The Pastor's Heart with Dominic Steele

Proclamation is for every Christian, one’s Christian faith is always public and a command is not needed to link faith to speech.  'I believed therefore I spoke' - That’s what the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:13. And yet it’s a verse hardly referred to in the last few decades in discussions over who is responsible for evangelism.  Chris Braga of Grace West Anglican Church Sydney t...

Pastors facing up to our imposter syndrome - navigating the noise that leads us to make bad decisions. As Pastors, we feel the pressure to have the right answers to people’s questions. We want to be able to navigate the complexities of life and church and land everyone safely at the other end.  People share with us and the hardest parts of their lives, they trust us with their most private issues,...

A new study shows that training in systematic self reflection will develop resilience among ministry workers, who are at risk of stress related ill health.  Self reflective resilience training is beneficial to those in ministry roles and programs in this area can minimise stress related ill health.  BUT, Not all self reflection is equal.  Organisational Psychologist with Sydney’s Center for Minist...

We are hearing reports from the university campuses, from young adult ministries, and from youth groups - that there is an increasing openness to the gospel of Jesus - and there’s a new openness among young men.  There’s a shift in the culture. There’s something happening that is different among young people -  Especially among young men.  There’s a greater biblical ignorance in the rising generat...

As pastors we’re expressing leadership in our churches on gender and sexuality. We want to help our people think biblically - and yet with the culture moving so fast - it is an area that we feel ill equipped.  On today’s Pastor’s Heart we benefit from the hard work of Sydney Missionary and Bible College Theology and Ethics lecturer Rob Smith who has just published a reworked version of his PhD und...

What happens when a leader operates without a clear vision.  And how poetic or concrete should a vision be?  How to organise things so the overall vision cascades down through every area of church life?  What should our pastoral approach be to innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards and the nos.  Biblical vision and Leadership vision: What is the difference? Why do peop...

There are claims - and you hear them every so often - that archeology has disproved this story or that in the bible, and claims from this or that scholar of particularly late dating of different bible books. How do we as evangelical pastors react/respond/answer those claims? Hans Kristensen is senior pastor of Marsfield Community Church in Sydney and is studying ancient archaeology. He suggests th...

How does godliness play out differently if I am a man, a woman, a young man, a young woman, a husband or a wife? All Christians are called to live like Christ.  Why does the Apostle Paul choose to write about what godliness looks like for the older and younger and for us as men and women, rather than more generally for us as people?  Does our age and sex have implications for the challenges we fac...

Godliness vs Effectiveness - the Both/And Ministry dilemma  Godliness vs Effectiveness Theology vs Pragmatics  People centered vs Organisationally minded Leading from the front vs Serving others  Courage to take a stand vs Quick to submit Others know I am one of them vs I am set apart to lead I lead patiently vs I lead with a sense of urgency  Most Christians at some point do start to wonder if th...

What is the work of the Lord? What is in vain if the resurrection is not true? What truly lasts and what does gospel work looks like in our daily lives?  The debate over eschatology and one’s view of the new heavens and new earth.   Will there be a Sydney Harbour Bridge in the new creation?  And in the meantime, what should be our priorities? William Taylor is the rector of St Helens Church in Lon...

Indigenous Australians and the Christian Gospel - with Michael Duckett  As we approach ‘Aboriginal Sunday’ (19 January) we focus on the progress of the gospel among the indigenous in Australia. What are the cultural changes and what openness to Jesus Christ among Indigenous Australians?  Where are we seeing growth? What are the roadblocks and opportunities for the growth of the gospel among the in...

We speak to Alistair Begg about pastors, suffering, humility and surviving long term in ministry. Alistair Begg is in Australia speaking at the Church Missionary Society conference in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.  Alistair has served the people of Cleveland Ohio for 42 years at Parkside Church and has a global impact through the influential Truth for Life Ministry.  We go backstage with Ali...

How should we guide our congregations in thinking ethically about engagement in Bitcoin?  What is Bitcoin?  How do we as Christian leaders assess the morality of bitcoin?  Proponents say that it’s design fosters transparency and fairness and promotes economic justice. Critics highlight its speculative risks and potential for illegal use.  Jeffri Chiam is on the team at St Mary’s Cathedral in Kuala...

