Trusting God when everything is awful

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“How do you understand God’s sovereignty when your dad is murdered, your family is in poverty, you are living in the most awful slum and your extended family won’t help.

Richmond Wandera’s father was murdered when he was just eight years old, leaving his family destitute in Uganda’s Naguru slum. Initially he wanted revenge. But then he came to know Jesus Christ.

We talk theological reflections on suffering, as well as a challenge for Western comfort-seeking Christianity, and a clear critique of the Prosperity Gospel.

Richmond Wandera leads the Pastors Discipleship Network across East Africa, as well as pastoring at the church where he came to Christ and partnering with Compassion in Uganda.”

– Watch or listen.

Aeration

“All the garden experts tell us every weekend that we must give close attention to our soil; dense, compact soil needs to be aerated, it needs oxygen to rejuvenate and to be productive.

Sermons are like soil, they can be dense and compact and need aeration.

Spurgeon called aeration, ‘the windows of the sermon’ and Clifford Warne used to remind us when I was at Moore College, that explanations are like feathers, they  don’t stand up by themselves, they need support. …”

– David Cook shares some wisdom for preaching – at The Expository Preaching Trust.

Eyes Wide Open: Using Secular Wisdom to Achieve Ministry Goals

“Recently, I had the joy of spending time with some ministers in an area of Sydney where Anglican churches are growing and thriving. Several of the ministers had participated in church consultations that used an outcomes-oriented framework based on solid gospel convictions and utilising organisational systems theory. The consultations had helped the ministry teams accurately measure their present situation and make concrete plans to achieve goals for reaching the lost. This had already led to substantial gospel growth and had given these ministers renewed optimism and Christ-centred confidence in ministry.

I praise God for this. I believe there should be more of it.

The positive power and potential of frameworks like this leads me to keep sounding a note of warning. I’m not trying to dampen enthusiasm for such frameworks. I’m trying to help make their implementation theologically robust for decades to come. …”

– Lionel Windsor at Moore College provides a stand-alone text and video version of his article in the current Synod edition of The Australian Church Record. You might find it easier to read, or watch or listen.

Do check it out.

Southern Cross September-October 2025

The latest issue of Southern Cross magazine – for September-October 2025 – is now available for your encouragement.

Grab a copy at your church – or see it online here.

The Hardest Thing for Christians to Do

“What’s the hardest thing for Christians to do?

To tidy up and do things around the church? To ‘bring a plate’ for after-church fellowship? To tithe? (two or three other tithers + you = no more financial problems for your church!) To believe that Christ is coming again? To have assurance of salvation? To live in personal relationship with Christ?

No. Christians can do all these things fairly easily.

The hardest thing for Christians to do is …”

– Read on to discover what Bob Thomas, retired Presbyterian minister, sees as the hardest thing for Christians to do. At AP.

What’s the Deal with Jesus for Catholics? — Certainty4Eternity podcast

The latest podcast from Certainty4Eternity has been released –

“Who is Jesus – and how do Catholics and Protestants understand Him differently?

In this episode, Mark and Rayne unpack the most important topics of all: the person of Jesus Christ.

We explore how Catholic theology often overemphasises Jesus’ divinity (especially in the Eucharist), sometimes at the expense of His humanity, and how this shapes Catholic views of the Church, priests, Mary, and the saints. In contrast, Protestants stress that we relate to Jesus personally through His Word and Spirit.

You’ll also hear practical insights into how to lovingly open the Bible with Catholic friends, using tools like the Swedish Method of Bible reading.”

– Watch here.

The missing 70%

From The Pastor’s Heart this week –

“Reaching the 70% of the population who are significantly underrepresented in our churches.

We’re talking about everyday Australians — people who’ve gone straight into the workforce rather than university. That includes hairdressers, plumbers, builders, business owners, factory workers, truck drivers, IT staff, and media creatives — as well as many in marginalised communities.

Within this group, there’s huge diversity:

Yet while this group represents the majority of Australians, they make up only a small minority in our churches. Why is that? And how can we do better?

