The Pastor's Heart with Dominic Steele

How can we create gatherings that are both warm and deep? How can we avoid gatherings that are superficial or dry. 

How do we embed gospel culture in our church gatherings.

How do we emphasize grace, forgiveness and a welcoming atmosphere?

And how to encourage authenticity and emotional intelligence in gathering leaders. Plus how do we evaluate.

A Pastor’s Heart episode to watch with your staff team.   

Toby Neal is Senior pastor at Vin...

What happens when churches move beyond "pious passivity" to strategic intentionality in reaching the lost? 

Richard Coekin—founding pastor of Dundonald Church in London and pioneer of REACH UK—joins Dominic Steele to unpack the revolutionary approach transforming churches across Australia and the United Kingdom.

Following on from Reach UK and Reach Australia in May, Richard candidly shares his journey from skepticism about ...

Live from the sidelines at the Reach Australia Conference on the Central Coast of New South Wales, we sit down with Wade Burnett from McLean Bible Church in Washington DC and Derek Hanna, Reach Australia’s church planting and multisite specialist, for a fresh look at the multisite church model.

Multisite was a buzz seven years ago. Today, with thousands of campuses launched in the United States—and many hard lessons learned—the mood...

This week on The Pastor’s Heart, we’re live from the Reach Australia conference at Erina on the Central Coast of New South Wales. 

It’s an inspiring gathering, with 1,300 church leaders from across Australia and beyond, including New Zealand, South Africa, America, and the United Kingdom, coming together for encouragement and equipping to better Reach Australia.

Paul Harrington has led the Trinity Network of Churches in Adelaide for ...

It is 1700 years since the council of Nicaea and the publication of the Nicene Creed - but what are we to make of it?

It was the twentieth of May in the year 325 that the Council of Nicaea first met. 

Pope Francis said ‘The Nicene Creed is a powerful sign of unity among Christians.’

The 17 hundredth anniversary of the Council of Nicaea - is being used - by the Roman Catholic Church to push the idea that ‘All Christians are Nicene Chri...

We explore the findings of the Your Story Research Report — a significant national study that listens to the voices of more than 400 young people as they reflect on their spiritual journeys.

We find out who and what has, and is, shaping young people’s faith from their childhood, though to adolescence, to right now.

There are insights into the eight “faith journeys” —from Embracing to Reconstructing to Disengaging— highlighting the im...

For decades, the trend across Western countries seemed one-way: away from faith in Jesus Christ. But could the tide be turning? 

Evangelist and author Glen Scrivener outlines signs of a "quiet revival" emerging, particularly among young people in the United Kingdom (and how things are different in Australia).

Drawing on new research from the UK Bible Society and reflecting on wider cultural shifts, Glen ...

The death of Pope Francis marks a pivotal moment for Roman Catholics.

What does this transition mean for the future of Catholicism and how should Protestants respond?

From Vatican City, Leonardo Di Chirico offers a firsthand perspective on reactions in Rome, while Rachel Ciano provides historical context from Sydney.

Many Protestant leaders have referred to Francis as a "brother in Christ," but...

New South Wales’ Conversion Practices Ban Act has just come into effect — along with guidelines from Anti-Discrimination NSW that many Christian leaders believe overstep the legal boundaries and impact ordinary pastoral ministry.

We are joined by legal expert Associate Professor Neil Foster, South Sydney Bishop Michael Stead, and Summer Hill Anglican Assistant Minister Simon Swadling. 

Together, we unpack the implications of the new ...

The new McCrindle report ‘An undercurrent of faith’ says: 

• Those turning to Christian faith are not who we might expect - it’s especially older people, the recently widowed and recently separated or divorced.
• The move is most on away from Christian identity in outer suburbia and regional areas.
• Australians are still turning to Christianity in large numbers, despite a decline in Christian affiliation.
• While 85,000 15-24 year olds ha...

The average 11-year-old spends 4.5 hours daily on non-school screens. By 15, 70% of boys regularly view pornography. This isn't harmless fun—it's rewiring young brains during critical development. 

The addictive nature of social media, the mental health impact on teens, distorted identity and comparison, the way the attention economy undermines discipleship.

Parents (and pastors) so often feel out of their depth.

Marsha...

Today we review the 50 year impact of The University of New South Wales’ Campus Bible Study on Christian ministries across Australia and around the world - in raising up gospel workers, sending missionaries, planting churches and in Christian publishing. 

Former Anglican Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen led the ministry for thirty years till 2005.  Since then Paul Grimmond and Carl Matthei have been senior chaplains. 

Alan Stewart start...

Proclamation is for every Christian, one’s Christian faith is always public and a command is not needed to link faith to speech. 

'I believed therefore I spoke' - That’s what the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:13. And yet it’s a verse hardly referred to in the last few decades in discussions over who is responsible for evangelism. 

Chris Braga of Grace West Anglican Church Sydney told the Nexus Conference in Sydney th...

Pastors facing up to our imposter syndrome - navigating the noise that leads us to make bad decisions.

As Pastors, we feel the pressure to have the right answers to people’s questions.

We want to be able to navigate the complexities of life and church and land everyone safely at the other end. 

People share with us and the hardest parts of their lives, they trust us with their most private issues, and time and their money.

And they tru...

A new study shows that training in systematic self reflection will develop resilience among ministry workers, who are at risk of stress related ill health. 

Self reflective resilience training is beneficial to those in ministry roles and programs in this area can minimise stress related ill health. 

BUT, Not all self reflection is equal. 

Organisational Psychologist with Sydney’s Center for Ministry Development Kirsty Bucknell has sur...

We are hearing reports from the university campuses, from young adult ministries, and from youth groups - that there is an increasing openness to the gospel of Jesus - and there’s a new openness among young men. 

There’s a shift in the culture. There’s something happening that is different among young people -  Especially among young men. 

There’s a greater biblical ignorance in the rising generation.  But significantly more openness...

As pastors we’re expressing leadership in our churches on gender and sexuality. We want to help our people think biblically - and yet with the culture moving so fast - it is an area that we feel ill equipped. 

On today’s Pastor’s Heart we benefit from the hard work of Sydney Missionary and Bible College Theology and Ethics lecturer Rob Smith who has just published a reworked version of his PhD under the title ‘The body God gives.’

As...

What happens when a leader operates without a clear vision.  And how poetic or concrete should a vision be? 

How to organise things so the overall vision cascades down through every area of church life? 

What should our pastoral approach be to innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards and the nos. 

Biblical vision and Leadership vision: What is the difference? Why do people mangl...

There are claims - and you hear them every so often - that archeology has disproved this story or that in the bible, and claims from this or that scholar of particularly late dating of different bible books.

How do we as evangelical pastors react/respond/answer those claims?

Hans Kristensen is senior pastor of Marsfield Community Church in Sydney and is studying ancient archaeology.

He suggests that there are 10 major archaelogical fi...