Cruising

From David Cook at The Expository Preaching Trust –

“Maxine (my wife) and I have just taken a cruise from NZ to Australia.

We met up with our son and his family, who live in LA, as they were attending a family wedding in Rotorua and we caught a ship back to Sydney from Auckland.

Our ship, the Norwegian Spirit, was cyclone affected so that we had to be rerouted to avoid the worst of the seas.

However we did face 4 days in the Tasman sea and though my forebears were seamen I did not inherit their sea legs.

Being on a cruise ship in the middle of rough seas is a bit like hell; there is no escape; there is nowhere to go that is not rocking and rolling.

Our ship stopped in Melbourne on a Sunday so we caught a tram from the wharf into the city. …”

– David shares, among other things, the tragedy of what he didn’t find at a key location in Melbourne.

Photo: Billboard outside St Paul’s Cathedral in October 2024.

From corrective to culture setting with Richard Coekin

From The Pastor’s Heart –

“The Reach Australia movement has matured into something broader: from a corrective voice into one of the most significant culture-shaping forces in Australian evangelicalism.

Reach Australia has often been heard as a corrective: a push for clearer pathways, better systems, output thinking and more intentional leadership in local churches.

Richard Coekin says that, as an outsider, last week’s conference felt less like the corrective it may have seemed in the past and more like a mature, holistic vision for church leadership: with preaching, spiritual transformation, gospel culture, prayerful dependence and pastoral warmth much more clearly front and centre, while still committed to principled pragmatism and organising churches to reach the lost.

Richard Coekin, former senior pastor of Dundonald Church in London and now leader of Reach UK, reflects on his fortnight at both the Reach UK conference in London and the Reach Australia conference, attended by 1450 leaders on the NSW Central Coast.

We discuss the maturing of Reach Australia and what UK evangelical churches might learn from Australia at this moment.”

– Watch or listen here.

A senior pastor’s tears — and a gospel culture to reach a nation

A ‘Friday special’ from The Pastor’s Heart –

“Richard Leadbeater is the senior pastor of the influential Dundonald Church in London. He came to Australia for the Reach Australia Conference — 1450 pastors and leaders from across Australia, the UK, the US, South Africa and New Zealand — and left deeply moved.

Richard says he found himself in tears four times during the week.

In a The Pastor’s Heart Friday special, Dominic Steele presses into Richard’s pastor’s heart, exploring each of those moments.

We also talk about the joy and privileges of ministry — and why Richard is concerned that we can talk so much about how hard ministry is that we forget to commend the deep joy of being spent in the service of Christ.”

– Watch here.

Targeted and Engaged Evangelism to the Eastern Orthodox

Archie Poulos reviews and commends Certainty for Life: An invitation to those in Eastern Orthodoxy by John Diacos –

“I have spent most of my ministry seeking to evangelise Greek Orthodox, and in that pursuit John and I have sometimes laboured together and sometimes in parallel with each other. I have great delight in commending this book.”

– Read about it at The Gospel Coalition Australia.

Prayers answered at first ALIVE rally

“Our hope for Wollongong was that we would put on an evangelistic rally where hundreds would come, and in that group would be hundreds of Christian young adults bringing non-Christian friends, family and workmates,” says Dave Jensen, the assistant director of Evangelism and New Churches. …

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Tara Sing reports on the first ALIVE rally, with more events to come.

321: Seeing Life Clearly

From The Gospel Coalition Australia –

“Glen Scrivener’s How to See Life in 321 is a unique contribution to the plethora of evangelistic books available.

In this book, Christian doctrines such as trinity, sin, salvation, and union are given their initial conceptual meaning through simple stories and explanations.

The book and corresponding online course are divided into four sections : ‘Jesus: Our Guide’, ‘God’s Three-ness’, ‘The World’s Two-ness’, ‘Your One-ness’.

Each section comprises two chapters; the first begins with an illustrative story, and the second provides a deeper look at the illustrated idea with personal application.

There is a brief and helpful frequently asked questions section at the back of the book which gives general answers for those who are asking whether Christianity is true. The FAQ answer on divine hiddenness is an important contribution given people no longer assume the existence of God as compared to by people attending a Billy Graham crusade sixty years ago …”

– Jospeh Hewitt enthusiastically reviews Glen Scrivener’s How to See Life in 321.

“If your church is looking a resource to give non-Christians who do not want to read a gospel just yet, How to See Life is probably the pick of the bunch.”

Image: Speak Life’s 321 course.

Fish Must Fish

Campbell Markham at Scots’ Church in Fremantle reminds us of the Great Commission –

“Jesus makes disciples who make disciples (Matthew 4:18–22).

Cruise liner or battleship? Rest home or fort? Resort or gymnasium? What is the Christian Church supposed to be?

Though our forebears rest rejoicing in heaven as the Church Triumphant, we yet labour and fight on earth for Christ as the Church Militant.

Jesus stamped this fact on his church – permanently, deeply – when he called his first followers whilst simultaneously calling them to call other followers to him. …”

– Read it all at AP, the Australian Presbyterian online journal.

The Glory of Jesus Is the Evangelism Gospel Pump

“One humid top-end wet season, we set up a pool with a pool pump to keep the water circulating. It was meant to gush water into our pool, but the pump drastically under-functioned, operating at about fifteen percent.

Imagine our evangelism like a pool pump. The gospel should be  gushing out of us, but sometimes (often!) our gospel pump is under-functioning. We might lack enthusiasm or be hindered by fear. The pump needs a fix-it job.

