Bernard Toutounji
Founder & Principal, New Shore
G'day, I'm Bernard Toutounji, founder of New Shore, a specialist advisory firm supporting faith-based organisations.
My professional life has been in the service of the faith. I recently concluded nine years leading the international foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Australia and New Zealand. During my tenure we completely transformed the organisation in terms of its profile and its engagement as well as set up the charity in New Zealand.
Those years took me extensively across Australia and New Zealand, and further afield to Europe, North America and the Middle East. In 2023, I travelled through Lebanon and Syria, meeting local Church leaders and witnessing firsthand the resilience of Christian communities living amidst conflict and hardship. In 2025, I was honoured to be part of a small ACN delegation granted a private audience with Pope Leo XIV, where I had the opportunity to personally greet and speak with the Holy Father. These experiences reinforced for me just how universal the Church's mission is — and how much good leadership and strong organisations matter to that mission.
Before ACN, I ran youth and young adult ministry across the Archdiocese of Sydney, doubling the number of parishes with an active youth leader. Prior to that I managed the liturgical logistics for Masses at World Youth Day 2008, the largest international visitor event in Australian history. I've also authored a syndicated column, lectured at university, and appeared across print, radio and television on faith and culture. My academic background spans postgraduate degrees in theology and business.
My Honest Assessment
In twenty-five years working across the Church, I've seen a lot of places where we could do better: good people and a real charism, doing valuable work, with no time left over to think about where it's all going. Meanwhile some of the biggest, best-resourced organisations in the Church have the opposite problem — the resources are there, but the sense of why they exist has faded.
Over time I've felt more and more called to be at the service of not one organisation, but many. That's why I founded New Shore: to bring what I've learned to organisations doing work that matters and help them do it better. Sometimes that means one conversation. Sometimes it means a defined project. Sometimes it means working alongside you over months. I lead every engagement myself, but after two decades in mission and strategy, I know the right people to bring in when the work calls for it.
I'm ready to engage with faith-based organisations right across the Christian landscape – Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox. If you think your organisation could be stronger, clearer or more effective, let's talk.
Let's Talk
If anything here resonates, I'd welcome the conversation. The first step is always just that — a conversation.