Unblocking the pipeline: Identifying and addressing obstacles to ministry recruitment
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“In the past month, two of the most respected evangelical training institutions in the world have closed or announced closure of their campuses.
In July, Spurgeon’s College in London—a pillar of Baptist theological education for nearly 170 years—closed, citing financial strain and a dramatic decline in student numbers.
A few weeks earlier, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Chicago —long regarded as a flagship seminary of North American evangelicalism— said they would shut down its Illinois campus and relocate to Canada, merging with Trinity Western University in British Columbia.
TEDS student numbers have dropped from 750 to 400 fulltime equivalents.
These are not isolated incidents. Across the UK, Australia, and globally, churches are asking:
Where will the next generation of gospel workers come from?
Orlando Saer—lead pastor of Christ Church Southampton, Chair of the Reach UK South church planting network, and Chair of 9:38, a UK ministry seeking to raise up gospel workers, has helped lead the Yarnton Consultation, the most comprehensive look yet at the state of ministry recruitment in the UK.”
Trajectory 2025
From Two Ways Ministries –
“Relationships
God is personal, so life is relational.
Relationships bring about our greatest joys and our deepest sorrows. The Bible teaches that the heart of the law is to love God and love our neighbours.
The usual trajectory of our lives is that we are born in families, grow in friendships, then die alone. So how does God’s wisdom change our relationships; or what is the trajectory of our relationships?
This might be your very first time at a Trajectory weekend, or you may have been for the last 8 years – either way this weekend will be of great benefit to you as you listen to challenging Bible teaching pushing you to keep re-calibrating your Trajectory to God’s.
A weekend for 18-30 year-olds, unpacking the Bible, building our skills and building our networks – all for the Glory of God.”
It’s Tempting to Sin
From Phillip Jensen:
“One of the doctrines of the Bible that is easy to demonstrate and widely rejected is the universality of sin.
Sin is not an optional extra choice of some degenerate people. Sin is the inbuilt character of humanity.
But what is sin? How did sin come into the world? What temptation did Satan use? How do moralists sin, and why are they amongst the most sinful of people?
In this episode of Two Ways News, Peter and I discuss the temptation that came to Eve and its implications for our temptation to sin.”
– Listen to the latest from Phillip and Peter here.
Happy birthday to John Newton
The Rev. John Newton was born 300 years ago, on 4th August 1725.
At The John Newton Project, Marylynn Rouse shares some contemporary tributes to the man who (among other things) wrote Amazing Grace.
“Church of England’s treatment of Bernard Randall is evil”
“The Church of England’s treatment of former school chaplain, Rev Dr Bernard Randall, deserves to be described as evil.
The Christian Legal Centre is rightly calling for Dr Randall to be restored to ministry after statutory authorities found that he did not pose a safeguarding risk. …”
– Julian Mann writes at Christian Today.
Photo: Christian Concern.
The Saviour of the world – John 4:1-42
Moore Theological College Principal Mark Thompson spoke from John 4:1-42 in College chapel on Friday.
“This is, indeed, the Saviour of the world. So that’s what we need to hear – before anything else. Hear those words and know this is the Saviour of the world – and don’t settle for anything less.”
Two points – The Saviour of the world, and The Saved in the world.
Good to hear, and good for your soul.
Starting Strong: Thriving in the First Years of Preaching — new podcast
Here’s a new podcast from two Presbyterian ministers (Matt and Oli) in Victoria.
It’s “the podcast we would have liked five years ago when we started out.”
Listen to their 8 minute introductory episode and you’ll probably recognise voices from their ‘teaser’. (Or just listen the episodes already available!)
Six chats with seasoned preachers are online so far.
Ambition?
“I have a simple question: What is your ambition in life?
The themes of royalty and service stand out in Dr. Luke’s record of the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth. Although he is demonstrably God’s king, he never used his divine powers out of self-interest or self-aggrandizement, but for the good of others. His service is a constant theme.
In the opening lines of Luke chapter 10, we read that Jesus sent out seventy (or seventy-two) of his followers on a training mission so they could experience first-hand what ministry in his name means. Three themes stand out. …”
– John Mason writes in this week’s Word on Wednesday at the Anglican Connection.
