Tony Payne provocatively argues that while evangelicalism has successfully recovered expository preaching and every-member ministry, we have not adequately recovered every-member word ministry.
Are evangelicals losing confidence in low-church evangelicalism? - with Orlando Saer
What’s going on? Is this a reaction against thin, seeker-friendly evangelicalism? Spiritual nostalgia?
Across the Western church, some younger Christians seem to be searching for deeper roots: tradition, transcendence, beauty, liturgy, sacraments and a stronger sense of connection with the historic church.
Fixing the 'senior pastor loneliness problem' - with Sheridan Voysey
The loneliest person in church may be the one standing at the pulpit.
Pastors spend their lives surrounded by people, but ministry can make real friendship strangely difficult. Confidentiality, responsibility, expectations, perceived favouritism and the pressure to “have answers but not needs” can leave church leaders profoundly alone.
From corrective to culture setting: leading Australian evangelicalism | with Richard Coekin
The Reach Australia movement has matured into something broader: from a corrective voice into one of the most significant culture-shaping forces in Australian evangelicalism.
Reach Australia has often been heard as a corrective: a push for clearer pathways, better systems, output thinking and more intentional leadership in local churches.
Richard Coekin says that, as an outsider, last week’s conference felt less like the corrective it may have seemed in the past and more like a mature, holistic vision for church leadership: with preaching, spiritual transformation, gospel culture, prayerful dependence and pastoral warmth much more clearly front and centre, while still committed to principled pragmatism and organising churches to reach the lost.
A senior pastor’s tears — and a gospel culture to reach a nation - Richard Leadbeater
Richard Leadbeater is the senior pastor of the influential Dundonald Church in London. He came to Australia for the Reach Australia Conference — 1450 pastors and leaders from across Australia, the UK, the US, South Africa and New Zealand — and left deeply moved.
Richard says he found himself in tears four times during the week.
In a The Pastor’s Heart Friday special, Dominic Steele presses into Richard’s pastor’s heart, exploring each of those moments.
Christ’s victory amidst discouragement, criticism, suffering and sin
Christ’s victory amidst discouragement, criticism, exhaustion, disappointment and sin.
We preach Christ’s victory as pastors. But we battle discouragement, criticism, exhaustion, disappointment and sin.
What does the victory of Christ actually mean for pastors whose ministries feel painfully ordinary?
What does it mean for leaders carrying the slow weight of imperfect churches, spiritual warfare, unanswered prayers and years of costly ministry?
Should evangelicals sing Hillsong, Bethel and Elevation songs in evangelical churches? - with Mal York
Church music is one of the most formative and contested parts of local church life.
People join churches because of music. People leave churches because of music. But music is not a filler between the sermon and the prayers. The songs we sing put theology into people’s mouths and memories.
So how should we choose the songs we sing in church?
'There are no rocks being thrown from this corner' - Dominic Steele on Sam Allberry
‘I, like many Pastor’s Heart viewers, read online in the middle of the day on Monday that Sam Allberry had engaged in inappropriate relationship with a man in 2022 and that, as the statement said, while the relationship did not go as far as it could have, it was a serious breach of trust, and that Sam is currently disqualified from gospel ministry.
‘I immediately stopped and prayed for Sam and then wrote to him to say that I care for him, love him, have stopped to pray for him and that there are no rocks being thrown from this corner.’
New thinking on addressing the collapse in ministry recruitment and training? with Orlando Saer
In the UK there are serious signs of a narrowing pipeline into ministry recruitment and training. Fewer people are coming forward through some of the traditional routes. Traineeships are under pressure. Residential theological education is changing.
And churches are asking: where will the next generation of pastors, evangelists, church planters and ministry leaders come from?
James Valentine, Voluntary Assisted Dying and How Christians Should Speak of Death - with Megan Best and Michael Quinlan
How should Christians respond when voluntary assisted dying is publicly framed as dignified, compassionate and courageous?
