The great need of the hour

“I’m confident that the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is being regularly preached in Sydney Anglican pulpits.

But that is not quite the same as giving adequate, let alone urgent priority to the task of evangelism. How much of the ministry team’s time is spent in relationship with people who are not yet followers of Jesus?

I need to quite deliberately make time to spend with my friends of other faiths and none –  and the same can be true for church members who can just as easily find themselves with few non-believing contacts.”

– There are many helpful takeaways from this article by the Dean of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel. Read the full article at The Australian Church Record.

The pastor in your background

“But even if we can’t bring to mind exactly what was said six weeks ago, I promise you that cumulatively your regular preachers are wearing down paths through your brain. They are having an impact on you, unseen or not. What they teach you from one Bible passage provides you with context for other passages you read, influencing the way you understand the Bible as a whole. …”

– At GoThereFor.com, editor Rachel Macdonald writes to encourage you to pray for your pastors.

UK: The Transgender trend and the pressure on frontline clergy

“With affirmative counselling increasingly becoming a requirement for doctors, psychologists and social workers over the current transgender trend, frontline clergy are bound to come under pressure to affirm individuals’ life-style choices in pastoral conservations. …”

– Julian Mann, Vicar of Oughtibridge in South Yorkshire, is thankful the Ordinal reminds gospel ministers where their focus must lie. (He is pictured here with Archbishop Ben Kwashi.)

Send your pastor away

“When was the last time you told your pastor to go away? Or better still … sent him away?

… that is, sent him away to a pastor’s conference?

Sure, your pastor can do this himself, but sometimes – toiling away week after week, month after month – he needs a prompt from the elders. Time away at ministry conferences and conventions play an important role in the life and work of the Christian pastor. Pastors can have their faith restored, mind sharpened and skills honed. …”

– Some encouragement from John P Wilson, Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia.

The goodness of Christian hope

“Do your friends know the goodness of the Christian hope? Do you?

Recently I was talking to one of my most biblically informed non-Christian friends about life, the world, human nature and God, when she told me ‘I don’t want eternal life’. …”

– Kirsten McKinlay writes at The Australian Church Record.

Love for Jesus, and the cost of bringing his Word

You may remember this video (posted in 2011, and showing events from 16 March 2010) of the Kimyal Tribe in West Papua as they celebrate the arrival of copies of the New Testament in their heart language.

A new video, about the Dale and Masters families, gives an insight into the commitment, obedience, and the cost, of bringing the gospel to every tribe and tongue.

Memorising Colossians together

At GoThereFor.com, Richard Chin is asked how and why he memorised Paul’s Letter to the Colossians.

Church Society Podcast: Reporting from ReNew

At Church Society’s blog, Ros Clarke presents interviews and reports from this year’s ReNew conference.

Listen here.

Zeal without Burnout – free ebook in September

During September 2018, The Good Book Company is giving away a free ebook of Christopher Ash’s highly regarded Zeal without Burnout (via their UK website).

Even if you don’t feel you need to read the book right now, grab a copy anyway before the end of the month!

Related: Slip, slop, slap for sustainable sacrifice – Lionel Windsor.

‘Men Praying for Moore’ Breakfast – Saturday 22 September 2018

Here’s an opportunity for men to come together, and to share in breakfast and in prayer. As well, Dr Peter O’Brien, will lead a devotional.

Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God..”

Details from Moore College.

Why Millennials ARE coming to church

“There have been plenty of articles about why Millennials – those twenty somethings – are not coming to church. Plenty of time and attention towards what would bring them back.

Well, in our church at the moment plenty of Millennials ARE coming. It’s been noted by the older crowd that they’re starting to get outnumbered by that particular cohort this year. …”

– Here’s an encouraging article by Stephen McAlpine.

2018: Now is the Time for Evangelism

“I was born in 1975, and I would go so far as to say this is the best evangelistic environment in Australia in my lifetime.

We should be proclaiming the gospel with confidence. We should expect fruit. And we must not allow our fear about the institutional and legal environment to bleed into a pessimism about evangelism as such.”

– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Rory Shiner writes to encourage you to expect fruit from evangelism.

Anglican Future starts with ‘Gospel Confidence’

“The opening of the Anglican Future Conference in Melbourne has begun with a stirring call for Christian leaders to defy secular stereotypes of the church as a dying force. …

The conference, with the theme “Grace and Truth in Uncertain Times” is organised jointly by the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Church (EFAC) and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, Australia and New Zealand, chaired by the Bishop of Tasmania Richard Condie.”

– Russell Powell reports at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Promoting plagiarism in ministry

“Over the last few weeks there’s been a lot of angst in my denomination’s local circles about evangelism. A visiting friend told us we’re no longer keen on it, and the statistics show that over the last ten years we’ve lost people just as fast as we’ve converted them. …

In the midst of this I thought I’d share what our church is doing. We’re a small, struggling church in the part of Sydney where Anglican churches go to die. We’re not big. We’re not successful. Our senior minister is a bit of an idiot. We haven’t found the evangelism silver bullet. …”

– At GoThereFor.com, Mike Doyle at St. James Berala, reckons you ought to find the best of the best – and “plagiarise the life out of it”.

Related:

Reflections on Sydney Anglicanism: An interview with David Robertson – Australian Church Record.

Have we lost evangelism? with Phil Colgan and Craig Schafer.

Reaching people with the gospel

Archbishop Peter Jensen has long been an advocate of looking for opportunities to share the gospel in taxis – and he was sure to carry a copy of The Essential Jesus (The Gospel According to Luke) to give away.

Tim Challies recently spoke at a bookshop in Scotland, and was asked about good ways to share the gospel with people.

His reply? “Uber!”. Good advice.

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