January is the key time of the year for welcoming newcomers to church in the southern hemisphere.  In the northern hemisphere it’s August/September.But how do we best follow up new people who are moving into the district and looking to join a church? Someone visits your church, but what’s next.  What sort of ‘visitor pipeline’ should you have?What kind of system can be devised that is most effective for welcoming the largest numbers of people over a year? - while making sure that everyone doesn’t get exhausted?Should you visit? phone? email? text? or nothing?Where is too much effort just that.  Too much effort?  How do you grab the ‘low hanging fruit’?What mistakes can we avoid?  Where should we ignore the American advice here as just being too cultural?Someone has visited our church and we have invested lots of effort in them, and it’s all come to naught.  Someone else visits, we do almost nothing, and they end up joining.  What’s with that?  Dave Allen is from Hunter Church in Newcastle and Andy Hobbs from Salt Church in Wollongong.  Both have great advice for us in this area. 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.

We speak to Dan Paterson as he processes the growing terrible scandal involving his former mentor and boss, the late International Apologist Ravi Zacharias.Dan is the former head of Ravi Zacharias ministries for Australia.Mr Zacharias died in May 2020.A preliminary report into complaints against Mr Zacharias has found significant, credible evidence that Mr. Zacharias engaged in sexual misconduct over the course of many years. “Some of that misconduct is consistent with and corroborative of that which is reported in the news recently, and some of the conduct we have uncovered is more serious.” the report stated.http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/ravi-zacharias-abuseThe 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 is a biblical theology of place?Matthew Sleeman is a lecturer in New Testament at Oak Hill Theological College in London.Matthew has two PhD's on the place of PLACE. Matthew says place is more than point on a map.  Place contributes to making us who we are.  And we contribute to making the place what it is.  We are shaped by our places and we paint ourselves onto places. Places are locations for ministries, discipleship and living for Jesus. (Recorded prior to COVID travel and social distancing restrictions)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 many singles, Christmas and January is a very difficult and challenging time of year. A time to be endured rather than a time to be enjoyed. It’s Christmas.  But it’s also January when many of the structured church life things are in recess. But there are things that as church leaders we can do to be a blessing to our single friendsDr Dani Treweek has just completed her PhD on Singleness and joins us on The Pastor’s Heart.http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/lovingsingles-christmas-januaryThe 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.

Telling the difference between domestic violence and dysfunctional relationship? - with Magdalena LiemFor us as senior pastors one of the things most important to get right is when someone comes to report domestic violence. We often meet these issues when we are not expecting to.  There’s often high emotion and high stakes. How do we pastor the victim well, and also the person accused of being responsible?  And is there any potential way back?Experienced Counsellor Magdalena Liem from Newroads Counselling is with me. Magdalena used to work in Christian Pastoral Ministry in church and on campuses, but for twenty years she’s been involved in counselling. And part of what she does is training counsellors in the domestic violence space. Magdalena is with us for a ‘crash course’ on how to handle these issues.http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/domestic-violence-or-dysfunctional-relationshipThe 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 dominant topic in church staff room meetings in New South Wales today is, what to do this Sunday about singing?  Should we sing without masks or not?The NSW Government is saying, while singing is permitted, masks are recommended for the congregation, whether or not the congregation is inside or outside. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Antony Fisher has written to Catholics saying they can sing without masks. Sydney Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies has been more circumspect. See his letter here: https://j.mp/3gsfHgbBut, Decisions are clearly left to local church leaders to work out how best to apply the guidelines. Different churches are expected to make different decisions. We workshop the issues with the senior minister of St Michael’s Cathedral Wollongong Sandy Grant and the pastor of Tom Melbourne from the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. Village Church Annandale's Place of Worship COVID safe planVillage Church Annandale's Restaurant and Cafe COVID safe planThe 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.

It seems virtually overnight Christians and Christian leaders have gone from the ‘good guys’ in the society to the ‘bad guys.’  The speed of change has blindsided us. The new religion of sexual identity and sexual freedom is on the ascendancy.  It’s proclaimed as the locus of deep and lasting meaning, where the truly authentic life is.But secularism is not neutral.  We used to work on the assumption that public square would be a neutral venue where ideas could be discussed freely.   We prepared for an open market.  We didn’t realise that there would be huge tariffs. There are two competing narratives in the west, locked in a death grip.  And what happens to the ‘Western Ship’ as society loses its moorings from the Christian Gospel and drifts into unchartered waters.  What will a post Christian existence look like?  Full of fear and empty of human kindness. Is there any light in this darkness. Stephen McAlpine argues yes, in his book to be released in the new year, ‘Being the bad guys.’http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/being-the-bad-guysPurchase copies at: https://bit.ly/beingthebadguysThe 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.

“Victorian State Government pushes to ban Christian practices with threat of 10 years in prison” - a headline that should have every Christian leader pause. This week on the Pastor’s Heart, we’re discussing upcoming legislation that is being pushed in Victoria. The Change of Suppression (Conversion)  Practices Prohibition Bill 2020 has consequences of 10 years imprisonment for anyone engaging in “change of suppression practices.” Expert reading of the bill suggest this threatens religious freedom and implicates Bible Studies, Church services and even one-to-one prayer. This week - we talk with key Christian leaders from Victoria: Murray Campbell and Chris Duke along with Law Professor Neil Foster about the ramifications of this bill. We’ll discuss the details of the bill, the implications for Christians in Victoria and wider implications for Churches across Australia and the Western world. We’ll also discuss how Christian leaders can respond and opportunities to clarify and limit the scope of the bill. 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 on The Pastor’s Heart, Dominic interviews evangelist Sam Chan about his latest book: How To Talk About Jesus (Without Being That Guy). Written for the everyday Christian, How To Talk About Jesus provides practical ways anyone can share Jesus in a way which is relevant to today. Dominic and Sam will explore the narratives people believe and how Jesus speaks into them, where our society is at in their understanding of Christianity and what it looks like to have a lifestyle of evangelism. Dominic will put to Sam some of the criticisms of his book, including a challenge that the truth of the cross and propitiation is lacking and if he is discounting that some might be specifically called to be evangelists. They will also discuss how culture has changed and what that means for how Churches and individuals should look to speak the gospel.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.

Teens of today are less likely to grow up in a religious family or attend Church, and yet we are still seeing vibrant protestant youth ministries across many cities. This week, Youthworks College Dean of Women Ruth Lukabyo joins us to discuss a pioneering model of youth ministry including peer groups, ministry collaboration and cultivating ministry leadership for young people.Ruth’s new book ‘From a ministry for youth to a ministry of youth’ looks at pivotal developments in youth ministry in the 1930’s which have impacted all ministry to young people since then.She takes us through the potential and importance in youth ministry, the significant achievements of young people in the past and how Churches can creatively develop new methods of ministry today. We'll discuss the difference between viewing Youth as 'trainee Christians' or 'Christians', how important it is not to under estimate young people. We also discuss the way ministry strategy changes to suit the relevant context. Ruth Lukabyo is a lecturer at Youthworks College and author of From a Ministry for Youth to a Ministry of Youth. Purchase Ruth’s book, 'From a ministry for you to a ministry of youth.'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.