Some of the recent discussions about the post COVID church attendance drop has focused on the issues of health.  But there are also anxiety issues, spiritual heart problems and an element of spiritual war where the devil whispers ‘it’s not safe to go to the place where the word of God is!’We take an informal poll of ministers to find out what’s happening with their ‘return to church,’ plus discussion on whether it’s heart, head or health, and how to have conversations when it’s a problem of the heart. Senior Minister of St Matthews West Pymble and All Saints West Lindfield, Antony Barraclough has researched and published on ‘The Pen is a Few Sheep Short - the patterns and reasons for modern church attendance by committed Christians.’Plus Stuart Starr urges Christians not to leave the last Tim Tam in the pack for someone else, drawing a really helpful post COVID analogy!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 average Christian gives only 2.5%  But the first step in getting our churches finances right is getting our own hearts and finances right. In a raw and real conversation Arya Darmaputra and Kevin Hines from Thesauros Consulting talk to Dominic Steele about the heart of the pastor as it relates to money.How have we been swept along by the currents of the world?  How we can take significant steps to getting our own hearts and finances right and then start to lead our churches really well in this area - especially through modelling? How much do you need to SPEND?  How much should you SAVE?  How we can best approach GIVING?  What is the difference between SAVING and INVESTING?  And why you should only invest in instruments that you understand.Episode page: http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/where-your-money-isThe 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.

In a special edition today, we address a key issue :- Should you personally choose to use a COVID-19 vaccine candidate that makes use of a cell line cultured from an electively aborted human fetus?To put it super bluntly: If I get vaccinated for covid-19 am I complicit in an abortion?Our guests - Megan Best is a bioethicist who has promoted a Christian view of medical ethics for over 20 years. Megan is the author of two books on ethics at the beginning of life: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and A Life Already Started, as well as many articles on ethics and spiritual care at the end of life. Chase Kuhn is the director for the Centre for Christian Living and lectures on theology and ethics at Moore College in Sydney. Today's discussion follows the release of a letter jointly signed by the Sydney Archbishops of the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches calling for ethical research on COVID-19 vaccines. 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.

How do we create a dual audience church?  How do we do church live and well simultaneously for both those physically in the room audience and at the same time for those linking in via online stream. Dominic Steele has argued we shouldn’t be leading for recovery from COVID, but rather for at least medium term endurance. Today Karl Faase, Simon Hunter and Jodie McNeil join Dominic to discuss what’s technically required to produce church for both mediums at the same time. Jodie McNeil pastors Jamberoo Anglican Church south of Sydney.  Karl Faase is a director of Olive Tree Media and the creator of Jesus the Game Changer.  Simon Hunter is a writer, producer and director.  He is director of Waterloo Studios, Sydney.Jodie has kindly written up a paper on how to achieve 'better than average streaming results on a minimal budget.'Episode link: http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/dualaudienceThe 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.

Across the Western world theological college enrolments are down. Today it’s the third part of a conversation about this problem.  Specifically we are focusing on the issues of Sydney.  We’re exploring the joint issues of not enough people putting themselves forward for ministry and the shortage of senior ministers for Sydney’s Anglican Churches. Moore Theological College Lecturer Mark Earngey and St George North Assistant Minister Mike Leite have been researching for several years the underlying issues that have contributed to the Sydney minister drought. Mike’s responsible for editing the recently released booklet ‘Sydney Anglican Ministry.’  Mark is behind the latest edition of the Australian Church Record Journal. Plus we review the important ‘From Sydney to the World’ online conference held on the weekend, which was aimed at putting recruiting for ministry back on the agenda. ***Promotion: For information about Liberty’s Lifelong Faithfulness Conference go to www.liberty.sydneyThe 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.

How to exercise calm present leadership when there’s disappointment, constant change and pressure from every side?Understanding what’s going on psychologically now with your church, team and you? How to best care for your team? And how to lead now when anxiety levels keep oscillating as the risk from the virus waxes and wanes (and are likely to for the next two years). Plus navigating how to lead when there are so many different views inside and outside the team about which direction you and your church should take.Robert Creech is Director of Pastoral Ministries at the George W Truett Theological Seminary Waco in Texas and was senior pastor of University Baptist Church in Houston, Texas for 22 years.Robert says we should ‘… abandon both optimism and despair and serve with hope. Jurgen Moltmann says the two sins against hope are optimism and despair. Optimism is groundless. Despair is faithless. Jim Collins (Good to Great) gave us the “Stockdale Paradox.” When asked about what POWs did not make it out of their Viet Nam imprisonment, James Stockdale said, “the optimists.” Those who were constantly saying, “We’ll be out of this by Easter, or Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or New Year” were constantly disappointed by reality. They had no grounds for such false hopes. It was the realists, Stockdale said, who survived. This is an important perspective to hold during these days. Depending on who is prognosticating, we may be in this social distancing mode for some time. We should prepare ourselves to do our ministry in this situation for the long-haul. Hope is not optimism. It is, for the Christian, a part of a realistic outlook. The Easter reality is that in whatever future we find ourselves, God is present, God is with us. He is our hope.  “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13).http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/calmpresentleadershipThe 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 church leaders need to make a philosophical shift in every aspect of our ministry, away from leading for recovery and towards planning to lead for endurance. We need to start using the catchcry, ‘Not Recovery, But endurance, ’ in order to set our people’s expectations right.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.

Rob Smith has been a global leader in evangelical music for three decades.  He has a new book out ‘Come, Let us Sing!’ just as singing has been restricted in many churches due to COVID-19.Rob joins us to talk about some of the principles he’s discovered in a lifetime’s work in Evangelical Music, plus how the current pandemic has caused course corrections.We’re asking how do we engage with God and engage with each other best in normal circumstances and in the current pandemic.  What part does music play in praising, praying and preaching together.What advice is there for musicians and church leaders on navigating current restrictions (like no congregational singing, one song leader, social distancing etc) in regards to song choices, instrumentation, arrangements, number of songs, introduction, arrangement of meeting, use of the screen, pressure on musicians, leading the congregation in song vs performance ? To buy Rob’s new book go to: https://bit.ly/comeletussingThe 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.

After three years of researching the pornography problem and what to do about it, Marshall Ballentine Jones has a message of hope. The same stats keep recurring – 70% of males and 20% of females struggle with pornography use. This is true in Christian schools, our churches, and ministry staff. Pornography negatively impacts individuals, their relationships, and society. Males are more likely to initiate sexualised behaviour over social media (called ‘sexting’), while females are more likely to be targets of sexting. If this is news to you - please check out the resistporn.org site, which has the research. There is a long list of people in our ranks affected by pornography. No one is immune, and the problem remains urgent. Marshall has been on a quest has been to help find effective solutions. There is no easy fix or silver bullet, but he’s recommending a four pronged tested strategy to as a way forward: 1. Communication, 2 Containment, 3. Co-operation and 4. Clinical support.More details and to subscribe: http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/pornographyThe 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.

Thousands of people attended Grace Community Church in Los Angeles today, the evangelical megachurch led by Pastor John MacArthur junior. And the church elders have put out a statement defending their decision, ‘Christ, not Caesar is the head of the church.’Moore Theological College’s New Testament lecturer Dr Lionel Windsor and Northmead Anglican Church’s Senior Pastor Adrian Russell join us to discuss the decision. More online at http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/caesarThe 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.