The Discipleship Need When you stop and think about who was responsible for passing the faith on to you and for helping you to grow in your faith, how many people were involved? How many of these people were older, wiser, and more mature? What were the ways that they intentionally sought to help you trust in Jesus and grow in your faith? How are YOU doing that for the next generation today? As people age and change stages of life, it is natural to be drawn to others who are of the same age and stage of life. However, this should not be to the exclusion of all others. In his letter to Titus (2:1-8), Paul writes: You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach

Mother’s Day: Celebrate & Mourn  I have friends who love Mother’s Day and others who find it to be a really difficult day. I wonder what your thoughts are about it? I’m blessed with a wonderful Mum and Mother-in-Law as well as a number of women in my life who are Mother figures to me. But I’m acutely aware of friends who have fractured relationships with their Mums or have lost their Mums. Friends whose children fail to show love and appreciation to them. Not to mention the heartache in the eyes of those who have longed for, but never been able to have children.   I read an article by Courtney Doctor that I think can help us approach Mother’s Day in a way that embraces all its beauty

Tell me the old, old storyWho doesn’t love a good story? The interesting characters, the ups and downs, the climax, the happy ending. Kids especially love stories. When our kids were small we would read stories at bedtime and often it would be the same story over and over and over until we knew it by heart. As they got bigger they loved to hear stories about themselves or their siblings, the funny things they did, the silly things they said, the antics they got up. Even now my grown up kids love to tell stories about funny things I’ve said or done. And according to them, there’s plenty of material to work with! We are now in a season of welcoming new babies into our extended family and I’m

God's Loving Discipline  The entrance of sin in the world began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit. As a result, they were banished from the Garden of Eden and thereafter their lives, and our lives, have been affected by the curse of sin. Sin is the root cause of all the evil in the world and is the cause of our death.   Sin is universal in its effects. Trials and tribulation are the lot of all mankind; both the outsider and the Christian indiscriminately. The non-Christian attribute their trials to chance, and are quite unaware that they are governed by God's hand. Those of us who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and have been brought into the

Caring for One Another: A Note on Pastoral Care This week I was blessed with a beautiful encouraging email and gift from someone in the Church. It reminded me of the joy and responsibility we have in caring for one another as a Church family. While the Bible speaks clearly about the qualifications and responsibilities of pastors, elders, and overseers (1 Timothy 1:3-7; 2:1-15; 3:3-13; Titus 1:5-9), it also teaches that all Christians are called to care for one another. As followers of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, we are to walk in His footsteps—loving, serving, and encouraging each other in faith. The Call to One-Anothering Throughout Scripture, we find many "one-another" commands that shape our relationships as believers. We are called to love one another (John 13:34), bear one

God’s Good Gifts I love gardening. I love everything about it, the sun on my back, the rain in my face, the dirt under my nails, the grass under my feet. I even like that pleasant, tired feeling that comes from digging, pruning, planting, moving compost or mowing. Any opportunity I get I’ll be outside in my garden, just ask my family. And if I’m not actually gardening, I’m sitting with a coffee thinking and dreaming about my next gardening project. My most recent project has been to turn the space between the house and the side fence, which was once the kids cricket pitch, into my vegie patch. This is a bit of an ongoing project as I continue to add more vegie beds and have plans to

Evangelism: Imposing Our Truth on Others?    "What I know for sure is that you feel real joy in direct proportion to how connected you are to living your truth." – Oprah Winfrey    Oprah’s advice summarises our cultural moment perfectly. In Western countries like America and Australia, we believe that we must find our true selves and be brave enough to express them if we are to discover real joy. This is the key to self-actualisation. This belief involves a lot of knotty assumptions, some of which are deeply flawed. I’m not going to deal with them here, but there are great resources online that can help you untangle it.    This blog has to do with how our cultural story affects Aussies’ perception of evangelism. Two decades