When Should a Pastor Preach Through Romans?: Thoughts from Sinclair Ferguson
The Banner of Truth has released this helpful 4 minute video excerpt from a longer (audio only) interview with Sinclair Ferguson.
The Minister Imposter Syndrome — TPH with Archie Poulos
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“Pastors facing up to our imposter syndrome – navigating the noise that leads us to make bad decisions.
As Pastors, we feel the pressure to have the right answers to people’s questions.
We want to be able to navigate the complexities of life and church and land everyone safely at the other end.
People share with us and the hardest parts of their lives, they trust us with their most private issues, and time and their money.
And they trust us that we will handle the most complex relationship difficulties with wisdom.
We end up feeling like imposters. Who am I to lead the people of God? And how can I have wisdom here?
Archie Poulos from Sydney’s Moore Theological College has found the secular book Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment helpful as he has addressed these issues.”
Words and Relationships
Phillip Jensen writes:
“On Peter’s recovery, I thought it would be good to hear his views on the topic of words and power that Genesis 1 so importantly illustrates. So, we return to the topic of words and see how they create and operate in relationships. This brings us to how they are distorted and politicised by suspicious people.
I’m sure you will appreciate coming back to the two voice podcast as Peter and I struggle through this important and highly contemporary issue of words.”
– Listen to the latest Two Ways News podcast here.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
In 2013, Phillip Jensen wrote about “St. Patrick – The Irish Evangelical” –
“St Patrick’s Day is a Saint’s day. There is nothing wrong with celebrating saint’s days, though there is nothing particularly right either. As our Apostle says: ‘One man esteems one day as better than another while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind’ (Romans 14:5). …
Legendary stories make it hard to know the truth about early saints. …
However, the problems of saints and saint’s days should not stand in the way of remembering, with gratitude, those whom God has used in the past to spread the gospel and contribute to the welfare of the world.”
How Marriage Vows Work
“One profound privilege of pastoral ministry is officiating weddings. It’s always an honor to be asked by a couple to perform their ceremony and help shape one of the most significant moments of their lives. Yet there are five words I dread hearing: ‘We wrote our own vows.’…”
– While Anglican ministers don’t have latitude when it comes to customising wedding vows, it’s a common enough request. At The Gospel Coalition, Joe Carter has some helpful thoughts.
Old Preaching
“The greatest challenge in writing about preaching with older people is the sheer diversity of older people, their needs and backgrounds. So, this blog provides some thoughts, you will need wisdom to apply them to your context. As preaching requires both exegetical content and public speaking skills, I will start with the question of content and finish with some quick public speaking with older people tips.
The greatest content danger for sermons for older people is assumption. …”
– At The Expository Preaching Trust, Aged Care Chaplain Ben Roland shares some help and encouragement.
Book Recommendations on ‘Corporate Worship’ from Pastors
From 9Marks –
“ ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God’ (Col. 3:16).
Is there a singer or musician in your church who is hungry to glorify God as they lead in corporate worship? Or do your members need to be taught that they’re all ‘part of the choir’?
9Marks asked a couple of pastors who have thought a lot about corporate worship for book recommendations on the subject. …”
– You may recognise some of the books they recommend.
Improving self reflection to strengthen resilience in ministry workers
From The Pastor’s heart this week:
“A new study shows that training in systematic self reflection will develop resilience among ministry workers, who are at risk of stress related ill health.
Self reflective resilience training is beneficial to those in ministry roles and programs in this area can minimise stress related ill health.
BUT, Not all self reflection is equal.
Organisational Psychologist with Sydney’s Center for Ministry Development Kirsty Bucknell has surveyed and tested a significant number of Australian Protestant Ministry workers to analyse the relationship between self reflection and mental health outcomes. …”
The Power of Words — How could we keep silent? Two Ways News podcast
From Phillip Jensen:
“Sadly Peter was sick when we recorded this episode of Two Ways News, so it is a solo effort for today’s topic. Thankfully, Peter has now recovered.
From Genesis 1 we see the power of God’s word, which is part of God’s wisdom by which he created the world. Thus, the power of words is one of the joys and problems of life. The devil’s power is in his lying words. Yet it is God’s word that never returns to him empty but always achieves his purposes. Understandably but wrongly, this leads people in authority to censorship.”
– Listen here.
Do your Sunday Songs pass the test?
“How does a pastor decide which songs to introduce? Why one song and not another? Here are a gauntlet of questions I ask when considering a new song for my church.
If we’re going to sing a song on Sunday, it’s got to pass all the way through. …”
– At The Gospel Coalition, Brandon Ryan addresses an important question.
Repeating the Basics — The Cross and the Resurrection
“Friends in Christ, today I am going to repeat the basics!
When the Apostle Paul summarises the central gospel truths he preached, he writes of what he…
‘…passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…’ (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
It is what you should hear of again and again at any decent church – in our preaching, in our songs, in our confessions, creeds and prayers:
- of the cross, and its meaning (atonement ‘for our sins’), and
- of the resurrection and its meaning (forgiveness, hope and the resurrection of the body, which he unpacks in the rest of 1 Corinthians 15). …”
– In the Cathedral Newsletter, Dean of Sydney, Sandy Grant, reminds us of what we must not forget.
A short reflection on the significance of Lent
On the Bathurst Diocese Facebook page, Bishop Mark Calder has a short reflection on the significance of Lent (which began on Wednesday).
– Watch here. (May require a login to Facebook.)
Guides to Focussed Personal and Corporate Prayer
“One Sunday last year a member of our church, a dear sister who is intentional about her faith, came to me with great joy and shared that over morning tea there had been a deep Christian conversation at her table. It had unfolded quite naturally and everyone on the table was involved.
I suspect this may have happened because everyone at that table has been involved in a church-wide project, using a book in the Five Things to Pray series…”
– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Meredith van der Klip highlights a ‘simple but brilliant” (says Sinclair Ferguson) resource.
Exploring and Celebrating the Nicene Creed
“This year is the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed, which is an important part of our liturgy for a number of our services, in particular for the Eucharist. We encourage you to mark this year by devoting some time to focussing on the creed, both personally and as a congregation. …”
– The Ministry Development Committee of the Diocese of Ballarat is seeking to help church members think about what they mean when they say the Nicene Creed on Sundays.
Related:
Credo Magazine feature: 1700 Years after Nicaea. – January 2025.
A pod for God
“Before Steve Jobs at Apple invented the iPod, podcasts were called radio shows. As someone who made radio shows for 30 years, perhaps I am not the best person to review podcasts. But then again, maybe I am. Because the basic rules haven’t changed much.
Rule number one is to say something interesting. Rule number two is to be listenable. Sounds simple, right? But not every podcast follows these rules, as just about anyone with a microphone and an internet connection can now be a podcaster. …”
– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Russell Powell introduces a new podcast he has discovered.
The Evangelism and New Churches podcasts page
has links to the Fire Up podcast and all the previous episodes on Apple or Spotify.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…