The Pastor's Heart with Dominic Steele

Reaching the 70% of the population who are significantly underrepresented in our churches.We’re talking about everyday Australians — people who’ve gone straight into the workforce rather than university. That includes hairdressers, plumbers, builders, business owners, factory workers, truck drivers, IT staff, and media creatives — as well as many in marginalised communities.Within this group, there’s huge diversity:Some are winners — financially successful builders and entrepreneurs.Others are respectables — valuing hard work, morals, and family.Some are survivors — juggling multiple jobs and doing it tough.And there are those living in hard places — facing struggles with welfare, addiction, and family stress.Yet while this group represents the majority of Australians, they make up only a small minority in our churches. Why is that? And how can we do better?Andrew Beddo — principal trainer at the Vocational Bible College, equipping gospel workers for everyday Australians.Coz Crosscombe — director of The Well Training Program at Mount Druitt, focused on training leaders from marginalised communities.Simon Gillham — vice principal at Moore Theological College, working on cross-cultural and literacy challenges in ministry.We discuss why this group is missing from many of our congregations, the cultural and learning barriers they face, and how we can shape ministry, training, and preaching to better reach them with the good news of Jesus.The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

Twelve months ago we heard the sobering news of a significant attendance drop in Sydney Anglican Churches. Over the decade from 2013 to 2023, weekly attendance fell by 7% – and when you factor in population growth, attendance was 14% behind.At last year’s Sydney Anglican Synod, the mood was serious. A resolution was passed calling for confession and humble repentance – acknowledging that their hadn’t been sufficient priority, attention, reflection, or resources to seeing the lost saved by Jesus. Synod called for a five-year focus to reverse the decline – putting prayer, evangelism, church health, and leadership development at the very centre of priorities.Ahead of this year’s Synod, there is a response. The Standing Committee appointed a subcommittee, led by the Archbishop, to bring forward concrete proposals. And what they have come back with is significant:A galvanising target – to pursue 5% annual growth through conversion for the next five years.A range of initiatives and actions designed to support churches, leaders, and congregations in this mission.Our guests are Pete Stedman, senior minister at Norwest Anglican Church, and a member of the Archbishop’s subcommittee that has proposed the new goal, Jon Kwan, lead pastor at St. David's Forestville and Jo Gibbs, senior consultant with Reach Australia.The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

The call to ministry is a call to lay down your life for others, but how do we create a well-thought-out roadmap toward pastoral perseverance - when there are external and/or internal difficulties? How do we approach congregational conflict, criticism, unrealistic expectations or personal health, financial and family stress? Why is pastoral friendship not optional, but essential? Today on The Pastor’s Heart, there’s advice for pastors who feel isolated and are feeling like quitting. Brian Croft leads Practical Shepherding in Louisville Kentucky.Matthew Spandler Davison also lives in Louisville, serves with Practical Shepherding, and as an executive director of 20 Schemes, Church in Hard Places in Scotland as well as the preaching pastor for Redeemer Fellowship in Bardstown, Kentucky. The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

Today our focus on The Pastor’s Heart is on how to preach for transformation for real changes in people’s lives. Two men with a lifetime’s passion for preaching — Robin Sydserff,  Director of the Proclamation Trust and David Cook, former principal of Sydney Missionary and Bible College and a long-time preaching mentor - now with the Expository Preaching Trust.We start by looking at how Christian leaders the UK and Australia influenced preaching patterns overseas. We look at preaching that has led to record enrolments at Bible Colleges, the purpose of preaching, the life and relationships of the preacher, training preachers and what patience is needed in preaching growth. The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

