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...

We catch up with Australian Christian musician for one of our funniest ever episodes, but with a serious message. Colin talks with Dominic Steele about managing life as a public Christian, living with integrity in family, church and while engaging in the secular media. Colin draws on his experience with Play School to share top tips for kids' ministry and shares his insights on planning public Christian events. We delve into Colin’s approach to songwriting and how he balances truth and...

‘Do not be anxious about anything’ says the Apostle Paul.  But Paul Grimmond says saying that to an anxious person is a bit like telling an icecream not to melt in summer. How do we think biblically about anxiety while taking on board what else is happening with a person’s biology and environment? How can we see anxiety as a gift? What does the interplay between mind and body look like? How does sin contribute to anxiety?  What place for counseling? Self talk? Paul Grimmond is a lecturer...

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? Grahame Fuller is a long term senior leader at EV Church on the Central Coast.  Jo Gibbs is the Effective...

How can we make our Christmas Services better? With just a few days to Christmas, and while some of us are well planned, some of us are still scrambling around putting things together. Whether it’s Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, or a kids gathering, carols or Gingerbread and Wreathmaking... What are the pitfalls we can fall into?  How do we avoid them? James Galea is senior minister of Freshwater Anglican Church.  Dave Jensen will be working next year with the Sydney Anglican Churches...

Cultural changes and increasing push back against churches are impacting youth ministries. It is getting  much harder for Christian Teenagers to be Christian among their secular peers. Teenagers don’t just walk in the door of a church. What are latest youth ministry trends and opportunities? How can we do youth ministry on the front foot? Andy Stevenson is Director of the Sydney Anglican Youthworks’ youth & children’s ministry division and Special Religious Education (Scripture...

Poverty is fundamentally relational says David Williams What might a theology of caring for the poor look like?  The bible’s terms for the poor (widow, orphan and alien) are all relational terms which describe someone who has lost relationships and as a result have lost connection with the land. David and his wife Rachel started serving as missionaries in Nairobi, Kenya in 1999. David now serves as principal of the Australian Church Missionary Society Training College St Andrew’s Hall,...

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...

Years and years of putting your feet up is the lifestyle of the sluggard. To be a sluggard is a so called ‘deadly sin.’ The concept we now know as retirement is a 19th century invention and not a Christian concept. Former Missionary, Bible College lecturer and principal Mike Raiter says the idea that we should stop work at 65 and enjoy 20 or 30 years of rest is not biblical. How should we think about the stage of life that starts at 65.  What are the ministry opportunities available? What...

It’s going to be an especially bumpy six months for religious freedom issues in New South Wales.. Legalised Euthanasia 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...

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. And if you are a senior pastor watching from...

Rolling out the Global Anglican rescue - with Archbishop Justin Badi Arama  Nicky Gumbel teams up with the Global South in rebuking Archbishop Justin Welby Slowly, carefully, but quite deliberately, a new locus of leadership is emerging within the global Anglican Communion, a locus that significantly is intentionally focused on Christ and biblical authority and not focused on London, England or the Archbishop of Canterbury.  An important meeting of the Primates of the Global South and...

We traverse the historical landscape of identity, starting from Descartes' cogito ergo sum or "I think, therefore I am," to the current age where identity has become a commodity.  Chris Watkin, the award-winning author of the Biblical Critical Theory, helps us understand possessive individualism, starting with John Locke, expressive individualism, and how both terms help us grapple with modern identity formation. Plus, we probe into the delicate balance between dignity and humility in the...

Our focus today is on the massive legacy of some of the greatest women of church history.  We discuss how different the Jesus’ mother Mary (as portrayed in the New Testament) is to Mary as she’s popularly thought of.  We focus on the account of one of the early martyrs, 22 year old mother Perpetua, who was fed to the lions.   We look at England’s nine day queen Lady Jane Grey and her mentoring by the Swiss Protestant reformer Heinrich Bullinger.  Then there’s the extraordinary story of...

Whether we are the senior pastor, theological college lecturer, missionary, student worker, Christian publisher, or denominational leader - we all work within an evangelical ecosystem. And it’s possible for us to make it harder or easier for our ministry peers to play their part in glorifying God.  Mikey Lynch’s new book The Vine Movement, published by Matthias Media (https://bit.ly/vinemovement), explores how churches, missionary organisations, evangelical student ministries, chaplains and...

