Across the Western World there’s a drop in people stepping up for ordination.There’s a critical problem here in Sydney, with more than ten percent of churches without a senior minister.How have we come from ‘oversupply’ just a few years ago to ‘crucial shortage’?And what can we change?A fortnight ago we spoke to former Sydney Dean Phillip Jensen and he rolled a 'hand grenade down the aisle.'  Today we talk to two of Sydney’s leading senior ministers Phil Colgan and Simon Flinders about possible ways forward. 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.

An evangelical lion: JI PackerToday we remember JI Packer with two of Australian evangelicalism’s most respected leaders Mark Thompson and Peter Jensen.Dr Packer died yesterday in Vancouver, leaving his wife Kit and children Ruth, Martin and Naomi.Moore Theological College Principal Mark Thompson says Dr Packer was one of the three great giants of 20th century evangelicalism.Former Archbishop of Sydney Dr Jensen says Dr Packer gave us a robust confidence in the authority of the word of God, and taught us the crucial importance of evangelism.Dr Thompson says “Jim’s book Fundamentalism and the Word of God (1958) was life-changing for many. He gave our confidence in the Bible a new depth and resilience. Slightly later, his book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (1961) demonstrated the way a clear reformed theology, with an emphasis on God’s sovereignty in all things, not least in salvation, went hand in hand with a confident and gracious evangelism.”To purchase JI Packer’s books click here.Header image credit: The Gospel CoalitionThe 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 plan for next year, when we don’t even know what the next few months will look like? Normally at this time of year, we are working out our vision, plans and budgets for the upcoming year, including staffing, growth, mission plans. How can we do that?This week, we’re talking about how to plan for 2021, when we don’t know what physical or financial situation our congregations will be in. What is reasonable? What is too ambitious? How can we best prepare our churches for the next 12 months.Our guests are New Life Oran Park's Stuart Starr and Grace City Church's Tim ClemensThe 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 minister drought and what to do about it? - with Phillip JensenThere’s been an across the board drop in people stepping up to serve in full time ministry roles whether as senior pastors, assistant pastors or people putting themselves forward to study at theological college. We had the Principal of Moore Theological College, Mark Thompson on The Pastor's Heart a few months ago and he said that enrolments are down for theological colleges across the western world. It’s very different to twenty years ago, when all the talk at Moore College was of continued growth.Humanly speaking Phillip Jensen was the person in Sydney used by God most significantly to prompt the explosion in gospel workers.We ask Phillip what are the factors that have contributed to the slump, and what needs to be done?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 are discussing a Christian response to Indigenous Australians. We talk the character of God, mistakes made in the past and present, and how we can lead our Churches to promote reconciliation. We’ll be looking at how we can acknowledge our history and better support Indigenous Christian leaders.Neville Naden is BCA’s first Indigenous Ministry Officer. Together with his wife Kathie, Neville seeks to support those at the coal face who minister to our First Nations people, many of whom live in rural and remote communities. Kanishka Raffel, Dean of the Sydney Anglican Cathedral and head of the Sydney Anglican Indigenous Ministry Taskforce. Download: A Theological Framework for Reconciliation, With Special Reference to The Indigenous Peoples of Australia (A Resource Paper for the Sydney Anglican Indigenous Ministry Task Force) 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 Alpha Course is 'emotionally powerful but theologically confused'.“Personally, I wouldn’t be game to use something that I know is inadequate” - Christian Author Tony Payne has watched through the latest Alpha materials, and joins Dominic Steele to work through the strengths and weaknesses of the course.This conversation is a high level discussion of the Alpha course, beginning with the heart of the Christian leader and our obligation to build upon strong gospel foundations. Tony acknowledges Alpha's high production values, and powerful emotional content, but says Alpha still reflects CH Dodd's influence, 'There was a strong movement in theology to stand against the idea that God is judge of all the world, and that God's primary and only stand towards us is love.  And that our problem with God is that sin has natural cause and effect consequence, with no sense that sin is a personal offence to God, and that God is deeply angry with us and our sin.''It's a gospel in which sin is the doing of bad stuff that has bad consequences, and that God's attitude to us is only love.  And that what happens on the cross is a dealing with sin, a paying the price.  But there's no explanation of what that means.'     Tony also challenges us to reflect: are we trusting God to save people, or relying on our own ability to 'reshape' the message of the gospel to seem reasonable and attractive and explains his own reasons behind choosing not to use the course. Listen to the full conversation - regardless of whether you use the Alpha course or not - it is a good opportunity to reflect on our hearts towards evangelism. Tony Payne is the founding editor of Matthias Media, and Writer-in-residence at Campus Bible Study in Sydney. He has written (or co-authored) numerous books and ministry resources, including The Trellis and the Vine, and currently publishes an online blog/podcast called The Payneful Truth.Disclaimer: Tony Payne is one of the authors of Two Ways to Live.  Dominic Steele is an author of Introducing God.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.

On The Pastor’s Heart, Robert Smith joins us to discuss Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s critique of the binary understanding of sex and gender and how we as Christian leaders can equip our churches to address these complex and controversial issues. Rowling’s comments in a series of tweets and an online essay have sparked an intense social media backlash. "It isn't enough for women to be trans allies. Women must accept and admit that there is no material difference between trans women and themselves." - J.K. Rowling. She’s spoken of people who have regretted their transition, and an over representation of autistic females in those wanting to transition.We’ll bring together questions about freedom of speech, supporting and championing women and children, a biblical view of manhood and womanhood. Plus there’s a wider question here about social media pile-on, cancel-culture and the use of labels like “TERF” and “transphobic” to shut down conversation. 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.

Check-ins, singing, 4 square meters and the way out of COVID-19.The Australian Prime Minister says in stage three of the Post Covid-19 reopening, groups will be able to meet with no upper limit on numbers from July, but there will be a blanket rule of 4 square meters per person. However, all visitors to buildings will be required to checkin and provide contact details.  For churches that have had no pastoral monitoring of who is attending, this is likely to be a revolution. But how to handle the technological upgrade necessary? We are talking today with Bishop Gary Koo, who heads the Sydney Anglican COVID-19 taskforce, and two Australian IT wizards Melbourne’s Cade Embery, founder of http://www.fluro.io and Sydney’s Nick Utber, from Open Box technology and https://www.adminosaur.com/.Subscribe at: https://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/check-ins-singing-4-square-metersThe 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 Kotter's principles of change managment and how they apply to church leadership in this post COVID-19 season where the immediate steps forward may not be clear. We need to lead to change. But for some of us senior pastors (as things keep changing) it’s not obvious where we want to go!  And yet we need to take everyone with us.As we move to restarting physical meetings post COVID19, for some churches it’s relatively straightforward, for others it’s going to be impossible for quite some time, but for a significant number restarting is possible - but will require a significant rearrangement. Peter Mayrick is back with us from Sydney’s Center for Ministry Development at Moore Theological College. http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/changepostcovid19The 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 Australian Government has recommended the reopening process go through a series of stages.New guidelines have been released for churches in NSW. But they have been changed since the original ones we discussed on The Pastor’s Heart with Bishop Michael Stead a fortnight ago.In NSW we are at Stage 2 (50 people gatherings) and stage 3 (100 people) is expected in July.Bishop Michael Stead is back for an extra discussion…. On social distancing and implementing the health department guidelines.Credit: Contains an excerpt of a video from a Gondwana Choir's Webinar. The research material is produced by Prateek Bahl, Charitha de Silva, Con Doolan and Raina MacIntyre, UNSW.Michael Stead has produced this extra paper. 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.