The Pastor's Heart with Dominic Steele

How should Christians think about war? How does the Biblical Framework of Just War help us understand how we should react to what is happening in the Ukraine, Iran, Israel and south Lebanon.
We go back to first principles drawing on the work of Augustine of Hippo Thomas Aquinas - asking when is it right to go to war — and how must war be conducted? And how do those principles evaluate what’s happening in today’s conflicts?
Joining us are:
John McClean, Vice Principal of Christ College Sydney, 
Rob Smith, theologian and ethicist and 
Grant Dibden, Anglican Bishop to the Australian Defence Force. 
Together we explore how Just War thinking has shaped Western military ethics and whether it is quietly being sidelined.
Plus we examine what the Just War doctrine says about individuals conduct in war, in light of the controversy surrounding Australian Soldier Ben Roberts-Smith? 
And how should Christians respond when the emotional weight of real-world conflict hits close

The Church Co
http://www.thechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches. 
Advertise on The Pastor's Heart
To advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsor

Support the show

Tinkering or transformation?
How do you change a church, like really change, not just tweak a program or update a roster, but challenge the whole model? 
Kodak missed the shift to digital photography. We’ve seen huge changes in industries impacting newspapers, landline telephones, taxis, bank branches, travel agents, street directories, encyclopedias. For each the world moved on.
But have churches missed a revolution too, and if so, what is it?
Archie Poulos from Moore College’s Centre for Ministry Development says we’ve been tinkering around the edges, changing tactics without changing the operating model, especially when our structures were built for a village world while many relationships today are affinity based. 
Kirsty Bucknell outlines a change framework to help us bring people with us. 

The Church Co
http://www.thechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches. 
Advertise on The Pastor's Heart
To advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsor

Support the show

‘Authority’ and ‘care’-  the two big words New Testament lecturer Peter Orr says belong together at the heart of real shepherding. 
Lecturer at Sydney’s Moore Theological College, Peter Orr, has told the Nexus Conference, that one of the great confusions of our moment is confusion about the role of the pastor. 
He asks whether in circles like ours, with a strong and right emphasis on every-member ministry, we accidentally downplayed the distinctiveness of the pastor? 
What does it mean to say that a pastor has real authority, but that it is derived, limited and for care? How to avoid harshness, being too soft and lazy. 
See also 
‘Fight for your pastor’ by Peter Orr 
The War Zone of The Pastor’s Heart with Peter Orr 

The Church Co
http://www.thechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches. 
Advertise on The Pastor's Heart
To advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsor

Support the show

We tackle one of the most sensitive issues facing the global church — sexuality. 
Vaughan Roberts, senior minister of St Ebbe’s Oxford, speaks as both pastor and theologian. In this interview he reflects on deeply personal pastoral encounters — Christians struggling with pornography, same-sex attraction, gender incongruence, and the pain of confusing messages from churches.
In Abuaja, Nigeria, Vaughan Roberts, distributed his new book Full of Grace and Truth: The Gospel and Sexuality in the Global Church to more than 470 bishops, clergy and lay leaders of the Global Anglican Communion.
At the heart of Roberts’ argument is the argument: God is for sex. Sex is for marriage. Marriage is for life. And ultimately life is for Christ. 
Roberts’ challenge cuts in two directions. He cautions revisionist Christians not to abandon biblical truth, while also urging conservatives to move beyond moralism to the transforming beauty of the gospel.
Order online
The Church Co
http://www.thechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches. 
Advertise on The Pastor's Heart
To advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsor

Support the show

What does the reordering of the Anglican Communion actually mean for Christians in the Australian Church? 
Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel on what it means for Anglican churches, clergy and church members in Australia.
We explore what ‘principled disengagement’ from the Canterbury Instruments will mean for Australian leaders and other Global Anglican Communion leaders. 
Plus an update on implementing the Sydney Diocean goal of seeing five percent saved through conversion growth each year.  
And Archbishop Raffel responds to criticism over his comments on Pauline Hanson, ‘We must reject hateful words and threats of violence.’ 
Gafcon Communique:
https://gafcon.org/communique-updates/the-abuja-affirmation/

A short clip to show in church where Archbishop Raffel outlines the significance of the reordering for members of Australian Anglican Churches:
https://vimeo.com/1174575894?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci 
 
Archbishop Raffel news release on Pauline Hanson: ‘We must reject hateful words and threats of violence’:
https://sydneyanglicans.net/mediareleases/we-must-reject-hateful-words-and-threats-of-violence

The Church Co
http://www.thechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches. 
Advertise on The Pastor's Heart
To advertise on The Pastor's Heart go to thepastorsheart.net/sponsor

Support the show