Beyond the Crisis: Global Perspectives on a training culture for the next generation

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“A training culture for the next generation:  Healthy Churches producing new ministers for the next generation.

Across the world, the number of candidates putting themselves forward for gospel ministry is in decline. Many churches are feeling the pinch – struggling to find leaders and often looking elsewhere to fill ministry gaps.

Yet healthy churches don’t just maintain ministry; they reproduce it. They raise up and send out the next generation of gospel workers.

This week in Sydney, a group of evangelical movement leaders from across the globe have gathered to sharpen one another in this task: creating a culture of training that will multiply gospel workers for the decades ahead.

The shift they are calling for is from passively plotting decline to actively asking, What are we going to do?—and then taking decisive steps toward it.

We’re joined this afternoon by three of those symposium participants.

From the UK, Robin Sydserff of the Proclamation Trust.

From Santiago, Chile, Matt Pope – pastor and trainer of pastors in five Latin American countries, formerly of St Ebbe’s in Oxford.

And from Cleveland, Ohio, Marty Sweeney – pastor for training at Old North Church and long-time champion of multiplying ministry apprentices.”

– Watch or listen here.

The Faith of Satan — Know your enemy

From Phillip Jensen:

“Two words commonly misunderstood today are ‘faith’ and ‘Satan’. In this week’s episode, Peter and I pursue our understanding of faith and Satan’s contribution in undermining it.

Once again, can we encourage you to mention the weekly podcast to friends, colleagues, and neighbours? I hope you will enjoy this episode.”

– Listen at Two Ways News.

Enrolments in Bible Colleges

Some historical perspective and a challenge from David Cook:

“Moore College and SMBC experienced record enrolments in 1960, 1969 and 1980.

I was part of the student enrolment in SMBC in 1969, we had 35 men enrolled in our year compared to 7 men in the year before.

What had happened?

Billy Graham had conducted campaigns in Sydney in 1959, 1968 and 1979.

There is a direct relationship between lively, faithful, engaging Bible preaching and people both being saved and people offering themselves to train for ministry.

Here in Sydney in my own denomination, J. Graham Miller’s ministry at Hurstville Presbyterian was the catalyst God used to call numbers of men into training in the late 1970s,  Phillip Jensen at Uni of NSW was similarly used of God.

Men and women would be changed by such preaching and would be so challenged that they gave serious prayerful consideration as to make such ministry their life’s vocation. …”

– Do read it all – at The Expository Preaching Trust.

And see the end of his article for some fine aids for preachers.

See also:

Daily Bread’s Journey Through.

On Graham Miller’s Method for “Personal Daily Bible Study”.

Image: David as a guest preacher at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.

Confident Prayer

“What do you think of prayer? Do you pray regularly? And if you do, do you pray with confidence? Can God, whom we call ‘Father’, be trusted to hear our prayers and answer them?

In Luke chapter 11, verses 9 and 10, Jesus says: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

On either side of these words Jesus answers two questions we might have about prayer: Does God always listen to us? Does he always have our very best interests at heart? His answer is found in two metaphors that sit on either side of his words in verses 9 and 10. …”

– John Mason shares encouragement for prayer at The Anglican Connection.

PDJ on the ‘Quiet Time’

“Friends in Christ, the most helpful article I ever read on personal Bible reading and prayer was written by Phillip Jensen.

This was more than 30 years ago when he was a university chaplain – long before he became Dean of this Cathedral. At that stage I had never even heard of him. But his article helped me so much I kept it all these years. Today I share an extract with you…”

– Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant shares an encouraging extract – in the Cathedral newsletter.

The Power and Purpose of Apocalyptic Preaching

From The Gospel Coalition’s Carson Center, an audio recording of a lecture by Don Carson –

“In this lecture, Don Carson discusses the unique nature of apocalyptic literature, emphasizing its distinct historical context and symbolic language. Carson argues that apocalyptic texts like Revelation can be engaging and evangelistically effective. He discusses the importance of understanding these texts within their original setting and literary genre to grasp their full theological significance. …”

Listen – or read the transcript.

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.”

– Watch or listen here.

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.”

– See the details here.

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.

Listen here.

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.

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.)

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