Gospel Brew The gospel of Jesus Christ; faith brewed with a distinctly Australian flavour

When I was in seminary, we had a great unit called “Foundations of Ministry”. In it, we reflected on how others have have embraced their distinctiveness to minister, and how “who we are” impacts on our ministry. We were once asked what were the qualities of a good pastor. In our groups we discussed and brought our responses together. We ...

If you keep tabs on what is happening in the worldwide church, then you’ve probably heard about the increasing controversy surrounding Pastor Mark Driscoll, from Mars Hill Church in Seattle (Update, Pastor Mark has stepped down as of Sunday 24/08/14). It’s even made the front page of the New York Times. Claims of his creating a culture of fear to ...

Faith. For such a divisive and powerful word, It’s actually really small. Some religious people view faith as life’s never-ending exam. If you study harder, work harder and push yourself – you can become a person with more faith – and only then can God bless you and favour you. In other words, great faith, and a great life is ...

“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” William Golding, Lord of the Flies. If you want to be unpopular, try telling a bunch of Aussies that they are in fact and in ...

When I was a younger man, we were told to bring people to church so that they could hear the gospel. And many people were brought to church, and many people heard the gospel message – and some responded to that message. And you sort of graduated from the gospel, to other teachings and deeper spiritual principles. But is this ...

Some time ago, I was conversing with an agnostic who made the statement that exclusive truth claims should be avoided, because they are what causes conflict. It’s quite a common perspective that people, even Christians hold. What it boils down to, is the importance of truth; and more importantly, how do we better understand the truth? At some level, the agnostic ...

Mark 10:23-45 is a passage about power. Although a series of seemingly disconnected events, there is a clear theme, and a clear point that the writer wants us to see. Below, I’ll go through this theme and how it applies to politics and power today. Mark starts this passage with a question about divorce, then moves onto, “don’t stop the children coming ...

A pastor I know once told the congregation that she doesn’t like the phrase “I’m a sinner saved by grace”, because we are no longer sinners – we are saints, and we need to have a higher view of ourselves! This really got me thinking… And I remembered a friend of mine from before I met Jesus. He was loyal ...

Mention euthanasia, and you can open a can of worms on some strongly held beliefs! It has recently been brought back into the media spotlight with the investigation and suspension of Dr Philip Nitschke, director of Exit International, for allegedly assisting in the suicide of a patient. Sampson and suffering Life is a wonderful gift from God. It is not to be despised, ...

There is a question being thrown around a lot recently, in particular aimed at Rob Bell in an interview soon after the devastation of the Boxing Day Tsunamis in 2011 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg-qgmJ7nzA). “Which of these is true: ‘God is all powerful, but he doesn’t care or he cares but isn’t all powerful’.” After reading it several times, I stopped to think about the ...