An important prophetic word from the most senior evangelical leader of Australia’s Uniting Church, Stu Cameron.

Stu has published two short essays over the last week, the first diagnoses the problems in his denomination, saying: We’ve failed the great commission; Stifled entrepreneurial leadership; and most significantly, Have lost confidence in the gospel. (http://bit.ly/stucameron-uc01)

The second essay suggests a five fold solution: 1. Confess, Repent, Pray; 2. Obsess about Disciple-Making; 3. Release Property Joyfully; 4. Learn Humbly; and 5. Blow it all Up. (http://bit.ly/stucameron-uc2)

How can we raise the evangelistic temperature in our church culture plus improve the intentional planning for evangelism in each of our churches?

Dan Paterson heads up the new Aussie evangelistic apologetic ministry ‘Questioning Christianity’, based in Brisbane. Dan’s the former Australian team leader for Ravi Zacharias ministries.

Dan has prepared an ‘evangelism game plan’ to help churches work on both the strategy and tactics of their evangelism plans. http://bit.ly/QCGameplan

Ministers have a crucial role as a source of guidance and authority in the church environment - but we also need coaching, guidance and support.

So how do we make sure that as spiritual leaders we are doing effective ministry? What heart issues and skills should we be focussing on to encourage sustainable and innovative service?

This week we’re speaking to an expert on the topic of ministry training, Peter Mayrick. As the co-director of the Centre for Ministry Development at Moore College, his key area of responsibility is supporting pastors and churches. Peter shares his wealth of experience with us as we discuss what’s helpful for coaching those who will shoulder the most responsibility for the health and growth of a church.

Unless you define what it means to be part of your Church, people will create their own definition, which will likely look very different to your own. A factor in the growth and retention of people in any organisation is defining what it means to be a part of that organisation.

This week on The Pastor’s Heart, Tim Clemens and Stuart Starr join us to discuss what the optimum length, content, style and ethos of a membership course should be in order to achieve the best results.

For more than 50 years David Jones has served in Wales, London, Tasmania and Queensland.

David shares his pastor’s heart, and lessons learned over the years, how he’s tackling the major Old Testament book, Deuteronomy.

What makes an effective evangelistic campaign? What messages will engage non Christian audiences with the truth of the gospel? This week we speak with three key evangelists about the best way to reach the lost.

We discuss positive evangelism, maximising mission opportunities, integrating online and offline campaigns, and ideas for a large scale campaign.

David Jensen is on the team at EV Church on the NSW Central Coast, Karl Faase is the CEO of Olive Tree Media, which produces programs for Christian media and local church use internationally. David Robertson is with the Sydney Anglican Church’s ‘Evangelism and New Churches.’

What does Monica Cook think we as pastors get wrong as we talk to people about sex?

How can we as pastors do a better job at helping people in regards to sex at the start of a marriage relationship?

What basic things does Monica want pre-marital couples to know? How do you frame sex in a healthy way?

We are talking about different personality traits on staff teams especially as they impact ministry team leaders.

It’s wonderful that we are all different and have our particular personality quirks.

But having some self-awareness about what we are like, and how others can be very different, is very important to help us work and relate to others in helpful and loving ways.

This week we are taking a deep dive into building sustainable ministries - starting with assessing, equipping and empowering team leaders.

We discuss how to assess if someone is ready to be a team leader, how to develop a leadership pipeline, and how to ensure someone takes a high level of responsibility.

Will the new Gospel Coalition campaign help or harm the cause of Christ in Australia?

Bill Salier and Akos Balough from The Gospel Coalition are promoting it.

Dominic Steele thinks it will do more harm than good and urged The Gospel Coalition to go back to the drawing board.

www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/helporharm

An explosive petition has brought to light a tidal wave of sexual abuse at Australian schools at the hands of young men.

The idea to create the now-viral online petition came after former Kambala School student raised the issue with friends via an Instagram poll.

72 per cent of 300 of her friends said they or someone they are close to had experienced sexual assault from a student from an all-boys school in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

You can view the petition online at: https://www.teachusconsent.com/

The stories in the petition are profoundly confronting and disturbing.

We explore the part played by pornography, a heart of sin, the role of parents, peer group, broader youth culture, compulsivity, messaging to boys and girls and the role faith plays.

Don’t let Easter creep up on you. We’re wanting to our member’s attention on Jesus’ death and resurrection and and hold out the word of life to a needy world.

We’re talking how to engage the neighbourhood, deliberate welcoming, leading hearts to love Jesus and what does and doesn’t work in follow up.

Paul Webb is the Senior Minister at Chester Hill Anglican Church, Elliot Temple is responsible for Mission at Christ Church St Ives and Andrew Levy is the Director of Mission at Christ Church Gladesville.

The face of Australia is changing. More than half Australia’s migrants come from Asia and that’s a field that is ready for harvest.

Plus, with the changes in China and Hong Kong there’s a new wave of migration expected, and the churches of the west need to be ready.

We are joined by pastors, Ying Yee, from Chinese Christian Church Sydney, Adam Ch’ng, from Cross and Crown in Melbourne and Stephen Oh, from Sydney Living Hope Community Church.

They all serve on the board of the new The Gospel Coalition Australia Asian Network which is being launched this Friday night.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org.au/Asia/

thepastorsheart.net/podcast/changing-asian-ministry

Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/thepastorsheart)

Harsh new rules have just been approved by the parliament of the Australian state of Victoria, banning conversion practices relating to sexuality.

The parliament has made illegal practices that have been part of Christian religion since the start of the church.

Going forward, pastors have questions on what the law says in regards to teaching in church, in small home groups and 1:1, and on how evangelical pastors respond in love to people with questions about personal sexuality.

We’re speaking to Rowan Kemp, from the Christian Evangelical Union at Sydney University, and Rob Copland, from the University of Wollongong about what changes / innovations they are introducing to better reach students in 2021.

We discuss the shaky months at the beginning of lockdown, new ministry opportunities that have been developed, and things that students might have missed out on.

Christianity in Australia is in decline. The narrative is we had a few golden years at the start, where 96% of the population identified as Christian, but that has been on a gradual decline for decades.

But if that’s the case:

- Why does Christianity in Australia go up, not down, after Darwin?
- In Australia, why does it go up after WWII?
- If the Church was so strong in the middle ages, why was church attendance so sketchy then?

This week, Rory Shiner joins us to discuss the ways that modern understanding is wrong about secularism. Rory believes we’ve accepted a narrative that isn’t true, and are making massive pastoral and missional mistakes because of it.

Adam Lowe has surveyed the online audience for his church, broken them down into four categories, and come up with a series of approaches for exercising pastoral care.