Two Ways News

This week’s episode comes at the end of Tony's trip to the US, during which he and Marty Sweeney spent a couple of weeks travelling around and running workshops about the ministry ideas of The Trellis and the Vine . As they look over the many conversations they had with pastors and congregations, Tony and Marty discuss: - Which aspects of the T&V approach to ministry still resonated most sharply w...

With Tony away on holiday, Phillip has brought in his brother Peter Jensen for a special conversation on Easter, their new books The Coming of the Holy Spirit and The Life of Faith: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine , as well as the upcoming King’s Coronation.  Below are some snippets of the conversation. Listen to the full episode to glean more from the depth of their insights of our world to...

Hello everyone It’s been great to receive so many feedback and emails from you, and in this episode we thought it would be great to answer some of these questions that you raised. We’ll catch up on a whole bunch of interesting questions about evangelism, about culture, about ministry, and the call to ministry. We hope you enjoy this discussion. Your brother Tony This is a public episode. If you'd...

In this week’s Two Ways News I’m flying solo, my regular co-pilot (Phillip Jensen) having been grounded with a nasty bug. My subject connects with a number of themes we’ve been discussing over the past several episodes. Given the increasing marginalization of Christianity in our culture, is it going to get more difficult to preach the gospel? Or perhaps easier? If God’s gospel is going to run free...

Thanks for all the emails that have been rolling in. We’ll do a special mailbag kind of thing in the next episode (or so) to catch up on some of your insights and questions.  In the meantime, this week’s edition bounces off last week’s Nexus discussion about our recent history. Why is history important? And how can we make sense of it, especially when there are always competing claims and interpre...

Last Monday, Phillip and I were at the Nexus Conference here in Sydney—a one-day gathering that aims to stretch and encourage ministry workers and leaders in the task of reaching Sydney (and beyond) with the gospel. It was a very stimulating and encouraging day, built around the Isaianic theme of trembling at the word of God :  Thus says the LORD:  “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footsto...

In this week’s rather packed episode, we talk about:  * Off-colour jokes about Jesus, and how Christians should respond; * Why ‘community standards’ is a fiction used to silence the community; * How you can only flourish in the public square as a Christian by pretending to be someone else; and  * Whether our God-given desires are a good basis for evangelism.  Enjoy. Links: ~ Same same but differen...

‘Bowdlerise’ is a word that’s fallen out of usage and fashion because the practice of it has (until recently) been laughed off the stage of culture. It means to snip out offensive language, characters or episodes from it. It was named after a 19th century doctor who we’ll talk about in the episode, and it seems like it’s making a comeback.  In these strange, upside times, it’s not Victorian morali...

We’ve spoken quite often here at Two Ways News (and before that in ‘The Payneful Truth’ years) about how the gospel is a particular thing. You can express it using different words and in your own style, but it’s not infinitely malleable. It has a definite content that we can know from the New Testament, and which we can explain to other people. The same is true with the Bible generally. These days...

This week’s edition features a piece from Tony about the strange and elusive phenomenon of the ‘public square’. What is it exactly? Should Christians be concerned that we are excluded from it? And what should we do if we are? In this podcast version, Tony and Phillip chat through a first draft of the piece, and try to improve it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other s...

Gambling has always been a social problem in our culture. In our part of the world, there is intense debate at present about how to reduce people’s access to poker machines (or gaming or slot machines as they are called elsewhere). How should we think about all this as gospel people? Do Christians have something unique and important to say about gambling? (We’ll also answer one of your questions a...

With Phillip away this week, I’ve gone to the substitute’s bench and hauled in Mark Thompson for a chat. Good to be able to get the Principal of Moore College as a fill in! Mark also lectures and writes in theology, and just last year, he published a more general book for Christians called The Doctrine of Scripture: An Introduction (through Crossway) which is not the most funtastic title in the wo...

As we send our kids back to school (as parents in Australia are doing this week), a question many of us might face is 'What are we actually doing?' With the government running schools for the most part, it isn't strange when parents wonder whose role it is to teach our children. As we discuss this topic, we hope to shed some light on some of the challenges that we face as Christian parents, and eq...

Everyone has an opinion, it seems, about the significance of the late Cardinal George Pell—about his culpability (or otherwise) in the Roman Catholic response to child sexual abuse, about his own guilt or innocence on sexual abuse charges, and about his role within Roman Catholicism itself (in the struggle between conservative and liberal factions). But what should we say when the topic comes up i...

In our first episode for 2023, Tony takes a typically roundabout trip through New Year's resolutions, repentance, self-denial and John Calvin, and ends up blaspheming a modern god. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.twoways.news/subscribe

In our end of year episode, we talk about the positives and negatives of Christmas and ministry. Plus some book recommendations for summer reading: The Case Against the Sexual Revolution, by Louise Perry. The Gospel of the Kingdom, by David Seccombe. The Coming of the Holy Spirit , by Philip Jensen. Busy: Tackling the Problem of an Overloaded Christian Life , by Ian Carmichael. This is a public ep...

What are the fundamentals that we share as evangelical Christians—the beliefs that bind us together as partners in the gospel, and which enable us to work together? And correspondingly, how much difference and disagreement is too much? When and how can we still work together despite our differences? And what has all this got to do with the Federalist Society? Listen to the full conversation, or re...

Religion causes wars. It’s a common accusation flung at religion generally but at Christianity in particular. And figuring out how to answer this kind of attack is a helpful case study in how to approach apologetic conversations generally. That’s our subject in this episode’s wide ranging conversation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to...

When Peter asks Jesus "How many times should I forgive my brother?", it's another example of Peter being sort of perceptive but also missing the point by a wide margin. In this week's edition, we talk about forgiveness: what it means, how it is at the heart of the kingdom that Jesus brings, and why the spirit of forgiveness and mercy must permeate our lives. Plus we deal with some of your question...

In this week's conversation, Phillip and I talk about the value and dangers of academic scholarship -- particularly the kind of biblical and theological scholarship that is done in mainstream universities. How can we appreciate and benefit from the work of scholars, but not be gullible about the motives and assumptions from which many of them work? To chase up our reference to Helen Pluckrose and...

Phillip is away this week, so Tony flies solo as he interacts with Al Stewart's fascinating and impressive new book The Manual: Getting masculinity right . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.twoways.news/subscribe

Sometimes evangelicals are accused of making such a big deal of full-time Christian work that it sends an implicit (or even explicit) signal that people who don’t go into full-time ministry are second class. At other times, we panic about the ‘minister drought’ and bemoan the fact that no-one is being challenged to go into full-time ministry any more. Is it possible to avoid these problems? What’s...

In last week's episode, we touched briefly on 'postmodern progressive tribalism' -- a description that sounds mostly negative, especially about tribalism. But is tribalism necessarily bad? Is individualism (which is its most frequent alternative) any better? And is there a gospel way of thinking about tribalism and individualism that saves us from the pitfalls of both? Join Tony Payne and Phillip...

The first edition of Two Ways News, a new podcast and newsletter collaboration between Tony Payne and Phillip Jensen. Find out more, subscribe, and read or listen to past editions of Tony's newsletter 'The Payneful Truth', at the Two Ways News website . To get in touch, make comments or ask questions, send an email to tonyjpayne@me.com. And if you’d like to listen to the whole clip of Stephane Gra...

Some significant changes are coming up for The Payneful Truth. I’ll talk about those changes below, but first (and more importantly) to this week’s topic and guest. A conversation on evangelism with John Lavender One of the things I’ve loved most about doing The Payneful Truth over the past couple of years is the interaction with readers and listeners. Of all those who’ve sent in encouraging comme...