Sydney Missionary and Bible College Doctrine Lecturer Rob Smith submits his PhD this week on ‘Identity and Embodiment’ asking ‘How significant is our embodiment to our identity? How significant are our bodies to our gender identity?

There’s a new Matt Walsh Daily Wire Documentary ‘What is a woman?’ that is causing a stir across the world.

We ask Rob ‘What is a woman?’ and for his review of the new Matt Walsh documentary.

Plus how do we best care pastorally for the gender incongruent church member.

The end of an era as the founding editor moves on and the Bible Society shifts the vision for Eternity away from independent reporting to positive only news.

‘You be you.’ It’s the catch cry of a generation. But Brian Rosner says it’s also the new definition of sin.

Many people today believe that there’s only one place to look to find yourself and that’s inward.

Personal identity has become a ‘Do it yourself Project’.

This strategy of identity formation is sometimes called Expressive Individualism.

The view that you are who you feel yourself to be on the inside, and that acting in accordance with this identity is living authentically.

The Principal of Melbourne’s Ridley Theological College Brian Rosner has super helpful critique in his new book, ‘How to find yourself: Why looking inwards is not the answer.’

How can we work better together with people we don’t fully agree with and take advantage of that? We need both deep links and shallow links in ministry. How do we better communicate across theological sub tribes?

Archie Poulos is co-director of the Center for Ministry Development at Sydney’s Moore Theological College.

How do we start with Jesus in formulating a view of Scripture today? What is Jesus’ view of scripture? How do clarity and simplicity relate? How do we move from the speech of God to the word of God written? How does the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture play out in the different stages of biblical revelation? Can you give us a sixty second answer on canon formation? And how does speech-act theory impact the issues of the inseparability of Word and Spirit, and the efficacy of Scripture.

Principal of Sydney’s Moore Theological College Mark Thompson has a new book ‘The doctrine of Scripture: An introduction’

How do you find the right key person to join your ministry team?

There are questions like: What is the person’s heart for God and the gospel? What is the person’s relationship with authority? How do we recruit to a vision and strategy? What are the pitfalls of interviews? What are the first questions to ask referees? Who else to involve in the process? 

How does humility drive ambition? How can you be ambitious, having a right ambition, not for ourselves, but an ambition to magnify Jesus.

Paul Harrington leads the Trinity network of churches in Adelaide, South Australia. Having planted three new churches this year, they have grown to a network of 14 churches.

Paul gave the main evening talks at last week’s Reach Australia Conference, tackling head on the failures of Christian leaders.

‘A perilous moment.’ - That’s how the Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel described the situation that the Anglican Church of Australia is in - after an important vote failed to win support of the nation’s bishops at the denomination’s National Synod.

Today on The Pastor’s Heart we are speaking first to the Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel and then to the Gafcon Australia Chair, Bishop RIchard Condie of Tasmania and Rev Jennifer Hercott from Queensland.

How do we prioritise kids ministry? What to look for in appointing a kids minister? How do you support your kids minister to prevent burnout and work towards longevity?

How create a kids ministry that fits with the overall ministry philosophy and direction of the church? Advice on dealing with parent complaints and helping parents to value kids ministry and the time put in by kids ministers.

Bruce Linton is the Children’s and Youth Director at the Church Missionary Society NSW.

How do we process disappointment in ministry? Personally as leaders and with our people?
What about when the church plant fails? Hans Kristensen planted Resolved Church in Newtown, and six years later closed it down.

If we try lots of things, many of them will fail. But how do we know when to call time? And what part does ego play in all of this?

Hans Kristensen is now the senior pastor of Marsfield Community Church in Sydney. Before that he was founding pastor of Resolved Newtown in Sydney

How to navigate change management in church?

We want and need to make changes in our churches. But there are so many war stories of ‘church change resistance,’ where well meaning ministers have had relationships blow up in their faces when they attempted to bring about needed change.

Senior Minister of Christ Church Mayfair, in the center of London, Matt Fuller describes standing up in front of his church, saying he couldn’t cope and being told by his elders that he needed to take time off.

Matt describes a conversation with his senior elders when he said he was in trouble, and another one where his senior elder confronted him and told him he needed time off as he’s hit the wall and burnt out.

Matt puts it down to overwork, a complex season around his mother’s death and the extra difficulties of managing the church and staff team during COVID.

At the time he was angry and when he stopped, the depression was obvious and in the moment he just wanted to quit.

Matt says his vulnerability has helped the church to be more honest with each other.

Matt shares a story about a competent colleague who had preached through 2 Corinthians, but confessed later that he hadn’t wanted Paul’s letter to be true.

We think theologically, historically and pragmatically about how to make Mothers’ Day excellent at church, to serve our church family well, and for maximum mission impact.

Plus how do we care personally and from the platform for those for whom Mothers Day is emotionally complex.

Actor Will Smith has apologised over his actions at the Oscars (https://bit.ly/3J7xkPi) and former Hillsong Global Pastor Brian Houston has apologised to his church (https://bit.ly/3J9GXgb).

But what makes a good apology? And how can we apologise well?

Bruce Burgess from Peacewise says there are seven things that make up a good apology. (https://bit.ly/3j7LVPW)

The Chair of the Australian Gospel Coalition Gary Millar says the fall of Brian Houston brings significant lessons for anyone in any level of Christian leadership that power and authority are very dangerous.

Co-Director/Founder of the Mental Health & Pastoral Care Institute at Mary Andrews College, Keith Condie, says there’s a series of steps that pastors need to take to safeguard actions and protect marriages.

‘Stand for Christ. Stand for the truth. And let the chips fall where they may.’

Senior Pastor of Atlanta’s Church of the Apostles Dr Michael Youssef has a prophetic call to evangelical pastors today to not give up a trust in the scriptures, in the face of contemporary challenges on sexuality.

Dr Youssef tells the story of leading his church to depart the US Episcopal Church when the denomination moved against biblical teaching on sexuality, and the way God has blessed them since.

For 15 years Hugh Isaacs has been at the center of messy pastoral transitions, as an ‘emergency responder’ to churches going through a transition crisis.

After the initial work of helping members deal with their grief, there are five key steps that need to be worked through. Hugh says there are land mines everywhere and lots that can go wrong.

Senior leaders long to be effective leaders, but we may not be as good as we hope to be.

Leadership in a church context has become much much more complex, with increasing demands on the senior pastor to be excellent in leadership, managerial, and administrative on top of preaching, teaching and pastoral care..

Valerie Ling and Sarah Hindle, from Sydney’s Center for Effective Serving, say among leaders self awareness an emotional awareness is critical