engage.mail

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.