Unless you define what it means to be part of your Church, people will create their own definition, which will likely look very different to your own. A factor in the growth and retention of people in any organisation is defining what it means to be a part of that organisation. This week on The Pastor’s Heart, Tim Clemens and Stuart Starr join us to discuss what the optimum length, content, style and ethos of a membership course should be in order to achieve the best results. Grace City’s Onboard Package: http://bit.ly/gracecityonboardhttp://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/membership-courseThe 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.

David Jones says there are key pastoral reasons for teaching Deuteronomy For more than 50 years David Jones has served in pastoral ministry in Wales, London and the Australian states of Tasmania and Queensland. David has recently retired as the Senior Pastor at Ann Street Presbyterian Church in Brisbane. Before moving to Brisbane in 2014, David was involved in the Vision 100 network in Hobart, Tasmania that has resulted in the establishment of new congregations in the Presbyterian and Christian Reformed denominations. David joins Dominic Steele to share his pastor’s heart, and lessons learned over the years, how he’s tackling the major Old Testament book, Deuteronomy. http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/heart-of-deuteronomyThe 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.

What makes an effective evangelistic campaign? What messages will engage non Christian audiences with the truth of the gospel? This week we speak with three key evangelists about the best way to reach the lost. We discuss positive evangelism, maximising mission opportunities, integrating online and offline campaigns, and ideas for a large scale campaign. Dave Jensen is on the team at EV Church on the NSW Central Coast, Karl Faase is the CEO of Olive Tree Media, which produces programs for Christian media and local church use internationally. David Robertson is with the Sydney Anglican Church’s ‘Evangelism and New Churches.’ 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.

There’s a special Sunday at church where we are inviting friends. Dave Jensen says we should  remembering that visitors don’t ‘listen’ so much as ‘feel’, so putting thought into your pre and post church (welcoming, morning tea, vibe) will pay dividends - in addition to using warm welcoming language in service leading, kids spot and sermon. “If you’re visiting this morning, we’re so glad you’re here! We hope you enjoy your time with us this morning” - seems so obvious, yet often we can forget even a basic specific welcome to newcomers. Have your best people on welcome / car park/ and looking out for those after church chats. I want to see this evangelistic gathering as a first step, or first date with God… and if that’s the case… everything shouldn’t work towards ‘decision moment today’ but rather everything should work towards ‘a second date’, a second opportunity to communicate Christ.Which is why we advertise a course early in the meeting, we play a video promo for Introducing God, and we make big efforts to interview someone who as an adult has come into relationship with God, through the course. Then the ‘purchase proposition’ or ‘application point of the meeting or sermon - is to do the course, rather than ‘commit now.’ We as a second less significant choice, say, ‘If you think ‘Yes, I’d like do do that course, but I’d like to make the step tonight to trust Jesus, well you can do that …’. So I don’t try to as the main thing persuade people to make a decision on the first date.Work against an insider mindset. What I mean by this is that those who speak from the platform should not behave as if everyone knows them and agrees with them - but rather they should introduce themselves… and speak and explain things as if their own non Christian friend is present and listening. This should happen anyway, in that if you behave as if there are outsiders there, that will communicate to your membership that it is safe to bring outsiders. So have everyone introduce themselves - bible readers, prayers, song leaders etc. So for example, in the public praying, Pray as if there are unbelievers present and pray prayers that they can agree with. Pray the prayers of the whole community - floods, COVID, bushfires, droughts, good government, rather than the specific prayers of Christians. Don’t pray about the conversion therapy legislation in Victoria. You also want to think about what happens with the financial collection and communion. We don’t do financial collections anyway so it doesn’t impact us - we do it all electronically - basically for this reason.And we won’t do communion on days when we are expecting large numbers of guests.In terms of response cards - we have worked really hard at switching our church to electronic cards. But, I have found that electronic feedback cards don’t work for guests. At our Gingerbread nights last year we asked for feedback cards and the first night we went with QR codes pointing to a web link and got a tiny response. The response on the subsequent nights from physical cards was much much higher. We find that we can train the Christians to use the electronic QR codes for submitting questions or registering for things, but not many of the first time guests.This is the most important of all. ‘Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should.’ Paul in Colossians asks for prayer that he might proclaim it clearly, but also he teaches them to demand that the preacher procThe 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.

What does Monica Cook think we as pastors get wrong as we talk to people about sex? How can we as pastors do a better job at helping people in regards to sex at the start of a marriage relationship? What basic things does Monica want pre-marital couples to know? How do you frame sex in a healthy way?  How do pastors help to normalise that within a healthy marriage there may be moments of sexual dysfunction?What help and hope is there for those who have been sexually abused as children?What are specific issues for women navigating the flood of porn in our society? For further reading Monica recommends:Ferree, Marnie C, No stones, Women redeemed from Sexual AddictionSchermer Sellers, Tina, Sex, God and the Conservative Church: Erasing Shame from Sexual Intimacy Johnston Sue, Created for Connection: The ‘hold me tight’ guide for Christian CouplesYam, Renee, Sex Awakened: Creating healthy sexual intimacy in marriage https://www.acsh.com.au/our-practitioners/monica-cookhttp://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/monica-talking-about-sexThe 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.

