Strengthening the Silent Witness

I used to find that my train rides became very comfortable when I started to bring a Bible with me. I’d begin with prayer – presumably looking like I was asleep – and then, suddenly, it would emerge … big, leather-bound, and gilt-edged. I wasn’t trying to show off, but just to use the Bible ‘on the road’ that I also used at home. My seat-neighbours suddenly got up and moved, and new passengers would rather stand, packed like sardines, than sit next to the ‘bible thumper.’ Once, I cheekily rubbed in this seemingly silly avoidance by putting my feet up on the two seats to my right, still holding two free to my left for anyone who wanted to start using them.

Reinterpreting Census Despondency

What are we to make of the new Australian Census finding that just 43.9% of Australians now profess to be Christian? With that number apparently nosediving and the number of ‘no religion’ adherents almost matching it, all might seem bleak for the future of the Church in this nation. To some extent progressive multiculturalism, which has rightly been welcomed in society, has diluted the proportion of Christians and not just the number. Known errors in the census data also play a smaller role, and these perhaps relate to the way some people interpret its questions. Such factors skew perceptions more dramatically than is warranted. Nevertheless, there is also a clear increase in Australian secularism that the Church needs to accept and adjust to. Just what, though, might this look like?

Solving the U.S. Gun Problem

Sadly, the U.S.A. continues to protect gun ownership rights against the greater right to be free of the adverse impact of such weapons. This must now change. The leading cause of child death there – at more than 4000 annually – firearms! Last week’s Texas school shooting was finally one too many for all too many. This week, people finally began to turn on the Texas governor, the National Rifle Association, and other gun lobbyists, believing something might at last be done. This issue has stirred more than a little righteous indignation and the once too hard problem actually has some very straightforward solutions.

Shaping the Church of the Future – Part 3

This series of posts has us considering how to future-proof churches when we see COVID and other factors eating away at the resilience and viability of many. So far, we have looked at some overlapping elements of tailored discipleship, the development of systems, and the intentional generation of leaders, where usual biblical, prayer, and community foundations are assumed. In this final post, we look at two more of the essential practices of healthy churches, regardless of size, which will guard against demise and actually facilitate health.

Shaping the Church of the Future – Part 2

Yesterday, we began looking at the seeds of decline in churches sown over the last thirty years. Not all churches, mind you. Many have bucked the trends around them to maintain cultural relevance without cultural accommodation. I would suggested that there are five important keys that naturally assume prayerfulness, biblical foundations, and faithful commitment to a church family, but they are perhaps the intangible essentials that will future-proof any ‘centred’ church that is seeking to maintain or reclaim its edge.

Shaping the Church of the Future – Part 1

In 2008, Washington Post journalist, Julia Duin, wrote about why churches were experiencing decline. Her insightful conclusion was that ministers’ lack of leadership skills, diminished commitments to core beliefs, and an increase in consumerism, were exacerbating an exodus. To what degree are such observations still valid in future-proofing today’s churches? What have the last two years of COVID disruption revealed about way in which churches might best maintain their relevance and impact?

Easter and our Renewed Optimism

The start to 2022 has brought various sources of discouragement through the Ukraine invasion, the fallout from vaccination and reopening issues, and now the fall from grace of another megachurch leader. Our response to whatever may disappoint us becomes critical, though. Expectations of people can easily be dashed, so it is helpful to remind ourselves of the hope of Easter that fixes our eyes on Christ as a source of faith amidst difficulties. Some helpful lessons come from a timeless story.

The Religious Discrimination Bill – Who Needs Protecting?

The religious discrimination bill was hotly contested in Australia last week, but social debate seemed to overlook some of the key reasons it was first proposed. Introduced to strengthen protections in the face of state-based discrimination laws, it has more recently become aligned to fears that school students who are same-sex attracted or gender dysphoric will be marginalised. A key to better understanding what is at stake here is been found in consideration of the various freedoms, rights and responsibilities that need to be balanced for all stakeholders, including people of faith.

Tips for a Better ‘Now’

Being ‘present’ is quite a challenge for our distracted generation. For example, our focus can become easily drawn away from surrounding contexts to the digital world in the palm of our hands. Of course, much of our daily lives is helpfully managed on our phones, but life’s intrusions can often rob us of many important ‘now’ moments, sometimes simply because we prefer, or feel constrained by, alternative ones. What can we do to become better at seizing the present so as to optimise our future?

Four Causes of COVID Anxiety and How to Combat them

The impact of a world-record 247-day COVID lockdown in Melbourne has clearly been unsettling and disconcerting, no matter how resilient any of us might be. People’s levels of anxiety are, however, a matter of degree. Contributing factors can include external stressors, health concerns, financial instability, relationship problems, and more. Identifying and remedying even the more controllable factors, though, is still not easy. What are some tell-tale signs that all is not well internally and what can we do about the anxieties we might not even realise we are experiencing?