Southern Cross magazine February-March 2024

The latest issue of Southern Cross magazine from the Diocese of Sydney is now available – in printed form at churches – and electronically at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Find the latest issue here.

Representing Jesus to our grandkids

“For many people today, there is a lot of life left after retirement. Many years ago, when I began work, the union representative told me that our superannuation scheme for men was based on retirement at 65 and death at 67½! Now, the life expectancy for men is 81 and 85 for women. …”

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Paul Whiting introduces us to an important book – one especially important for grandparents.

Bridging Secular Wisdom and the Christian Mission: A Dialogue on Growth, Change, and Spiritual Transformation – with Archie Poulos

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“What can we learn from recent secular literature about the practice of Christian pastoral leadership?

Head of Ministry at Sydney’s Moore Theological College Archie Poulos looks at how the ‘The Infinite Game’ concept, popularized by Simon Sinek, can be applied to ministry. Sinek explores the consequences of short and long term thinking in business and life. Long term success is more likely when an infinite perspective is taken.

Then we examine Loran Nordgren and David Schonthal’s book ‘The Human Element: Overcoming the resistance that awaits new ideas.’

Archie considers the emotional and psychological hurdles (inertia, effort, emotion, and reactance) that congregations face when change is suggested.

We look back to ‘After the Ball’ by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, a 1989 secular play book for effecting LGBTI societal acceptance. Archie suggests there are lessons from aspects of that strategy for Christian mission.

Plus Archie talks about what impressed him about Andrew Heard’s soon to be released book ‘Growth and Change – The danger and necessity of a passion for church growth.”

– Watch or listen here.

Growth and change – with Andrew Heard

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“‘Many of the ways we are running our churches and ministries and many of the ways we are exercising leadership within our churches, has become a significant hindrance to the growth of the church.’

Andrew Heard’s about to be released book Growth and Change will be the ‘must read’ book for pastors for 2024.

In his opening preface Gospel Coalition founder DA Carson – says ‘I am usually loath to proclaim that such and such a book is the best in its field … but if there is one book that happily serves as the exception to the rule, Heard’s book is it.’…”

– Watch or listen here.

Three Lessons from 234 Pastors’ Libraries

“One of the most common assumptions about pastors throughout church history is that they are men of books – that reading is central to a pastor’s ministry. If you walk into your pastor’s office – he might even call it his ‘study’ – it will almost surely be full of books (2 Tim. 4:13).

But it wasn’t always this way. From our perch in 2023, we easily forget how significant the introduction of the printing press was to the history of the church. Prior to its invention, books were rare, usually only owned by wealthy men and women or tucked away in a monastery. Hardly any ordinary Europeans would have owned more than one book prior to 1450. …”

– At 9Marks, Forrest Strickland shares three lessons from history.

The T. B. Joshua Story points to a problem in many churches

“The recent expose by the BBC on the late prophet T. B. Joshua is heart rending.

The reports and eyewitness accounts point to what is without a doubt a massive tragedy on many levels. To witness someone in authority in a church be able to perpetuate so much abuse for so long with complete impunity makes your blood boil. To see the lives of so many people scarred, perhaps for the rest of their lives, cuts to the heart. It puts on full display the ugliness of sin or evil and its power to hide and grow. It should make us all long ever more eagerly for the day of our Lord’s return to judge every lawbreaker and to make all things new.

However, to my mind, one of the greatest tragedies from this saga is that countless similar scandals have happened before in the African church. More so, they’re almost certainly going to happen again. Soon. …”

– At The Gospel Coalition Africa, Oyewole Akande in Lagos (pictured) speaks of a problem which is not always confined to Africa.

2024 Armidale Preaching Conference

Here’s a great resource for friends within striking distance of Armidale – The Expository Preaching Trust is holding a Preaching Conference on May 6 and 7 2024.

– Details from the Trust and also from the Diocese of Armidale.

Launch 2024 bookings close this weekend

Phillip Jensen writes (15th January) –

“Next Sunday, 21 January, is the deadline for your budding uni students to register for Launch Camp. That means they have 6 days left.

Launch 2024 is filling up quickly now that the deadline is close and our Launch leaders are looking forward to welcoming many school leavers this year!”

“Launch is the camp for school leavers keen to live for Jesus. It is where you will

Meet others who have just finished school
Connect with Uni Christian Groups
Be challenged by great Bible talks from Phillip Jensen and Richard Chin.

29th January – 1st February 2024, Stanwell Tops.”

– Be encouraged to share the link and to pray for those attending.

10 books to add to your Summer reading list

From SydneyAnglicans.net:

“The days are long, the breeze is cool, we’ve got a good book and we’re lounging by the pool. Sounds like a perfect summer day to me!

Here’s a short list of great books from the past 12 months that are worth stashing into your suitcase this season, as reviewed by our team and invited guest writers. …”

– See the list here.

What to do about threats and weaknesses – with David Rietveld

From the Pastor’s Heart at the start of their fourth year –

“The massive drop in church attendance is a crisis facing churches across the Western World and there are external pressures and internal weaknesses that need to be addressed at every level of the church. …

Even allowing for a covid factor, even assuming some sort of bounce back, these are figures that we should talk about.”

– An important topic. Watch or listen here.

Anglican Aid’s 2024 Prayer Diary

Have you downloaded (or obtained a printed copy of) Anglican Aid’s 2024 Prayer Diary?

“[In 2023], we praised God for answering our prayers for the rain that broke the devastating three-year drought in East Africa. Times of drought and emergency certainly drive us to prayer, but Psalm 104 reminds us that God is the good creator and sustainer of our world.

It is always God who makes things grow to bring forth food from the earth. Paul reminds the Corinthian church that the same is true for growing churches. When Corinthian church members were falling into factions and arguing about which leader they were aligned with, Paul said, ‘I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow’ (1 Corinthians 3:6).

This is why prayer is so important. Whether it is a farming or water project, school or church, we rely on God for his good gifts that bring transformation, in his good timing.

Our 2024 Anglican Aid Prayer Diary contains 31 days of prayer points for a range of projects supported through Anglican Aid to deliver emergency aid and relief, training of church leaders, income generation, clean water, education, and more. All these projects are carried out by believers, and it is our hope that God will bring tremendous growth as we pray throughout 2024, strengthening churches and transforming communities to his glory.

Canon Tim Swan
CEO, Anglican Aid.”

– Download your copy here.

Prayer diary items are also available through PrayerMate.

Why You Should Attend Church (in Person) This Sunday

“Whether because of health concerns or simply out of preference for watching online in their pajamas, 30- to 49-year-old churchgoers now attend church far less often than before COVID. For some, gathering in person can feel risky or inconvenient.

No doubt online services can serve beloved homebound saints and sick members. There are valid reasons to miss church. And yet God’s Word insists individual Christians need congregational worship. …”

– While this article at The Gospel Coalition is written for a US readership, numbers are still down after COVID in many churches in Australia.

On Being a Heroic Man

“There is something deep inside a man’s heart that longs to be heroic.

I don’t know what little girls dream of, but I do know that little boys dream of carrying those girls out of a burning schoolhouse so they can be admired as strong and brave. Teenaged boys dream of fighting in a war not so much to blaze away at the enemy as to perform an act of heroism that will mark them as tough and noble and worthy of honor.

Though older men may no longer be prone to such fantasies, they, too, are drawn to heroism and are convinced that they would be equal to the challenge, that they would stand where others fall, that they would run forward when others run back. …”

– At the start of the year, Tim Challies shares some wisdom for men, urging patience and action.