As the report into the sexual misconduct of Ravi Zacharias was released I (Dominic) was deep in preparation for teaching on Mark 12:38-40 where Jesus addresses the hypocritical faith leaders who love the external praise, devour vulnerable women and in the end will receive harsher judgement. It is now clear that the world famous Christian Apologist Ravi Zacharias •Engaged in sexual abuse on many occasions, in different places over many years - involving many women•He used those who worked in massage parlours, importing them from overseas and pursued more than massages. •It was predatory.  He engaged in a repeated pattern of skilful grooming, manipulation and pressure - on his emotionally and financially vulnerable therapists•He used the Gospel and Christian language to gain the confidence of his victims. *One woman details many incidents over years where the famous Christian leader raped her. *All the while preaching Jesus This is an excerpt from last Sunday's address at Village Church Annandale, Sydney and the congregational question time that followed. I hope it helps you as you process the release on the report on Ravi Zacharias report’s sexual misconduct last weekend.There’s a link to the released report and David Robertson’s summary in the show notes.RZIM report on Ravi Zacharias’ sexual misconduct David Robertson has summarised the report and given his reaction hereFull talk is available here:https://villagechurch.sydney/serieshttps://villagechurch.sydney/series/mark-11-15--jesus-in-jerusalem#ravizacharias #rzim #occaThe 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.

The face of Australia is changing. More than half Australia’s migrants come from Asia and that’s a field that is ready for harvest. Plus, with the changes in China and Hong Kong there’s a new wave of migration expected, and the churches of the west need to be ready. We are joined by pastors, Ying Yee, from Chinese Christian Church Sydney, Adam Ch’ng, from Cross and Crown in Melbourne and Stephen Oh, from Sydney Living Hope Community Church. They all serve on the board of the new The Gospel Coalition Australia Asian Network which is being launched this Friday night. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org.au/Asia/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.

Harsh new rules have just been approved by the parliament of the Australian state of Victoria, banning conversion practices relating to sexuality. The parliament has made illegal practices that have been part of Christian religion since the start of the church. What does the law say a pastor should do if asked for guidance on matters of sexuality? What does God say?  Pastors have questions on what the law says in regards to teaching in church, in small home groups and 1:1, and on how evangelical pastors respond in love to people with questions about personal sexuality.  And significantly when and how should Victorian pastors and Christians obey God and disobey their government?  The Australian Presbyterian Moderator General Rev Peter Barnes has written to congregations saying: "The Apostle [Paul] considered himself innocent of the blood of all because he proclaimed the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-27). We are obliged before God to preach all that He has revealed to us, whether law or gospel, and to do so in a spirit of love and truth."There is nothing unique in such legislation. When King Darius exceeded his God-given authority, Daniel did ‘as he had done previously’ (Dan.6:10)."It is our task to keep on keeping on, to proclaim and to live out so far as we can the gospel of Christ which has been entrusted to us. "Our guests are Neil Foster, the Associate Professor of Law at Newcastle University, Peter Barnes, the moderator general of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, and Heath Easton, pastor of Drouin Presbyterian Church, just to the east of Warrigul in regional Victoria. See 'Collision of laws: the impact of Commonwealth law on the Victorian CSP law' by Neil FosterSee 'Victoria's Conversion Practices Bill is as bad as they say it is' by Neil FosterThe 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’re speaking to Rowan Kemp, from the Christian Evangelical Union at Sydney University, and Rob Copland, from the University of Wollongong about what changes / innovations they are introducing to better reach students in 2021. We discuss the new ministry opportunities that have been developed, the challenge to not be timid, and things that students might have missed out on. 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.

Under God, something a little accidental and thrilling has just happened, so I thought I’d share it here. A year ago I was invited to speak at a conference in the South West of Sydney called SweatCon.  It stands for South West Evangelism and Training Conference.It was so impressive.  There were 20 or so churches working together brilliantly with close collaboration and team work. I came home inspired, encouraged and thrilled to bits. And so when COVID forced the shutdown of the evangelical training conference that we used to send a few of our people up to each year, I said to the other minsters around here, ‘Let’s see if we can pull it off, to set up a local non residential ministry training conference running over four days.’ And so Cultivate Conference was born.  The kind people at SweatCon gave us the strand material. The great trainers from Youthworks came and gave us electives.  Plus there was an elective on sexuality from the crew at livingfaith.onlineWe had four New Testament talks from Bill Salier in the morning and Mike Leite on the Old Testament in the evening.  All for $130 a head.We got local restaurants and cafes to cater.  On the first day - over an amazing Lebanese feast that we had for lunch - I met one young lady who came to Christ in March, who was having her first meal at her first Christian conference.  I had to tell her. ‘Just so your expectations aren’t shattered about Christian Conferences in the future, in terms of food.  It’s all down hill from here.’Let me tell you what was amazing:  From our church - we had at least four times as many people trained - as we have ever been able to get to go away to a residential external conference. It was the best inter-church co-operation that I’ve seen in our area in twenty years of ministry. If it can happen in the hard soil of the inner west of Sydney - then in the many other places where the soil is softer - it’s absolutely possible. And here’s a thing where the Covid disruption could lead to good.  Wouldn’t it be awesome if instead of a total of 5-600 people going to the blue mountains to be trained, across the 26 mission areas of Sydney - there were 26 x 100 people each at one of these local training conferences. There could be thousands more people being trained and equipped in the ministry of Jesus - who would never go to an overnight dormitory conference in the mountains.How do you get the strand material?  Go to sweat.org.au and send the conference organisers a message, be nice and polite, and you never know what might happen.  That’s what I did.See Sydney Anglicans Article: https://sydneyanglicans.net/news/cultivate-conferenceThe 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.

