The Pastor's Heart with Dominic Steele

On the surface, some are drawn by beauty, history, liturgy, mystery, masculinity, discipline and Orthodoxy’s claim to be the original church.  But John Diacos says beneath many of the surface attractions lies something much more spiritually dangerous. John was converted from Orthodoxy to a clear faith in Jesus Christ 50 years ago, has served Jesus for decades in Melbourne and is the author of Cert...

For a generation of Sydney evangelicals, the Katoomba Christian Conventions weren’t just events in the calendar - they shaped church programs across the city. In the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, thousands gathered under the circus tent and then later in packed auditoriums to hear the Bible taught, sing with conviction and be raised up for ministry. But how did Katoomba become such an influence in Syd...

New research suggests that around 70% of those who attended church regularly at age 11 are no longer attending by their late twenties, with the most vulnerable years stretching from around age 10 through to 25.  Dean of Students at Youthworks College Ruth Lukabyo explores why young people disengage, how inherited faith becomes owned faith and what churches can do to better navigate the critical tr...

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.  Tony argues that the Reformation remains unfinished, that we haven’t fully thought through the implications of the priesthood of all believers, and that passages like Ephesians 4, Hebrews and especially 1...

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. Some evangelicals have become Roman Catholic or even Orthodox. Even a church formerly affil...

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. Sheridan Voysey says pastors don’t just need supervision, syst...

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 confe...

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 R...

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? We speak with Phil Colgan and Adam Ch’...

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? Mal York, the dean of students at Sydney’s Moore Theolog...

Dominic Steele says 'There are no rocks being thrown from this corner.'  Dominic Steele's Pastor's Heart for 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, i...

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? In Australia, it is...

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 “hi...

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? David Cook is former Principal of Sydney Missionary and Bible College, Sandy Grant is dean of St Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney, and Gary C...

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. We go back to first principles drawing on the work of Augustine of Hippo Thomas Aquinas - asking when is it right to go to war — and how must war be conducted? And how do those principles evaluate what’s happe...

Tinkering or transformation? 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...

‘Authority’ and ‘care’-  the two big words New Testament lecturer Peter Orr says belong together at the heart of real shepherding.  Lecturer at Sydney’s Moore Theological College, Peter Orr, has told the Nexus Conference, that one of the great confusions of our moment is confusion about the role of the pastor.  He asks whether in circles like ours, with a strong and right emphasis on every-member...

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. In Abuaja, Nigeria, Vau...

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. We explore what ‘principled disengagement’ from the Canterbury Instruments will mean for Australian leaders and other Global Anglican Communion leaders.  Plus an update on impl...

A refugee boy who walked barefoot from Rwanda to Burundi now leads the 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. Speaking from Abuja, Nigeria, just days after the historic gathering that launched the new comm...

The announcement of the new Global Anglican Communion has triggered an extraordinary wave of reaction from evangelical Anglican leaders gathered in Abuja this week. For many delegates, the moment was deeply emotional. One leader described it as “the privilege of crossing the river and entering the promised land,” capturing the sense that years of theological tension and debate have now led to a de...

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 th...

The future shape of the Anglican Communion is being debated this week in Abuja, Nigeria. At the GAFCON conference, more than 400 bishops and global leaders are working through the logic of the proposal that could lead to a new Global Anglican Communion — a fellowship grounded in the authority of Scripture and historic Anglican doctrine. On Day 2 of the conference, Dominic Steele speaks with key le...

The atmosphere was electric in the cathedral in Abuja, Nigeria as the the Word of God from 2 Corinthians rang out with unmistakable clarity: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers… Come out from them and be separate… Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates.” The preacher was the Archbishop of Nigeria, Henry Ndukuba , and his message landed with force. Many of the Primates, Ar...

Dominic Steele reports from Abuja, Nigeria, as nearly 500 Anglican leaders gather for GAFCON 2026 in what many believe could prove a decisive moment in the reshaping of the Anglican Communion.  Delegates have arrived from across Africa, the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australasia, despite significant travel disruption caused by the US–Iran conflict and Middle Eastern airspace closures. For many Aus...