There’s nothing like the cold cup of reality thrown upon the dreams of youth. I mean, I never said it was nice – but there really is nothing like it. And unless you’re one of the few who dodged the cold, dreamed big and made it – then you’ll be in the same boat as me. The dreamer When I was 19, ...

One of the objections I hear about the Christian faith goes something like this; “I don’t understand how could a loving God send people to hell.” At first glance there does seem to be a contradiction here. A Loving God? Judgement and Hell? Surely not. The argument concludes that God is therefore a bully – who destroys those who don’t believe in ...

Much of Australia is now mourning the deaths of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the two Australian nationals executed in Indonesia this week. There is much to be said about ethics surrounding the death penalty, but that has already been covered by others. These men and their story have impacted me deeply, and remind me so much of the gospel. Like ...

Muslims. Extremists. ISIS. Terrorists. Our news sites are filled with stories about the latest terrorist news; atrocities, and the comments filled with anxiety about what might happen to us in Australia and Muslims not integrating into our communities. Recently, our Prime Minister coined the phrase ; “Team Australia” (reference) and said that new migrants are welcome as long as they are ...

I was reflecting on a great discussion that we had one night at one of our GC’s (Gospel Communities) and thought I would share my thoughts with you all, hopefully for your joy and progress in the faith today! One of the main points of discussion that we had was around this section of “The Gospel Centred Life” study material ...

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 ...

For the last 20 years of pastoral ministry my life has revolved around studying and teaching the Bible in some way or another. It is actually easy to become over familiar with Scripture to the point of almost “immunizing” yourself to the main message, you know, not been able to see the forest for the trees! I have found reading ...

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 ...

What comes to your mind when you think about “doing ministry”? I hope not just what you do when serving in a church meeting… Sunday School, worship team, youth, teaching, prayer, set up/clean up, hospitality, counselling etc. Not that those services are not ministry “unto the Lord” that are done to bring him glory, rather they are not your primary ...