A Leap in the Dark? Evaluating the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus

At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster shares:

“ I am delivering a paper entitled ‘A Leap In The Dark? Evaluating The Evidence for the Resurrection’ at the Sydney City Legal breakfast on Thursday 5 November 2026.

The full version of the paper is here for those who are interested in the details.”

– At this link.

Learn about the Mark Drama

Many of us will have seen reports of the Mark Drama being performed at Moore College (as it was recently) – but have you thought it might be a fit for your church?

The wonderful people at Mark Drama Australia have made two short videos you could use –

1. Mark Drama – Be Part of the Story (3 min)

This three minute video outlines what the Mark Drama is and invites viewers to host or act in a production of the Mark Drama.

This video is great to show at your church or Christian group to encourage people to attend an information session, or act in or support the drama.

2. Introducing the Mark Drama – Who is Jesus? Come and see the story (2 min)

This two minute video was created for a more general audience, explaining what the Mark Drama is and inviting people to come and see it for themselves.

This is ideal to show at your church or Christian group in the lead up to the performances.

See them both here – and there are links for more information.

Related

Five things to love about the Mark Drama – CMS Australia.

Archbishop Ric Thorpe — For the Harvest

Unveiled at last month’s Melbourne Synod, Archbishop Ric Thorpe shares his vision for Melbourne –

“The name comes from Matthew 9:35–38. Jesus sees the crowds with compassion, describes the harvest as plentiful and calls his disciples to pray for workers. He invites us to see the people around us with that same compassion, to pray and to go where he sends us.

Many churches and their leaders are stretched. As our communities change, we want to strengthen what is bearing fruit and help churches respond to the people around them. Our confidence is in Christ, who gives his Church life and hope.”

– Read about For the Harvest here – and be in prayer for the churches of Melbourne and the people of Melbourne.

Mission Drift

Dave McDonald reviews Evangelism in the Local Church –

“Paul Brennan and Dave Jensen’s Evangelism in the Local Church is greatly needed by churches and their leaders. We know that our churches are prone to mission drift. But do we realise that church leaders are equally prone to drift, and to take our churches with us? The busyness of church life overtakes the urgent need for the lost to be saved.

I recognise that I am sometimes the cause of mission drift. My priorities bend toward the insider, while the outsider is increasingly forgotten. Our timetables and budgets shift inwardly. We lose our sense of urgency, the lostness of the lost, the wonder of God’s glorious gospel, and the reality of heaven and hell. There have been periods when regular, planned, resourced, and intentional outreach hasn’t happened at all.

Brennan and Jensen understand these struggles. They’ve been there and they’ve written this book to help. …”

– at The Gospel Coalition Australia.

The book is available from The Wandering Bookseller and other Christian bookshops.

Encountering Jesus through The Mark Drama

From Moore College:

“Over two nights in Marcus Loane Hall, Moore College students performed The Mark Drama, a 90-minute retelling of the Gospel of Mark presented in theatre-in-the-round.

With no professionals, no props and no elaborate staging, the focus remained firmly on Jesus: his words, his actions, his death and his resurrection.

For the students involved, preparing and performing the drama was an opportunity not only to share the Gospel with others, but also to encounter its message afresh themselves. …”

– Encouraging news.

Exegeting ourselves and our communities

Ruth Baker writes in The Australian Church Record –

“In my first article in this series, I showed that here in the West, our local communities are mission fields. Here, we’ll look at how we can examine ourselves and our suburbs to better connect with people as part of our long-term mission.…”

– Read it all here.

The West as a mission field

“I’m reading a book on the stock market crash of 1929 (because yes, I’m a special kind of nerd). I’m fascinated by the mindset of the investors that led the world into such economic devastation, and the collective mentality of the millions of people who willingly followed them.

And when I read this line, I felt like I’d been struck by lightning:

So long as faith in tomorrow was maintained, debts could be rolled over endlessly into the future.

This is an apt description of our mindset in the West today when it comes to spiritual reality. …”

– The Australian Church Record has published the first of two articles by Ruth Baker who writes to remind us that our local communities are mission fields.

Recording of the 2026 ACL Synod Dinner

Toby Neal spoke at the Anglican Church League’s Synod Dinner on Monday 14th September 2026.

