Southern Cross magazine February – March 2025
The latest issue of Southern Cross magazine (February – March 2025) is now available in churches.
If you miss out on getting a printed copy, a digital version is available from sydneyanglicans.net.
• Ministry to bubs and preschoolers
• Welcoming
• Positive masculinity
• Outreach in your suburb
• SRE teachers
PLUS: news, views, reviews and more
Equipped to serve
Archie Poulos interviews Dave Morgan – at the Moore College website.
“Archie Poulos, Head of Ministry and Director for the Centre for Ministry Development at Moore Theological College, interviews Dave Morgan, Team Leader of Athletes in Action in the South Island of New Zealand, about his ministry journey since graduating from Moore College in 2005.
Dave talks a little bit about his experience of studying at Moore, having not previously completed a university degree; he explains how his training at Moore equipped him for serving at the University of New England in Armidale; he recalls what it was like to minister to the people of Christchurch in the aftermath of the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes; and he tells us about his current role and why he’s passionate about working with athletes.”
‘Your Word’ — updated arrangement from Emu Music
First published in 2017, “Your Word”, a beautiful song about Scripture, has just been re-released in a new arrangement for Emu Music’s 25th anniversary.
In an e-mail to supporters, they explain what the song is about –
“Your Word was written to fill the gap in congregational music of songs about the Bible, not just from the Bible.
So what does the Bible say about itself? We opened up the Psalms and spent time reading and reflecting on Psalms 19 and 119. We hoped to capture David’s delight in and dependence on God’s law, particularly in the passages quoted below.*
The chorus centres on the well-known verse from Psalm 119: ‘Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path’.
The bridge of the song took a different direction as we began to explore the implications of a perfect, powerful, timeless, enduring word for us today.
As the Bible comes under attack in our society, we want to affirm that it’s not just ink on paper or old stories, but that it is life-giving, powerful, and the greatest love story ever told. Ultimately, God’s word is not only the creating Word (his breath into dust creating man) but the Creator Word (Jesus!).
We hope and pray that this song helps you and your churches to delight in God’s word, but more than that, to love and obey the one to whom it testifies. For a Sunday service, we think it works really well as a pre-Bible reading song!”
* The Bible passages mentioned are –
Psalm 19:7-11, Psalm 119:89-92, John 1:1-3, 14.
Watch a recording of Your Word here.
Audio tracks and sheet music are available to purchase from their website.
A song which could be a real blessing to your church!
Godliness vs Effectiveness — the Both/And Dilemma
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“Godliness vs Effectiveness
Theology vs Pragmatics
People centered vs Organisationally minded
Leading from the front vs Serving others
Courage to take a stand vs Quick to submit
Others know I am one of them vs I am set apart to lead
I lead patiently vs I lead with a sense of urgencyMost Christians at some point do start to wonder if they are the real deal. What God asks of us is so far reaching, so all encompassing, that when we come up short, we start to ask ourselves “Am I an imposter?” “Should I really be a leader?” and perhaps/Am even a Christian at all?’”
Expository Preaching Trust Activities 2025
The Expository Preaching Trust has published some details of its planned activities for 2025, including events at Armidale Anglican Cathedral as well as meetings at Sutherland, Abbotsford, Wahroonga, and Drummoyne.
Much encouragement for preachers.
See all the details at their website.
Why I Left the Church of Rome
“I grew up in a devout Roman Catholic family and attended private Catholic schools for both my primary (St John’s Riverstone) and secondary education (Oakhill College, Castle Hill) both in the Western Suburbs of Sydney, NSW. While nothing is perfect, I really enjoyed my upbringing and even aspired to becoming a De La Salle brother, which is kind of like a ‘teaching monk’.
All that changed though when I received a sporting scholarship to the United States to play tennis on the college circuit. In the providence of God, I ended up in a Missouri Synod Lutheran University in Southern California, formerly called ‘Christ College Irvine’ but is now Concordia University. My world was about to be turned upside down. …”
– At AP, Presbyterian minister Mark Powell shares the wonderful news he heard, and how it changed his life.
New Year, New Habits?
“We are creatures of habit. Our bodies thrive on routine—we get hungry at roughly the same times, we generally like routines, and we naturally form habits. This is by God’s design. Neuroscience confirms that repetition ingrains behaviours, creating neural pathways that make actions automatic.
