How do you best assist a church member who discloses that they are experiencing gender incongruence?

How do we show compassion and care with people where you disagree with the choices they might be making? How do we lead others in the church to do the same?

How can Christian grandparents be more intentional about their faith and leave a lasting legacy of faith in their grandkids and peers?

Masculinity is fundamentally about how men use their power. When it is done in a healthy way, masculinity will serve and bless those it touches.

There is widespread confusion about what it is to be a man.

Al Stewart says we should value masculinity, rightly understood. The truly masculine man makes people around him feel safe. Things are more stable because he’s around.

How do we proclaim Him clearly as we should? What mistakes do we make? How can we improve? How do you best approach different kinds of evangelistic talks? How can you be creative about presenting sin?

Ross Ciano is senior minister of Sydney’s Marrickville Road Anglican Church.

Sydney Missionary and Bible College Doctrine Lecturer Rob Smith submits his PhD this week on ‘Identity and Embodiment’ asking ‘How significant is our embodiment to our identity? How significant are our bodies to our gender identity?

There’s a new Matt Walsh Daily Wire Documentary ‘What is a woman?’ that is causing a stir across the world.

We ask Rob ‘What is a woman?’ and for his review of the new Matt Walsh documentary.

Plus how do we best care pastorally for the gender incongruent church member.

‘Do not be anxious about anything’ says the Apostle Paul. But Paul Grimmond says saying that to an anxious person is a bit like telling an icecream not to melt in summer.

How do we think biblically about anxiety while taking on board what else is happening with a person’s biology and environment?

How can we see anxiety as a gift? What does the interplay between mind and body look like? How does sin contribute to anxiety? What place for counseling? Self talk?

Paul Grimmond’s new book ‘When the noise won’t stop: A Christian guide to dealing with anxiety’.

The end of an era as the founding editor moves on and the Bible Society shifts the vision for Eternity away from independent reporting to positive only news.

‘You be you.’ It’s the catch cry of a generation. But Brian Rosner says it’s also the new definition of sin.

Many people today believe that there’s only one place to look to find yourself and that’s inward.

Personal identity has become a ‘Do it yourself Project’.

This strategy of identity formation is sometimes called Expressive Individualism.

The view that you are who you feel yourself to be on the inside, and that acting in accordance with this identity is living authentically.

The Principal of Melbourne’s Ridley Theological College Brian Rosner has super helpful critique in his new book, ‘How to find yourself: Why looking inwards is not the answer.’

How can we work better together with people we don’t fully agree with and take advantage of that? We need both deep links and shallow links in ministry. How do we better communicate across theological sub tribes?

Archie Poulos is co-director of the Center for Ministry Development at Sydney’s Moore Theological College.

How do we start with Jesus in formulating a view of Scripture today? What is Jesus’ view of scripture? How do clarity and simplicity relate? How do we move from the speech of God to the word of God written? How does the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture play out in the different stages of biblical revelation? Can you give us a sixty second answer on canon formation? And how does speech-act theory impact the issues of the inseparability of Word and Spirit, and the efficacy of Scripture.

Principal of Sydney’s Moore Theological College Mark Thompson has a new book ‘The doctrine of Scripture: An introduction’

How do you find the right key person to join your ministry team?

There are questions like: What is the person’s heart for God and the gospel? What is the person’s relationship with authority? How do we recruit to a vision and strategy? What are the pitfalls of interviews? What are the first questions to ask referees? Who else to involve in the process? 

How does humility drive ambition? How can you be ambitious, having a right ambition, not for ourselves, but an ambition to magnify Jesus.

Paul Harrington leads the Trinity network of churches in Adelaide, South Australia. Having planted three new churches this year, they have grown to a network of 14 churches.

Paul gave the main evening talks at last week’s Reach Australia Conference, tackling head on the failures of Christian leaders.

‘A perilous moment.’ - That’s how the Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel described the situation that the Anglican Church of Australia is in - after an important vote failed to win support of the nation’s bishops at the denomination’s National Synod.

Today on The Pastor’s Heart we are speaking first to the Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel and then to the Gafcon Australia Chair, Bishop RIchard Condie of Tasmania and Rev Jennifer Hercott from Queensland.

How do we prioritise kids ministry? What to look for in appointing a kids minister? How do you support your kids minister to prevent burnout and work towards longevity?

How create a kids ministry that fits with the overall ministry philosophy and direction of the church? Advice on dealing with parent complaints and helping parents to value kids ministry and the time put in by kids ministers.

Bruce Linton is the Children’s and Youth Director at the Church Missionary Society NSW.

How do we process disappointment in ministry? Personally as leaders and with our people?
What about when the church plant fails? Hans Kristensen planted Resolved Church in Newtown, and six years later closed it down.

If we try lots of things, many of them will fail. But how do we know when to call time? And what part does ego play in all of this?

Hans Kristensen is now the senior pastor of Marsfield Community Church in Sydney. Before that he was founding pastor of Resolved Newtown in Sydney

How to navigate change management in church?

We want and need to make changes in our churches. But there are so many war stories of ‘church change resistance,’ where well meaning ministers have had relationships blow up in their faces when they attempted to bring about needed change.

Senior Minister of Christ Church Mayfair, in the center of London, Matt Fuller describes standing up in front of his church, saying he couldn’t cope and being told by his elders that he needed to take time off.

Matt describes a conversation with his senior elders when he said he was in trouble, and another one where his senior elder confronted him and told him he needed time off as he’s hit the wall and burnt out.

Matt puts it down to overwork, a complex season around his mother’s death and the extra difficulties of managing the church and staff team during COVID.

At the time he was angry and when he stopped, the depression was obvious and in the moment he just wanted to quit.

Matt says his vulnerability has helped the church to be more honest with each other.

Matt shares a story about a competent colleague who had preached through 2 Corinthians, but confessed later that he hadn’t wanted Paul’s letter to be true.

We think theologically, historically and pragmatically about how to make Mothers’ Day excellent at church, to serve our church family well, and for maximum mission impact.

Plus how do we care personally and from the platform for those for whom Mothers Day is emotionally complex.