He spoke on the topic From Plant to Parish – The Joys and the Pains.

ALIVE rally at Penrith 19 September

Dave Jensen has been speaking at ALIVE rallies across greater Sydney.

The last one is coming up at the Western Sydney Convention Centre in Penrith on Saturday 19th September. Could you take friends?

From the website:

“ALIVE is a movement led by Evangelism & New Churches (ENC) and fuelled by local churches across Australia.”

Here’s the promo video:

The Mark Drama – coming up at Moore College

Coming up at Moore College on Friday 25 September 2026 –

“A production of the Moore College community, the Mark Drama turns Mark’s biographical account of Jesus into a 90-minute, theatre-in-the-round performance.

Fully immersed in the action, here you can decide for yourself – is Jesus just another guy with imaginative ideas about God, or is he truly the King of the universe?”

– Details and booking here.

Aussie Anglicans endorse worldwide million church plant plan

John Sandeman reports from General Synod in Melbourne –

“Archbishop Ric Thorpe of Melbourne used his first-ever speech at General Synod (the Anglican Church’s national parliament) to endorse an ambitious goal of a million church plants by 2036 that was presented at the Anglican Consultative Council last month.

His speech contained inspiring stories of evangelism and church planting in places that may have surprised his hearers.

The General Synod signed on to Vision36. …”

– John has the full text of Archbishop Thorpe’s speech.

And John has another report from General Synod –

Anglicans to Albanese: Get rid of gambling ads and inducements

“The Anglican General Synod (the Church Parliament) has passed a strongly worded motion, without any opposing vote, urging the Federal government to go all the way and implement all the reforms that Peta Murphy, the late member for Dunkley, campaigned for.

Here is how mover of the motion, Dean Sandy Grant of Sydney, responded to the recent federal parliamentary inquiry: ‘The [Sydney] Synod has – on multiple occasions – expressed unanimous support for the full implementation of the 31 recommendations of the “Murphy Inquiry”, I am confident my views represent fairly the views of the vast majority of Sydney Anglicans in over 250 parishes in and around Sydney.’ Grant can now update this with the news that the national church, at the general synod has taken the same stand …”

Photo of Archbishop Thorpe from a Diocese of Melbourne video.

Darrell Bock on Engaging Aussie (or any) Culture

A special from The Pastor’s Heart –

“In this special ‘pop up’ episode of The Pastor’s Heart we talk with New Testament Professor Darrell Bock about how best might Christians might engage culturally to reach Australians for Jesus.

Plus his love of Sydney,  Sydney Swans Australian football team and why he would move here if he didn’t have grandchildren. Bock is known for getting up at 2am in Dallas to watch the Swans play live on TV.  He will see three Swans games during his current visit to Australia.

Darrell Bock is executive director of Cultural Engagement at The Hendricks Center and Senior Research Professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.”

– Very helpful. Watch here.

Are evangelicals losing confidence in low-church evangelicalism?

This week at The Pastor’s Heart –

“What’s going on? Is this a reaction against thin, seeker-friendly evangelicalism? Spiritual nostalgia?

Across the Western church, some younger Christians seem to be searching for deeper roots: tradition, transcendence, beauty, liturgy, sacraments and a stronger sense of connection with the historic church.

Some evangelicals have become Roman Catholic or even Orthodox. Even a church formerly affiliated with the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) in the UK has become Orthodox.

Orlando Saer, senior pastor of Christ Church Southampton, describes himself as something of a “spiritual mongrel”, shaped by Roman Catholic, high Anglican, low Anglican, independent Baptist and FIEC influences.

On sabbatical in Australia, Orlando has been thinking deeply about why Christians are longing for rootedness, transcendence and tradition, and how evangelical leaders should respond.”

– Watch at The Pastor’s Heart.

A Biblical guide to giving your Testimony

“When the apostle Paul tells his own story, he doesn’t focus on how bad he was before Christ. He emphasises Jesus.

That instinct runs counter to much of what passes for testimony-giving today, where the drama of a former life tends to take centre stage and the gospel itself gets relegated to a supporting role. The personal story matters, but it is the garnish, not the main course.

The focus of any testimony ought to be the person and work of Jesus: who he is and what he came to do. …”

– Very helpful reminder from Jordan Thyer at The Gospel Coalition Australia.

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.

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