We discuss why this group is missing from many of our congregations, the cultural and learning barriers they face, and how we can shape ministry, training, and preaching to better reach them with the good news of Jesus.”

– Watch or listen here. Challenging and important to consider.

Australian Church Record Journal — 2025 Synod edition

In time for this year’s gathering of the Sydney Synod, The Australian Church Record has released their Synod edition of the ACR Journal.

The theme of this issue: Be Careful How You Build.

“As leaders in Sydney gather for Synod and consider the future shape of our churches, we must ask: are we building with gospel wisdom?

Inside this issue:

– from The Australian Church Record. (Direct link to PDF file.)

Praying big prayers with little people

“The bane of my existence as a parent is badly rhymed kids’ books (closely followed by badly illustrated books). For some reason, they’re the ones my children are drawn to and insist I read night after night. Don’t tell my three-year-old, but I have hidden our copy of The Three Little Pigs for this very reason.

However, when a children’s book comes along that has decent pace, clever word combinations and beautiful illustrations, I can’t wait to share it with my daughters. …”

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Tara Sing introduces her “latest go-to gift” for the little people in her life.

Above: Watch the video of Simon Camilleri reading Wow God! Thank you, Sorry, Please.

Learn more about the book here. It’s available locally from Reformers Bookshop.

The real meaning of singleness

“Based on data from the 2016 National Church Life Survey, about 35 per cent of our church population over the age of 15 are single; either never married, divorced, separated or widowed. That’s a lot less than the two-thirds who are married. But if you imagine a church of 100 people, that’s 35 people who potentially feel lonely, frustrated, totally fine and everything in between. …”

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Ruth Baker commends Dani Treweek’s just-launched book Single Ever After.

Learn more about the book at Dani’s website.

What Type of Churches attract Catholics?

“People who identify as Roman Catholic make up 20% of the Australian population and 23.1% of Greater Sydney.

Whilst it is still difficult to get people from a Roman Catholic background to attend Protestant services because of their institutional understanding of church, there are many things we can do to make it easier for Catholics to hear the gospel. …

Understanding the Roman Catholic theological system better can help us shape our ministries to be more effective in communicating the gospel clearly and attractively.”

– Mark Gilbert shares some helpful ideas for loving our Catholic friends – at The Gospel Coalition.

Preaching’s Big Umbrella

“Apostle Paul unfolds a big umbrella over the work of the pastor/teacher in 1 Corinthians 1.23,24: ‘But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God’.

This begs the question for every preacher: Am I preaching Christ in all the fullness of His Person and Work to all-comers, sceptics and saved, sinners and saints, in the face of all opposition and all acceptation? …”

– The Expository Preaching Trust features this post from Bob Thomas, retired Presbyterian minister and, for many years, the Editor of New Life.

(Bob shared his experience of ‘church union’ in The Crisis of 77.)

The God We Love (Nicene Creed)

Here’s a new song from CityAlight – The God We Love (Nicene Creed) – featuring Matt Rodman.

Of course, 2025 is the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed.

A global response to a big idea: Translating the Epistles with words children can actually understand

At The Australian Church Record, Kirsten McKinlay speaks with Matt Dodd about his long-term project to translate the Epistles into language that is accessible for kids.

A wonderful project. Learn more at The Open Word.

And see the endorsements from many people you will know.

“This is the best thing I’ve seen in 40 years.”
– Bruce Linton, CMS NSW & ACT Co-ordinator for Youth and Children’s Ministry.

Image: Matt Dodd and Thom Bransdon with artwork for The Epistles for Kids – from their promotional video:

How does Truth and Authority work for Catholics? — Certainty4Eternity

In the latest video from Certainty4Eternity –

“Where does true authority come from: the Church, tradition, or God’s Word?

In this episode, Mark and Rayne unpack the Catholic understanding of power, authority, and truth compared to the Protestant conviction that the Bible alone is our ultimate authority.”

– Watch here.

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