What is going on in your heart and mind as you think about evangelism? How do we fix our gospel pump? To have the gospel steadily and regularly gushing through us, we need our heart to be filled with the glory of Jesus. …”

– Daniel Faricy, formerly Rector of St. James’ Kununurra (picture), and now the Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral Rockhampton, reminds us of why we want to share the gospel.

At The Gospel Coalition Australia.

Understanding Evangelism

From Phillip Jensen –

“We do appreciate comments and feedback, and even questions from our many subscribers.

Sadly, we haven’t got the time or resources to be able to answer each question, however two of the comments that came in to us on the Acts 17 passage we thought would be very helpful to air in this episode of Two Ways News, before we look at the two wisdoms contrasted in 1 Corinthians chapter 2.”

They begin by clarifying some things about anti-semitism and then go on to speak about the vital topic of evangelism.

– Listen here. Most helpful.

Easter Evangelism — How not to waste Easter this year

From The Pastor’s Heart –

“For many of us, Easter is the highest attention moment of the year. But how do we turn that attention into genuine gospel impact? How do we help people attend in the first place, how do we move from visitor to believer, and how do we run follow up that actually happens?

How to engage the neighbourhood, welcome deliberately, lead hearts to love Jesus in the gathering and preaching, and leading well into followup courses.

We cover what to prioritise, what not to do, whether evening events are worth it, how to serve families well, and simple next steps that help guests come back.

Featuring three Sydney mission pastors: Brayden Lucas (Christ Church Gladesville), Peter Blake (St Stephen’s Normanhurst) and Pip Witheridge (St Paul’s Carlingford).”

– Watch or listen here.

“YouTube sermons helped bring me to Christ”

“I was 28 years of age and living in Darwin. Despite growing up in a Christian family, and calling myself a Christian whenever I had to identify with a religion, I never went to church, read the Bible or prayed at all.

My sister had given me an old laptop. On it, she was signed into her YouTube account.…”

– Dave Jensen shares wonderful encouragement – at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Richard Johnson’s Address to the Inhabitants of New South Wales

 

This Australia Day, give thanks once more for the Rev. Richard Johnson, Chaplain to the First Fleet and first Chaplain to the Colony of New South Wales.

In 1792, Johnson wrote a tract designed to be distributed widely in the Colony. He gives his reasons for doing so:

“My Beloved,

I do not think it necessary to make an apology for putting this Address into your hands; or to enter into a long detail of the reasons which induced me to write it.

One reason may suffice. I find I cannot express my regard for you, so often, or so fully, as I wish, in any other way.

On our first arrival in this distant part of the world, and for some time afterwards, our numbers were comparatively small; and while they resided nearly upon one spot, I could not only preach to them on the Lord’s day, but also converse with them, and admonish them, more privately.

But since that period, we have gradually increased in number every year (notwithstanding the great mortality we have sometimes known) by the multitudes that have been sent hither after us. The colony already begins to spread, and will probably spread more and more every year, both by new settlements formed in different places under the crown, and by a number of individuals continually becoming settlers. Thus the extent of what I call my parish, and consequently of my parochial duty, is enlarging daily. On the other hand, my health is not so good, nor my constitution so strong, as formerly. And therefore I feel it impracticable, and impossible for me, either to preach, or to converse with you so freely, as my inclination and affection would prompt me to do.

I have therefore thought it might be proper for me, and I hope it may prove useful to you, to write such an address as I now present you with…”

Johnson’s warm pastoral tone, and his urgent call to trust Christ and to turn from sin, are clearly evident in this Address.

Download An Address to The Inhabitants of The Colonies Established in New South Wales and Norfolk Island as a PDF file here.

(Photo: Richard Johnson’s Address – copy held by Moore College.)

A bursary to attend the Rome Scholars and Leaders Network 2026?

The Rome Scholars and Leaders Network 2026 is an invitation-only gathering designed to create a context for evangelical scholars and leaders:

Certainty4Eternity is offering 1 x $3000 bursary in 2026 for Christian Educators and Leaders who can, or intend to, make a significant contribution to Roman Catholic Evangelism and Discipleship in Sydney and beyond.

– Details from Mark Gilbert at Certainty4Eternity.

Why 20 percent better is not good enough

“Over recent years a lot of ink has been spilt considering the implications for Christians of the seismic changes in Australian society over the past 50 years. The reality is that we have seen a massive shift as our culture has moved further and further away from its Christian roots, such that we now realise that we live in a post-Christian society.

Of course, some like to point out that that that change does not mean there are fewer converted Christians than there were in the 1950s or 1960s, and that may be the case. Yet, the reality is that forty years ago, even if most Australians didn’t follow Jesus, they at least knew that the Lord they didn’t follow was Jesus. In the same way, even if they didn’t worship the one true God, they knew that the God they didn’t worship was the God of the Bible and they believed His ways were good.

However, most of our thinking in this area has been focused on the implications of this shift for our relationship to the world. …”

– First published in The Australian Church Record’s Synod 2025 Journal, Phil Colgan shares encouragement and a challenge.

Let the young man come to church with mixed motives

“Has there ever been a cohort more scrutinised for seeking out the message of the gospel and the refuge of the church than The Young Man cohort at this particular point in history?

Has there ever been a level of scepticism levelled towards seekers than towards this particular type of seeker – The Young Man?

I find it strange. Strange and slightly deflating. After years of wringing our hands about the lack of evangelistic fruit in the West, there’s suddenly an uptick – indeed somewhat of a surge – among a cohort that has been viewed as the Holy Grail by evangelists – The Young Man! … But we are suspicious.”

– Steve McAlpine makes a very good point.

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