Biblical recruitment: Human-shaped service

  • Peter Tong
  • 10 July 2015

Most pastors at one time or another have had a conversation with someone engaged in ministry, when they tell us things aren’t going so well. It can be hard to diagnose the problem in the moment. Maybe the person is over it or burnt out, too busy elsewhere, or wanting to try something new.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

Little Bobby’s perfect day: Promoting creative team ministry

  • Braden Marsden
  • 26 November 2018

When you become complacent in your ministry and do the same programs and activities “because that’s what we have always done”, then your ministry will fail to cater to changes in culture.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

Motivated, reproducing, applied Bible reading: The Swedish Method

  • Peter (Pedro) Blowes
  • 23 May 2015

Bible reading with ready ears and an open heart is engaging and fruitful. There’s something fresh about letting God speak for himself, especially when you search the Bible yourself, making the effort to hear.

Read More →

Five biblical ways to face death defiantly

  • Hannah Ploegstra
  • 29 June 2015

Sympathy cards address the sadness death causes, but few acknowledge the rage. Yet that rage is real. It should be: death is the very opposite of God and all that he has created. We should hate it. Christ did.

Read More →

Getting ready to forgive

  • David Mears
  • 26 June 2015

"Do we have to forgive people who aren't sorry?" How would you respond? Our instinct can be to rush in with some kind of ‘yes/no’ answer. What we may fail to do is consider whether or not answering the question as asked is the most helpful response.

Read More →

Choosing helpful Christmas traditions

  • Mike Allen
  • 28 November 2018

I think we need to acknowledge that some Christmas traditions are just genuinely unhelpful. But what about less overt customs?

Read More →