Step foot into most corporate boardrooms and you can expect to hear any of a number of jargon terms from the common (market-leading and paradigm) to the silly (aspirational and bespoke) to the made up (leaderful and visionistic).

A few years ago, one management term that had embarked on a quest for world domination was ‘blue ocean strategy’.

The premise was, essentially, look way out to sea and you’ll find a place to sail where no one else is sailing. In other words, get an idea no one else has thought of yet and take it to market. For Christian organisations though, their approach has been the exact opposite.

Perhaps their conversations go something like this: “I have an idea! But, despite there already being a multitude of people already doing it, we should go do it too.”

In the world of Christian charity, there’s a multitude of organisations doing, basically, exactly the same thing. For example, Anglicare and UnitingCare both do the same work in largely the same locations.

Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s terrific that so many people want to provide charitable services. But I think it’s unsustainable.

In the post GFC world, where the streets are no longer paved with gold, credit is scarce, interest rates are falling and cost of living increasing, the charitable dollar has never been more vulnerable.

Christian advocacy is another sector flooded with organisations doing, essentially, the same thing. While the Australian Christian Lobby is in the halls of Parliament House seeking to dampen the chances of a same sex marriage bill becoming legislation, the Sydney Anglican church and Catholic Church are both making similar submissions.

Again, I ask, is there any real benefit to a multitude of Christian advocacy groups providing an identical service? Perhaps, however, this is an opportunity rather than a challenge.

Perhaps, like so many other markets such as private equity, property and retail, there’s a chance to consolidate the Christian market.

Imagine the potential if a bunch of Christian charities pooled their resources and worked together. Rather than trying to compete against each other in order to achieve the exact same outcome, they could merge/integrate/unite (pick your M&A term here) and deliver an even greater benefit.

For too long Christians have clambered over the top of each other and tripped each other up along the journey of trying to achieve the same outcome.