• Tony Payne
•
• 1 September 2010

I still remember the first time I heard Phillip Jensen preach. It was in February 1981, and I was a fresh-faced, charismatically-inclined young Christian, just down from the country, eager to learn and grow, and ready to take on the world.At St Matthias that night I heard preach­ing like I

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• Claire Smith
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• 1 September 2010

The Bible says rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. But does that mean that when you suffer, you should make others suffer too? Claire Smith investigates.When Emma Thornett from Matthias Media asked me if I could write an article on not letting our emotions rule

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• Mark Baddeley
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• 1 September 2010

Does God feel your pain? For many of us the question is a bit odd, like asking ‘Is God good?’ or ‘Does God love?’ We turn to John 11 and its description of Jesus being moved at Mary’s weeping, and his own weeping at the site of Lazarus’ grave. It

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• Tony Payne
•
• 1 September 2010

I’ve been thinking a lot about emotions recently. This, of course, may be precisely my problem. I shouldn’t be thinking about emotions; I should just be feeling them. At least that’s what people tell me. Emotions, I am assured, are an important part of who we are as humans

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• 1 September 2010

Most people would agree that if you don’t identify, connect and care for newcomers they are likely to either never return, or to stay on the fringe and eventually drift away feeling disconnected, unwelcomed and perhaps disillusioned. Everyone would agree that this is not the outcome the community of Christ

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• 1 October 2010

  Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls Edited by Melinda Tankard Reist Spinifex Press, North Melbourne, 2009, 208pp. A few years ago, at my school swimming carnival,1 I went to put on my swim-suit. I don't know about you, but when I think ‘swimming carnival

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• Guan Un
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• 1 October 2010

Here is the fifth instalment of Guan’s six-part series, covering his time doing ministry training (MTS) at the University of New South Wales in 2008. He is married to M.1 By now, it is the latter half of the year. We last left Guan at the end of Mid-Year Conference

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• Peter Hastie
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• 18 October 2010

Melinda Tankard Reist is a Canberra author, speaker, commentator and advocate with a special interest in issues affecting women and girls.She is the author of Giving Sorrow Words: Women's Stories of Grief After Abortion (Duffy & Snellgrove, 2000), Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics (Spinifex Press, 2006) and the

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• 1 October 2010

Imagine living in a world where husbands wooed their wives with Adam's passion—bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh—and sex was enjoyed. Imagine living in a world where, after the stress of each day, husbands and wives found comfort in sexual intimacy as David did with his wife after

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• 1 October 2010

A few years ago our women’s discussion group asked a friend to talk about sex within marriage. Some­­one brought a cake, and I remember lots of laughter—perhaps a little too much!—as we chatted about how to love our husbands sexually. The discussion leader answered our questions honestly and helpfully, but

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