An Anzac Meditation
The Australian war correspondent Charles Bean (below, 1879–1968) landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, within hours of the first wave. There he was shot in the leg and mentioned […]
Book review: ‘The Long Road Home’
Review of Sarah Walton, The Long Road Home, illustrated by Christina Yang, Wheaton: Crossway, 2024. Of the seven elders in my last pastorate, three were engineers and one was a […]
The Source of Permanent Joy
Luke 1:39–45 Mary Visits Elizabeth I don’t want a fix of joy; but its permanent presence. The tides in King Sound near the town of Derby in far-north-west Australia measure […]
The Heart of the Shepherd-Elder
Here is the Heart of the Christian Elder (1 Peter 5:1–4) There is a serious shortage of pastors and elders today. Theological college enrolments are down. Many existing leaders, whether […]
Book review: ‘The Hiding Place’
Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place. A Graphic Novel adapted by Mario DeMatteo and illustrated by Ismael Castro. Minneapolis: Chosen Books (Baker), 2024. 239 pages. $24.99, Reformers. I have heard […]
Book review: Calvin on the Christian Life
John Calvin, On the Christian Life. A New Translation by Raymond A. Blacketer (2024). Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024. 73 pages, $19.99. Beveridge. Battles. Blacketer. Not a cryptic crossword clue, but […]
Book review: ‘The Mission of God’
Book Review: Justin A. Schell, The Mission of God and the Witness of the Church. Crossway, 2024. 127 pages. $24.99. “Are you saying that Jesus is in the Old Testament?!” […]
Review of Packer’s ‘Proclaiming Christ in a Pluralistic Age’
Book Review: J. I. Packer Proclaiming Christ in a Pluralistic Age: The 1978 Lectures (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024). 139 pages. $39.99 at Reformers Bookshop. I was eating pizza the other […]
Surprising Rebirth
The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God A review of Justin Brierley’s remarkable new podcast series. My congregation lives within an 80 x 60 x 50 kilometre triangle, an area […]
Book Review: Volume 4 of Beeke and Smalley
Book Review: Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley. Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 4: Church and Last Things (Crossway, 2024). 1,360 pages. $85. Why aren’t Christians arguing about theology anymore? […]
Review: The (Not-So-Secret) Secret to Reaching the Next Generation
Book Review: Kevin DeYoung, The (Not-so-Secret) Secret to Reaching the Next Generation. Wheaton, Il: Crossway, 2024. 28 pages. I’ve just completed my first six months at Scots’ Church in Fremantle. […]
BOOK REVIEW: Two Cities, Two Loves
Review of James Montgomery Boice, Two Cities, Two Loves: Christian Responsibility in a Crumbling Culture (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2024). 193 pages. Many Christians in the West feel more […]
Matthew Barrett, The Reformation
What do you Mean You’re a Protestant? Review of Matthew Barrett’s The Reformation as Renewal (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2023). 981 pages. On June 7 in 2020 a mob in Bristol […]
Things I Wish I Knew about Pastoring a Church When I was Young
I was 28 when I started in full-time ministry as associate pastor in a large Presbyterian church. I was thirty when I was called to pastor a small suburban church […]
Aged Care Ministry: Challenges and Responses
I have been a Presbyterian pastor for twenty-five years, the last three of which I was privileged to serve as an aged-care chaplain. I ministered in three Presbyterian nursing homes […]
Book Review: Peter Cameron by Campbell Markham
Book Review, Paul Cooper and David Burke (eds.). Principle & Principal: the other side of the Rev Dr Peter Cameron heresy trial. Stanhope Gardens, NSW: Eider Books, 2023. It can be purchased […]