Tag Archives: Featured full-text

The dangers of oversharing

Life

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The Bible says rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. But does that mean that when you suffer, you should make others suffer too? Claire Smith investigates.

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On target

Resource Talk, Sola Panel

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I still remember the first time I heard Phillip Jensen preach. It was in February 1981, and I was a fresh-faced, charismatically-inclined young Christian, just down from the country, eager to learn and grow, and ready to take on the world.

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A layperson’s guide to giving up your life

Everyday Ministry

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What does it mean to do ministry but not be in ministry? How can you stay focused on ministry as a goal when it’s not your full-time profession? Karen Beilharz tells her story, and how she came to answer some of these questions.

Have you ever felt like you’re headed in a certain direction and then the door you’re poised to walk through suddenly slams in your face? That’s how I felt at the end of 2004. I had just completed a two-year part-time ministry apprenticeship with the Christian group at the University of Wollongong alongside my husband, Ben. Although the time I had spent working with students and children had been encouraging and eye-opening, it had also been draining and often discouraging. During the apprenticeship, I had led and co-led Bible study groups and training courses, I had organized a women’s retreat, I had discipled girls, I had taught and coordinated Sunday school, and I had given my first evangelistic talk to an audience of 60 women (none of whom became Christian). But as it ended, I realized that working in people ministry was not something I could sustain full-time. (more…)

Thanks for everything

Resource Talk, Sola Panel

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It was more than your average laid-back, phlegmatic Aussie could take: for about the 47th time in one day, an American pastor with a warm smile was shaking my hand and thanking me so much for the work I was doing and the valuable contribution Matthias Media was making to their ministry.

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Is the church still serious about hell?

Thought

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Hell is not a popular subject for Christians and non-Christians alike. However, for Jesus, hell was a very important topic—so much so that much of the information we have about it came from him. In this article, Jonathan Gibson explores several alternative views of hell as well as what the Bible says to form a picture of what hell is and why it matters.1

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Talking about predestination with kids

Resource Talk, Sola Panel

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Little Black Books: Predestination--cover

Some parents resent being the taxi driver. I offer to do it whenever I can. When else do your teenagers actually consent to sit within 10 metres of you, let alone talk to their friends while you listen? And besides, the opportunity to pay out their appalling music and inflict your own Classic Hits and Memories upon them is too much to resist. (more…)

The joy of infertility

Life

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In the midst of the grief and pain of infertility, Karen Galvin found joy and opportunities to grow in godliness.

In Briefing #262, Phil Wheeler wrote some pastoral reflections on infertility, entitling his article ‘A silent grief’. But I believe that infertility ought not to be so. In my experience, sharing the process of infertility with my Christian brothers and sisters has been, on the whole, a positive experience. However, infertility is a process—a process of coming to grips with the physical, emotional and spiritual issues that arise from this problem. The issues can’t be dealt with overnight, and often, when one issue is dealt with, another one arises.

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“Jesus. All about life”, by Murray Smith

Review

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Jesus. All about life (Youth Edition)

Murray Smith

Bible Society NSW, Macquarie Park, 2009. 135pp.

Murray Smith has put together a smart and sassy little book called Jesus. All about life. This 135-page creation has an obvious connection with the evangelistic campaign of the same name, but Smith’s book is aimed squarely at teenagers. It’s the sort of book you could easily imagine sitting on a teenager’s bedside table (or, more likely, somewhere on the bedroom floor underneath a recently discarded jacket). (more…)

The book and the vine

Resource Talk, Sola Panel

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One of the more fascinating books I read last year had the ironic title The Book is Dead. Long Live the Book. It was a book seeking to persuade me that books are history. (more…)

Can’t read? Won’t read!

Resource Talk

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There are some great resources around for reaching people with the gospel—books on apologetics like If you could ask God one Question and Naked God—books that explain the gospel clearly, like A Fresh Start and Christianity Explained—and, of course, there are Bibles and Gospels that we can hand to people to check it out for themselves. (more…)