The joys, privileges and rewards of Christian ministry — with Matt Fuller

More from The Pastor’s Heart –

“We often speak about the pressures and heartbreaks of pastoral ministry. But we speak far less about its joys, privileges and eternal rewards.

Matt Fuller, Senior Minister of Christ Church Mayfair, joins us to discuss his new book, The Joyful Pastor (Despite Everything).

We talk about difficult sheep, false accusations, losing joy, practising thankfulness, avoiding burnout and returning daily to Christ.

And we explore something pastors rarely discuss: the reward promised by the Chief Shepherd.

“When the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” – 1 Peter 5:4

An honest and encouraging conversation for weary pastors.”

– Watch or listen here.

The Age of the Spiritual

From Phillip Jensen:

“In 1 Corinthians 12-14, we come to a passage that has dominated Christian discussion for the last 60 years. It is one that Peter and I have been thinking and preaching on for most of our public ministries. But I hope that you find this fresh take on the passage to be a helpful way of understanding Paul’s letter.”

In the discussion, Phillip recalls writing his book, The Coming of the Holy Spirit –

“In the writing of that book was a verse which held up the whole of my writing for 12 months, for there was a translation problem which one of the editors pointed out to me. That verse was 1 Corinthians 14:12, ‘So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.’

The trouble is, the Greek doesn’t say, ‘the manifestations of the spirit’. What it really says is, ‘since you are eager for spirits’, plural. The Holy Spirit is never spoken of in plural form, so it can’t be referring to the Holy Spirit—thus it should be written with a lowercase ‘s’. But then that raises the question: what spirits is it talking about?…”

– Hear Phillip and Peter Jensen discuss these key chapters – at Two Ways News.

At the bottom of that page, there are ways you can support the ministry.

Seeing God at work in Wyong

“We came to Wyong in early 2021, between the first and second COVID lockdowns. The Central Coast was never on our radar—in fact, I used to tell Susannah as we drove home from family gatherings on the Central Coast, ‘I can’t ever imagine living on the Central Coast’… and she said, ‘Neither can I’. Yet here we are! God has shown me time and again that he has a sense of humour. Coming to Wyong has been entirely his doing, and it’s been the best thing ever!

Before COVID, I was part of the ministry team at Bondi-Waverley Anglican Church…”

– The Australian Church Record speaks with Aleks Pinter at Wyong Anglican Church.

Confusion over the Religious Question on the Australian Census — Michael Stead and Mark McCrindle

An important and timely episode from The Pastor’s Heart –

“Answering ‘Anglican’, ‘Catholic’, or ‘Baptist’ on the Census isn’t a test of church attendance.

Before filling out your form, hear researcher Mark McCrindle, and Bishop Michael Stead discuss

  1. What the Bureau of Statistics is actually measuring.
  2. Why writing your specific denomination helps community planning more than generic labels.
  3. How census data impacts real-world support—like hospital, prison, and military chaplaincy. …

The Bureau of Statistics definition of religious affiliation is simple: it’s the faith group you associate with, even if that differs from your active practice or participation.”

– Watch here.

Related:

Count us in! – SydneyAnglicans.net.

The Sydney Family Album 5 — Frederic Barker

In 2011, Mark Thompson, now Principal of Moore College, published a series of posts, entitled “The Sydney Family Album”, for his website, Theological Theology.

We felt they merit wider distribution, so, with Mark’s kind permission, we are re-posting them on the ACL website, at the rate of one a week.

Here’s the fifth in the series, on Bishop Frederic Barker.

“Barker’s long episcopate (until his death in 1882) saw massive change in the colony. Barker was certainly up to the challenge. He was a gifted administrator and was both visionary and practical.”

Other posts in the The Sydney Family Album series (as we add them) are in our Resources section.

Kirralie Smith- transgender vilification and sport

Associate Professor Neil Foster writes –

“I have previously written about the case of Kirralie Smith. Ms Smith is part of an advocacy organisation, Binary Australia Ltd, which advocates for sex-based rights, especially for women, and sometimes posts about biological males who have been allowed to compete in women’s sport. Stephanie Blanch (and Riley Dennis) were mentioned on the website of Binary and elsewhere online in this context, and then claimed that this amounted to ‘transgender vilification’ under section 38S(1)(a) of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1975 (“ADA”). The plaintiffs in the original litigation were each described by Deputy Chief Magistrate Freund as a ‘transgender woman’, and were both born biologically male.

In the earlier proceedings (judgments linked in my previous post) Smith was found to have committed vilification, ordered to pay a total of $95,000 in damages to the two plaintiffs, and found liable for costs. An appeal was lodged, and the NSW Supreme Court (Rigg J) has now handed down a judgment granting leave to appeal in some respects, but mostly dismissing the appeal grounds: see Smith v Blanch; Smith v Dennis [2026] NSWSC 879 (24 July 2026) (Blanch and Dennis Supreme Court Appeal, ‘BDSCA’). Smith remains liable to pay $95,000, is forbidden ‘from publishing on social media or otherwise anything relating to the defendant[s] to the same or similar effect as held to be unlawful vilification in [the previous] Local Court proceedings’ – see BDSCA [261], [262]. She also has to pin a notice about the proceedings ‘on all social media pages and websites over which [she has] control, including Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) and the website of Binary Australia’, for 3 months. (See Annexure A to BDSCA for the content.)

In this post I will aim to explain the basis for the court’s decision. As will be seen, I think there may be grounds for a further appeal. …”

– Read it at Law and Religion Australia.

Artefact in Focus: The Taylor Prism

From Tyndale House in Cambridge – this page and short video by George Heath-Whyte, Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church College, Oxford.

“The ‘Taylor Prism’ has stood on display in the British Museum for 170 years. Named after Colonel R. Taylor, the British diplomat who purchased it in the 1830s, it is a masterful example of ancient Assyrian cuneiform and craftsmanship, with its six tightly-inscribed columns standing almost 40 cm tall.

Remarkable to look at, it is even more remarkable to read. …”

– Watch the video and read the accompanying story.

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