I write this article with a pinch of nostalgia. It’s been 21 years since Pauline and I set up Klesis (klesis.com.au) in June 2004. With our move back to Singapore in June 2025, we’ve handed Klesis over to a new team. For me, penning this reflection is like placing a bookmark: pausing and glancing back over the contours of a story even as we expect the tale to continue in the pages to come.

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The Klesis story has its roots in January 2003, when Pauline and I relocated from Singapore to Melbourne with a young family in tow. Despite much searching, I ended up being jobless for several months. But through God’s grace, by mid-2003, I had a portfolio of part-time work. With income no longer a worry, the idea of starting a not-for-profit ministry emerged. We were particularly interested in serving those seeking to restore the faith and practices of the earliest Christians. That’s why, from the outset, we had a special focus on our fellowship of non-denominational Churches of Christ in Australia.

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What about the name? Well, klesis is a New Testament Greek word which means ‘calling’. The apostle Paul used this word several times (e.g. Romans 11:29, Philippians 3:14) to refer to God calling or inviting humans to participate in his salvation story. Like many others, Pauline and I had heard this call. As Klesis developed, we wanted this little ministry to contribute towards helping others hear, respond to, and be equipped for such a calling.

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Klesis started slowly. A seminar here, a guest speaker there. In 2005, Klesis published its first book, God on Monday, an attempt to understand the intersection of faith and work.

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In 2006, Klesis began surveying non-denominational Churches of Christ in Australia. For the preceding two decades, Stephen Randall and Peter Gray had shouldered this task. After the 2006 survey, Klesis undertook similar surveys in 2010, 2014, 2019, and 2024.1

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In late 2007, Alan & Debby Rowley, two stalwart supporters of Klesis, helped organise a church growth forum in Sydney. Not long after the forum, Warren Holyoak (then a shepherd serving The Point Church in Brisbane) suggested Klesis publish a magazine to foster communication among Christians. Klesis agreed to support him if he was willing to spearhead the effort.​

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The first issue of the InterSections quarterly magazine was published in August 2009. Warren was the founding editor and I was his associate editor. Since then, InterSections has appeared every August, November, February, and May, even after Warren went to be with the Lord in late 2011.

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Since then, there’s been a succession of other associate editors, including Christine Payne, Jenny Ancell, Christian Bargholz, Nathan Holyoak, and Theo Gyau. From small beginnings, the InterSections mail list has grown to around 600 subscribers in Australia and overseas, plus its own website (intersections.com.au). Today, the magazine is edited by Warren’s son, Nathan Holyoak.

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The 2007 church growth forum was followed by a 2011 leadership forum. Then, in 2014, Klesis helped organise an Eldership Weekend hosted by Malaga Church of Christ in Perth. In 2016, the Pasir Panjang Church of Christ in Singapore hosted the gathering and re-badged it as APEDS (Asia Pacific Elders, Deacons, and Spouses) forum. Subsequently, APEDS 2018 was hosted by the Point Church in Brisbane. APEDS 2020 was to be convened by Belmore Road Church of Christ in Melbourne, but the Covid pandemic delayed that until 2023. It’s good to see APEDS having a life of its own.2

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Aside from these initiatives, there was the Klesis Bible Program. Between 2014 and 2018, KBP saw Bible faculty from Harding University teach one-week intensive courses in Melbourne to classes averaging 10 to 15 keen Christians. KBP later paved the way for Global Christian Studies (GCS).

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Today, GCS offers Church of Christ leaders outside the US a pathway to obtain a graduate degree in Bible, theology, and ministry from an accredited university. Formed in 2019, GCS (gcspathway.org) is led by Harold Shank, a church elder and former Bible professor. To date, GCS has helped Nigeria’s Kizito Jasper and Ubong Okorie and Australia’s Nancy Wu-Won graduate with a master’s degree from Harding School of Theology. Currently, more than a dozen other students are pursuing the GCS pathway.

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For those seeking more practical courses, Klesis began piloting KlesisEquip online modules in 2021. Since then at least three KlesisEquip courses have run each year.

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2021 was also the year that Klesis released a second book, Renewal Through Restoration: An Uncommon Call to Christian Discipleship. Published in memory of Warren Holyoak, this book was a joint effort by four current and former church elders. It maps out a case for spiritual renewal today through restoring the faith, practices, and ethos of the earliest disciples of Christ.