Marshall Ballantine Jones joins Dominic Steele to talk the dangers of social media for pastors and church communities. How do we get our hearts right? How we can use social media well? What pitfalls are there to avoid?

Today we explore the journey Tertullian to Thomas Jefferson or how the issues of Religious Liberty and Freedom of Conscience don’t actually spring out of the Enlightenment but from the pages of the New Testament.

Dr Sarah Irving Stonebraker has caused quite a splash this week with her Richard Johnston Lecture on Thursday night. Sarah is a Senior Lecturer in Modern European History, and teaches in History and Political Thought at the University of Western Sydney.

We are discussing the logistics of Christmas in COVID, with Pete Steadman and Stuart Crawshaw.

With limitations around singing, gathering and social distancing in place, today we are discussing the most effective way to connect with our communities and share the gospel. Carols, Gingerbread, Wreath Making and even Christmas services typically rely on large groups of people coming together and feeling comfortable within the Church space.

On today’s special episode of the Pastor’s Heart, we’re discussion issues surrounding religious freedom and church gatherings on the way out of COVID.

Neil James Foster, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Newcastle and Ray Galea, Senior Pastor of MBM Rooty Hill discuss an important court ruling on this in Washington DC, where Capitol Hill Baptist Church have won their legal challenge against imposed limits on congregational gatherings.

GAFCON General Secretary Archbishop Ben Kwashi joins us to give an update on his colon cancer diagnosis, parenting 74 orphan children, COVID in Africa and the future of GAFCON.

Queensland University’s Dean of Law Patrick Parkinson says we are facing a fall of Rome moment in Western Societies. Christendom is over.

We need to not put our trust in princes in the way that American evangelicals have disastrously done so.

It sounds so simple. And yet it’s clear from the statistics (National Church Life) that people in some congregations are reporting much growth in faith, while people in others are reporting not much at all.

And isn’t it what we all want: For the sheep that God has given us the task of being under shepherds for - to report that they have grown significantly in faith this year?

Tom Harricks and Roger Cunningham are two of the ministers featured in a new report for the Anglican Church in Sydney (https://j.mp/35UXjt5) who have achieved better than average results.

We could have talked to the report authors. But we’ve chosen to interview the report subjects and find out what the key ingredients are… so we can learn from them and steal from their recipes.

I’m a little concerned, spiritually concerned, that for some of my friends (perhaps for up to a third of our churches) we are letting the excuses to not come physically to church get in the way.

Unless you are in a high risk group you should go back to church and help serve again in building up your local expression of Jesus’ body.

It's a spiritual temperature check as we take the pulse on the relationship between church involvement in local missions and support for overseas missions.

We discuss the factors that contribute to the evangelistic heartbeat of a local Church, how Church size and denomination impacts their mission involvement and what this means for how we lead our Churches.

There’s been a drop in post COVID attendance at church across the world. For some the issues are health, others head (anxiety etc) and for others it’s an issue of the heart.

Antony Barraclough has been researching the patterns and reasons for modern church attendance by committed Christians. He works to diagnose the issues and suggest some ways forward.

The average Christian gives only 2.5% But the first step in getting our churches finances right is getting the church leader’s hearts and finances right.

How do we create a dual audience church? How do we do church live and well, simultaneously for both those physically in the room audience and at the same time for those linking in via online stream.

Today we hear from two younger leaders. We’re exploring the joint problem of not enough people putting themselves forward for ministry and the shortage of senior ministers for Sydney’s Anglican Churches.

Moore Theological College Lecturer Mark Earngey and St George North Assistant Minister Mike Leite have been researching for several years the underlying issues that have contributed to the Sydney minister drought.

How to exercise calm present leadership when there’s disappointment, constant change and pressure from every side?

Understanding what’s going on psychologically now with your church, team and you? How to best care for your team? And how to lead now when anxiety levels keep oscillating as the risk from the virus waxes and wanes (and are likely to for the next two years).

Plus navigating how to lead when there are so many different views inside and outside the team about which direction you and your church should take.

Australian church leaders need to make a philosophical shift in every aspect of our ministry, away from leading for recovery and towards planning to lead for endurance.

Dominic Steele says we need to start using the catchcry, ‘Not Recovery, But endurance, ’ in order to set our people’s expectations right.

Dominic was speaking at today’s Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion Conference in conjunction with the Peter Corney Institute.

Rob Smith has been a global leader in evangelical music for three decades. He has a new book out ‘Come, Let us Sing!’ just as singing has been restricted in many churches due to COVID-19.

Rob, who is also a lecturer at Sydney Missionary and Bible College, joins us to talk about some of the principles he’s discovered in a lifetime’s work in Evangelical Music, plus how the current pandemic has caused course corrections.

We’re asking how do we engage with God and engage with each other best in normal circumstances and in the current pandemic. What part does music play in praising, praying and preaching together.

What advice is there for musicians and church leaders on navigating current restrictions (like no congregational singing, one song leader, social distancing etc) in regards to song choices, instrumentation, arrangements, number of songs, introduction, arrangement of meeting, use of the screen, pressure on musicians, leading the congregation in song vs performance ?

To buy Rob’s new book go to: http://bit.ly/comeletussing

After three years of researching the pornography problem and what to do about it, Marshall Ballentine Jones has a message of hope.

The same stats keep recurring – 70% of males and 20% of females struggle with pornography use.

This is true in Christian schools, our churches, and ministry staff. Pornography negatively impacts individuals, their relationships, and society. Males are more likely to initiate sexualised behaviour over social media (called ‘sexting’), while females are more likely to be targets of sexting. If this is news to you - please check out the resistporn.org site, which has the research.

There is a long list of people in our ranks affected by pornography. No one is immune, and the problem remains urgent. Marshall has been on a quest has been to help find effective solutions.

There is no easy fix or silver bullet, but he’s recommending a four pronged tested strategy to as a way forward: 1. Communication, 2 Containment, 3. Co-operation and 4. Clinical support.

More details and to subscribe: http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/pornography

Thousands of Christians packed into John MacArthur Juniors’ Los Angeles evangelical megachurch ‘Grace Community Church’ on the weekend, in defiance of a California state directive.

Moore Theological College’s Lionel Windsor and Northmead Anglican Church’s Adrian Russell give their different perspectives.

There’s a critical problem here in Sydney, with more than ten percent of churches without a senior minister.

How have we come from ‘oversupply’ just a few years ago to ‘crucial shortage’? And what can we change?

A fortnight ago we spoke to former Sydney Dean Phillip Jensen and he rolled a 'hand grenade down the aisle.' Today we talk to two of Sydney’s leading senior ministers Phil Colgan and Simon Flinders about possible ways forward.