So how do we maximise the mission opportunities that come to us at Christmas? Every Christmas we stop. The majority of us go on holidays and relax. But for Churches, it’s usually the busiest time of the year. People are relaxed, feeling festive and are much more likely to visit their local Church.How can we design our Christmas services to have the best missional impact? What can we do in the lead up and aftermath?This week on The Pastor’s Heart we speak with David Keun from St Paul's Anglican Church, Carlingford, NSW and Stuart Starr from NewLife Anglican : Oran Park to discuss opportunities, strategies and risks when it comes to engaging with your local community this Christmas.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.

A new definition of Conversion Therapy proposed to the Victorian Government defines teaching Classical Christianity as harmfulVictorian Baptist pastor Murray Campbell of Mentone Baptist Church, writes on www.murraycampbell.net:In the future, will Churches and religious organisations in Victoria (your home state) have freedom to preach, teach, and counsel and pray in line with their religious convictions? Without significant revisions to the proposed definition [of the Victorian Government’s attempts to outlaw conversion therapy], the answer is probably no.Murray Campbell joins us to discuss the Victorian Government’s plans to put sexual freedoms in front of religious freedoms, significantly curtailing churches. Plus Murray talks about why pastors should attempt to exercise leadership in the public square.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.

So many churches are stuck just under the 200 barrier. It seems it's the hardest transition in congregational dynamics to navigate.Senior Minister of Toongabbie Anglican Church, Raj Gupta joins Dominic Steele, to talk through the challenges, mistakes and strategies in managing this transition.Raj says a key issue is 'the locus of relational connectedness' or what structures people look for relationships.He says as leaders, we need to reverse engineer the characteristics of the next level into your church size.To download Raj's thesis, click here. 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.

What should a Christian leader do when their role is to care for people, and they don’t want to interact with people? What impact does depression have on preaching? What kind of friendships should ministry leaders have? What about suffering in the leaders life? What would you say to a leader who is walking through the tough of depression for the first time? We ask Peter Adam the hard questions about friendship, mental health, avoiding burn-out and investing in senior ministers. Peter will speak openly about his own experience - one which is mirrored by a surprisingly large number of others. Peter Adam is vicar emeritus at St. Jude’s Carlton, formerly principal of Ridley College Melbourne, and vicar of St. Jude’s. He mentors 28 young pastors, has written extensively on how God speaks into our lives and is a founding member of the Council of The Gospel Coalition Australia. Download Peter Adam's Pastor's Heart prayer. 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.

What are the characteristics of effective leaders?  How do emotional maturity and anxiety impact leadership?  Robert Creech, Professor of Pastoral Leadership at Baylor University, is in Sydney for the The Family Systems Institute conference and joins us to speak to the complex relationship between ministry teams and their congregation. Effective pastoral ministry is primarily about relationships, and not primarily about skills and competencies.  The preacher is vulnerable in the battle between pastoral affection and prophetic courage. For too many ministers, energy is directed more to what others think and to winning friends as opposed to goal directed activity.  Effective pastors are comfortable not having ‘answers’ to all the questions, solutions to every problem or knowing exactly what others should do. Plus Robert explores how church staff can over-function and under-function and the impact this has on a church. Any leader and member will find this conversation helpful as we strive to do life together, better.Robert Creech has been in Sydney as the guest of The Family Systems Institute (who offer clergy training and coaching in applying systems thinking to life and ministry.)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 to evangelise the post secularist, impacted by the growing rise of paganism?Dr Peter Jones, Executive Director of truthXchange, is our guest this week. Since 1989, Jones has addressed “the New Age” and New Spirituality. He’s the author of “Gospel Truth, pagan Lies: Can You Tell the Difference”, “Cracking DaVinci’s Code” and “The God of Sex: How Worldview Determines Sexuality.” After 18 years serving in France, Peter Jones returned to an America which was “charged with new aged spirituality”. He spent the next several years understanding what the culture was saying about faith and equipping Christians to understand their own faith in light of this.In today’s conversation with Dominic, Jones outlines the impact of post-secularism, which he defines as a form of “irrational spirituality” with right and wrong becoming merged. He gave an example from his own cab-ride to the Pastor’s Heart on how to bring up the gospel in response to an individual's personal experience. Dominic will ask Jones about the conflict between Christianity and other cultural movements, as well as the debate on sexuality.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.

With Jay Behan set to become the first bishop of the new Anglican Diocese in New Zealand, he sits down with Dominic Steele to spell out how the principles and difficulties behind responding to theological revisionism.  Plus the lessons learned in New Zealand and how they might apply in other contexts. Jay Behan will be consecrated and installed as the first bishop the Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa/New Zealand this Saturday. Jay says:The principle is clear but how we respond is cloudy.Recalibration/realignment means maintaining relationships is crucial (and this is difficult).Beware of the dangers of selfishness and comfortKeep Jesus firstWe’re delighted to have him as a guest to talk about the cost of standing for the Lord Jesus and the future of the new church in New Zealand.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.

In a special edition of The Pastor's Heart, from the Indonesian capital Jakarta, Dominic Steele speaks to graduates of the Compassion Australia child sponsorship program Krisna Bagus Prasetyo and Liberty M.D. Astuti.We speak about growing up in extreme poverty, finding a safe community with Compassion and meeting Jesus. These children are from families who are not able to provide three meals each day. Through Compassion, they have been able to attend university. It was particularly exciting speaking with these young adults while meeting hundreds of children who are currently part of Compassion.Plus Sydney pastors Roger Fitzhardinge (from Fairy Meadow Anglican Church) and James Harricks (from Centennial Park) share about the impact of the visit on their hearts.More info and to sponsor http://www.compassion.org.auThe 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 key problem in Sydney’s Anglican churches with a drop in the number of newcomers.The trend is downwards across the board. It’s massively concerning. In 2013, the Diocesan mission set a goal to raise the number of newcomers to Church to 12% by 2020. However, as of September 2019, it is looking like we will fall well short of this goal. There’s a new report out this week, featuring interviews with churches that are overall doing better at welcoming first time newcomers and welcoming returnees to church life. We have a vulnerable/soft underbelly conversation about our weaknesses with Peter Mayrick from Sydney’s Center for Ministry Development and Jessica Brouwer, Mission Pastor at Village Church, Sydney. You can download the report here - http://www.j.mp/newcomerreport - or contact Peter for implementation advice email Peter.Mayrick@cmd.trainingThe 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.

Randy Pope, lead pastor of Atlanta's Perimeter Church for 42 years, joins us this week, as he transitions out of the senior leadership role. Perimeter has been responsible for over forty church plants since 1977.He joins us to talk ministry strategy, his realisation that he needed to focus on spiritual maturity, rather than growth, and a thorn in the flesh for many senior pastors, 'Spiritual Pride.'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.