Most of us evangelical pastors, theological colleges, indeed the whole of evangelicalism - we have a blind spot when it comes to Roman Catholicism in our theology, missiology and practice.    Where do we as Evangelicals make mistakes in our engagement with the Roman Catholic world?  What can we change?  What should we change? How do we best see our Roman Catholic friends come to a personal saving...

It is difficult times in the Church of England. Having previously publicly betrayed his ordination and consecration vows - the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby - has now resigned over his handling of a safeguarding matter, following the release of the Makin report. The Church of England is tearing itself apart over sexuality. There are more apostate bishops than faithful bishops in the Englis...

Church Leaders have welcomed the report of the trial of cashless gambling which recommends that ‘account based gambling’ be introduced in New South Wales by 2028.  There are bigger problems with gambling in Sydney and New South Wales than pretty much anywhere in the world (outside Las Vegas).  But the Clubs and Hotels industry is running a narrative attempting to discredit the trial, calling it a...

Is the church losing its global mission focus? The number of overseas missionaries being sent out is down on ten years ago.  Church and mission leaders have encouraged Christians to respond to the need for mission locally, especially as church decline accelerates. Yet there’s a growing concern that global mission involvement is being neglected in many local churches. Sydney Missionary and Bible Co...

How do we encourage our staff teams and members to be more intentional in Jesus’ mission of making disciples? Disciple making is entering into relationships to help people trust and follow Jesus - the whole journey from conversion through maturing and multiplication.  There’s a formal teaching component. But there’s so much more. Peter Mayrick, from Partners in Ministry, says he wants us to be mor...

Planning Christmas Preaching. What we are nervous about? What we want to get right? What has worked best? What hasn’t?  And how do we leverage the cultural moment?  Nigel Fortescue is senior pastor of Christ Church St Ives on Sydney’s North Shore.  Pete Stedman leads the ministry at Norwest Anglican Church in the North West of Sydney.  Anglican Aid To find out more about supporting Anglican Aid ....

How do we proactively serve Jesus in retirement? How might we motivate our older church members to prioritise the work of the gospel?  Mike Raiter said on The Pastor’s Heart a little while back that retirement needs rethinking to avoid the sin of the sluggard.  Mike Raiter said downing tools at 65 and spending 20 or 30 years resting is a 19th century concept and is not Christian.  But what is the...

I want to be a big hearted encourager like Barnabas. I want to be a reliable assistant like Timothy. I want to be passionate preacher like Apollos. When you think about the qualifications for Christian ministry in 1Timothy 3, the significance of personality is pretty much ignored. What is the relationship between character and personality?  Some one is all about structure and someone elose is much...

In a significant interview on the Rest is Politics Podcast England’s Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, has denied the teaching of the bible, and the teaching of his church.  It is Archbishop Welby’s most public betrayal of his ordination and consecration vow to ‘banish error and to uphold and defend the truth taught in Scripture.’ Archbishop Welby’s comments came on the eve of an important Ho...

How to best structure ministry teams in your church? And how to equip your team leaders for joyful service? Team leaders do the bulk of their ministry in between events not at events. How can someone become a more fruitful team leader? Why all conversations with your team fit into four categories - and how most team leaders get this wrong. David Moore is the executive pastor of Hunter Bible Church...

5,000 believers gathered from more than 200 nations last month in South Korea.  It is 50 years since Billy Graham and John Stott first launched the Lausanne movement in Switzerland.  Anglican Bishop of North Sydney Chris Edwards has described the congress as like an all you can eat buffet - where some parts tasted amazing / fantastic and  I kept wanting more and yet other parts even a mouthful mad...

Historical literacy is a critical tool for Christians, deepening faith and enhancing evangelism and discipleship. Sarah Irving Stonebreaker says we’ve forgotten how to engage well with the past, we don’t know why the past might be relevant to us today, and we have missed out on being part of a larger story. We need to uncover overlooked histories, bringing historical injustices to light, move beyo...