Tim Omrod: How personality impacts ministry teams

I want to be a big hearted encourager like Barnabas. I want to be a reliable assistant like Timothy. I want to be passionate preacher like Apollos.

When you think about the qualifications for Christian ministry in 1Timothy 3, the significance of personality is pretty much ignored.

What is the relationship between character and personality?

David Moore on Ministry teams: Are they worth the pain

How to best structure ministry teams in your church? And how to equip your team leaders for joyful service?

Team leaders do the bulk of their ministry in between events not at events.

How can someone become a more fruitful team leader?

Why all conversations with your team fit into four categories - and how most team leaders get this wrong.

Lausanne: Part fantastic, part nauseous - with Mark Thompson and Chris Edwards

5,000 believers gathered from more than 200 nations last month in South Korea.

It is 50 years since Billy Graham and John Stott first launched the Lausanne movement in Switzerland.

Anglican Bishop of North Sydney Chris Edwards has described the congress as like an all you can eat buffet - where some parts tasted amazing / fantastic and  I kept wanting more and yet other parts even a mouthful made me feel nauseous.

Preaching illustrations to win Muslims - with Samuel Green

How to preach to build confidence so members want to invite Islamic friends and workmates to church and better educate our Christians for conversations with Muslim friends.

What topics might we address?  How to best engage with the authority and authorship of the Bible vs the Qur’an, plus Jesus and Muhammed, the Trinity, Incarnation, Sin and human nature, Judgement and Salvation.

Confronting the big attendance drop - with Toby Neal, Dave Jensen and Geoff Bates

What should the church pastor / staff team / church council or bishop do about the big drop in attendance?

The issues are not just external. We have internal issues. There are denominational and congregational factors at play. There are key church health characteristics that show internal health factors are lower in those regions - factors relating to congregational character and leadership. 

The terrible scourge of Female Genital Mutilation and what Christians are doing about it - with Bishop Mwita Akiri

Plus how the Tanzanian Church has been built through the labors and prayers  of Australian Christians, and why prosperity gospel preachers are as wicked as witch doctors!

We are joined by Bishop Mwita Akiri from Tarime in rural Tanzania, Judith Calf who served as a missionary in theological education in Tanzania for 20 years, and Tim Swan who leads the Anglican Aid Ministry here in Australia.

Growing Up in the Pastoral Spotlight: Insights into the lives and wellbeing of Ministry Kids - with Valerie Ling

What impact does growing up in a pastoral family have on ministry kids?

Valerie Ling from the Sydney Centre for Effective Living joins us to unpack the ‘Ministry Kids Wellbeing Survey,’ revealing what Australian ministry children, say about their upbringing.

They tell of heightened responsibilities and an acute awareness of adult realities plus concerns about  feeling different from their peers.

From defensive to offensive in the religious freedom debate - with Mark Spencer, Mark Sneddon and Mike Southon

Religious Freedom leaders are calling on Australia's Government to quickly bring a Religious Discrimination Act to the parliament.

Mark Sneddon says the Religious Discrimination Act is not about granting unlimited freedoms, but about preventing adverse treatment of religious individuals and organizations.

He says there needs to be a fair compromise that the rights of all involved, which should be supported by both sides of politics.

Expressive Individualism and Church Music - with Philip Percival and Alanna Glover

What does Expressive Individualism mean for churches?  And what specifically does it mean for church music?

Here is the expressive individualism worldview: ‘Truth comes from inside me.  It’s important that I look inside to discover who I truly am’ and ‘I need to express my individuality and personal truth to the world around me to receive validation.’

That truth comes from within - is the unspoken assumptions of guests who come to our churches.

And it’s a worldview that has impacts inside the church, including inside our music teams and inside the heads of the songwriters who write the songs that we sing.

A way back from disillusionment and disappointment in ministry - with Karl Deenick

Disillusionment is one of the great threats to the Christian life and to Christian ministry  

A wise man said the worst thing in ministry was not a pastor who quits, but a pastor who doesn’t quit, but who keeps going when they’ve given up.

Sydney Missionary and Bible College Karl Deenick shares his own experience of hitting a major wall after seven years of pastoral work. 

We unpack how ministry challenges can lead to a sense of disillusionment, especially among millennials, plus a way back. 

Roadmap for a reset communion - with Paul Donison and Glenn Davies

The chair of Gafcon Laurent Mbunda and chair of Global South Justin Badi Arama are to meet to work out a roadmap for the resetting of the Anglican Communion.

Global South Anglicans have endorsed the Former Sydney Archbishop Glenn Davies call for the communion to be reset on biblical foundations.  The Global South have called on their Primates to work with the GAFCON Primates Council and other Orthodox leaders to reset the communion on its biblical foundations as a matter of urgency.

How do we diagnose complex problems within our church - with Greg Lee

All the time in church there are unexpected things happening.  We or someone else makes a decision to change something which then relationally or missionally impacts another area of church life that we didn’t expect.

Sometimes we put  too much attention into one area of church - and now other areas are suffering.

Whatever size your church is - the church system is complex, interdependent and interconnected.

Sometimes the presenting problem won’t actually be the real problem, there’s something else causing it which is not immediately obvious.