Nothing takes God by surprise

“Nothing takes God by surprise and the ministry he has entrusted to his people remains the same: ‘this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world’. …”

– Dean of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel, is praying for a Corona harvest.

Have No Fear by John Lennox – review by Ed Loane

“This little book has been produced to help Christians have the confidence and tools to witness to those around them about Jesus Christ. Lennox, as a leading apologist, has written a simple and clear account of the why and how of personal evangelism. …”

– At Church Society’s blog, Dr Ed Loane provides a brief and encouraging review of Have No Fear by John Lennox.

Plus, Alex Keen reviews Sharing the Gospel with a Jehovah’s Witness by Tony Brown.

(Both books are available from Reformers Bookshop and The Wandering Bookseller.)

Are we there yet?


“The latest changes to the Public Health Orders for Places of Worship have plunged churches into a further round of calculation and cleaning as the COVID-19 restrictions continue to ease.

The changes are being brought in amid continuing concern about the situation in Victoria where another wave of community transmission is emerging. …”

– The latest COVID-19 update from the Diocese of Sydney includes videos from Bishop Gary Koo (Chair of the diocesan COVID taskforce) and Youthworks’ Ed Springer.

GAFCON devotions with Bp Michael Nazir Ali

For the month of July 2020, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali is writing and recording daily devotions (“Lift up your hearts”) for GAFCON.

Read/listen or subscribe here.

Theology or Evangelism?

“James Denney, the late 19th, and early 20th-century Scottish theologian is quoted as saying, ‘The church is healthiest when its evangelists are its theologians and its theologians are its evangelists’.

In my lifetime I have known two evangelists who were effective evangelists because they were able theologians. One was John Chapman …”

– Encouragement from David Cook.

Shepherding: The Work and Character of a Pastor

9Marks Journal editor Jonathan Leeman writes,

“We’ve been publishing the 9Marks Journal for over a decade, yet we’ve never done one focused on the pastor – his work and character. So let’s call this Journal irresponsibly overdue. While editing it, I found myself, first, convicted; second, encouraged; and third, well supplied with tweet after tweet of wisdom. I’m confident you’ll enjoy and benefit from it.

The pastor has to wear lots of hats in the course of his work: program-director, administrator, counselor, evangelist, and, at the top of the list, preacher and teacher. Yet in all of this, he is a shepherd. He watches over sheep, principally by concerning himself with their understanding of God’s Word and how it applies to their life together and with outsiders.”

– Get the latest issue here.

A new culture of one-to-one ministry under lockdown

“How can we stick resolutely to our marching orders, now that proper ‘churching’ in person is impossible?”

Like every other church, we asked numerous such questions as the global pandemic gathered its eerie pace in what now seems almost another age, barely three months ago. …

rather than attempting to maintain familiar structures via an unfamiliar online medium, we resolved to set up a brand new ministry structure with every current and fringe church member assigned a place.

– Stephen Anderson shares an encouraging approach from the parish of Oatley West. At The Australian Church Record.

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