James Valentine has been rightly honoured as a much-loved broadcaster in the wake of his death last week. But alongside the tributes there’s been significant reflection on his choice to use voluntary assisted dying in the language of control, dignity, generosity and dying “his way”.
How do we honour and grieve a much-loved public figure, while still asking serious ethical and pastoral questions about voluntary assisted dying? Has the public conversation shifted from VAD as a last resort to VAD as a normal end-of-life choice?
How to put together an excellent funeral? | David Cook, Sandy Grant and Gary Coleman
Not every funeral is great. Sometimes they go too long, sometimes the gospel is not clear, sometimes the content overlaps.
How do you create a funeral service that God would be pleased with, connects well with people, honours the deceased and serves the bereaved?
Plus we examine what the Just War doctrine says about individuals conduct in war, in light of the controversy surrounding Australian Soldier Ben Roberts-Smith.
JUST WAR & the US, Israel, Iran and Ukraine - with John McClean, Rob Smith & Grant Dibden
How should Christians think about war? How does the Biblical Framework of Just War help us understand how we should react to what is happening in the Ukraine, Iran, Israel and south Lebanon.
Together we explore how Just War thinking has shaped Western military ethics and whether it is quietly being sidelined.
Plus we examine what the Just War doctrine says about individuals conduct in war, in light of the controversy surrounding Australian Soldier Ben Roberts-Smith.
How to really change a church? - with Archie Poulos and Kirsty Bucknell
How do you change a church, like really change, not just tweak a program or update a roster, but challenge the whole model?
Kodak missed the shift to digital photography. We’ve seen huge changes in industries impacting newspapers, landline telephones, taxis, bank branches, travel agents, street directories, encyclopedias. For each the world moved on.
But have churches missed a revolution too, and if so, what is it? And how do evolve?
Getting Authority and Care Right - Peter Orr on Today’s Pastor
‘Authority’ and ‘care’- the two big words New Testament lecturer Peter Orr says belong together at the heart of real shepherding.
Vaughan Roberts: Grace and Truth on Sexuality and the Global Church
We tackle one of the most sensitive issues facing the global church — sexuality.
Vaughan Roberts, senior minister of St Ebbe’s Oxford, speaks as both pastor and theologian. In this interview he reflects on deeply personal pastoral encounters — Christians struggling with pornography, same-sex attraction, gender incongruence, and the pain of confusing messages from churches.
The Global Anglican Communion, Abuja and the AUS Anglican Church - with Archbishop Kanishka Raffel
What does the reordering of the Anglican Communion actually mean for Christians in the Australian Church?
Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel on what it means for Anglican churches, clergy and church members in Australia.
A 2.5 min report on 'Global Anglican Communion' to play in church this Sunday
Here's a video report you could download and show in your church meeting this Sunday to report on the launch of the Global Anglican Communion.
Laurent Mbanda: First extended interview with the leader of the new Global Anglican Communion
In this special episode of The Pastor’s Heart, Dominic Steele speaks with Archbishop Laurent Mbanda of Rwanda, newly appointed chair of the council guiding newly inaugurated the Global Anglican Communion.
Global Anglican Leaders React to the Global Anglican Communion
Reactions from Michael Stead, Julian Dobbs, Alfred Olwa, Emmanuel Egbunu, Vaughan Roberts, John Dunnett, Glenn Davies, Darryl Parker and Richard Condie as they respond to what this moment means for their provinces and for the global Anglican movement. The discussion was recorded for Advent Cable Network Nigeria, where host Promise Njoko-Adebe invited Dominic to co-host.
Day 3: Laurent Mbunda on the emerging Global Anglican Communion
In his first interview after being elected chair of the new Global Anglican Council, Archbishop of Rwanda Laurent Mbanda has outlined how leadership will work in the emerging Global Anglican Communion
The GAFCON Primates have dissolved the GAFCON Primates Council — the body that has guided the movement since 2008 — and in its place established a new Global Anglican Council to help lead what is the emerging Global Anglican Communion.