Religious Freedom leaders are calling on Australia's Government to quickly bring a Religious Discrimination Act to the parliament.

Mark Sneddon says the Religious Discrimination Act is not about granting unlimited freedoms, but about preventing adverse treatment of religious individuals and organizations.

He says there needs to be a fair compromise that the rights of all involved, which should be supported by both sides of politics.

Mark Sneddon from the Institute for Civil Society,
Mark Spencer from Christian Schools Australia,
and Mike Southon from Freedom for Faith bring this update on where the Australian Religious Freedom debate is up to, following this week's Freedom For Faith conference. 

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What does Expressive Individualism mean for churches?  And what specifically does it mean for church music?

Here is the expressive individualism worldview: ‘Truth comes from inside me.  It’s important that I look inside to discover who I truly am’ and ‘I need to express my individuality and personal truth to the world around me to receive validation.’

That truth comes from within - is the unspoken assumptions of guests who come to our churches.

And it’s a worldview that has impacts inside the church, including inside our music teams and inside the heads of the songwriters who write the songs that we sing.

Philip Percival and Alanna Glover lead the work of Emu Music, focusing on writing congregational songs and the training of church musicians and leaders.

Alanna is doing a masters research project in Expressive Individualism & music, and Philip’s PhD is in the biblical theology of worship.

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Disillusionment is one of the great threats to the Christian life and to Christian ministry  

A wise man said the worst thing in ministry was not a pastor who quits, but a pastor who doesn’t quit, but who keeps going when they’ve given up.

Sydney Missionary and Bible College Karl Deenick shares his own experience of hitting a major wall after seven years of pastoral work. 

We unpack how ministry challenges can lead to a sense of disillusionment, especially among millennials, plus a way back. 

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What would Dave Keun and Jon Kwan like to tell their younger selves if they could travel back in time before they took on the position of senior minister?

How has their sense of ownership changed?

What has been most difficult about the transition to the role? What mistakes have they made?

Dave Keun has been senior minister of Kellyville Anglican Church in Sydney’s North West since March  2022.

Jon Kwan has been lead pastor of St David’s Forestville (on Sydney’s Northern Beaches) since May 2022.

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Roadmap for a reset communion - with Paul Donison and Glenn Davies 

The chair of Gafcon Laurent Mbunda and chair of Global South Justin Badi Arama are to meet to work out a roadmap for the resetting of the Anglican Communion. 

Global South Anglicans have endorsed the Former Sydney Archbishop Glenn Davies call for the communion to be reset on biblical foundations.  The Global South have called on their Primates to work with the GAFCON Primates Council and other Orthodox leaders to reset the communion on its biblical foundations as a matter of urgency.

In other Anglican news. 

1. The Church of England General Synod is meeting in York.  They are considering whether to press go to move towards the next stage of endorsing their bishops’ proposals for same sex blessing.  Orthodox Anglicans united under a banner called The Alliance are calling for structural differentiation in England (essentially a new province).  The Bishop of Oxford has hit back telling The Alliance to take a running jump. 
   
   
2. Orthodox Anglicans from across Australasia gathered in Brisbane last week. New daughter churches are being planted within the fledging diocese of the Southern Cross. 
   
   
3. A new Archbishop appointed to lead the Anglican Church of North America. Steve Wood will replace Foley Beach. 
   
   
4. A collective meeting of orthodox leaders in Cairo has met for a week on ways that faithful christians might be able to reset the Communion. The Global South Anglicans met in Cairo the week before that and voted to call for the chair of the Global South Justin Badi Arama to work with the chair of Gafcon to reset the communion. 

Our guests are new General Secretary of Gafcon Paul Donison and new Bishop of the Diocese of the Southern Cross (and former Archbishop of Sydney) Glenn Davies. 

The Church Co
thechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches. 

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Roadmap for a reset communion - with Paul Donison and Glenn Davies 

The chair of Gafcon Laurent Mbunda and chair of Global South Justin Badi Arama are to meet to work out a roadmap for the resetting of the Anglican Communion. 

Global South Anglicans have endorsed the Former Sydney Archbishop Glenn Davies call for the communion to be reset on biblical foundations.  The Global South have called on their Primates to work with the GAFCON Primates Council and other Orthodox leaders to reset the communion on its biblical foundations as a matter of urgency.

In other Anglican news. 

1. The Church of England General Synod is meeting in York.  They are considering whether to press go to move towards the next stage of endorsing their bishops’ proposals for same sex blessing.  Orthodox Anglicans united under a banner called The Alliance are calling for structural differentiation in England (essentially a new province).  The Bishop of Oxford has hit back telling The Alliance to take a running jump. 
   
   
2. Orthodox Anglicans from across Australasia gathered in Brisbane last week. New daughter churches are being planted within the fledging diocese of the Southern Cross. 
   
   
3. A new Archbishop appointed to lead the Anglican Church of North America. Steve Wood will replace Foley Beach. 
   
   
4. A collective meeting of orthodox leaders in Cairo has met for a week on ways that faithful christians might be able to reset the Communion. The Global South Anglicans met in Cairo the week before that and voted to call for the chair of the Global South Justin Badi Arama to work with the chair of Gafcon to reset the communion. 

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All the time in church there are unexpected things happening.  We or someone else makes a decision to change something which then relationally or missionally impacts another area of church life that we didn’t expect.

Sometimes we put  too much attention into one area of church - and now other areas are suffering.

Whatever size your church is - the church system is complex, interdependent and interconnected.

Sometimes the presenting problem won’t actually be the real problem, there’s something else causing it which is not immediately obvious.

Greg Lee is senior pastor of Newcastle’s Hunter Bible Church.

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How do you balance the instability and chaos of external ministry with adding a foster child or adopted child to a ministry family?

What are the implications of taking children in crisis into the ministry home?

What motivates ministry families to become foster parents or to adopt?

How do older children and the church respond?

Sarah and Mat Yeo serve at Hurstville Grove Anglican Church in Sydney

Matt Wilcoxen pastors St John’s Darlinghurst in inner Sydney.

To purchase ‘The Forgetful Prince’: https://youthworksmedia.net/products/the-forgetful-prince

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What is it to be #likeaman?

There are not many places in the New Testament where men are spoken to specifically.

Today we are thinking about being a Christian man.

In the ESV and NASB the translation of 1 Corinthians 16:13 has ‘Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong’. (ESV)

But what does that mean?

Dominic Steele put that question to panelists at the recent Men Meeting the challenge conference:

Adrian Russell, senior minister of Northmead Anglican Church.

Craig Hamilton, senior minister at Pitt town.

Robin Kinstead, senior minister of Figtree Anglican.

And Phillip Jensen who heads up Two Ways Ministries. 

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There are three different ways that the adult population of churches can grow:

1. Adults being saved. 
2. Christians transferring from another congregation within your denomination of switching from another denomination. 
3. Children of members growing up in the church and taking on their parents faith for themselves.

Most evangelical churches - even growing churches - are underperforming in the first and third ways.

In the Sydney Anglican Church parents report that an average of only 65% of their children who grew up in church are currently professing Christ. That number hasn’t changed in ten years - despite a targeted effort to increase it to 70%.

The second way is people switching from another church within your denomination, or transferring from another denomination.

Sydney Anglican Youthworks Consultant Al James says key focuses are deep discipleship, deep connection and authentic discussions at home with parents about faith. 

To watch Al James' Seminar on helping young people stick with Jesus, click this link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/b8d6fc0e

The Church Co
thechurchco.com is a website and app platform built specifically for churches. 

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