While we wait for our eternal home in the new creation, we want to harness our natural habit-forming tendency—for good. …”
– At The Australian Church Record, Bronwyn Windsor writes to encourage us to consider what sort of people we should be.
“100 Ministry Stories from Moore College” — Peter Sholl
Moore College is featuring this brief video from Peter Sholl, International Director of CMS Australia as part of its “100 Ministry Stories”:
“God used Peter’s time at College to equip him with a solid foundation in theological thinking and a heart for mission, preparing him for service as a CMS missionary.
Now serving as the International Director of CMS Australia, Peter supports missionaries around the world, encouraging gospel work across cultures.
Peter’s story attests to how God uses theological training to prepare men and women for global ministry.”
Cross-cultural ministry that seeks to connect
“In our part of Sydney, Chinese migrants come from very diverse backgrounds. Their occupations range from working on construction sites as builders, to running their own businesses, to working in offices as white-collar workers. There is a real mix of people in Lidcombe since it is now an important transport hub in Sydney, and it attracts many Chinese migrants who settle here. …”
– At the Moore College website, Danny Au Yeung, Rector of Lidcombe Anglican Church, shares some points for prayer in a strategic part of Sydney.
Holding out the good news to multicultural western Sydney
“Minchinbury is a suburb in the heart of western Sydney located just south of Mount Druitt and Rooty Hill. The local area is a melting pot of nations, with only 53 per cent of people in the catchment born in Australia. (It’s 70 per cent across New South Wales.) If Minchinbury was a street with 100 people living in it, 10 would be Filipino, four Indian, 81 would speak more than one language, 12 would be Islamic, 33 would be Catholic, and only 15 people would have no religion. …”
– Moore College has published this encouraging report from Mike Smith in the parish of Minchinbury.
Earlier the College published this ministry story from David Misztal at Wentworthville.
The Lost Coin
“In Luke 15, Jesus tells the story of a woman who has lost a coin and sweeps her entire house looking for it. It’s clearly not a large coin. It’s clearly not laying in the middle of the floor. It’s probably a smaller coin – somewhere in a corner.
Reflecting on that lost coin, I am left wondering about the lost souls in the world today. Particularly those whom none of us are trying to reach. …”
– 9Marks has republished this article by Mark Dever which encourages us to think about how we might reach those in minority language groups.
Related:
A very useful resource – the 5Fish app – from Global Recordings Network.
Hoping Christmas is Good News
“If you regularly preach at this time and if, like me, you have been at it for forty years there aren’t too may Christmas-type verses left to preach on.
For all that, it is hard to beat the account of the announcement to the shepherd by the angel of the birth of the Lord Jesus. …”
– Short but sweet classic advice from Chappo – at The Australian Church Record.
Related:
“Do you really believe the gospel can convert your friends?” – John Chapman.
Photo: Matthias Media.
New edition of “The Link” from Armidale — Dec 2024-Jan 2025
The latest issue of Armidale Diocese’s magazine The Link is now available for download form their website.
On the cover is the Rev. Julie Cook, just announced as the new Diocesan Deacon for Women.
Download your copy here (PDF file) – and do pray for the continued ministry of the gospel in the Diocese of Armidale.
That You May Believe
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30–31)
“I feel so strongly that among those of us who have grown up in church and who can recite the great doctrines of our faith in our sleep, and yet who can yawn through the Apostles’ Creed — that among us something must be done to help us once more feel the awe, the fear, the astonishment, the wonder of the Son of God, begotten by the Father from all eternity, reflecting all the glory of God, being the very image of his person, through whom all things were created, upholding the universe by the word of his power.
– In the Desiring God devotional for Sunday 22nd December, John Piper wants to encourage us to recapture the wonder which we may have lost.
Image: John Piper via Desiring God.
The Astronaut who left NASA to help support healthy churches
“In spring 2021, Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC) in Washington, DC, had nine pastoral interns. Eight were 40 years old and under. Seven were coming out of—or would head into—seminary.
And one was NASA’s former head astronaut. Pat Forrester was 63 years old. …”
– Sarah Zylstra has this encouraging story at The Gospel Coalition.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…