The Pastor's Heart with Dominic Steele

It’s a moment of honesty for Sydney Christians as we talk the ‘elephant in the room.’  Despite rises in giving, clergy numbers and population the number of Christians in Sydney Anglican Churches is in plateau or decline.  Raj Gupta is the senior minister of St Paul’s Anglican Church, Carlingford, a member of the Anglican Growth Corporation.  Raj asked questions at the latest Synod about attendance...

Four leading Victorian Christian leaders on the controversy that has erupted in Australian National Politics - around the chair of the Victorian based City on a Hill church movement Andrew Thorburn, over his appointment as CEO of the Essendon Football Club and then almost immediate resignation.  When faced with an ultimatum to choose between his church and his new position at Essendon, Thorburn ch...

Marriage is a great opportunity for selfishness.  Al Stewart, the national director of the Australian Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, has some advice for husbands which can be summarised in three simple words. Don’t be selfish.  Al challenges husbands and fathers to use power for the good of others, especially our wives and children. In regards to sex, Al tells men to be nice, smel...

Australia has the world’s worst rate of gambling losses per capita, even though it is home to less than half a percent of the world’s population with 20 percent of its pokies.  NSW, particularly Sydney, are worst of all with approximately over double the rate of poker machine losses compared to every other Australian state and territory.  About 40% of all pokies losses come from problem gamblers. ...

Billions watched on as the funeral of Queen Elizabeth was broadcast around the world yesterday. What can we learn about today's funerals from this event though? What worked? What didn’t work? Is there anything our guests would have done differently?  Joining us is David Peterson, former Principal of Oak Hill Theological College in London who is now lecturing as an adjunct faculty member at Sy...

‘When they go low, we go high.’ - That’s what Michelle Obama said.  The former American first lady’s comments came to mind as I listened to Sydney Archbishop Kanishka Raffel give his first presidential address to the Sydney Synod since being elected during Covid.  Archbishop Raffel’s ‘ Do you see the crowds ’ address at Oran Park was mission driven and gospel focused, particularly asking how to re...

In the second half of the 20th century, one man dominated gospel advocacy in Sydney. John Chapman.  John Chapman was director of Evangelism for the Sydney Anglican Church, and played a significant role in shaping attitudes to preaching, evangelism and a series of controversies.  Baden Stace, the senior minister of St Stephen’s Normanhurst, has recently published a work showcasing the impact of Joh...

How can we as church leaders develop and implement plans to care for people affected by disability - so that they can hear the gospel clearly and engage in Christian fellowship.  What are the theological foundations for disability ministry?  How do we in our hearts/attitudes welcome or distance those with disability?  What language should we use?   How do we include people on the autism spectrum?...

Gafcon Australia Chair Richard Condie has responded to revisionist critics, labeling them as false teachers who have rejected Biblical and Anglican doctrine, and are responsible for the current Australian church schism.  Gafcon has formed an Anglican lifeboat for faithful Christians, the ‘Diocese of the Southern Cross’ announced at the big GAFCON Australasia Conference, this week in Canberra. It w...

In Australia, there are now two expressions of Anglicanism. The first congregation of the new Diocese of the Southern Cross started at Beenleigh in Brisbane last  Sunday and the Diocese’s first bishop Glenn Davies will be appointed on Thursday. Other congregations are expected to join in the next few months. The spilt in the Australian Anglican Church follows the failure of the Bishops of the Nati...

The Anglican Communion is broken and needs to repent. Provinces of the Anglican Communion are now free to develop their own teaching on sexuality, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. There will be no contending for the faith (cf Jude 1:3) or withdrawing fellowship from the sexually immoral. Archbishop Justin Welby arranged the Lambeth Conference so that delegates didn’t get to...

How do you best assist a church member who discloses that they are experiencing gender incongruence?  How do we show compassion and care with people where you disagree with the choices they might be making? How do we lead others in the church to do the same?  What advice do you have about seeking to provide an environment that does not exacerbate a person’s distress.  How do we rid our churches of...

Being a grandparent is such a blessing, however, comes with a great responsibility! How can Christian grandparents be more intentional about their faith and leave a lasting legacy of faith in their grandkids and peers? How do we, as pastors, minister to those older than us? How might we encourage them and teach them how they can minister to their grandkids, whether or not their kids are Christian?...

There is widespread confusion about what it is to be a man.  Across history, there has been and still is a widespread confusion about what it is to be a man and how to be masculine in a non-dominating way.  Masculinity is fundamentally about how men use their power. When it is done in a healthy way, masculinity will serve and bless those it reaches.  Al Stewart says we should value masculinity whe...

As we proclaim God to others, we don’t always get it perfect! So then, how do we proclaim Him as we ought? How might we rectify the mistakes we make and improve our evangelistic preaching?  Each talk we do is different, meaning that our preparation should be too. We ask Ross for the best approach various kinds of evangelistic talks and be creative when presenting sin? Ross Ciano is senior minister...

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 n...

Our regular episode is running 24 hours late as Dominic Steele is in COVID isolation.   In place Dominic has a series of hints on how we as pastors can best conduct ourselves on social media.  1. You are not a private Christian you are a leader.  Set an example for the believers in speech, conduct, in love, in faith and in purity 1 Timothy 4:12 2. Shine like stars in a crooked and depraved medium...

‘Do not be anxious about anything’ says the Apostle Paul.  But Paul Grimmond says saying that to an anxious person is a bit like telling an ice-cream not to melt in summer. Unproductive and pointless. So, how do we think and speak biblically about anxiety to others while taking on board other factors in a person's life? How might we see anxiety as a gift? What does the interplay between mind...

‘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...

Archie Poulos has spent the last few years working on a PHD analysing the 10 key roles of a minister, and how we are going at each of them. He’s spoken to 312 clery across sydney and analysed their responses.  One key weakness Archie identifies in Christian leaders have is a failure to partner together. He says if we don’t learn to network and work together, our organisations won’t stand the test...

Principal of Sydney’s Moore Theological College Mark Thompson has a new book ‘The doctrine of Scripture: An introduction’.  Thompson talks about how we can start with Jesus in forming a view of scripture today.  He addresses questions such as what is Jesus’ view of scripture, how clarity and simplicity relate, how we move from the speech of God to the written word of God, how the doctrine of the s...

How do you find the right key person to join your ministry team? To figure this out, you may ask questions such as: 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? St Matthew’s Man...

Ambitions are a good thing! But how can we be ambitious about the right thing and have ones that magnify Jesus, not ourselves? How can we have ambitions driven by humility?  Paul Harrington leads 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 A...

‘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.  After being delayed twice due to COVID, the leaders of the Australian Anglican Church gathered for the first time since the marriage plebiscite....

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 to 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....