A training culture for the next generation:  Healthy Churches producing new ministers for the next generation.Across the world, the number of candidates putting themselves forward for gospel ministry is in decline. Many churches are feeling the pinch—struggling to find leaders and often looking elsewhere to fill ministry gaps. Yet healthy churches don’t just maintain ministry; they reproduce it. They raise up and send out the next generation of gospel workers.This week in Sydney, a group of evangelical movement leaders from across the globe have gathered to sharpen one another in this task: creating a culture of training that will multiply gospel workers for the decades ahead. The shift they are calling for is from passively plotting decline to actively asking, What are we going to do?—and then taking decisive steps toward it.We’re joined this afternoon by three of those symposium participants. From the UK, Robin Sydserff of the Proclamation Trust. From Santiago, Chile, Matt Pope—pastor and trainer of pastors in five Latin American countries, formerly of St Ebbe’s in Oxford. And from Cleveland, Ohio, Marty Sweeny—pastor for training at Old North Church and long-time champion of multiplying ministry apprentices.The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

In the past month, two of the most respected evangelical training institutions in the world have closed or announced closure of their campuses.In July, Spurgeon’s College in London—a pillar of Baptist theological education for nearly 170 years—closed, citing financial strain and a dramatic decline in student numbers. A few weeks earlier, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Chicago —long regarded as a flagship seminary of North American evangelicalism— said they would shut down its Illinois campus and relocate to Canada, merging with Trinity Western University in British Columbia.TEDS student numbers have dropped from 750 to 400 fulltime equivalents. These are not isolated incidents. Across the UK, Australia, and globally, churches are asking:Where will the next generation of gospel workers come from?Orlando Saer—lead pastor of Christ Church Southampton, Chair of the Reach UK South church planting network, and Chair of 9:38, a UK ministry seeking to raise up gospel workers, has helped lead the Yarnton Consultation, the most comprehensive look yet at the state of ministry recruitment in the UK.The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

What change would a leader and church need to make for a congregation, denomination or movement to grow by five percent annual conversion growth. The Gospel Coalition pulled together a mini summit of evangelical movement leaders from across Australia in June.That gathering set an aspirational goal of doubling the number of evangelicals over twenty years. They said a key way to do it is by pursuing a target of seeing five percent of the average attendance saved each year. David Jensen leads the Evangelism part of the Department of Evangelism and New Churches in the Sydney Anglican Church. Chris Braga is senior pastor of Grace West Church at Glenmore Park in Western Sydney.The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

It is an uncomfortable but important question: What place should numbers have in our thinking about ministry success?We all want to be faithful. But what happens when the numbers are down? Do we need to change something? Or should we just continue in the same trajectory?And should we be counting at all?This is the tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. A tension between preaching the word and evaluating what’s actually working.Phil Colgan has been the long term senior pastor of St George North Anglican in Sydney and presented on a Theology of Numbers at the recent Nexus Conference.The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

We evangelicals, says Richard Coekin, have a problem—and it’s a preaching problem.Richard Coekin says we are too often careless—his word—when it comes to application in preaching. We work hard on exegesis, we labour to understand the original context and the author’s intent—but then we stop short. We leave our congregations with sound doctrine, but little direction. Richard has just concluded 29 years as senior pastor at Dundonald Church in London and as the founding leader of the Co-Mission network across the UK capital. He now heads up Reach UK.  Richard’s new book, Apply: How to Preach the Bible for Real Life, will be released in the UK Spring —and today he joins us to explore why good application is not an optional extra, but the very purpose of preaching.Correction: Apply will be published by 10 of those not The Good Book Company as was stated in the program.The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

We’re digging into the Bible’s teaching on sex and gender—inside and outside the Garden of Eden - relating to transgender. We’re asking foundational questions: Was humanity created androgynous? Does Genesis allow for more than two sexes? Is sexual difference a core part of the imago Dei? What does it mean that the man and woman were naked and felt no shame?Dr Rob Smith lectures at Sydney Missionary and Bible College and serves with Living Faith, a pastoral ministry of the Sydney Anglican Church caring for those navigating same-sex attraction or gender incongruence. Rob is the author of a new book The Body God Gives.Rob also spoke to us in February 2025 about the historic and cultural issues relating to the transgender, under the heading 'The Sexed body is the Gendered Self'.The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show