A Biblical Theology of Faith — 2025 Annual Moore College Lectures — with Dr Peter Orr
From Moore Theological College:
“Since 1977, the Annual Moore College Lectures have showcased leading contemporary biblical and theological scholarship on topics ranging from a theology of the Christian life with Kelly Kapic, the use of the Pentateuch in the New Testament with T Desmond Alexander, and last year’s series on the Book of Galatians with Tom Schreiner.
This year, Peter Orr, lecturer in the New Testament Department at Moore Theological College, will be delivering the 2025 Annual Moore College Lectures on the topic of faith.
What is faith? Is faith with knowledge still faith? What did Jesus mean when he said that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can uproot a tree or move a mountain (Luke 17:6; Matt 21:21)? And why does Paul tell us that we are declared right with God by “faith apart from works of the law” (Rom 3:28), while James insists that “a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (Jas 2:24)?
Join us on the mornings of Monday 4 to Friday 8 August and hear from Peter Orr how God provides us with an unfolding revelation of faith across the whole Bible.”
Of Snakes and Satan
From Phillip Jensen;
“Strangely, some people find it easier to believe in Satan than to believe in God. But what they think of Satan can be so different to the Bible as to not be recognisable.
Moving to Genesis 3 has given us an opportunity to pause and think about Satan: his character, his nature, and his ways of operation. I don’t want you to enjoy a discussion on Satan, but I do hope you find it stimulating and informative.”
– Listen here.
Unless a Grain of Wheat…
“Over two weekends in June and July I attended farmers’ camps, one in Gippsland and one in Yackandandah, both in Victoria.
Gippsland was made up mostly of dairy farmers battling to be more efficient to reduce costs as they receive less and less for their milk.
At Yackandandah many of the farmers were graziers, their concern is late rain …
At both camps I preached on John 12:20-26, where the Lord Jesus announces that his hour has finally come.”
– David Cook writes at The Expository Preaching Trust.
Image: A 2024 photo of Armidale’s Bishop Rod Chiswell with David Cook.
Bathurst Diocesan Prayer Diary — July 2025
The Bathurst Diocesan Prayer Diary has been updated with the latest points for prayer and thanksgiving.
Maybe you could use it to help you pray for the work of the gospel in this huge area of New South Wales.
“Please pray for our diocese as a whole, that the Lord
…would fill us with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that we may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way.
See Colossians 1:9-10”
Download here (PDF file).
Graham Miller’s Method for “Personal Daily Bible Study”
“PERSONAL DAILY BIBLE STUDY is a simple way of studying the Bible without the initial help of commentaries or other reference books, but in humble dependence on the Holy Spirit to open God’s Word to us and ‘teach (us) all things’ (John 16.13).
It was devised and shared in this form (see example and template below) by the Rev Dr Graham Miller, late Principal of Melbourne Bible Institute then Minister of St Giles Presbyterian Church in Hurstville (Sydney, Australia) now ‘present with the Lord’. Dr Miller encouraged me to take it up, saying: ‘Bob, if you do this every day you will soon have a multitude of sermons rising up and crying ‘Preach me! Preach me!’ How right he was. …”
– At AP, Bob Thomas shares this helpful resource from Dr Graham Miller (1913-2008).
Photo of Graham Miller with thanks to the Banner of Truth.
Phil Colgan: A theology of statistics
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“It is an uncomfortable but important question: What place should numbers have in our thinking about ministry success?
We all want to be faithful. But what happens when the numbers are down? Do we need to change something? Or should we just be faithful?
And should we be counting at all?
This is the tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. A tension between preaching the word and evaluating what’s actually working.
Phil Colgan has been the long term senior pastor of St George North Anglican in Sydney and presented on a Theology of Numbers* at the recent Nexus Conference.”
– Watch here. (* not the Book of Numbers.)
Marriage in the World Today — At the crossroads of Christian and non-Christian dispute
From Phillip Jensen:
“One of the great points of conflict between Christians and the world is the topic of marriage.
Though it is part of God’s creation of the world, seen in Genesis 1 and 2, the effect of sin makes it strangely foreign to today’s society. There’s nothing new in this, as Christians were called to be different or holy in this area of life in the New Testament itself.
However, today’s discussion is about how different Christians are to be in an area of life where even non-Christian commentators are beginning to see the failure of Western civilisation.”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…