The Pastor's Heart with Dominic Steele

Some of the recent discussions about the post COVID church attendance drop has focused on the issues of health .  But there are also anxiety issues, spiritual heart problems and an element of spiritual war where the devil whispers ‘it’s not safe to go to the place where the word of God is!’ We take an informal poll of ministers to find out what’s happening with their ‘return to church,’ plus discu...

The average Christian gives only 2.5%  But the first step in getting our churches finances right is getting our own hearts and finances right. In a raw and real conversation Arya Darmaputra and Kevin Hines from Thesauros Consulting talk to Dominic Steele about the heart of the pastor as it relates to money. How have we been swept along by the currents of the world?  How we can take significant ste...

In a special edition today, we address a key issue :- Should you personally choose to use a COVID-19 vaccine candidate that makes use of a cell line cultured from an electively aborted human fetus? To put it super bluntly: If I get vaccinated for covid-19 am I complicit in an abortion? Our guests -  Megan Best is a bioethicist who has promoted a Christian view of medical ethics for over 20 years....

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.  Dominic Steele has argued we shouldn’t be leading for recovery from COVID, but rather for at least medium term endurance . Today Karl Faase, Simon Hunter and Jodie McNeil join Dominic to discuss what’...

Across the Western world theological college enrolments are down. Today it’s the third part of a conversation about this problem.  Specifically we are focusing on the issues of Sydney.   We’re exploring the joint issues 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 a...

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 lea...

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.  We need to start using the catchcry, ‘Not Recovery, But endurance, ’ in order to set our people’s expectations right. Anglican Aid To find out more about supporting Anglican Aid . Support the show

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 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 an...

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...

Thousands of people attended Grace Community Church in Los Angeles today, the evangelical megachurch led by Pastor John MacArthur junior.  And the church elders have put out a statement defending their decision, ‘ Christ, not Caesar is the head of the church. ’ Moore Theological College’s New Testament lecturer Dr Lionel Windsor and Northmead Anglican Church’s Senior Pastor Adrian Russell join us...

Across the Western World there’s a drop in people stepping up for ordination. 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 aisl...

An evangelical lion: JI Packer Today we remember JI Packer with two of Australian evangelicalism’s most respected leaders Mark Thompson and Peter Jensen. Dr Packer died yesterday in Vancouver, leaving his wife Kit and children Ruth, Martin and Naomi. Moore Theological College Principal Mark Thompson says Dr Packer was one of the three great giants of 20th century evangelicalism. Former Archbishop...

How do we plan for next year, when we don’t even know what the next few months will look like? Normally at this time of year, we are working out our vision, plans and budgets for the upcoming year, including staffing, growth, mission plans. How can we do that? This week, we’re talking about how to plan for 2021, when we don’t know what physical or financial situation our congregations will be in....

The minister drought and what to do about it? - with Phillip Jensen There’s been an across the board drop in people stepping up to serve in full time ministry roles whether as senior pastors, assistant pastors or people putting themselves forward to study at theological college.  We had the Principal of Moore Theological College, Mark Thompson on The Pastor's Heart a few months ago and he sai...

We are discussing a Christian response to Indigenous Australians. We talk the character of God, mistakes made in the past and present, and how we can lead our Churches to promote reconciliation.  We’ll be looking at how we can acknowledge our history and better support Indigenous Christian leaders. Neville Naden is BCA’s first Indigenous Ministry Officer. Together with his wife Kathie, Neville see...

The Alpha Course is 'emotionally powerful but theologically confused'. “Personally, I wouldn’t be game to use something that I know is inadequate” - Christian Author Tony Payne has watched through the latest Alpha materials, and joins Dominic Steele to work through the strengths and weaknesses of the course. This conversation is a high level discussion of the Alpha course, beginning with...

On The Pastor’s Heart, Robert Smith joins us to discuss Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s critique of the binary understanding of sex and gender and how we as Christian leaders can equip our churches to address these complex and controversial issues.  Rowling’s comments in a series of tweets and an online essay have sparked an intense social media backlash.  "It isn't enough for women t...

Check-ins, singing, 4 square meters and the way out of COVID-19. The Australian Prime Minister says in stage three of the Post Covid-19 reopening, groups will be able to meet with no upper limit on numbers from July, but there will be a blanket rule of 4 square meters per person.  However, all visitors to buildings will be required to checkin and provide contact details.  For churches that have ha...

We are talking Kotter's principles of change managment and how they apply to church leadership in this post COVID-19 season where the immediate steps forward may not be clear.  We need to lead to change. But for some of us senior pastors (as things keep changing) it’s not obvious where we want to go!  And yet we need to take everyone with us. As we move to restarting physical meetings post CO...

The Australian Government has recommended the reopening process go through a series of stages. New guidelines have been released for churches in NSW. But they have been changed since the original ones we discussed on The Pastor’s Heart with Bishop Michael Stead a fortnight ago. In NSW we are at Stage 2 (50 people gatherings) and stage 3 (100 people) is expected in July. Bishop Michael Stead is bac...

All ministry is vulnerable during the COVID-19 season. But kids and youth ministries especially. How can we reduce that vulnerability? Kids and youth connections have been difficult online for months now. Kids are over Zoom after weeks of online school. As we turn our attention to the restart, How do we regroup, recover and restart the young people ministries? Plus how do the principles of Adaptiv...

In New South Wales, Australia churches are permitted to gather for meetings of 50 from Monday, but are not permitted to have communal singing.  Rob Smith, Curtis Smith & Dr Charlotte Hespe discuss.  NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant says, "Communal singing and chanting should not occur because of the high risk of transmission of the virus. Instead, measures such as one singer standi...

We are addressing how we care for and lead our congregations on the way back. We are seeing states quickly move through the different stages of opening up.  How do we handle the fear of change, and navigate the decisions of starting to meet again. How do we help our members flourish in community while keeping a physical distance? How can we come through this stronger? What about the feelings that...

Brian Tung says leading our churches successfully out of COVID-19 is going to be much more complex than the journey in.  He says don’t squander the God-given opportunity to make ‘real’ change in the COVID-19 rollback.  How do you fix it even when it’s not broken?  Note, People don’t hate change. They hate loss. How do you make the most of the productive zone of disequilibrium.  Plus how to take sm...

The road forward .  Four scenarios and three questions for every church leadership team.  Churches are starting to plan for a post shutdown world.  The Australian Prime Minister has announced a three stage road map, of gatherings of  stage one = 10 people,  stage two = 20 people,  and stage three = 100 people. But significantly stage three could run for a very long time. Adam Lowe is senior pastor...