Nexus 2025: Post-conference reflections on personal and team-based evangelism

“With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, said Jesus.

It’s so often like that, isn’t it?

What you bring to a thing is very often what you end up getting out of it. The questions and attitudes you have at the outset usually determine how you hear, what you hear, and what you come away with.

So in the following reflections on the Nexus Conference that was held a couple of weeks ago, I must ask the reader to bear with the questions I turned up with. They have been on my mind for some little while, and they no doubt determined why I found the conference to be a vastly encouraging and stimulating day. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Kirsten McKinlay shares her reflections on Nexus 2025.

Thanks to the Nexus team, you can hear the talks yourself!

Taking the gospel to communities consumed by the here and now

“When I’m at the beach, a phrase I often hear is, ‘Where else would you rather be?’

For a lot of people, living by the beach is their idea of paradise. There is a strong secular hedonism that is pervasive in the culture around suburban coastal contexts. Gripped by lifestyle and materialism, you get a clear idea of where people’s hearts are, and what their idea of heaven might be …”

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Rich Wenden has some suggestions on connecting with “communities consumed by the here and now”.

Being an Influencer

“ ‘Trev, go home. One day I want to be able to say, see that guy who is a well-known engineer, he used to spend time at my slot car track and work for me part-time. I don’t want them to say, see that bum over there, I knew him once.’

I spent much of my time as a teenager at a local pinball parlour and slot car track. The man who owned the establishment took an interest in me and employed me part-time. One night when I wasn’t working but just hanging around, he sent me home with these words.

After I was rather miraculously converted from atheism to Christianity in my 30s, I began to remember many points in my life, like this one, when the words and actions of others influenced me in tiny incremental ways towards the ‘good’. …”

– In the latest edition of CASE News from New College, Trevor Cairney reminds us of that the Lord can use weak vessels like us to bring good to others.

Photo: Trevor Cairney at the 2024 ACL Synod Dinner.

Bishop Martyn Snow responds to “What kind of future awaits the faithful?”

“I am grateful to Anglican Futures for reviewing my booklet, ‘Can we Imagine a Future Together? Intercultural Lessons for Living in Love and Faith’. The review is thoughtful and constructive, and they are kind enough to offer words of personal encouragement to me – I have indeed spent many hours on Living in Love and Faith (LLF) and heard much pain and anger!

And yet the opening analysis is that the booklet ‘offers little hope’ for faithful Anglicans.

Unsurprisingly, I take issue with this … Obviously, it all depends on what you regard as a good outcome to the LLF process! …”

– Anglican Futures has published this response by Bishop Martyn Snow to their review of his booklet ‘Can we Imagine a Future Together?’.

Bishop Snow is the lead bishop for the ‘Living and Love and Faith’ process in the Church of England. Doubtless, there will be responses to Bishop Snow’s response.

Image: Bishop Snow at the 2024 Church of England General Synod.

Peter Williams on eighty years of Tyndale House

In the latest Tyndale House podcast, Principal Peter Williams speaks about the origins of Tyndale House in Cambridge, founded 80 years ago, in 1945.

Along the way, he mentions many people with whom our readers will be familiar.

“Dr Peter J. Williams, Principal of Tyndale House, walks us through the history of Tyndale House. Starting with the initial conversations about creating an institution for evangelical biblical scholarship that took place in the late 1930s, through to the new library building project starting in 2025.”

An encouraging and illuminating 33 minutes.

And all the people said… [inaudible mumble]

“I probably said it at church today about 15 times. You might have said it slightly less. It’s a ‘religious’ word. You find it translated in English Bibles 50 times, each time in connection with worship. What am I talking about? It’s the little word: ‘Amen’. …

Nothing saps the spirits like reaching the end of a prayer and getting a whimper of an ‘Amen’. …”

– Simon Arscott at Gentle Reformation reminds us what “Amen” is for. (Link via Tim Challies.)

Hope for the Illawarra this weekend

It would be good to continue to keep the churches and people of the Illawarra in your prayers – especially this weekend.

Details here and here.

Talks from the Bathurst Diocese 2025 Conference

Videos of the talks from the Diocese of Bathurst 2025 Conference – held last weekend – are now available for your encouragement and edification.

And food for your prayers too.

Daylight Saving in NSW ends Sunday 6th April 2025

In NSW, Daylight saving ends at 3:00am Australian Eastern Standard Time on Sunday 6 April 2025.

Might be worth reminding congregations this weekend.

Complementarian: Church Society Podcast S16E09

From Church Society:

“Ros Clarke, Kirsten Birkett and Lee Gatiss discuss complementarian theology and practice in the Church of England today.”

– Listen here.

Chris Braga: ‘I believed therefore I spoke’

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“That’s what the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:13. And yet it’s a verse hardly referred to in the last few decades in discussions over who is responsible for evangelism.

Chris Braga of Grace West Anglican Church Sydney told the Nexus Conference in Sydney that 2 Corinthians 4:13 shows that there’s a spiritual reflex that internal faith (in the death and resurrection of Jesus) will challenge fear and lead to speech.

Not because we’re commanded, but because we can’t help ourselves.

Chris Braga says implications are that proclamation is for every Christian, one’s Christian faith is always public and a command is not needed to link faith to speech.”

– Watch or listen here.

The Goodness of God — Two Ways News

From Phillip Jensen:

“‘Good’ is such a strange word. We all know what we mean by it, but it is so difficult to define. So when God declares his creation to be ‘good, very good’ what is he saying? Is the world itself good or simply pleasing? And if it is good, what is it good for?

In this week’s Two Ways News, Peter and I venture into the meaning of God calling the world good and the implications that has for living in this world and the next.”

– Listen (or read the transcript) here.

Addressing a Roman Catholic Resurgence

“We are in the midst of something of a resurgence of Roman Catholicism, though many are not aware of this.

Despite many recent controversies, failures, disputes and divisions, it remains a real force in the world, influencing society, politics and spirituality.

Just recently, The Rosary in a Year podcast surpassed The Joe Rogan Experience to claim the top spot on Apple’s charts, with much being made of what implications this has for our understanding of where modern culture is heading. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Adrian Russell commends the Reformanda Initiative to help us understand and helpfully respond to the resurgence of Roman Catholicism.

Bible Society sells Koorong to Excelsia University College

“Koorong’s Next Chapter: Excelsia University College to Lead Australia’s Largest Christian Retailer

The Board of Bible Society Australia (BSA) has announced BSA has entered into a contract of sale for Koorong, Australia’s largest Christian retailer, to Excelsia University College (EUC). This transition will take effect from the close of trading on Monday, 31 March 2025.

Koorong has been owned by the Bible Society Australia Group for nine years since the Bootes family sold the business to BSA Group in 2015. During this period, Koorong has remained a trusted and vital resource for the Christian community in Australia. As the country’s largest distributor of Bibles, its mission has always been deeply aligned with that of BSA. …”

– Announcement from Excelsia University College. (Until 2015, Excelsia College was known as The Wesley Institute.)

Update from John Sandeman:

“Excelsia University College was formerly the Wesley Institute which was founded as an offshoot of Wesley Mission with creative ministry and theology as its core. It has added business, counselling and education but has dropped theology. It has announced a move to a new campus at Pennant Hills in northern Sydney.”

Illawarra’s Wave of Hope

“Christians in the Illawarra have prayed high and low for the coming Hope for the Illawarra events, from Mount Keira to Wollongong Harbour.

‘It’s a combination of 18 months of endeavour,’ says Bishop Peter Hayward, chairman of the committee that has organised three major opportunities to share Jesus on March 28 and 29. …”

– Food for prayer – from Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net.

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