How to navigate change management in church? Change within the church is ongoing and unavoidable. This is to strengthen the church and continually make it a better and more spiritually helpful place for its members to worship God and grow in their faith. However, war stories of ‘church change resistance,’ where well meaning ministers have tried to pursue these changes have sadly led to the disruption of relationships. Speaking on the topic of change and its aftermath is Raj Gupta. He is the senior minister of St Paul’s in Carlingford in Sydney and a director with Moore College’s Center for Ministry Development and has insights for churches based on John Kotter’s Change Management Framework. The Church Cohttp://www.thechurchco.com is an excellent website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Support the show--Become a regular financial supporter of The Pastor's Heart via Patreon.

Matt Fuller, the Senior Minister of Christ Church Mayfair in the centre of London, speaks on why weakness is good for us. He describes standing up in front of his church, telling them he couldn’t cope with being told to take time off by his elders.Matt describes a conversation with his senior elders when he was in trouble and was confronted by his senior elder about time off and burnt out. Matt puts it down to overwork, a complex season around his mother’s death and the extra difficulties of managing the church and staff team during COVID. At the time he was angry and when he stopped working, the depression sunk in and he just wanted to quit. Matt says his vulnerability has helped the church to be more honest with each other. Jon Kwan who has been our excellent associate for over nine years is heading to be a senior minister. Village Church Annandale is now looking for a new assistant minister to head up maturity and mission. For more information go to: http://www.villagechurch.sydney/assistant Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/thepastorsheart)The Church Cohttp://www.thechurchco.com is an excellent website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Support the show--Become a regular financial supporter of The Pastor's Heart via Patreon.

Mothers Day is a day of both celebration and sorrow for some. In today's episode, we think theologically, historically and pragmatically with Kate Stace and Phillip Jensenon on how to make Mothers Day excellent at church and how to serve the church family well for maximum mission impact! Since Mothers Day is emotionally complex for a number of members inside and out of the church, we also talk on how to care personally for these people who struggle through this day.Kate Stace is part of the team at Vine Church in Surry Hills in Sydney and Phillip Jensen is the former Dean of St Andrew’s Cathedral. https://phillipjensen.com/resources/the-mothers-of-mothers-day/Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/thepastorsheart)The Church Cohttp://www.thechurchco.com is an excellent website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Support the show--Become a regular financial supporter of The Pastor's Heart via Patreon.

Noticed the influx of memes after the Oscars? You then, no doubt, are probably aware of the fiasco that took place that night.Actor Will Smith has apologised for his actions at the Oscars and former Hillsong Global Pastor Brian Houston has apologised to his church. It makes one think then - what makes a good apology, and how can we apologise well?Bruce Burgess from Peacewise speaks to us today on the seven things that make up a good apology.In this week’s The Pastor’s Heart we analyse the apologies of Australian Cricket Captain Steve Smith, plus the apologies of Will Smith and Brian Houston in order to consider what is the best practices for our own apologies.For more information on Peacewise Training, whether in person or online, see https://peacewise.org.au/The Church Cohttp://www.thechurchco.com is an excellent website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Support the show--Become a regular financial supporter of The Pastor's Heart via Patreon.

Power and authority are very dangerous. The recent fall of Brian Houston solidifies this statement and brings significant lessons for Christian leaders everywhere! On the matter, The Chair of the Australian Gospel Coalition Gary Millar brings light to the topic. Dr Millar notes that Brian Houston’s actions and the poor response of leaders in his theological space, are telling reminders that power, authority and positions of authority carry with them great risks.Adulation, respect and relentless encouragement are very dangerous things and that leaders need to be accountable to those around us. Dr Millar stressed that we need to keep coming back to the scriptures, returning to the pastoral epistles and reflect carefully on what God asks of those who are in leadership.Co-Director/Founder of the Mental Health & Pastoral Care Institute at Mary Andrews College, Keith Condie, says there’s a series of steps that pastors need to take to safeguard actions and protect marriages. —Keith and Sarah’s marriage course: http://www.buildingmarriage.com.auThe ‘Press On’ course for our own wellbeing that Keith mentions is here https://www.mentalhealthinstitute.org.au/shop/press-onThe Church Cohttp://www.thechurchco.com is an excellent website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Support the show--Become a regular financial supporter of The Pastor's Heart via Patreon.

