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Behind the News: The Kidnapping and Killing of Christians in Syria
The Christian community in Syria has been hit by a series of kidnappings and brutal murders; 100 Christians have now been killed since the anti-government unrest began.

Evangelism on the Way Out, Part 2: Verbal Witness
Steve McAlpine asks whether, in an era suspicious of words, we will fall silent for fear of being labelled aggressive, arrogant or rigid. In an age of flabby words, will we stretch “missional” to cover more than it was designed to cover? Are we able to map a path forward in which our proclamation and our practice are in harmony?

Are You Ready for Christmas?
Mark Hurst looks at the wholistic, liberating message of Christmas

HOT POTATO: Giving Well at Christmas: Respecting the Poor, Changing the World
Deborah Storie asks some uncomfortable questions about our well-intentioned but sometimes poorly thought-out giving at Christmas.

‘Every Australian Counts’: The Campaign for the National Disability Insurance Scheme
People with a disability and their families should get decent support to pursue their life goals as part of their communities.

Unspoken Grief: Pastoral Care around Abortion
Rachel's Vineyard Retreat Ministries Australia is a confidential healing ministry for the many people, both men and women, who have been touched by an abortion experience. The purpose of Rachel's Vineyard Retreat Ministry is post-abortion reconciliation and healing for the "other victims" of abortion.

The Emerging Church has not emerged…
The Emerging Church has not emerged. I hear this statement a lot. Another one I hear is, “Missional churches are not growing.” To begin with, I realise some missional gatherings are just a bunch of recalcitrant kids, including some grownups who haven’t grown up. They are doing the missional thing because it’s ‘cool’ and they got sick of the established church telling them to grow up. But more importantly, what are leaders and denominations looking at or looking for when they measure growth?

Thinking about "People Smuggling" and Taking Care of Our Language
I have been thinking a lot about the issue of public policy about asylum seekers and the language in which that debate is being conducted. In the New Testament Christians are enjoined to be careful with the language that they use and that injunction surely applies as much to the language that we use in debate about public policy as it does to the language that we use in personal relationships. The need for honesty, truthfulness and respect are relevant characteristics that follow from this injunction.

Fanaticism and Faith
In the wake of the Norway gunman Anders Breivik and as the 10th anniversary of 9/11 passes us by, we are reminded again of the reality of fanatical religious violence. We Christians should be alert to recall both the falseness and wretchedness of our own hearts and our many betrayals of Christ and his way.

The Lausanne Movement Remembers John Stott
On 27 July 2011, “Uncle John” went home to be with the Lord. He is now with the One who he served all his life and in whom he had total confidence.

Conserving Our Energy
Barack Obama has apparently referred to energy efficiency as “the cheapest, cleanest, fastest energy source”, and along similar lines there is now a saying in the industry that “the cleanest energy is the energy never used.” Claire Dawson gives us practical suggestions for reducing our energy usage.

The Tragedy of Asylum Seekers and Displaced People
The lack of clarity about the numbers of people who are refugees and the different categories of refugee enables us, as Australians debating the issues, to avoid facing some important questions.

The Gulf Between Us and the Poor
The gulf between the rich and the poor is not simply an economical one. While the poor do not have moral superiority over the rich, and at least in theory our material affluence should not adversely affect our ability to understand the Bible, is our wealth a hindrance that stops us from fully understanding the plight of the poor and the Scripture?

Where have all the leaders gone? The Fearful, The Flat-out and The Fabulous Few... (and the Faithful)
A critical look at the "huge culture of leadership", its supporting "(bogus) theology" and the "pervasive industry of training, resourcing and writing"... and a call to more genuine forms of leadership.

Homosexuality: A New Conversation
"Secular society sometimes shares a certain reasoning with narrow-minded religion. The logic says: we are able to love only those whose lives we endorse. This can take you in two directions. The religious version reduces the number of people it loves, to match the lifestyles of which it approves. The secular version increases the number of lifestyles it endorses, and derides those who don’t do the same. In both cases the assumption is the same: we are able to love only those whose lives we agree with." (An earlier version of this article appeared on the ABC's 'The Drum' website.)

Submission to the Enquiry into Options and Mechanisms to Increase Organ Donation in Victoria
The Ad Hoc Committee opposes proposals to permit an opt out system or presumed consent, any form of trade in human tissue, any practice that fails to respect individual, religious or cultural sensitivities at the time of death or in relation to the body after death, and undue pressure being placed on families and individuals at a vulnerable time.

What Do We Know about Hell? Bell and His Critics
Would a loving God send people to eternal torment for ever? In this look at the furore surrounding Rob Bell’s book 'Love Wins', David Powys probes an underlying problem shared by Rob Bell and its critics.

'HOT POTATO': Is Sunday School Theological Child Abuse? [with a Response]
Theologian Paul Tyson challenges us to rethink the place of children in the church... and opens up a can of worms. Beth Barnett (Baptist Union of Victoria Children and Families Facilitator) responds.

