Why read John’s Gospel?

“I hope to remind us of old truths, perhaps prompt some new thoughts, but above all stimulate us to read and preach this wonderful part of God’s word.

Here are five reasons to read John’s Gospel for your consideration.…”

– St. Andrew’s Cathedral is hosting a reading of the entire Gospel of John, and AFES is using that Gospel in its Meet Jesus campaign.

Helpfully, Bill Salier shares the first in a series of reflections on the Gospel of John, at The Gospel Coalition Australia.

Sharpened and Refined: a missionary journey – Kylie Zietsch

From Moore College, an interview with Kylie Zietsch:

“Despite my education degree, the volunteer work I was doing in Johannesburg, ministering to students and the homeless, lacked the firm foundation of theological education. So in 2010 I came to Moore College intent on studying for a year. But I soon realised I wanted to go deeper into the word and grow skills in how to approach ministry, so one year grew into four, and I finished the Bachelor of Theology.

I am really thankful for my time at Moore. I was surrounded by women with whom I could walk the journey of life and ministry, with whom I could think through future plans, and who encouraged me in my faith. Looking back now, the student body were formative in encouraging me in mission and sharpening me, preparing me for the mission field.. …”

– Read it here.

NEPAL: Understanding the Bible

“In February, 145 pastors, leaders, and theology students from Nepali Anglican parishes gathered at the Anglican Training Centre in Kathmandu for a three-day training course. Supported by Anglican Aid, the course taught the church leaders to read and teach the Bible well. …”

– Encouraging news via Anglican Aid in Sydney.

Visit the Sick!

“Friends in Christ, in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus taught us via the parable of the sheep and the goats.

It reminds us that heaven and hell are on the line in our response to Jesus’ teaching. The evidence of our faith in King Jesus and his message will be revealed by how we treat others, especially brothers and sisters in Christ.

Today I want to focus on one example from this parable in Matthew 25 …”

– In his Cathedral Newsletter, Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant has some simple, practical, encouragement.

Good to read and good to share with others in the church.

Reflections on Preaching Conferences

“Preachers around our city, country and world stand up each Sunday to echo God’s life-giving and powerful Word to gatherings of sheep. They stand before people in need of nourishment, in need of encouragement to press on in Jesus’ footsteps, in need of assurance that trust is rightly placed in Him, in need of a clear word to call them back from straying, in need of a seeing again the Lord God, Father, Son and Spirit in all His glory, love, wisdom and grace.  They’ve laboured in the text and on their knees, with the Spirit to guide, and made use of some tools to understand what God says and to bring it on Sunday with conviction and engagement.

Sometimes they go home on Sunday, gladly spent from their labour and love for the flock, not just this day but the hours in their study, in prayer, and at kitchen tables and hospital bedsides.  They’ll start again tomorrow …”

– At The Expository Preaching Trust, Janet Riley reflects on the value and encouragement of Preaching Conferences.

Image: Rod Chiswell and David Cook at one of the recent preaching conferences. (There’s one at Wahroonga coming up.)

Faithful listening

“What to do if we find the preaching we’re fed Sunday by Sunday is biblical, yet quite standard, and maybe a bit dull? … When we hear nothing really new to us, except the old, old story of Jesus and his cross?

Are we so well fed, that these become meals we feel we can skip as we feel like it?

Here’s an old hymn (#49, Olney Hymns) by John Newton, of ‘Amazing Grace’ fame. He often wrote a new hymn each week, while ministering in the parish of Olney!

But these days I doubt anyone is singing this one! …”

– In the St. Andrew’s Cathedral Newsletter, Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant draws attention to a little-known hymn by John Newton. (Sadly, we don’t hear many new Christian songs like this one!)

The hymn may be found on page 386 of the PDF version of Olney Hymns published by Christian Classics Ethereal Library. (Click on Download, then select PDF.)

This painting of John Newton by John Russell hangs in the CMS building in Oxford. Photo © Marylynn Rouse / The John Newton Project, used with permission.

On Reading and Studying as a Pastor

“Protestant pastors don’t read or study very much these days, and most churches don’t encourage them to do so. There are fewer pastor-readers than ever before (and surfing the web, dabbling in this oddity and that, doesn’t count!).

Church members and even officers sometimes have a hard time appreciating how much time a good message from God’s word takes to develop, and furthermore don’t see the importance of the pastor studying for anything other than preaching and devotions. There is a strong dose of anti-intellectualism in our circles and it doesn’t encourage a man to do the hard work of developing the mind and expanding his knowledge.

But precisely because our people are bathed in trivial information in this day and age, they need a shepherd with real knowledge, much discernment, and a nose for truth.…

Furthermore, Paul gives Timothy a sterling example of studiousness from his own practice and priorities.”

– Ligon Duncan at Reformed Theological Seminary encourages pastors to sound learning. At 9Marks.

Meet Jesus: A Mid-Year Progress Update

 

“After a pastor prayed for his friends, one of them rang him up the next day and said: ‘I’m not really sure why I am ringing you, but I thought I would touch base’. The pastor replied: ‘I know why you are ringing me. It is because I prayed for you’. And he shared the gospel with his friend over the phone!

A student in Sydney used sausages at her frisbee team’s BBQ to draw the pictures from Two Ways to Live … and explain Jesus to her friends. …”

– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Richard Chin shares some encouragement from the AFES-initiated “Meet Jesus” mission.

Photo: Richard Chin speaking at Moore College earlier this year.

