About – Thriving Churches

Our Mission: Thriving Leaders and Churches
Making a Kingdom Difference in Their Communities

"My heart is to empower leaders and see churches transformed"

Thriving Churches HQ was founded by Richard Black. Richard is an ordained minister and a qualified counsellor. He has always had a heart for the growth and wellbeing of churches, their leaders, and their people. He trained under Alan Hirsch in mission and revitalisation a few decades back and was part of the team who set up Forge, which provides training and support for missional endeavors.

He was the first in New Zealand to train as a Natural Church Development coach. Richard worked as a church developer for several years before being called into a local ministry to lead a church in a revitalisation process. At the end of that process, he felt God direct him back to supporting the wellbeing and development of churches nationwide.

Richard retrained, obtaining a Master of Counselling with distinction. He did his master’s research on “Emotional health in the role of a church leader”, discovering five unseen pressure points that undermine church leaders’ wellbeing and effectiveness.

He has now extended this research in a post-graduate dissertation focused on two key factors that enhance the wellbeing and effectiveness of pastors.

In 2010, Richard founded Mind Health, a counselling and training organisation focused on enhancing wellbeing and mental health. Richard’s special focus has always been enhancing the wellbeing of leaders and churches. He has spent the last decade providing professional supervision and leadership coaching to Christian leaders, training pastoral care workers, and working extensively with churches.

Thriving Churches HQ has been established as a specific offering to the local church. Its purpose is to intentionally support and empower churches and is based on the culmination of years of experience, research, and training.

God’s Kingdom Come!

Now more than ever the world needs churches and church leaders empowered to transform their communities. Leading a church and caring for its people in an era of ambiguity and indifference is increasingly complex. That’s where we come in. We partner with you to enhance the wellbeing and effectiveness of your church, your team, and you. Our mission is to see you and your church growing and thriving by supporting you to be all that God has called you to be. Our desire is to see more and more of God’s Kingdom Come.

Our mission is to see:

… making a Kingdom difference in their communities

Hear from Our
Clients

As a church, we have partnered with Richard Black for several years now. Richard’s training seminars have been invaluable to us as staff and wherever possible we take the opportunity to send our pastoral team when training is available. We have also put our pastoral staff through the Pastoral Transformation block course which has been a great help to upskill them and give them confidence in their roles.

We highly recommend working with Richard for the benefit of your leadership, staff and congregation members.

Over the past few years, I have heard the following in discussions with leaders across various streams of the church: “I was stuck, I was in a hole, I was struggling, but I talked with Richard Black, and his insights and wisdom were so helpful in me moving forwards.” Richard is making a significant contribution to the thriving of church leaders. Thanks so much, Richard!

Richard Black has a way of holding up a mirror that brings clarity and insight to what’s really going on beneath the surface.

I am so grateful to Richard for his expertise and investment in my leadership over the past decade.

I’ve long trusted Richard Black — he brings a researcher’s rigour and a pastor’s heart to everything he does. Richard’s gift is making confronting realities like this simple and — crucially — changeable.

Having benefited from attending Richard’s workshops, I am consistently impressed by his integrity, clarity, and pastoral heart.

Richard Black addresses the issues many of us feel but rarely articulate, areas we often overlook or avoid. He speaks with the wisdom of experience and the heart of a shepherd, offering insight that is both deeply personal and profoundly practical.

Richard brings a wealth of knowledge, compassion and practical wisdom in the area of wellbeing, pastoral care and longevity in ministry. Because of this we have had Richard come and speak at our church on a Sunday and also he has been a keynote speaker at our annual conference.

Richard is an amazing asset to the churches and pastors of NZ.

We are very grateful that over the years, the trainings that Richard has offered, have really helped build a solid foundation for our staff and for our pastors… No one really presents as articulately and professionally and with substance as Richard does.

Richard’s process is clear and the wisdom he brings is deeply reassuring as I know I am in good hands. Each session helps me be a better leader, husband, and disciple.