The Elusive Notion of Proof
Despite the high value we place on proving the truth of our beliefs, such proof often proves elusive. How might Christians proceed when it comes to deciding on issues such as global warming or evolutionary theory? Murray Hogg argues that we do the best we can, with the information we’ve got because “absolute proof” is a luxury we can rarely hope to obtain.

Reply to the Melbourne Hierarchical-Complementarians
Kevin Giles responds to a recent conference on gender relationships and ministry

No Place to Go: A Reflection on Providing Asylum
Barbara Lloyd tells her story of providing asylum for Ali and Hadi, two Hazara Afghani boys.

Christian Religious Education in Government Schools
Denise Nicholls of ACCESS ministries assesses the current state of 'Religious Instruction' in public schools

Is God to Blame for Floods?
How are we to understand such events? Are these floods acts of God? Punishments of some kind? Senseless and random natural disasters? After-effects of the fall? Premonitions of some impending apocalypse?

Review - Welcome Mat, by Beth Barnett
Darren Cronshaw reviews a new resource for ministry with families and children

The Loss of Hope in the Church and Its Mission
Brian Edgar reminds us of the necessity of seeing the church and our mission in the light of our hope in our Triune God

Election Matrix
A suggested table to compare the weighting of party concerns with some moral and social priorities

Public Justice and a Community’s Political Conversation
“Our political system is the way we arrange the community’s conversation about the use of power.” This is a conversation we should not avoid. Indeed, we should view this as part of our stewardship of life together.

Furthering Ourselves
In Australians' obsessive drive to 'further ourselves', are we distancing ourselves from others and what really matters?

Alzheimer's Test
Watching the inexorable progress of dementia in people close to us can be heartbreaking. Observing these changes in others, one can’t help but wonder if this is what the future holds in store for us, too. And we may well wish to die before that happens. Medicine has prolonged our life span, but one in four people over 85 have dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease being the most common form. Rather than a non-specific dread of the disease and hoping for the best, would you want to know for sure that you would develop Alzheimer’s (or not)?

"How Many are Your Works?" On Christians and Biodiversity
Ahead of the 'Groaning Creation - Biodiversity & the Bible' conference (November 20), Mick Pope of 'ETHOS Environment' reflects on our role in God's wondrous creation

Why I Don't Vote
An alternative view to politics as usual

Remembering Our Primary Social Calling
With the emergence of a post-Christendom society, many Christians continue to be vexed about what might be a proper response to the waning of Christian influence in society.

Taking Mondays seriously on Sundays
A fairly recent survey of two mainline denominations revealed a stunning fact – 70% of the members saw little or no connection between the faith they professed and their everyday and workplace lives.

Addressing the communal nature of our faith
Pilgrim's Progress always struck me as a very individualistic depiction of the Christian ‘pilgrimage’, a characterisation which doesn’t do justice to the communal nature of our faith.

Minority Report: Grappling with a post-Christian Era
Evangelical leaders aren’t generally known for threatening “civil unrest”. But that is what the evangelical former Archbishop of Cantebury, Lord Carey, intimated might happen unless the UK’s courts become more sensitive to religious views.

Pope John Paul II was a feminist!
It may come as a surprise to many Protestant Christians to discover that the Roman Catholic Church teaches the essential equality of the sexes, seeing the subordination of women as an evil to be opposed. Pope John Paul II even called himself a ‘feminist'!

Evangelism Through Art?
Art, particularly painting, is an area that I believe God wants to reclaim for the church. It has been an important part of the church in the past, but after many years of little interest, it seems that there is a resurgence of art within the church.

21st Century Pastor
Dear Fellow Ministers in the 21st Century, I stared at the ceiling in bed, last night, contemplating recent conversations with fellow Pastors about the exhausting past 12 months. It’s not been a hugely fruitful time, certainly not compared to our hopes. No huge breakthroughs, just a couple of green shoots through the concrete. Maybe even grass. But no lawn.

The Parliament of World's Religions: a journey of learning, being challenged, and influencing along the way
When I was a Councillor for the City of Melbourne I was appointed to the Bid Committee for the Parliament of World’s Religions to come to town. At first I wasn’t interested. I don’t particularly like religion and I have a hard enough time with the religious aspects of my own faith, but when one is serving the City on behalf of the voting majority one has to do some things that are not high on the list of ‘things I gotta do before I graduate’.

To Sit at the Table or Not: How to Respond in Australia’s Multi-Religious Context
The contemporary Australian and global multi-religious environments can’t be ignored. The growing momentum of different religions globally is impacting on the position and status of Christianity. This diversity was on show recently when Melbourne hosted the week-long Parliament of the World’s Religions, the fourth of its kind since 1993. Over 6,000 delegates from 80 countries and 220 religions/faith belief systems attended.

Church Planting the Nike Way
The plans for planting Northside Evangelical Church gained serious momentum in September 2006. Several highly recommended books on Church Planting were read, leaders who had church planting experience were consulted and a very fancy looking strategic plan was developed. To be honest it all looked very complicated and difficult, especially because we seemed to lack three key ingredients: - people, time and financial resources.