A way back from disillusionment and disappointment in ministry — The Pastor’s Heart

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“Disillusionment is one of the great threats to the Christian life and to Christian ministry

A wise man said the worst thing in ministry was not a pastor who quits, but a pastor who doesn’t quit, but who keeps going when they’ve given up.

Sydney Missionary and Bible College Karl Deenick shares his own experience of hitting a major wall after seven years of pastoral work.

We unpack how ministry challenges can lead to a sense of disillusionment, especially among millennials, plus a way back.”

– Many will resonate with this one. Watch or listen here.

Related:

Gathered Together by Karl Deenick. (Matthias Media.)

Peter Adam’s talks at the 2001 Proclamation Trust Senior Ministers Conference:

The Making of a Man of God – 1.
The Making of a Man of God – 2.
The Making of a Man of God – 3.

A culture of winning souls for Christ

“In 1 Corinthians 9:19-22 the apostle Paul famously gives insight into one way Jesus’ love drove him to create deeply meaningful, personal connections to bring people the gospel:

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

Key to Paul’s strategy is using culture – understanding and adapting himself to others’ life patterns – to win souls for Christ. Moreover, this is not for Paul alone. He also calls on the Corinthians to “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). All Christians are to become all things to all people, so that by all possible means we might save some.

Understanding culture is vital for Christians. However, it can also seem daunting – reserved for quirky, safari-suited academics studying strange tribal rituals in a remote place! I want to give a simple, accessible description of culture I’ve found very helpful in putting 1 Cor 9:22 into concrete, real-life practice. …”

– Here’s some encouragement from The Rev. Dr. Dan Wu at Moore College. (via SydneyAnglicans.net.)

Savour Christ in Every Psalm

“For the greater part of church history, Christians have viewed the Psalms through the lens of fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

In particular, they have read the Psalms as the songs of Jesus — songs sung by Jesus in his life on earth, and songs in which the risen and ascended Jesus still leads his church in singing on earth. …”

– At Desiring God, Christopher Ash encourages us to do what millennia of Christians (including centuries of Anglicans) have done.

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel on The upside-down kingdom

“The world into which Jesus was born was a world that was harsh to live in and often deeply harmful to children. Jewish parents regarded their children as a blessing and a gift from God. Parents and rabbis were involved in training children and passing on to them the knowledge of God. But outside the Jewish community, those kinds of protections and advantages were non-existent.

I’m sure ancient parents loved their children, but they were not sentimental about childhood in the way we are, and they were not shaped by the Bible in the way their Jewish counterparts were. Roman fathers had lawful authority to kill their children if they were mentally or physically deformed, or if they were unwanted or unable to be cared for. In the first century, only 50 per cent of children lived to be five years old. Of them, only 40 per cent would make it to 12.

It was into this world that God chose to come – incredibly, as a child. Jesus had a real childhood. …”

– Archbishop Kanishka Raffel writes at SydneyAnglicans.net of how  “Jesus’ kingdom is an upside-down kingdom. God has chosen what is weak and foolish to shame the wise and the powerful”.

(Also in the June-July 2024 issue of Southern Cross.)

Root Not Fruit

“The news that the prominent Atheist Richard Dawkins is now claiming to be a cultural Christian, should not surprise.

Many of us know parents who send children to Christian schools because they like the product of such schools, yet insist they don’t want their children to be religious.

In my first parish I would meet C.E. Christians. I was told I could only expect to see them at Christmas (C) and Easter (E). So called ‘cultural Christians’ see no need to believe the supernatural elements of the Faith, they are Christians without the C and the E. …”

– At The Expository Preaching Trust, David Cook reminds us why we must keep on preaching the Word.

Photo: David Cook preaching at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in 2022.

Why share Jesus? You have the best news possible.

Mark Calder, Bishop of the Diocese of Bathurst, reminds us Why we share Jesus. He turns to 2 Corinthians 5:11.

Part 2 in a 4-part series reflecting on the Diocesan strategic plan, “Sharing Jesus for Life”.

Week 1 – Compassion, Week 2 – Reverence, Week 3 – Love, Week 4 – Courage.

Encouraging – but also sobering.

Watch here. A very good way to start a new month.

Gospel ministry in winter

Bishop Jay Behan writes in the latest Ministry Matters of the Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa NZ –

“Back in late 1996, my wife Jaimee and I moved to London for me to study. We had only been married a few months, so arriving in England was a time of great change in our lives. We had only been there a short time, and autumn was just starting to change to winter, when we found ourselves listening to a radio programme which described something else that was new to me: Seasonal Affective Disorder, with perhaps the most appropriate acronym of all time—SAD!

What was described was a significant change in mood and behaviour brought about by the change of season, particularly the change to winter. Seasonal Affective Disorder apparently caused “winter depression”, marked by low energy and generally feeling down as a lack of sunlight and increased time indoors took effect. I remember listening to the programme and not only completely rejecting this thing called ‘SAD’, but also ridiculing the English for making up things and not being able to cope with the cold and dark.

Needless to say, a few weeks into the English winter and after many days of no sunshine, not only did I believe in SAD; I was convinced it was the root of all the problems people living in the UK experienced!

As I write this, we in Aotearoa have arrived in winter, which seems an appropriate time to consider the way the winter season can affect life and ministry. …”

– Read the full newsletter here.

“ Winter may seem like a time to batten down the hatches, but it’s also a season ripe with evangelistic opportunities. As always this requires thought, intentionality, courage and clear-mindedness. But the best day for gospelling is today. God will give us opportunities we did not have yesterday and may not have tomorrow.”

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