I’m writing this around the time of Anzac Day, an important day on our national calendar for remembering those in New Zealand and Australia who have been killed in war, particularly the Gallipoli campaign. Through dawn services, tributes and personal reflections on this day, we honour the fallen, we keep their memory alive, and we […]
Tell us a bit about yourself Simon. Tēnā koutou katoa. (Greetings to you all)Ko Te Aroha toku maunga, (My mountain is Te Aroha)Ko Waikato toku Awa, (My river is Waikato)Ko Westland toku waka (My canoe is Westland)Ko McLeay toku whanau. (My family is McLeay)Nō Morrinsville ahau (I am from Morrinsville) I was born in Morrinsville […]
Tell us a bit about yourself Andrew I’m a Malaysian of Chinese descent but have made New Zealand my home for the last twenty eight years. Coming to faith in Christ from Buddhism, I have had special interest in theology and apologetics and that landed me in the then Bible College of New Zealand and […]
Recently I’ve been reading Janet Malcolm’s little book The Journalist and the Murderer and it has sparked some reflection on ethics and my preaching. The book is about a grievance between a (now-convicted) murderer and a journalist he invited to write a book about his case. The author was admitted into the circle of trusted […]
I have just read an essay by a student who ministers in India among the poor. He is involved in a mission which takes the gospel into the villages of India. In these settings, the people are poor, kilometres from any quality healthcare, making a subsistence living off the land. With other believers, this student […]
If this piece sounds like I write as one who has abided by his own prescriptions let me quickly deny it. And yet I must say with all my conviction, that with the power of God to save on one hand and the feebleness of the preacher on the other, it is vital that the […]
Last year I was asked to write a book on pastoral care. What an honour! I’ve written many books, but I had never before been asked to write one. That book has recently been published by Fortress Press, with the title Nurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care in the Twenty-First Century. As I thought about what […]
I am currently researching the gospel and its proclamation in the New Testament. My enquiry is driven by a sense that many who engage in evangelistic preaching in NZ and more broadly are preaching a gospel that is reduced and formulaic. The proclamation of the gospel is also rather limited, lacking the breadth of approach […]
Opening comments about the sermon I read Tony Scanerlli’s book on emotional health earlier this year and I wanted to do a short series on Emotional Maturity, I started with this sermon which was intended to do two things; to encourage our people to think about their own emotional growth and also to marvel at […]
One of the criticisms I sometimes received during my last stint as a pastor, was that I wasn’t encouraging enough. Ouch! I certainly wanted to be an encourager. I thought I was. I tried to be, but from time to time the criticism came up This criticism often went alongside the more positive observation that […]
