Make the most of Easter evangelism post COVID

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“Don’t let Easter creep up on you.”

Dominic Steele is joined by Paul Webb, Elliot Temple and Andrew Levy in thinking about how to make the most of Easter this year.

Watch at The Pastor’s Heart.

Also at The Pastor’s Heart, Dominic addresses the tragedy of the recent revelations concerning Ravi Zecharias.

Worldview and Christian mission

“I have a friend who was once a committed Buddhist. Wonderfully, he has come to know the Lord Jesus as his saviour. But he had a lot of questions.

The trouble was that his Christian friends kept answering questions he wasn’t asking. One of his big questions was, ‘How can you say God suffers?’ He was given lots of great answers explaining why people suffer – but he wasn’t confused about that. He knows people suffer. My friend couldn’t get his head around the idea that God might suffer on the cross. The reason this was such a big issue for him was because of his worldview. …”

– Dr David Williams, Director of development and training for CMS Australia at St Andrew’s Hall, spoke about worldviews at CMS Summer School.

SydneyAnglicans.net has published an edited version of his talk. Very helpful.

John Anderson speaks with John Lennox


John Anderson speaks with Professor John Lennox in Oxford.

They discuss Christ’s birth and life as one of historical truth, the Christian foundations of the modern scientific method, and the current religious climate.

Fascinating and helpful.

“NAZARETH” — A Hamilton Parody

Simon Camilleri has produced a wonderful video inspired by the musical Hamilton.

Watch here – and below the video is a link to download it if you can use it at a church Christmas event.

“PRAY FOR AUSTRALIA” DAY

Phillip Jensen has written to encourage prayer –

Our country is desperately in need of our prayers so would you join us for a day to:

What better day than Australia Day, 26th January (the public holiday just before the year gets under way)?

What better way than in our parish churches – with connections to others meeting to pray?

Last January we started an evangelistic prayer day with a group of young adults. Read more

The Coming — a dramatic new Christmas video from Glen Scrivener and Speak Life.

This year’s Christmas video from Glen Scrivener and Speak Life has just been released. This ambitious production, an animation based on “The Coming” by R. S. Thomas, is sure to generate discussion.

Be sure to watch.

Plus

You could pray about ways of using this video for Christmas.

Sydney Diocese’s Unchanged Priority for over Eighty Years

“The world’s greatest need is evangelism. With all the earnestness and strength that are in me I urge upon you that fact. I urge it especially upon my brethren of the clergy. Study evangelism; preach evangelism; live evangelism.

Let us not, by neglecting it, betray the Lord that bought us; let us not, by neglecting it, betray the souls of men who look to us for light and leading; let us not, by neglecting it, betray our own souls on the day of judgment when God shall call us to give account of our stewardship.

‘Who is sufficient for these things?’ we cry. And our cry would be one of despair did all not remember that “our sufficiency is of God”. That sufficiency comes to us through the medium of prayer.”

– Archbishop H. W. K. Mowll, Presidential Address to the 3rd Ordinary Session of the Twenty-fourth Synod of the Diocese of Sydney (Monday 15 August, 1938) (Year Book of the Diocese of Sydney 1939, p. 247)

Picture: Archbishop Howard Mowll, painted by Alfred G. Reynolds, 1958. On display at Mowll Village, Castle Hill.

Review: The Mission Before Us

“You are an Anglican from Sydney? Get this book.

Read it carefully. Read it prayerfully. If it is aimed at you, do something about it.

And it is aimed at all of us. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, former Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Peter Jensen, commends “The Mission Before us”.

Learn how you can get your free copy.

One Year in Sydney: An Interview with David Robertson

You may recall David Roberston’s interview with The Australian Church Record in July 2018. At the time, asked about his impressions of Sydney Anglicans, he said,

“I came here expecting to learn a great deal about evangelism. I have learnt about church structures, praise, organisation and leadership training – all of which is essential. But in my limited experience I’m not convinced that evangelism is a strong point amongst Sydney Anglicans (or indeed some other Christians).”

That’s what’s behind the beginning of David’s answer in this new interview with the ACR:

“I think what has happened is a warning to those of us who have big mouths – or at least think out loud!

After I spoke to you, I returned home to my church in Scotland, safe in the knowledge that I would not have to put into practice what I suggested. But the Lord had other ideas! Peter Kaldor of City Bible Forum challenged me to come to Sydney and put into practice the ideas I was talking about.

Through a variety of push and pull factors it was made clear to myself and my wife, Annabel, that the Lord was calling us here. In one sense it was a hard decision – giving up home, country and a now well-established church to come to the unknown.

But the opportunity to set up a new evangelistic opportunity called Third Space, and to work with Steve McAlpine and CBF, was one that ultimately, we could not refuse. …”

Read it all.

Something Better

Richard Coekin at Dundonald Church in London wants to encourage Christians to share their story.

The aim: “To resource the local church to reach the city with news of something better.”

Check out the “Something Better” website here.

On Toppling Statues

“Surely one of the most striking images of this extraordinary year was the toppled statue of Edward Colston being rolled through the streets of Bristol, England by a furious mob, in June.

The statue had been erected in 1895 (174 years after Colston’s death) in recognition of his philanthropy. In his lifetime, Colston had endowed the city with schools, hospitals, homes for the poor as well as churches, including Bristol Cathedral.

But a significant proportion of Colston’s wealth came from the slave trade…”

– Terrific article by Kanishka Raffel. Suitable for sharing as a conversation starter.

(Image: St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney.)

From Sydney to the World

If you missed out on seeing From Sydney to the World on Saturday (15th August), you can now watch the full presentation here.

It’s an important online event focussing on the raising up of the next generation of labourers for the harvest. Most encouraging. And do consider sharing the link.

What if there’s a place with no crying, mourning or pain?

“Crying.
Mourning.
Pain.

Though we desperately try to avoid them, we also accept them as a part of what it means to be alive.

But what if life could be lived without them? What if a place existed where there was no crying, no mourning, no pain – would you want to go there?…”

– Steven Kryger at Communicating Jesus has a great question to share.

In times of crisis

“In times of crisis what holds your world together? Perhaps some diagnostic questions would help. What is your worldview? Do you even have one? If you do, what are the limits of its capacity to sustain you through crisis?

At least four things are crucial to every worldview: origin, meaning, morality and destiny. Miss one of these and you will have a worldview that cannot sustain you in a crisis. …”

– Bishop of Armidale, Rick Lewers, writes in his regular column on the diocesan website.

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.)

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