Dear friends

Welcome back to a new year of Two Ways News.

Tony is not quite back yet—he’ll be with us on next week’s episode—but in the meantime I hope you enjoy this conversation with Talar about ‘first order’ and ‘second order’ issues in ministry. 

It’s a common way of talking about things we disagree about in ministry or in the Christian life—that there are ‘first order’ questions of prime importance that we must resolve and be unified about, and then there are ‘second order’ issues that we can afford to put to one side and agree to disagree about. 

But is that the best way to think about the various issues we have conflict or disagreement about? 

That’s what my conversation with Talar is about this week. I hope you find it encouraging. 

Phillip

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Dear friends,

In today’s episode we will be talking about different Bible translations and the various factors that we must consider when reading and choosing different translations.

We hope it is an edifying conversation.

Yours,

Phillip

PS. This will be our last episode of the year. Thank you for your partnership with Two Ways News and we will be back again in January. In the meantime, look out for reposts of some top favourite episodes on the Two Ways Ministries Instagram and Facebook.

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Dear friends,

Christmas is a great time to see how our society responds to the gospel, and how we can use the opportunities of Christmas to proclaim Jesus to the world.

I am once again joined by Talar Khatchoyan while Tony is away on long service leave.

Yours,

Phillip

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Education and schooling is such an easy way to divide Christian congregations. But what truly is at the root of Christian education? Why is it such a divisive topic? And what can our history tell us about the problems we now face in regards to our education system in Australia?

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Dear friends

A few episodes ago we broached the subject of work, and put forward an alternative view (which I’ll summarise briefly below). And we suggested that there were various implications of this view that we needed to return to. 

Well, your numerous questions and comments on the topic have provided the perfect opportunity and framework to do just that. In today’s episode, we—or should I say ‘I’, because it’s just me this week—tease out a number of important implications and applications of the biblical view of work. 

I hope it ‘works’. 

Your brother

Tony

PS.

This is the last episode I’ll be part of for 2023—I’m off on some long-service leave and holidays. Thanks so much for your partnership and kindness this year! I’m looking forward to chatting with you again in January. 

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Dear friends

This week I am joined by a good mate and a lecturer in ethics at Moore College, Chase Kuhn. As we usually do whenever we get together, Chase and I end up chatting about ethics, but the main focus of our conversation is Chase’s new Advent-focused book, Waiting for the Christ, which is due out any day now.

I hope you find our conversation edifying.

Your brother

Tony

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Summer draws near here in Sydney, and so do the Christian camps and conferences that fill up our calendars.

As we engage in the excitement and fun of these camps, how can we ensure that we're not just doing it for the sake of having them? And what are some dangers and risks of camps that we need to be mindful of and actively avoiding?

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Welcome to another edition of Two Ways News. This week, our subject is work.

It’s an important subject for everyone, including Christians, and there are many questions that arise. The classic question, and especially if you're a younger, keen Christian is about ministry and work: Is full-time ministry for me, or should I go into the ‘workforce’, and what are the implications of that choice? Is one sort of work more meaningful than the other?

But there are lots of questions surrounding ‘career’ and jobs. Which job should I choose? Should I take this promotion? How do I think about advancement and ambition? And of course, there are questions about juggling family and work as well as the general issue of just how to be a Christian at work, and how to think about the significance of our work Christianly.

We hope this episode helps give you a framework of work that you can take and use to tackle some of these tricky questions.

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Last week, Phillip talked about war and the horrors of war, and one of those wars is in Armenia or a part of Armenia. Today we have with us Talar who is Armenian and has come to share about the history of Armenia and her own journey in living for Christ.

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Dear Friends

Tony is down sick and so this week’s edition is me interviewing myself. 

However, this is not a week for jokes and humour as we are confronted once more with the horror of war. The news out of the Israel/Hamas conflict is quite frankly appalling. The frightful cruelty and savagery of the incursion of Hamas into Israel villages on 7 October has opened up a new chapter in the protracted conflict. At the time of writing, we await with trepidation Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip. What are we to make of the ghastliness of human conflict and the inhumanity of war crimes?

God’s word speaks to every situation of life, not the least our sinfulness issuing forth in humanity’s inhumanity in warfare. So, in this edition we address the Bible’s horror verse – Psalm 137:9. 

Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones

and dashes them against the rock!

It certainly isn’t our most light-hearted edition but given the seriousness of the present situation it is one of the most important to think, discuss and pray about. We need answers for ourselves as well as for our discussion with other Christians and non-Christians. 

Yours

Phillip

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