosted by Katoomba Christian Convention, OneLove is a one-day women’s event designed to inspire women in their relationship with Jesus. Since its launch in 2014, the event has served thousands of women with powerful preaching, inspiring testimonies, uplifting worship in song, and fantastic fellowship. 
 
In 2014, Nancy delivered a compelling talk, “What Does God’s Love Look Like?” from the book of Hosea. In this talk, Nancy helped delegates to see the unfathomable and unconditional love of God, to women who are unfaithful and undeserving.  

Nancy’s teaching of the gospel of grace had a powerful impact on many women, including Jen who was compelled to commit her life to Jesus after rejecting God for 8 years.  

Due to popular demand, Nancy has since returned to OneLove on multiple occasions to equip thousands of women in their knowledge and love of God. In 2016, she opened the book of Romans to highlight the “captivating, motivating and shaping” change that comes with surrendering one’s life to Jesus Christ.  
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In her talk “What is Shaping You?”, Nancy turned to Romans 12 and invited women to identify the voices the were shaping their desires, expectations and decisions in life. Nancy powerfully contrasted the expectations of the world, with the will of God through His word, and concluded that “you can be shaped the world around you, or you can be shaped by the Word within you.” The former demands women to conform to the world while the latter leads to true and lasting transformation through God’s word.

According to Nancy, “God’s Word is a treasure to be mined”, and that the most important thing God has given to her is a love for him and his Word. These desires didn’t come easily, rather, they were born from a season of immense grief after losing her two children, Hope and Gabriel, from a rare genetic disorder called Zellweger Syndrome.  

This devastating loss motivated Nancy to turn to Scripture for answers, and through this process, she genuinely learned to fully trust in God’s wisdom to life’s hardest questions. Her story of loss and grief has enabled Nancy to communicate God’s truth and redeeming promises with empathy and gentleness.  

Nancy currently teaches the Bible at her home church, Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Franklin, Tennessee, as well as at conferences around the country and internationally, including through her Biblical Theology Workshops for Women. She has authored numerous books including the Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament Bible study series, and Even Better Than Eden, and is the host of the Help Me Teach the Bible podcast at The Gospel Coalition. She and her husband host Respite Retreats for couples who have faced the death of a child and are co-hosts of the GriefShare video series. 

To learn more about Nancy, visit her website: www.nancyguthrie.com

It has been three years since KCC women have gathered in-person, so OneLove 22 will be a truly special day filled with encouragement, refreshment, and fellowship!  

OneLove 22 will return on Saturday 20 August at the Sydney Town Hall.  

Registrations will open next Friday, 17th June for both in-person and online delegates. Make sure you get in early to secure your spot!  
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For more information visit our website: https://www.onelovewomen.com/  

Stay up to date with OneLove!

We are thrilled to announce that Malcolm Gill will be returning as the Keynote Speaker on the BASECAMP platform this year. Over two weekends this August, Malcolm will open the Scriptures and explore the theme, “Called to be Sons: Living Under God the Father”. By inviting men to consider their calling to Sonship, Mal will show delegates what it means to be a man who is confident in his God-given identity and purpose.  

Malcolm Gill currently serves as an Associate Minister at St Andrew’s Cathedral in the heart of Sydney. He is married to Tamara, and they have three lively teenage children. Prior to serving as a pastor Malcolm spent 15 years in theological education teaching at Sydney Missionary Bible College (SMBC) and Dallas Theological Seminary in the USA.  Mal enjoys watching sport, trips to the beach, and eating mangoes. 

Malcolm first spoke on the BASECAMP platform in 2016 when he delivered a memorable short talk, “Every Man Needs a Paul, Timothy and Barnabas”. Mal encouraged men to see the importance of relationships within church community, and that we all need seasoned Christians investing in us, fellow Christians encouraging us, and younger Christians learning from us. His talk had a long-lasting impact on many delegates, reminding men of the importance of growing in community and inter-generational discipleship within the church family. ​

Malcolm has also been a guest speaker on other KCC platforms, including Katoomba Easter Convention, KYCK youth conference, NextGen training conference and Oxygen conference for Christian leaders. Download the KCC One App to hear his talks from the KCC archives for free!  
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BASECAMP will run over two weekends this August in three different formats. Choose the one that works for you!  

