Church Support Australia started with a simple observation: churches don't usually struggle because they lack faith. They struggle because they lack support. Not more theology. Not more passion. Just somewhere to turn for the practical, unglamorous work that keeps a church running.
Karen Stuckey founded Church Support Australia in 2011 with exactly that in mind. For close to fifteen years, she served churches and leaders right across Australia, from city congregations to some of the smallest and most remote. She saw the same pattern again and again. A pastor who never planned to become an administrator, quietly managing rosters, compliance, finances and a dozen other things nobody trains you for. A volunteer who said yes once and has been the one holding the operational side together ever since. People doing essential work with no job description, no budget, and often no one to ask when they got stuck.
Karen also saw what happens when that support gap goes unfilled. Leaders burn out. Good people quietly step back. Some churches lose their footing altogether, not for want of conviction, but for want of the everyday help that lets a leader focus on people and ministry instead of paperwork. The instinct in many churches is to push through alone, as though asking for help is a sign of weakness rather than wisdom. Karen built Church Support Australia to say the opposite: the strongest churches are the ones that build support into their foundations, not the ones that go without it.
That conviction, that a well-supported church is a stronger church, has been the heartbeat of this organisation from the start.
A new season for Karen and Gavin
In 2025, Karen and her husband Gavin stepped into a new season of their own, moving from supporting churches into pastoring one. It followed years living rurally after a move from Adelaide, a change that gave Karen a firsthand look at how different, and at times how isolating, local church life can be outside the major cities. Through it, she has spoken openly about how much the care of this community has meant to her and Gavin, even from a distance.
Karen continues to run Church Jobs Australia, helping churches connect with the right people for their teams. If you would like to hear more from Karen in her own words, including what led to this new chapter, she spoke about it recently on Vision Christian Radio: Karen's recent interview on Vision Christian Radio.
Carrying the mission forward
Jackson Wong has taken on Church Support Australia from here. Based in Sydney, Jackson brings years of experience supporting both rural and city churches, and the same conviction that has driven this work since 2011: that churches shouldn't have to carry the admin load alone. He understands the real, on-the-ground challenges facing Australian churches today, and is committed to the same practical, no-nonsense kind of help Karen built this organisation on, while growing it to reach even more churches in the years ahead.
The people change. The mission doesn't. Church Support Australia still exists for one reason: to walk alongside the people doing the unseen work that holds a church together, and to make that work a little lighter.
Where that leaves you
If you're the one quietly keeping your church running, whether that's a paid role, a volunteer one, or something that landed on you because nobody else could, this is who Church Support Australia is for. The newsletter, the articles and the Toolbox all exist for the same reason Karen started this in 2011: because the people who support everyone else deserve support too.