The Pastor's Heart with Dominic Steele

Wisdom for pastors seeking to preach and lead well in a post-Christian age.
So much of our culture judges events in isolation — a single moment, a single failure, a single decision — detached from what led to it and what flows from it. But history doesn’t work like that. Events emerge from long trajectories, and they reshape the future in ways no one fully controls or intends.
We’re joined by Archie Poulos, Head of the Ministry Department at Moore Theological College, to reflect on Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West by Andrew Wilson. 

Wilson’s argument isn’t that everything changed overnight in 1776, but that the events clustered around that year give us a window into the forces that have shaped the WEIRDER world we now inhabit — Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic, Ex-Christian and Romantic.
We explore why reading history as an ecosystem rather than isolated episodes matters, why Romanticism isn’t just a past movement but our present operating system, and how Christian faith — offers a deeper, more hopeful way to understand our moment.
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A roller-coaster week for religious freedom in Australia.

In just days, sweeping Australian national legislation moved from deeply alarming to not great, but not terrible — after intense pressure from faith leaders across the country.

In this special bonus episode of The Pastor’s Heart, we speak with Michael Stead, Bishop of South Sydney and director of Freedom for Faith, who had a front-row seat as the law was debated, amended, and finally passed late at night in Parliament.

What was originally proposed? Why did faith leaders unite in an extraordinary last-minute letter to the Prime Minister?  Which parts of the bill remain concerning — and which dangers were narrowly avoided?

We walk through how the law was actually made — and what it now means for preaching, Bible teaching, protest, and free speech in Australia.

Read the Faith Leaders letter. https://bit.ly/faith-leaders-letter
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As a new year begins, Australian evangelical student ministry is marking a significant leadership transition.
After 23 years of stable and influential leadership, Richard Chin has handed over the leadership of the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students to Pete Sorrenson. The handover was symbolically marked at the Big National Conference in Canberra last December, where Richard preached the first half of the conference and Pete the second.
We step back to reflect on what the Chin era has meant for Australian evangelicalism. How has campus ministry shaped churches, training colleges and mission agencies over the past four decades? What has changed on university campuses since the turn of the millennium? And what kind of AFES will be needed for the next generation of students?
Long-standing campus leaders Tim Thorburn and Andrew Sennett, offer perspectives from both metropolitan and regional university contexts.
The discussion moves beyond gratitude and legacy to ask harder, forward-looking questions. If many of the theological and ministry convictions once championed by AFES are now mainstream, what is AFES uniquely for today? Are inherited evangelism models still effective on contemporary campuses? How central should international student ministry be? And does Australia’s increasingly fragmented university landscape require more than one model of campus ministry?

https://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/a-new-era-for-australian-university-ministry
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The Church Co
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How should Christians react to news one of our heroes has engaged in an eight year sinful affair with a married woman?
How should churches respond when leaders fall? 
Why do accountability structures fail? 
How do we speak of grace without minimising harm? 
What does faithfulness look like for pastors, churches and ordinary believers in moments like this?
Philip Yancey’s confession of an eight-year adulterous affair has shocked the evangelical world. His writing shaped a generation. His failure has caused deep harm.

We begin by hearing from a woman (name withheld) who has walked a similar path — the former wife of a senior ministry leader — as she reflects on betrayal, theology under trauma and the long fallout for families.

Keith Condie, is from Anglican Deaconess Ministries’ Mental Health and Pastoral Care Institute. Veronica Hoyt is Director of the Priscilla and Aquila Centre at Sydney’s Moore Theological College. Chris Edwards is the Anglican, Bishop of North Sydney.
Link: Keith and Sarah Condie's marriage course. 
Correction: It was mistakenly said in this episode that Yancey has Alzheimers.  This was a mistake and should have been Parkinsons.  Apologies.

Anglican Aid
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The Church Co
http://www.thechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches. 
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So much pastoral energy is lost when teams don’t function well. 
Anxiety rises, trust erodes and the mission of the church suffers. But when teams are healthy, aligned and generous with one another, churches flourish.
In this ‘Best of’ episode of The Pastor’s Heart, over the Australian Summer, we’re joined by Peter Blanch (Reach Australia), Michael Davies (Lighthouse Church, Gorokan) and Megan Stevens (Vine Church, Surry Hills) to talk about leading up — how assistant ministers, associates and key volunteers can help teams work better, support senior leaders and care for the whole church ecosystem.
We talk identity in Christ, trust, feedback, confidentiality, handling complaints and the often-unspoken dynamics of second-chair leadership — including the role of spouses.
Anglican Aid
To find out more about supporting Anglican Aid.
The Church Co
http://www.thechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches. 
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