1. BASECAMP City (6 August) at the UNSW Roundhouse, 9:00am-3:00pm 

A one-day recharge in a convenient city location! The UNSW Roundhouse is easily accessible by public transport or there’s free parking on site. Your ticket includes program attendance, event materials, morning tea and a hot lunch. Grab your Early Bird tickets now!  

2. BASECAMP Mountains (12-13 August) at StayKCC in Katoomba 

An overnight retreat in the heart of the Blue Mountains. The official program runs from 7:30pm on Friday evening and finishes at 3:00pm on Saturday afternoon. Your ticket includes program attendance, event materials, morning tea and hot lunch. Free parking and onsite-catered accommodation options are available. Grab your Early Bird tickets now! 

3. BASECAMP Online (12-13 August) as a high-quality live streamed event 

Enjoy the BASECAMP Mountains experience at a location of your choosing! Your ticket includes access to BASECAMP live from our Mountains event and on-demand for one month afterwards. We’ll also post you an online viewer pack, including booklet and pen. Grab your Early Bird tickets now! 
 
For more information about our program, click here. 
​
Secure your Early Bird tickets before 30 June and save $15!  ​

Stay up to date with BASECAMP! 

Apologists Dave Jensen and Amy Orr-Ewing will be joining the Onward Youth platform to address the question: Doesn’t Christianity crush diversity? 

​Onward Youth is a one-night apologetics conference for high schoolers and people involved in youth ministry. This year, we’ll be tackling a massive question: Doesn’t Christianity crush diversity? 
 
Christianity is often seen as being judgmental and biased, welcoming some types of people and excluding others. As Christians, we’re inevitably going to cross paths with people whose lives look very different from our own or might not line up with how the Bible instructs us to live. How can we best relate to these people? How can we respond when their values or opinions oppose our faith? And how can young Christians feel prepared for these situations before they occur? 
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This year, we are pleased to welcome Dave Jensen (Pastor, EV Church) and Amy-Orr Ewing (Author, ‘Where is God in All the Suffering?’) to share their wisdom and life experiences at Onward Youth

Dave Jensen will speak in-person at Onward Youth this June. Dave works as a pastor at EV Church on the sunny Central Coast of NSW. Prior to working in ministry, he was in the Australian Army for the best part of a decade which is where someone told him the truth about Jesus and he became a Christian. Dave is married to Sammy, and they have 6 kids. He loves telling people about Jesus, Lebanese chicken and the Sydney Roosters. 

Learn more about Dave and get a taste of his teaching here:  

Rebel Turned Evangelist 

​In this article by Eternity News, Dave Jensen shares his testimony of how he came to faith. 
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Sermon: God Is In The Thick Of It  
 
Where is God in the pain?  
Does he care, or has he turned his back?  
Dave Jensen turns to Romans 8:28-30 to tackle these tough questions.  
 
Panel: Positive Persuasive Evangelistic Campaigns – with Dave Jensen, Karl Faase and David Robertson 
 
What makes an effective evangelistic campaign? What messages will engage non-Christian audiences with the truth of the gospel? In this episode of ‘The Pastor’s Heart’, evangelists Dave Jensen, Karl Faase and David Roberston share their tips for reaching the lost and discuss positive evangelism, maximising mission opportunities, integrating online and offline campaigns, and ideas for a large-scale campaign.  ​

Dr Amy Orr-Ewing will be speaking via video at Onward Youth this June. Amy is an international author, speaker and theologian who addresses the deep questions of our day with meaningful answers found in the Christian Faith. Amy is a regular speaker across university campuses, businesses, parliaments, churches and conferences as well as on TV and radio. She is the author of multiple books including ‘Where is God in All the Suffering?’ and bestselling, ‘Why Trust the Bible?’ 