We are talking about different personality traits on staff teams especially  as they impact ministry team leaders.  It’s wonderful that we are all different and have our particular personality quirks. But having some self-awareness about what we are like, and how others can be very different, is very important to help us work and relate to others in helpful and loving ways. Rory Shiner is senior pastor of Providence Church in Perth and John Forsyth is Vicar of St Judes in inner Melbourne.http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/personality-traitsThe 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.

This week we are taking a deep dive into building sustainable ministries - starting with assessing, equipping and empowering team leaders.We discuss how to assess if someone is ready to be a team leader, how to develop a leadership pipeline, and how to ensure someone takes a high level of responsibility.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.

Will the new Gospel Coalition help or harm the cause of Christ in Australia? Bill Salier and Akos Balogh from The Gospel Coalition Australia are promoting it. Dominic Steele thinks it will do more harm than good and urged The Gospel Coalition to go back to the drawing board. Here's a summary of reservations from Dominic and a Christian social media marketer: 1 StrategyThis campaign focuses on the question of the historicity of Jesus. While this is a typical apologetic question, it is not one that comes up often in conversations when people are weighing up the gospel. Most people accept Jesus as a historical figure, but are asking the question "How is Jesus relevant to me?". This campaign is not speaking to that question at all.2 Title “Jesus, History’s Biggest Hoax?”This will either cement or suggest to the majority of viewers that Jesus is a hoax. In general, 1-1.5% of people who see a post on Facebook will click through to the landing page or meaningfully engage. This means if 100 people see the title “Jesus, History’s Biggest Hoax?”, then 98.5% of the audience will just read the headline and move on. 3 The average video watch time on Facebook is 10 seconds.This means a significant number of people watch less than 10 seconds. The first 10 seconds of the video does nothing to dispel the notion that Jesus is a hoax or a fairytale. 4 The video structure encourages natural drop offWhile all of the content in the video is relevant to a historical understanding of Jesus, the structure of the video continues to rely on negative questions, where the voice over suggests reasons Christianity may be wrong and then refutes them. This fundamentally fails to understand the drop of rate of videos - even if someone makes it to 20 seconds, and hears the first question, “Where the disciples liars?" it is highly likely they won’t stick around for the answer. By using this structure, the immediate result will be that people have the assumption that Jesus is not a verifiable historical figure confirmed.5 Call to actionThe end of this video asks: “Why did hundreds and then thousands come to worship a Jewish criminal?” and then shows a link. There is not a strong reason to click through or even a suggestion as to do next. Even if someone watched the full video, and was convinced that Jesus did die and rise again, there is no reason for them to find out more or explanation of what it means for them personally. www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/helporharmThe 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.

An explosive petition has brought to light a tidal wave of sexual abuse at Australian schools at the hands of young men.The idea to create the now-viral online petition came after former Kambala School student raised the issue with friends via an Instagram poll. 72 per cent of 300 of her friends said they or someone they are close to had experienced sexual assault from a student from an all-boys school in Sydney's eastern suburbs. You can view the petition online at: https://www.teachusconsent.com/The stories in the petition are profoundly confronting and disturbing.We explore the part played by pornography, a heart of sin, the role of parents, peer group, broader youth culture, compulsivity, messaging to boys and girls and the role faith plays.  Marshall Ballantine Jones has just completed a PhD on Pornography and it’s impact on adolescents, pornography and social media… and the connections to narcissism and sexting.Natalie Ray used to direct a Christian boarding house for female Sydney University students. She serves on a school council and is in pastoral ministry at Northlight Anglican Church.  http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/sexual-assault-at-schoolFor school enquiries about programs and consulting email Dr Marshall Ballantine-Jones at digihelpabout@gmail.comFor parent enquiries about talking with tweens and teens: Patricia Weerakoon’s Talking Sex By The Book & Culture Reframed Parenting Portal (an international secular resource)For church leaders resistporn.org/leadersFor people struggling with pornography problems resistporn.org/self-helpIf this has raised any issues for you, call the support services: Lifeline 13 11 14; beyondblue 1300 224 636; Domestic Violence Line 1800 65 64 63; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732The 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.

There are many different aims when it comes to planning an Easter service. We're focusing on helping our members recognise Jesus' death and resurrection, helping those on the fringe of our Church understand the propitiation of God for possibly the first time, and we also have neighbourhood contacts visiting.This week on The Pastor's Heart, we're discussing how to get the whole Church on board with engaging the neighbourhood, welcoming and follow up, and what does and doesn't work. We also discuss the goals of Easter gatherings and how to make Easter accessible to a multicultural community.Paul Webb is the Senior Minister at Chester Hill Anglican Church, Elliot Temple is responsible for Mission at Christ Church St Ives and Andrew Levy is the Director of Mission at Christ Church Gladesville. 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.