Christianity in Australia is in decline. The narrative is we had a few golden years at the start, where 96% of the population identified as Christian, but that has been on a gradual decline for decades. But if that’s the case: - Why does Christianity in Australia go up, not down, after Darwin? - In Australia, why does it go up after WWII? - If the Church was so strong in the middle ages, why was church attendance so sketchy then?This week, Rory Shiner joins us to discuss the ways that modern understanding is wrong about secularism. Rory believes we’ve accepted a narrative that isn’t true, and are making massive pastoral and missional mistakes because of it. Rory is here to debunk the idea that science beat Christianity in the age of the enlightenment and that the Western World has been gradually becoming less religious since then.  Instead, he points us to the vitality in Australian churches, which is completely separate from the percentage of people who identify as Christian in the census. Rory brings a message of hope - but also of warning about the complex mistakes we are making as we reach out to the lost, who may not be as secularised as we assumed.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.

Adam Lowe from St Bart’s Toowoomba has surveyed his church’s online audience.  Of those surveyed he’s broken them down into four categories.62% are dislocated - physically unable to attend in person church9.5% are missional - online is a safe way to explore a relationship with God19% are convenience - those who live nearby but find it easier or prefer to attend online9.5% are incidental - those who join online when they or a family member is sick or travelling out of townBut what are the next steps for each group, and how do we express our mission to make and mature disciples with those who are gathering online.Download results of Adam's online survey.Download questions for the survey.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.

The unity of the Australian Anglican Church is hanging by a thread. Bishop of Tasmania Richard Condie, Dean of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel, and Jennifer Hercott from St Lukes Church in Emerald in Queensland all serve on the Board of GAFCON Australia, a group within the Anglican denomination - who are committed to upholding biblical and historic Christian faith, within AnglicanismIn 2019 the Wangaratta Diocese in Victoria voted to go ahead with blessing same sex unions.  That decision was followed by a vote in the Diocese of Newcastle in New South Wales.The issue was expected to come to a head at the Australian General Synod in June 2020. But COVID put everything on hold, delaying the gathering till June this year. In the meantime different groups have offered opinions. On the one hand, the Australian Anglican Church’s House of Bishops and Board of Assessors have affirmed the historic and biblical teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman. Whereas what’s called the Appellate Tribunal has given a majority opinion is that blessing same sex unions are acceptable. Now, Wangaratta has moved forward.  Their former bishop John Parkes has officiated at the blessing of a same sex relationship. This issue that has previously split the Anglican Church in the United States, in Canada and in New Zealand, with whole new denominations being formed. 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.

This week we are talking the changing face of world mission with John Lovell, CMS General Secretary, and former missionary turned Vice Principal of Sydney's Moore Theological College, Simon Gillham. John and Simon outline how Covid-19 has reshaped the roles and experiences of missionaries this year, particularly the 30% of CMS missionaries who are serving in secure locations. They discuss new opportunities and long-lasting improvements in technology focusing on how missionaries have been able to invest in their communities and how their mental health has been supported. We discuss 'gospel poverty' and the differing needs across Europe, Africa and South-East Asia.John and Simon also celebrate how God is continuing to raise up workers for the harvest, and that they continue to see new candidates for mission, despite drops in candidates in other spheres of Christian leadership. They also give us a peek behind the scenes as to what to expect from future CMS Summer School conferences and the rigorous process for becoming a missionary [Hint - not everyone is automatically accepted].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.

MINISTRY TIP: I think the most important thing that I have been taught in the whole area of Communicating Christ, was to know what you are aiming for, and be focused on getting there.What we are looking for is repentance and faith.  To get repentance you preach Jesus is Lord, to get faith you preach Jesus is saviour.So I am asking 'Did I preach that clearly?  Did I make that clear?'That's the question for the staff meeting as we review the Christmas or Easter service.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.