In last month's ENewsletter (January 2009) I encouraged you to listen to Mark Driscoll's Sydney address given in September 2008.   There was also a summary of his message entitled:  "18 Obstacles to Effective Evangelism."  Among other things Driscoll said:  "Men can't be demoted or thrown out of ministry for more than stealing money or falling sexually. Just because you're doing ministry long-term doesn't mean you should be guaranteed of a job. You all know that some...

Mark Driscoll claims that some of our churches are led by men who are not the best men for the job – and should not be guaranteed continuing on in ministry just because they have a degree from seminary. As uncomfortable this might make us feel – I think that Driscoll is on to something. What do you think? Toward the end of my seminary training my mission's professor, Richard De Ridder, lamented how one...

Being “hard and soft” describes the way we ought to approach any sort of ministry, especially evangelism. By ministry we don't just mean what pastors do, but what every Christian ought to be doing as part of the body of Christ. As we do ministry we are to be both hard and soft. We are to be flexible to new ideas.... Jonathan Deenick asks the question: where have we become hard where should be soft?...

Jason DeVries, a senior student at Calvin Seminary, reflects on the state of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, a church some claim is “dying.” What DeVries writes has implications for the CRC in Australia as well: “the CRC is in need of a reevaluation or rethinking of the Great Commission and the implications that follow for the way we ‘do’ church. Do you see any evidence that the CRC is dying? What must...