I’m sure you’ve all the saying ‘He’s a glass half-empty kind of guy,’ or ‘She’s a glass half-full kind of girl.’ It describes how we tend to see the world, either in a negative light, or a positive light. Some people tend to see the problems in life, while other people see opportunities. And the truth is that some of us see our spiritual lives in the same fashion. We see how our country is turning its back on Christianity and biblical principles and it gets us down. We see how our young people are leaving our church and it upsets...

Jesus has risen from the dead! Jesus had conquered death and sin and Satan. Jesus had provided a way for sinners to be reconciled with God Almighty. God’s promises to send the Messiah to redeem his people have been fulfilled. Surely, the whole world needs to hear the good news! And yet Jesus tells them to wait. Jesus ‘ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father. (Act 1:4)’ They couldn’t proclaim the Good News, they couldn’t evangelize, because they didn’t yet have the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells his disciples, ‘you will receive power...

This week I was challenged to think about Matthew 5:16 in terms of my home. Jesus says, ‘let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Mt 5:16)’ Of course Jesus is talking about our lives as individuals i.e. how is my life shining before others? But he’s also talking about our church life i.e. how are we shining as a Christian community in this dark world (see Phil 2:15)? But the question was asked: How is my home a light that shines in my community?...

You got to love hinges!   What would we do without them?   Every time we walk through a door way hinges are our best friend.  While some doors slide on rollers, most doors move on hinges.   You pull or push a door and you move from one place to another. I'm sitting today at RTC Melbourne listening to a number of talks on the Biblical book of Ezekiel.   What do you do with a prophetic book like Ezekiel?  The opening pages of this book read like a science fiction novel, with four multi-headed and multi-winged creatures riding some...

Being a parent is hard work! There’s sleepless nights, messy rooms, chaotic meals, tears and arguments, and if your home is anything like mine outright defiance. Why would you keep doing it? Of course, it’s not always like that (allow me some dramatic license), but the reason we keep at it, is because we love our kids. Evangelism must have the same motivation. Without love evangelism becomes a duty. The Apostle Paul says that without love our words and our efforts are meaningless (1 Cor 13:1-3). In fact, God reached out to us because he was motivated by love. Jesus said,...

In his book, God Space, Doug Pollock starts with a story of Paul and Lisa, a newly married couple who had just become Christians. They were so excited about their faith in Jesus and how it had changed their lives that they longed to share the gospel with their unsaved families. After much prayer they decided that the Christmas family reunion would be the perfect time. After casually chatting and catching up Karen, Lisa’s younger sister, shared how she was on a spiritual high after an angel had appeared to her in a dream. This was there chance. Before Karen could...

One of the biggest reasons people don’t want to share their faith is the belief that only people with the spiritual gift of evangelism are called to do that. I’ve heard it many times, “I don’t have the gift of evangelism!” Or “Do you really expect everyone in your church to be willing and able to share their faith?” And the answer is “Yes!” So why do I believe everyone who follows Jesus should be able to explain why? Firstly, while the vast majority of Christians don’t have the spiritual gift of evangelism they are all called to let their lights...

One day, while diving for crayfish off the east coast of Tasmania as a young man, I was invited on-board a professional cray boat. It was a big boat, designed to spend weeks off-shore setting and checking cray pots. I found it fascinating. It had narrow stairs that descended below decks that were so step they were almost ladders. It had a huge hold filled with sea water that had room for thousands of crayfish. The bridge was filled with levers and dials and buttons. It certainly wasn’t a pretty boat, it was weather beaten, it was utilitarian, it was built...

"There is one who scatters, yet increases more.And there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty."Proverbs 11:24 Overflowing We need to remember, all we have belongs rightly to God.Give with a generous spirit as you place your dependence on Him.We gain the right perspective on our earthly possessions...When we learn to give back a portion to God! God blesses those who give freely what He has given.Not just monetary, giving of your time and God-given talents, indeed.We are overflowing with blessings and as our cup overflows...We'd be wasteful not to share where there's a need!...

As Christ followers "we know that we cannot make a difference if we are not taking action."    That comment from Steve Saccone's book Protege really hits the mark when we think about being a church on mission.   He goes on to write:  "We spend lots of time thinking about mission.  We may even feel guilty for not doing it well enough, if we even do it at all.  The reality is the church is more know for mission statements than for doing the mission." (165)   "Mission is a call to action." (168)   "Mission is the difference between having an...

