The Pastor's Heart with Dominic Steele

We hear from Jenny Brown with Craig Foster on the issues of Christian ministry, the complicated relationships involved, and how understanding family systems theory can help.Jenny Brown heads The Family Systems Practice, is an experienced family systems therapist and the author of Growing Yourself Up. Craig is a senior associate minister at Norwest Anglican Church, and works part time was a consultant alongside Jenny. “I thought the problem was ministry, but it turned out the problem was me!” Craig spoke honestly about a time when he considered leaving ministry as an assistant minister. He was facing difficulties with family relationships, conflict among his congregation and staff team and wasn’t able to see any growth.  His story echoed my own experience, and the statistics indicate it’s something that most of us in ministry will face at some point. I think this will be useful to both ministry workers, who may be feeling discouraged, and ministry leaders, who are seeking to build functioning teams. Do work to build your tool-kit of relational strategies before you reach breaking point. Don’t wait until you are in crisis. Please, take a moment to watch or listen to our full conversation or share it with someone who you think could benefit. The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

A recent survey found that teenagers believe caring for the environment is more important than caring for the poor. As Generation Z grow up, it is becoming increasingly important for to equip our congregations with a biblical approach to environmentalism.My conversation with Lionel Windsor, author of  Is God Green? tackles these complex issues of greed, politics, exploitation and our accountability to God. Lionel doesn't shy away from challenging us, as Christian leaders, to keep our eyes on Jesus and clearly reminds us of the responsibilities and freedom we have in Christ. We discuss some of the following questions:▪ Can you be a Christian and a miner?▪ Will God hold us accountable for the state of the environment?▪ Who should we vote for?▪ What type of causes should we encourage our congregation to financially support?I hope you take this opportunity to think seriously about how the people in your sphere of influence are approaching the environment. The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

The last death throes of cultural Christianity and what’s next with Phillip JensenFormer Anglican Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen says to understand the issues fronting Christians today we will best start with understanding the history.Phillip, who now heads up Two Ways Ministries, takes us on a helicopter journey through fifty years of cultural and Christian history...and considers where to from here? The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

Sydney’s Moore Theological College Principal Mark Thompson has just arrived back from a tour of the world’s leading theological colleges, observing best practice and latest trends. Dr Thompson briefed his faculty on his findings yesterday. Today he joins Dominic Steele to talk trends and changes in raising up and training a generation of harvest workers. The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

How can youth ministries act as a 'shock absorber for the church' as we absorb and adopt to changes in culture. And how should our DNA be orientated? Stu Crawshaw is advocating an atonement based youth ministry. Soul Revival Church's Stuart Crawshaw answers everything we've wanted to know about youth ministry and the next generation...The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

It's not just the word and prayer (the poetry). it's also the systems and organisation that support them  that matter (the plumbing). In one of our most requested topics, David Moore is operations pastor with Hunter Bible Church and Unichurch, Newcastle and joins Dominic Steele this week to talk ministry strategy, systems and hacks: reporting, protocols, communications, finances/investments, tools.The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

There’s been ‘a spate’ of resignations of senior ministers where team leaders of churches have surprised many of us by resigning and switching roles to become team members or switch to chaplaincy or other roles.The task seems like it’s getting harder. What can we do to strengthen our resilience?There’s a Life In Ministry Conference coming up in August in Sydney dealing with the whole issue of resilience in ministry. We speak with two of the presenters, Dean of Students at Moore Theological College, Paul Grimmond and Organisational Pyschologist,Kirsty Bucknell.The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

Lessons from seven churches, five of which were plants, with David JonesPresbyterian Church planting enterpreneur David Jones has planted five churches and revitalised two. David, a former moderator of the Australian Presbyterian Church, has just retired as senior pastor of Anne Street Presbyterian in Brisbane. David joins Dominic Steele to share lessons learned over forty years.The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

There are so many stories of the whole church's ministry going pear shaped by poor staffing decisions, unrealistic expectations and poor leadership.There's probably more anguish from senior and assistant ministers in this area than basically any other. And there's an unspoken unrealistic expectation within the church that their paid leadership should be able to work out this area perfectly. And the collateral damage when there are divisions in the staff team is massive. The Senior Minister of Sydney's Toongabbie Anglican Church, Raj Gupta, serves as a consultant for the Centre for Ministry Development at Moore Theological College. Raj will help us on how to recruit, engage, develop, recognise and track staff.Look back at previous episodes:Ministry Teams 'Rosters are contrary to the gospel' with Rhett Harris, 'The Leadership Pipeline' with Raj GuptaThe Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show

Archbishop Laurent Mbanda joins us to share his wonderful story from being a barefoot refuge in the East African nation of Rwanda to a Burundi refugee camp, where he and his parents were saved. A long walk to Kenya followed, then he was miraculously accepted into university, after weeks sleeping on the streets.After university, he was a staff worker for Campus Crusade for Christ, before doing a masters and doctorate in the United States, and eventually lead the Compassion International Aid work following the 1994 Rwandan massacre.Then there’s amazing work leading the church in Rwanda, explosive growth, with thousands saved, to now starting an East African Christian University.Archbishop Mbanda is deputy chair of significant movement within Anglicanism, GAFCON, and in 2020 will host the Anglican Bishops conference in the Rwandan capital Kigali. Check out Laurent Mbanda's biography on Amazon. The Church Cothechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches.  Advertise on The Pastor's HeartTo advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsorSupport the show