Nationwide evangelistic collaboration: Meet Jesus and the power of prayer - Richard Chin, Rory Shiner, Baden Stace and Elliot Temple

The old saying is ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’  But could the spark of story telling, and celebrating faith increase evangelism in churches and on university campuses everywhere?

National Director of the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students Richard Chin is emphasising the importance of prayer, through what he calls a 'two-for-two' model, and asks churches to join him in consistent branding in a nationwide push to introduce people to Jesus.

We discuss practical steps to integrate evangelism into the church's DNA, champion the role of head, heart, and hand in fostering a consistent culture of outreach.

The Application Revolution - with Paul Grimmond

“It’s like they got the exegesis spot on, then closed their eyes, fired an arrow randomly into the air, opened their eyes to see where it landed and said, ‘That looks like a good place to do application!’” - Theological College lecturer on student sermon application.

But are those of us who have graduated from theological college much better? For after all the students are just imitating what we have modelled.

Dean of Students at Sydney’s Moore Theological College Paul Grimmond has just completed a doctor of ministry project on improving application in evangelical preaching.

The magnificent beauty of God’s design for men and women - with Andrew Leslie

Andrew Leslie is encouraging us to first take a step back from practical concerns and reflect on the beauty and wisdom of the bible’s teaching about manhood and womanhood.

In much contemporary debate about gender we focus on practical questions about what different people can do.  

However the head of Moore Theological College’s Doctrine Department says the picture of gender in the beginning is not an arbitrary divine imposition that comes with its own set of arbitrary rules and instructions.

How TikTok changes everything for social media and churches - with Hannah Thiem and Liz Fong

Social media is changing again. In an increasingly digital age, our collective consciousness is captured by infinite scrolling, short-form videos, and internet personalities. A church's social media presence has gone from an optional nicety to a key lever for engaging newcomers to church.

How can pastors and ministry teams best capture the opportunities that can come with social media? How can a church's resources be best assigned to this new space? What if our gifts and skills don't line up?

Better relationships between senior pastors and female ministry team members - with Clare Deeves

How can male senior pastors have better relationships with the women on their ministry teams, where everyone shares complementarian convictions?

In those contexts - there are stories around that suggesting that relationships between some senior pastors and the women on the teams have been strained and have sometimes broken down completely. 

There’s been massive cost to the individual, the team, the churches and to gospel work.

Growth and change - with Andrew Heard

‘Many of the ways we are running our churches and ministries and many of the ways we are exercising leadership within our churches, has become a significant hindrance to the growth of the church.’

Andrew Heard’s about to be released book Growth and Change will be the ‘must read’ book for pastors for 2024. 

In his opening preface Gospel Coalition founder  DA Carson - says ‘I am usually loath to proclaim that such and such a book is the best in it’s field … but if there is one book that happily serves as the exception to the rule, Heard’s book is it.’

What to do about threats and weaknesses - with David Rietveld

The massive drop in church attendance is a crisis facing churches across the Western World and there are external pressures and internal weaknesses that need to be addressed at every level of the church.

We highlighted a few months ago the attendance drop in Sydney Anglican Evangelical Churches in the last ten years. 

Raj Gupta first called it a plateau problem.  But the data released at last September’s Synod shows it’s now much worse.  From a high in 2015, attendance in 2019 was down 7.5 percent. And in 2022, attendance was down a further ten percent.

Relationships, Results and Rhythms of Ministry Teams - with Grahame Fuller and Jo Gibbs

As we head to 2024 most of us are recasting ministry teams for the new year. 

But how can we do this without making some of the mistakes that we have made in 2023?

How do we do better with staff teams  and all the various volunteer ministry teams across our church?

And even in the best places - there’s an inertia that we will slip back to functioning as rosters… How do we fix that?

No crumb of comfort in a tragic and disastrous Church of England decision - with Vaughan Roberts

The Church of England has abandoned the teaching of Jesus with prayers for same sex blessings potentially to start before Christmas. 

‘Tragic’ says Gafcon.

‘Disastrous’ says the Global South. 

‘Deeply Troubled’ says the Church of England Evangelical Council

‘First order difference requires first order differentiation’ says Vaughan Roberts 

‘It is hard not to dissolve into a flood of tears’ says the Mark Thompson the principal of Sydney’s Moore College. 

‘The Archbishop of Canterbury should resign’ - says the Church Society’s Lee Gatiss. 

Sea changes on euthanasia, conversion therapy and religious freedom - with Mike Southon and Monica Doumit

t’s going to be an especially bumpy six months for religious freedom issues in New South Wales..

Legalised Euthansia will be rolled out in just a few weeks. But what about faith based aged care institutions, where organizations and staff are conscientious objectors to euthanasia? 

Then there’s the Law Reform Commission inquiry into religious schooling and whether the religious exemptions to anti discrimination law should be removed. 

And the debate over conversion therapy will come to a head in the parliament. 

A heart issue and skill deficit - addressing deep problems in Mission and Maturity - with Andrew Heard

A few weeks ago on The Pastor’s Heart we talked with Zac Veron and Raj Gupta about issues confronting Sydney Anglicans.

The National Church Life Survey shows a drop in newcomers from 9% in 2011 to 5.4% in 2021 - a more than ten year trend of fewer people joining church. Plus there’s been a 7.5% drop in attendance between 2015 and 2019.

But it’s not just the Sydney Anglicans that need a wake up call. It’s most of us in Australian Evangelicalism.