Our History

The Careline Team began in 2003 from a perceived need that Australians would respond to a prayer and chat service, given that the 1996 Census statistics showed that 70% of Australians identified themselves as Christian. The Australian Christian Channel and Melbourne’s 89.9 LightFM joined together in the vision to see a Christian prayer and chat service offered to their audiences.

The Careline Team began with a team of 7 volunteers who manned the phones 7 days a week, from 9am-11pm. Mobile phones were used to manage the out-of-office hours, and in the first year The Careline Team took just under 1200 calls.

In December 2007 The Careline Team purchased a VOIP telephone system. For the first time we were able to accurately and easily see the amount of traffic that The Careline Team was actually generating. This sparked a new acceleration for growth, as the number of calls coming into the service were largely outweighing the number being able to be taken by the team. Currently The Careline Team phone service receives over 30 000 hits in a year.

An idea to approach churches to support The Careline Team services by opening up their facility to operate as a ‘Careline Team call centre’ and invite their congregation to be part of the ministry came to fruition in early 2008. At that time a Melbourne church became the pioneer for facilitating a Careline Team call centre and is still running today.

Also in early 2008 The Careline Team expanded its services by conducting a trial for the online interactive course, WhyJesus?, in Australia. The trial was deemed a success, with over 50 participants engaging in the course. It was becoming clear that as technology and society were changing, our communication of the gospel and evangelism methods would need to adapt as well. The WhyJesus? course is now established in Australia and in more than 12 countries worldwide.

In late 2008 The Careline Team partnered with the United Christian Broadcasters to create the ‘Pray for Me’ telephone service. UCB had established over 300 rural radio stations as well as the distribution of The Word for Today devotional booklet throughout Australia. UCB had also established an online prayer request submission called ‘Pray for Me’, which delivers requests to a month-long prayer chain supported by churches and volunteers around Australia. The partnership resulting in the ‘Pray for Me’ telephone line has seen thousands more people able to connect in conversation and receive prayer both over the phone and ongoingly through the prayer chain.

While the method has certainly grown and adapted over the years, The Careline Team’s core values have stayed the same. Hundreds of salvations and countless steps taken closer to God have been the fruit of the many people associated with the ministry.