‘Stand for Christ.  Stand for the truth.  And let the chips fall where they may.’Senior Pastor of Atlanta’s Church of the Apostles, Dr Michael Youssef, has a prophetic call to share with evangelical pastors today. It is to not give up trust in the scriptures in the face of contemporary challenges on sexuality.Dr Youssef tells the story of leading his church to depart the US Episcopal Church when the denomination moved against biblical teaching on sexuality, and the way God has blessed them since. In light of all this, Dr Youssef quotes 1 Samuel saying, ‘Those who honour me I will honour.’ Speaking in terms of the Sydney Anglican Church, Dr Youssef says, ‘I know this diocese, I love this diocese, and I know that God will continue to bless this Diocese even more… when you take a stand.’Dr Youseff says, ‘Everyone I know who honoured the Lord and took a stand, God blessed that.’The Church Cohttp://www.thechurchco.com is an excellent website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Support the show--Become a regular financial supporter of The Pastor's Heart via Patreon.

For 15 years Hugh Isaacs has been at the centre of messy pastoral transitions, as an ‘emergency responder’ to churches going through a transition crisis. Today, he he joins us to give us insight into the process. After initially helping members deal with their grief, there are five key steps Isaacs tells that need to be worked through for the best outcome. However, Isaacs warns of the land mines that come off at any moment though this process.(i) After the grief, the church must come to terms with the church's history. How to review the past as a step to the future? (ii) Examination of the leadership (the lay elected leadership) and the way they and the staff work together.(iii) Defining denominational connections. How does the church understand and relate to its denomination?(iv) Clarifying identity and direction. Defining the church’s place in its community and its mission.(v) Working through commitment to new clergy leadership and the future. Preparing to welcome the new minister.The Church Cohttp://www.thechurchco.com is an excellent website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Support the show--Become a regular financial supporter of The Pastor's Heart via Patreon.

Senior leaders long to be effective leaders, but we may not be as good as they hope to be. In the church, the demands on the senior pastor has increasingly become more complex. The expectation to be excellent in leadership, managerial, and administrative on top of preaching, teaching and pastoral care is one of immense pressure!Under this kind of stress, we might suffer cyclical patterns of burnout, unhealthy coping modes, or psychological patterns we are unaware of. When under this cloud of stress, one may resort to detaching by excessive use of screens, alcohol, drugs, pornography, running to control, micromanaging situations, overwork, reassurance seeking or over-researching. These traps aren’t that hard to fall into.Valerie Ling and Sarah Hindle, from Sydney’s Center for Effective Serving, say among leaders self awareness an emotional awareness is critical (https://effectiveserving.com.au/)The Church Cohttp://www.thechurchco.com is an excellent website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Support the show--Become a regular financial supporter of The Pastor's Heart via Patreon.

Australian Anglican Evangelicals are praying that the Australian national Bishops meeting (in March) and the General Synod (8-16 May) will affirm the Bible’s teaching on marriage, sexuality and chastity.The General Synod  will consider three motions and two propositions affirming the Bible’s teaching on marriage and chastity. Relations across the church have been further strained by Archbishop of Perth’s decision to deacon a man who is in a civil partnership with another man; and a second man who has been living in a defacto relationship with a woman for a number of years before being married in December 2021.  There were public objections to the ordinations, both before and during the service on Thursday. After a four minute break in the livestream broadcast, Archbishop Kay Goldsworthy overruled the objections and the service proceeded. (Full service here). This comes on top of the Bishop of Wangaratta’s support for the blessing of the marriage of two men in Albury Anglican Church on 2 January 2022.David Bennett is a former Sydney gay activist, now a Christian, and a member of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s College of Evangelists. David is completing his PhD on the relationship between desire and same sex attraction at Oxford. David reviews the proposed motions before General Synod, talks about potential ways forward for the Australian Church and his reaction to the Perth ordinations. Links:David’s book: A war of loves Draft: Motions for General SynodThe Church Cohttp://www.thechurchco.com is an excellent website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Support the show--Become a regular financial supporter of The Pastor's Heart via Patreon.

Future mission in Sydney and the National Anglican Church in Australia faces a few challenges which Sydney Anglican Archbishop Kanishka Raffel spells out in this episode. We speak on some of the issues Archbishop Raffel might have brought forward in his first Presidential address, had the 'Synod in the Greenfields' not been postponed due to the Omicron outbreak, as it was scheduled for this Saturday 26 February 2022.Not only this, Archbishop Raffel speaks frankly about the Greenfields challenge, indigenous issues, multiculturalism, the national church and the current religious freedom debate. The Church Cohttp://www.thechurchco.com is an excellent website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Support the show--Become a regular financial supporter of The Pastor's Heart via Patreon.