Get a taste of Amy’s teaching here: 

Article: Where is God in the Pain of Systemic Injustice?

Amy shares how the gospel speaks into systemic injustice and gives hope to the cycle of suffering. 
 
Video Talk: Is Christianity Bad News for Women?

Amy delivers the 2017 Richard Johnson Lecture at NSW Parliament House on the topic of whether Christianity is ‘bad news’ for women. 
 
Video Talk: Is the Pursuit of Happiness Making us Sad?
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In this talk, Amy dissects our culture’s pursuit of happiness and its effect on our psyche. 

Onward Youth will be happening on Friday, June 24th at The Concourse in Chatswood, NSW. Tickets are $29 per person and includes: 
​Full access to in-person event Conference booklet Access to Onward Deep Dive (exclusive three-session online youth program to do in groups or on your own, including talks and questions to explore the topic more) 
Onward Youth will also be available via Livestream for those living outside of Sydney and unable to travel to the event. Contact our office for a code to access these tickets.

For more information or tickets, visit us at: https://www.onwardevent.com 

10 books recommended by 2022 Katoomba Easter Convention team and available for purchase from The Wandering Bookseller. 

This year at Katoomba Easter Convention, delegates were reminded of God’s call to His people to live with True Grit, and how the death and resurrection of Jesus empowers believers to heed the call with confidence.

​To help our delegates explore this topic further and to consider what “True Grit” looks like in the day to day, we’ve partnered with The Wandering Bookseller to offer some our top reads on this topic. We hope that these books will empower you to respond to fear with faith and courage! ​

J.I. Packer once said, “Adoption is the highest privilege that the gospel offers”. For men who have accepted the truth of the Gospel, they are now deemed sons of God—an identity and status of highest privilege! This is because God is the perfect parent: strong, kind and engaged. Unlike our earthly parents and authority figures, God will never let us down.  

The question is: Do we believe this to be true?  

Do we believe that God is a caring Father, or a distant deity who is impossible to appease?
 
Do we feel secure in our adoption into God’s family, or do we constantly strive to prove ourselves worthy?  

When problems arise, do we turn to the Father for wisdom and strength, or revert to old patterns of isolation and self-sufficiency?  

At BASECAMP this August, we will be exploring the theme, “Called to be Sons: Living Under God the Father”. Guest speakers Malcolm Gill (Associate Minister, St. Andrews Cathedral) and Jonathan Andrews (Clinical Psychologist, Heart in Mind) will invite men to consider their calling to Sonship and what it truly mans to be a man who is confident in his God-given identity and purpose.  

BASECAMP is an annual event for men who want to know God better. Since 1997, men of all generations and from across denominations have taken time out together to hear God speak. Each year, men have encouraged each other to run the race with their eyes fixed on Jesus. 

For more information, visit our website: basecampmen.com  ​

BASECAMP will run over two weekends this August in three different formats. Choose the one that works for you!  

1. BASECAMP City (6 August) at the UNSW Roundhouse, 9:00am-3:00pm 

A one-day recharge in a convenient city location! The UNSW Roundhouse is easily accessible by public transport or there’s free parking on site. Your ticket includes program attendance, event materials, morning tea and a hot lunch. Grab your Early Bird tickets now!  

2. BASECAMP Mountains (12-13 August) at StayKCC in Katoomba 

An overnight retreat in the heart of the Blue Mountains. The official program runs from 7:30pm on Friday evening and finishes at 3:00pm on Saturday afternoon. Your ticket includes program attendance, event materials, morning tea and hot lunch. Free parking and onsite-catered accommodation options are available. Grab your Early Bird tickets now! 

