Today we explore the journey Tertullian to Thomas Jefferson or how the issues of Religious Liberty and Freedom of Conscience don’t actually spring out of the Enlightenment but from the pages of the New Testament.

Dr Sarah Irving Stonebraker has caused quite a splash this week with her Richard Johnston Lecture on Thursday night.

Sarah is a Senior Lecturer in Modern European History, and teaches in History and Political Thought at the University of Western Sydney.

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Link to Sarah's Richard Johnson lecture: the forgotten story of religious liberty
Watch the address by Greg Peisley's son Blake Peisley referred to in this episode. 

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We are discussing the logistics of Christmas in COVID, with Pete Steadman and Stuart Crawshaw. 

With limitations around singing, gathering and social distancing in place, today we are discussing the most effective way to connect with our communities and share the gospel. Carols, Gingerbread, Wreath Making and even Christmas services typically rely on large groups of people coming together and feeling comfortable within the Church space. 

We’ll discuss Christmas and Christmas Eve services, outreach opportunities and even what carolling can look like amidst the current circumstances. 

Stu Crawshaw pastors Soul Revival in Sydney’s South. Pete Stedman pastors Norwest Anglican in the north west of Sydney.

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On today’s special episode of the Pastor’s Heart, we’re discussing issues surrounding religious freedom and church gatherings on the way out of COVID.

There’s been an important court ruling on this in Washington DC, where Capitol Hill Baptist Church have won their legal challenge against imposed limits on congregational gatherings.

Here in Australia, the New South Wales Government continue to limit church gatherings to just 100, while commercial activities can have as many as 300 in attendance.

Today we’re hearing from Neil James Foster, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Newcastle and Ray Galea, Senior Pastor of MBM Rooty Hill.

See Neil Foster's blog: https://lawandreligionaustralia.blog/.../capitol-hill.../

Contact the NSW Premier's office: https://www.nsw.gov.au/premier-of-nsw/contact-premier

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As general secretary of GAFCON, Nigeria’s Archbishop of Jos Ben Kwashi is one of the world’s most influential Anglican leaders. 

With GAFCON representing two thirds of the world’s Anglicans, Archbishop Kwashi has been described as the most influential person in the Anglican Communion. 

Nine days ago rumours started to circulate on social media that he’d been diagnosed with Colon Cancer. 

Archbishop Kwashi joins us to give an update on his health, the 74 orphans who live with him and his wife Gloria, plus news on navigating COVID in Africa and the future of the GAFCON.

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Queensland University’s Dean of Law Patrick Parkinson says we are facing a fall of Rome moment in Western Societies.  Christendom is over.  We need to not put our trust in princes in the way that American evangelicals have disastrously done so.

He says the signs of erosion are clear in the fundamental pillars of society. Freedoms of speech, religion, association and conscience have all impacted. 

Professor Parkinson has been speaking at the New College lectures at the University of New South Wales

You can watch the lectures in full here, here and here.

Reference the survey of 10,000 people in 11 countries where Christian women in faith based relationships are 50% more likely to report that they are strongly satisfied with their sexual relationship than their secular counterparts. 

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It sounds so simple. And yet it’s clear from the statistics (National Church Life) that people in some congregations are reporting much growth in faith, while people in others are reporting not much at all.

And isn’t it what we all want: For the sheep that God has given us the task of being under shepherds for - to report that they have grown significantly in faith this year?

Tom Harricks and Roger Cunningham are two of the ministers featured in a new report for the Anglican Church in Sydney who have achieved better than average results.

We could have talked to the report authors. But we’ve chosen to interview the report subjects and find out what the key ingredients are… so we can learn from them and steal from their recipes.

To see the images referred to in this broadcast go to: https://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/growthinfaith

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It's a spiritual temperature check as we take the pulse on the relationship between church involvement in local missions and support for overseas missions. 

Many Churches are under renewed pressure this year, but Sydney Missionary & Bible College lecturer Tim Silberman says his PhD resesarch indicates turning our eyes outwards to global mission actually helps grow local evanglism as well. 

We discuss the factors that contribute to the evangelistic heartbeat of a local Church, how Church size and denomination impacts their mission involvement and what this means for how we lead our Churches.

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Some of the recent discussions about the post COVID church attendance drop has focused on the issues of health.  But there are also anxiety issues, spiritual heart problems and an element of spiritual war where the devil whispers ‘it’s not safe to go to the place where the word of God is!’

We take an informal poll of ministers to find out what’s happening with their ‘return to church,’ plus discussion on whether it’s heart, head or health, and how to have conversations when it’s a problem of the heart. 

Senior Minister of St Matthews West Pymble and All Saints West Lindfield, Antony Barraclough has researched and published on ‘The Pen is a Few Sheep Short - the patterns and reasons for modern church attendance by committed Christians.’

Plus Stuart Starr urges Christians not to leave the last Tim Tam in the pack for someone else, drawing a really helpful post COVID analogy!

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The average Christian gives only 2.5%  But the first step in getting our churches finances right is getting our own hearts and finances right.

In a raw and real conversation Arya Darmaputra and Kevin Hines from Thesauros Consulting talk to Dominic Steele about the heart of the pastor as it relates to money.

How have we been swept along by the currents of the world?  How we can take significant steps to getting our own hearts and finances right and then start to lead our churches really well in this area - especially through modelling? 

How much do you need to SPEND?  How much should you SAVE?  How we can best approach GIVING?  What is the difference between SAVING and INVESTING?  And why you should only invest in instruments that you understand.

Episode page: http://www.thepastorsheart.net/podcast/where-your-money-is

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In a special edition today, we address a key issue :- Should you personally choose to use a COVID-19 vaccine candidate that makes use of a cell line cultured from an electively aborted human fetus?

To put it super bluntly: If I get vaccinated for covid-19 am I complicit in an abortion?

Our guests - 

• Megan Best is a bioethicist who has promoted a Christian view of medical ethics for over 20 years. Megan is the author of two books on ethics at the beginning of life: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and A Life Already Started, as well as many articles on ethics and spiritual care at the end of life. 
• Chase Kuhn is the director for the Centre for Christian Living and lectures on theology and ethics at Moore College in Sydney. 

Today's discussion follows the release of a letter jointly signed by the Sydney Archbishops of the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches calling for ethical research on COVID-19 vaccines. 

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