You can tell a plant is healthy because it grows. You plant a seed in the ground, and it sends forth a shoot, and the shoot produces leaves, it gets bigger and stronger, and in time it produces fruit and reproduces itself. Jesus talks about this sort of growth in terms of people’s spiritual journey. He says, ‘As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty. (Mt 13:23 ESV)’ Healthy Christians produce fruit....

In response to Classis Western Australia’s overture to appoint a Church Outreach Taskforce (Overture 3), Synod instead decided to appoint a person to the GROW workgroup to advance local church outreach, and to adopt the following mandate for that person: In understanding Task 2 of the Four Fold Task ‘To grow healthy churches which nurture and equip their members and, by God’s grace, expand numerically, become the mother-churches of as many fellowships and congregations as possible, and take further initiatives to penetrate structures of society with the gospel,’ and in the awareness that evangelism and outreach are core responsibilities of the...

The theme was 'URGENT' - establishing a gospel priority for your church. Over 25 CRCA pastors, church members, and leaders gathered at the Geneva Push Multiply conference in Melbourne 14-16 May. The main speakers were Greg Lee, lead pastor at Hunter Bible Church, and Sam Chan from the City Bible Forum Sydney. There were people from over 100 churches in Australia, including many CRCA churches. As a denomination we recognise the urgency of evangelism and outreach. This urgency is rooted in our vision to be 'a church reforming to reach the lost for Christ.' With over 21 million people in Australia...

It was G.K. Chesterton who said "How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it."    But such wisdom is not new nor did it orginate with G.K. Chesterton.  This is the heart of God!  It was Jesus who said, "Whoever wants to become great among you must become your servant." (Mark 10:34)   On another occasion Jesus taught: "... he who is least among you all--he is the greatest." (Luke 9:48)    Jesus himself modeled this posture in life through his incarnation and his death on the cross, as the apostle Paul reminds us...

Jack De Vries was hired on by the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia and began his work as Ministry Training Coordinator in January 2008. In 2012, Jack took on the role of Ministry Development Coach. Jack came from Canada where he pastored three Christian Reformed churches:  Alliston CRC, Alliston, Ontario(1983-87), a church plant: New Life Community Church, Pickering, Ontario(1987-95), and Bethel CRC, Listowel, Ontario (1995-2007). Jack is a graduate of Calvin Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity - 1983) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Doctor of Ministry - 2003)  Jack and his wife Jeannie currently live in Petrie, a northern suburb of Brisbane...

Recently I prayed with my eyes wide open!   I have not done that for a long, long time.   As a young child during family devotions I would on occasion open my eyes(just a slit or two) during prayer -- just to see if anyone else had their eyes open.   Years later, there were many times carving up kilometres on pavement on my motorcycle when I would talk with God out loud.   I figured no one but God could hear me, but as I prayed at 100 kph I figured it would be wise to keep my eyes open.  But now here...

It is encouraging to know that 84% of CRCA congregational members would support the development of new initiatives in the ministry and mission of their local church.    This is one of many findings in the recent NCLS (National Church Life Survey) survey conducted among CRCA churches.   While not all churches participated in the NCLS survey, the results are still a good sampling of the vitality of CRCA churches.    Over 1300 adult members participated, which is almost ¼ or 22% of the total adult membership in the CRCA.   The 17 participating churches represented large as well as small churches, churches from every...

Moving Your Church Through Growth Barriers (5) Christianity is not a spectator sport. Australians know what it means to be a spectator.  And Australians are not unique in this. Sport is big business and attracts huge crowds to stadiums. What typically happens is that you have a few players on the field who are active participants in the sporting event, be it Cricket, Soccer, Rugby, or the like. The rest are spectators and they come in the tens of thousands to watch these events. They might cheer on a player or a team, but for the most part, they simply watch;...

Moving Your Church Through Growth Barriers (4) Balance in a church, just as it is in life, is a healthy condition! You might know of situations in life when you are pulled in opposing directions. It is not healthy. In one of the churches I served, soon after I arrived on the scene, I spoke with an elderly man who had a lifetime of history in this church. We were looking at the photos of all the previous pastors hanging on the wall in the church entrance. The photos were staggered, with each alternate photo hanging a bit lower than the...

Moving Your Church Through Growth Barriers (3) We all like to be in charge, in control of our lives and even our own destiny. Desire for control is buried deep in the DNA of human beings. We insist on being in the driver’s seat of our lives. To give up control is difficult. We all know of some people that might be called “control freaks” – they not only like to control their own lives; they also like to control the lives of others. In every church I have served it did not take me long to figure out who these...