It will leave our churches non-plussed. It may perhaps put our youth departments on the dole queue. It will cause parents to breathe a sigh of relief. And yet this news just slipped quietly into our world through a minor column in a morning newspaper: The Teenager is Dead. (more…)
Category Archives: Culture
Youth work
For many years, the barometer of a healthy church has been a strong and growing youth group. If the 1950s was the age of the Sunday School, the 70s and 80s have been the era of the Youth Fellowship. Coffee shops and youth outreaches have sprung up everywhere. Many churches, failing to make progress in adult evangelism and ministry, see their youth ministry as the key to a bright future. But what is the point of youth work? Is it worth the time and resources we pour into it? The Briefing examines the issues. (more…)
The indivisibility of truth
This is an article that those of you with a philosophical bent will no doubt enjoy. Truth… it’s one of life’s big questions. But whatever your intellectual pretensions, don’t be put off by the title. The nature of the truth God has revealed to us has enormous implications for ministry, fellowship and how we approach his word. (more…)
The gospel to Greeks
Everyday Ministry
Hundreds of thousands of Greeks came to Australia in the post-war migration boom. They came in search of wealth and a better future for their children.
The land of the Big Banana
THE LAND OF THE BIG BANANA
Tourism has been discovered by our politicians. We have finally ‘found ourselves’ and now we want the world to find us too. Crocodile Dundee (the real name of screen character Paul Hogan) has exhorted us to “Smile and say g’day” to foreigners who come to our shores. Economists have waxed lyrical about the potential for profits and job creation that lie in the tourist industry. (more…)
On being a first-century Christian
Life
The issue of cultural relativity—of how we are to resolve the differences between first and 20th-century culture—is an important aspect of the whole hermeneutical debate.
Who censors the censor?
A censor is defined as: “A person who supervises the manners or morality of others” (Macquarie Dictionary). Censorship is an evil thing which our community has rightly perceived for its errors and hypocrisy. Through the agency of censorship truth can be hidden from the populace. (more…)