Now, where and how for Sydney Anglicans - with Raj Gupta and Zac Veron The future of the Anglican Church in Sydney.   We engage in a ‘Stockdale Paradox’ discussion, confronting the brutal facts about attendance, finances and National Church Life Survey data about mission, newcomers and maturity.  Plus we review the recent Sydney Anglican Synod debate where leader after leader poured out their heart.  The gap is widening between the diocese’s declining attendance and Sydney’s growing...

Social Justice is a fiercely contested concept among Christians. Often discussions about caring for the poor have not been grounded in a biblical vision for gospel ministry..  Evangelicals have been criticized for appearing to be weak on social justice.  The charge is that we have been so focused on gospel ministry that the poor and disadvantaged have been neglected. How does caring for the poor fit with the mission of Jesus church?  Tim Swan is the CEO of Sydney’s Anglican Aid, which hosted...

We send out missionaries.  But sometimes it doesn’t work out.  There’s a forced return home.  Dashed hopes.  And all sorts of understanding and support - from the mission agency, supporter churches, pastor friends and others. Stan and Clare Lie were serving with the Church Missionary Society, lecturing in theology in the middle east, and serving with a church in Alexandria, before being called home during COVID.  Jenni Woodhouse is pastoral care consultant with the Church Missionary...

How should Christians respond to customs, traditions, and stories that have associations with false religions, demonic powers, and evil? Could a church building be covered in cobwebs and used as an invitation to come inside? Would you run a Halloween event for the kids of your church so they don’t feel like they are missing out? Or would you run something as an outreach to connect to the neighborhood?  Is it about the occult and to be avoided at all costs and denounced or is it kids in funny...

Join us in conversation with Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi, as they unravel the complexities of Modern India and the Hindu perspective, and helpful ways to engage them with the gospel. Particularly as immigrants from the Indian subcontinent to Australia increase. Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi explore how the foundations of modern India have been profoundly shaped by the Bible and the Protestant Missionary Movement. They also address touch questions like the issue of female infanticide and widow...

We put lots of emphasis and training into becoming better teachers.  But how can we improve the clarity, comprehension, conviction and confidence in public reading? Bad public bible reading is too soft, too fast, with mispronunciations, lack of preparation, bad pausing, emotionless,  lacking understanding of the text, monotone and mono speed.  Good public bible reading is faithful to text, without errors, understands context, has good eye contact, articulation, conviction, flow.  Simon...

What are the issues that senior pastors of smaller churches face - personally and to do with church culture, mission and identity. What are the joys and tensions? What is ministry success?  What are the common pastoral frustrations?  How is long term ministry fruitfulness helped or hindered by our ecclesiology?  What are the particular issues that come up in the middle years of incumbencies? (years four to nine) The reality is that most churches are small churches… they are under 175...

There have been massive social changes as the western world has shifted from a Christian world view to a post Christian world view.  In his new book ‘Being Christian after Christendom’, the senior pastor of Dapto Anglican Church David Rietveld analyzes the changes that churches, pastors and parents face in this transition.  Six weeks ago on The Pastor’s Heart David gave his explanation of the problem (https://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/being-christian-after-christendom).  David is back...

The Barbie movie has started big conversations around the world and is becoming a significant ‘cultural moment’ - opening up and influencing conversations about death, the gospel, the relationships between men & women and worldview.  We explore particularly the evangelistic opportunities and how Christians might best engage. Caitlin Orr is an Anglican Deacon on maternity leave. Sophia Russell is a journalist, mum and member of St Paul’s Carlingford in Sydney’s north west. Jael Riegl is a...

1 Timothy 2:8-15 might be the most controversial New Testament passage.   There has been an enormous amount of scholarly attention on this section of scripture, especially over the last few decades, and there are practical questions that we can’t ignore in church life.  Lionel Windsor is a New Testament lecturer at Sydney’s Moore Theological College. Lionel teaches the pastoral epistles to third year students. So is abreast of the scholarly debate.  Lionel gave a super helpful seminar a few...