Sermon note-taking does actually work

  • Rachel Macdonald
  • 11 April 2018

When I glance around my church during the sermon, I don’t see many moving pens or pencils. I do see lots of open Bibles, and a couple of people furiously typing with their thumbs.

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When sacrifice isn't really sacrifice

  • Ian Carmichael
  • 20 July 2015

Romans 12:1 is often used as the go-to verse to back-up the challenge to be fully committed as a Christian. To give up my ambitions, and really make sacrifices for the sake of God. But as I was reading Romans 6 it struck me that reading 12:1 this way is probably misreading it and unhelpful.

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Why we don’t ask God for things—and why we should

  • Jean Williams
  • 17 July 2015

Nothing is too trivial for me to pray about, from the common cold to parking spots. But I often forget to ask for things that really matter, from big things like the growth of God’s kingdom to little things like daily help with my anxieties and ungodliness.

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Testing our lifestyle

  • Nathan Dempsey
  • 12 January 2023

I talk easily about my family, my hobbies and my job, but I’m often mute when I have an opportunity to share the gospel.

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Calling to ministry

  • Tim Grant
  • 3 July 2015

Regularly when I sit down with someone, they’ll use the phrase ‘called to ministry’. I don’t have a dislike of this phrase, it can be very useful—only when most people use it, it isn’t.

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The art of biblical interpretation: Inspiration and interaction

  • John McClean
  • 6 July 2015

The third in this series on reading the Bible well. This time John looks at how knowing that God's word is his changes how we approach it.

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Redefining marriage

  • Tony Payne
  • 1 July 2015

Amidst all the sound and fury about same-sex marriage, it’s often hard to find a straight-forward, clear, thoughtful Christian defence of what marriage is. Sandy Grant has had a crack, and a very good one, in this recent public lecture at St Michael’s Wollongong.

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The reluctant Swedish reader

  • Carl Matthei
  • 23 May 2015

I am a reluctant convert to the Swedish Method for Bible study. I read the Briefing article all of those years ago and decided to try it out in a couple of Bible study groups. It didn’t work! It didn’t seem to make group members think deeply enough about the passage, and it seemed to promote surface-level easy answers.

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“At least once a month, think that you are wrong”: An interview with Richard Chin

  • Richard Chin
  • 29 April 2019

Richard speaks about becoming a Christian, staying refreshed, humble leadership, losing his wife, marrying again, and modern student ministry.

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Cell group day 1: City University Campus, Buenos Aires, Argentina

  • Terry Blowes
  • 23 May 2015

It was our first cell group meeting. There was Victoria, a committed student leader in her second year of university; Paula, a new person in her first year of study; and me, the missionary who had arrived to accompany and train leaders. The other people who were invited didn’t come.

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