Ministry Training Strategy began with a conviction: if Australia was to be reached with the good news of the gospel, many more gospel workers were needed.
In the late 1970s, Phillip Jensen (then Anglican Chaplain at UNSW) and Col Marshall shared this burden. In 1978 they began training ministry apprentices, pioneering a new model of hands-on ministry training. By 1991, MTS was formally established as a legal entity, with Col Marshall appointed as the first National Director.
From those early days in Sydney, MTS has grown into an international movement. Thousands of apprentices have since been trained, men and women have been sent into gospel ministry and mission, and many have gone on to become trainers themselves.
In 2024, under the leadership of National Director Ben Pfahlert, MTS undertook a strategic pivot—re-examining its mission, vision, and values, and laying a clear pathway for the future. This process, shaped by God’s generosity, has strengthened the organisation’s ability to serve a growing movement.
Now in 2025, we are seeing the fruit of that work as God continues to bring new opportunities and growth. Through this process, MTS has developed a deeper clarity about who we are and where we are heading.
Who are MTS
Movement Vision
It all starts with the vision of the MTS movement, which remains unchanged: To Win the World for Christ by Multiplying Gospel Workers through Ministry Apprenticeships.
We still have a strong conviction that, as Jesus says in Matthew 9:37-38: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
The need for our world is unchanged. The world needs the gospel, and we need workers to carry it, share it, show it, live it, love it and pass it on.
National Director Ben Pfahlert says, “The end is global evangelism, Healthy Gospel Ministry Trainers are the means.”
Movement Purpose
The movement has a clear purpose to Grow a Movement of Healthy Gospel Ministry Trainers. It is MTS Trainers whom we support and equip to raise up more Gospel Workers through Ministry Apprenticeships.
Movement Mission
Our mission is to Raise, Train and Resource Gospel Ministry Trainers through Formation and Fellowship. This informs how we work, who we hire, what we prioritise and how we steward the resources God blesses us with.
Movement Personality
As a movement of healthy gospel ministry trainers, we aim to continue the personality that embodies who we are. MTS Trainers who are Christlike, Trusted and Courageous. These traits are what characterises a trainer as “healthy”. (The word “healthy” is used in the same way that “sound” is used in Titus 1:9,13 and 2:1,2).
Movement Core Values
Core values guide us as we work internally, and also inform MTS Trainers and teach them more about the movement they are embodying! Our movement core values are: Health (Christlike, Trusted and Courageous), Fellowship, Multiplication, and Multigenerational Impact.
Movement Promise
At MTS, we want to be true to who we say we are—not just as a staff team, but as a whole movement of Trainers, Apprentices, Partner Organisations and Supporters. Our promise is that Gospel Work Momentum will be created by a Movement of High-Love-High-Demand* Trainers committed to having a Multigenerational Impact. This promise expresses who we are, keeps us united in purpose, and reminds us of the gospel-centred goal: to see more people come to know and love Jesus as Lord.
*This reflects a spiritual parenting paradigm—training with both deep love and high expectations.
Thank you for your prayers and support of MTS!
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
EPHESIANS 3:20-21