3. BASECAMP Online (12-13 August) as a high-quality live streamed event 

Enjoy the BASECAMP Mountains experience at a location of your choosing! Your ticket includes access to BASECAMP live from our Mountains event and on-demand for one month afterwards. We’ll also post you an online viewer pack, including booklet and pen. Grab your Early Bird tickets now! 
 
For more information about our program, click here. 
​
Secure your Early Bird tickets before 30 June and save $15!  

Stay up to date with BASECAMP men’s conference

“How do you know that the Bible is legitimate?”
 
“Can anyone actually prove that Jesus died and came back to life?”
 
“If your God is so good, then why is my life so hard?”

If you’re a Christian, you’ve probably been faced with questions such as these at least once in your life. We live in an age that demands hard facts and evidence before something can be labelled as The Truth. In its simplest form, faith means trusting that something is, even though you cannot necessarily prove it… so it’s no surprise that there seems to be less and less space for Christianity in the 21st century.

IS GOD REALLY WORTH IT?
 
When we decide to follow Jesus, it’s inevitably going to make some waves. Making an intentional choice to live counter-culturally can be an extremely daunting prospect no matter our stage of life. For young Christians, however, the worldly consequences of putting God first can seem especially earth-shattering. In some situations, targeted jokes and copping flack for going to youth group instead of a Friday night party make up the worst of it. In other situations, choosing God can see kids faced with isolation, ridicule (from both friends and family) and the constant, nagging thought of, “Is this really worth it?”

In Australia, it’s estimated that over 50,000 teenagers and young adults walk away from their faith every year[1]. To put this into perspective: that’s approximately 500,000 empty pews. In 2020, Edith Cowen University carried out a study that aimed to figure out why so many young Christians ‘give up’ on God after graduating from high school. One reason given time and time again was that a lot of people ‘found that things they never questioned when they were younger began to make less sense’[2]. If we don’t take the time to question, challenge and personally explore our faith, how can our religion ever become relational? And what hope do we have of defending and explaining our beliefs to others if we don’t really understand them ourselves?

ENTER, APOLOGETICS

To be clear: apologetics doesn’t mean apologising for being a Christian. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. The word apologetics originates from the Greek word apologia, which translates to ‘an answer given in reply’. Christian apologetics is the intellectual defense of Christianity’s core truth and validity, and without this, it can be extremely difficult to live as a Christian in a non-Christian world. If our goal is to uphold and share our counter-cultural faith, we need to fully understand what we believe, and be able to explain why we believe it.
Apologetics is incredibly important when it comes to living the Christian life, and it’s something that young Christians need the opportunity to engage with before they step out into the ‘real world’, not afterwards. And while introducing a bunch of teenagers to methods of intellectual theological defense might seem like a massive task, a solid understanding how to hold God’s Word in one hand and current culture in the other can be the difference between a faith that ends with high school and one that continues to grow.

​STAND STRONG FOR GOD AT ONWARD22

Onward Youth is a one-night apologetics conference for high schoolers and people who work in youth ministry. This year, we’ll be tackling a massive question: Doesn’t Christianity crush diversity?

Christianity is often seen as being judgemental and biased, welcoming some types of people and excluding others. As Christians, we’re inevitably going to cross paths with people whose lives look very different from our own or might not line up with how the Bible instructs us to live. How can we best relate to these people? How can we respond when their values or opinions oppose our faith? And how can young Christians feel prepared for these situations before they actually occur?

Onward22 will be happening on Friday, June 24th at The Concourse in Chatswood, NSW. Our 2022 speakers Dave Jensen and Amy Orr-Ewing are ready to share both their Biblical knowledge and life-learned advice, and our brand-new 2022 DEEP DIVE sessions are here to help you fully explore what it means to believe in Jesus, and how to carry this belief out into the world.

For more information, visit us at https://www.onwardevent.com

[1] Young, J. (2015). Haemorrhaging faith: why young people are leaving the church.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/archive/haemorrhaging-faith-young-people-leaving-church/

[2] Mullen, T. (2020). Young people and the Baptist church: Staying and leaving. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ theses/2304
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