Tell us a little about yourself I am twenty three years old and married to an amazing man named Adam. This year I became a mother to the prettiest little girl, Milani. I taught dance for 7 years and am now pursuing a career in photography. I grew up travelling Australia and have recently settled in Newcastle with my little family. What’s your favourite bible passage & why? 1 John 4:10 - This is love: not that we have loved God but that He loves us and gave His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. I hold this verse close to my heart. It is a constant reminder to me of God’s unconditional and unfathomable love for us. How do you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus? Surrounding myself with worshi
Tell us a little about yourself? I can't remember life without knowing Jesus. Thanks to a a great Christian family. I live in a amazing house renovated by my clever hubby and have lived here for almost 36 years. The rooms are now empty from fun family memories. I have four grown daughters, 3 son in laws and 2 grandchildren. I love being at home, helping my hubby out with work, being a grandmother, gardening and sharing my garden with others. I love the outdoors and want the next generation of my family to spend lots of time in the outdoors as did my own children. What is your favourite bible passage and why? I have so many depending on the season of life I am in. So many are special but
Tell us a little about yourself I'm Jo + I'm a creative from RADelaide, 28 years young. I love Jesus, people, music, photography, opshopping, coffee, having fun + a laugh! My job is having the privilege of running Worn Again. Worn Again is an Opshop which is a ministry of my Church - Citylight Church Glenelg. We sell all clothes + such for just $2 and all profit goes to the community work Citylight does in RADelaide. It's a magical place! What's your favourite bible passage & why? "Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33. My life is centred around seeking Jesus + his kingdom first, above all things. Matthew Henry puts it
PART ONE: EMBOLDENED WOMEN I thought Emboldened was going to be a battle cry, but it was more like a warm hug. I expected more to be doing more fist-pumping, fewer moments of eyes filled with tears of comfort and gratitude. With part one entitled ‘Emboldened Women’, and part two ‘A Vision for an Emboldened Church’, this book is both a love letter to women in the body of Christ, and a pep talk to male leaders who want to embolden women. I’ll be giving my attention to part one, and Bree Mills will review part two. Emboldened is written for convinced egalitarians. That’s not the category I find myself in, mainly because I find the polarisation of the debate troubling. But the idea is that plent
Apologies this piece does contain massive spoilers for the film “A Christmas Prince”. Netflix’s Christmas release “A Christmas Prince” has received a lot of attention on listicle and clickbait articles for being possibly the most amazing worst Christmas movie ever (Click here for a good summary). Having viewed this monstrosity of confection twice, I can confidently say that it is almost perfection in its terrible script, ridiculous plot and awkward acting. “A Christmas Prince” fills me with all the kinds of joy that bad TV watched on holidays with a good friend can. And yet it leaves me with a question; why would anyone think to make this film in the first place? Who would sit down and decid
Since the ABC’s exposé of domestic violence within churches on the 7:30 program, I have watched with sadness, anger and dismay at the ensuing debate. I knew that when the program aired it would bring up a plethora of painful memories for many. I underestimated however, the intensity of the defensive vitriol that ensued from both inside the church and from those who like to look for cracks in the institution. I have been a trauma counsellor for the last 27 years and have had substantial experience journeying with those who have been trapped in violent homes. A significant amount of my time has been working with children and young people who have been raised in a home where family violence i
Tell us a little about yourself I’m the Church History lecturer at Morling College. I’ve been married to my fantastic husband Peter for over 25 years and we have two wonderful children, Joel and Lara. What's your favourite bible passage & why? Philippians is probably my favourite book of the Bible, with its emphasis on the joy of following Jesus in all circumstances, especially chapter 2 on the imitation of Christ and 4:6-8: “Don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, wha
NT Wright a New Testament scholar puts it this way: "Made for spirituality, we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance. Made for relationship, we insist on our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment. But new creation has already begun. The sun has begun to rise. Christians are called to leave behind, in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world ... That, quite simply, is what it means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God's new world, which he has thrown open before us." That quote is from "Simple Christian" b
A review of Lisa Sharon Harper’s ‘The Very Good Gospel’ In 2004, as I sat with a young woman who shared with me her story of being abuse by a man she trusted, I remember my burning desire to share the love of God with her. She desperately needed to know the hope I knew for a better future, the feeling I knew of unconditional love. Being a good first year bible college student, and beach mission trained, I knew my gospel tracts. I had even memorised the verses! Yet, it didn’t seem enough in this moment. She didn’t need to be told she was a sinner, although of course she was, she needed to be told she was loved, and there was a God who was capable of healing even the deepest hurts. At the Just
As 2017 draws to a close I wonder if you find yourself with a desire that you so dearly hoped would have come to pass this year. Yet, as you stand at the end of 2017 it still seems so far out of reach! How do we summon the courage and dare to keep believing even when hope begins to hurt? Maybe you’re in a place now where you have held onto hope for so long, hope for the right man to walk into your life, hope for that career you’ve dreamt of, or hope that one day you will find true peace and holding onto that hope is draining every ounce of your strength. I totally understand and my prayer is that as you read a snippet of my story you will find the courage to hold onto hope! {My story is one
The first Sunday of Advent we focused on HOPE. The second Sunday of Advent, commencing December 10, focuses us toward PEACE. This often is communicated in multiple ways. And discussion in these areas as to what kind of PEACE we are gifted with as disciples of Christ is vitally important as we seek to follow the "Prince of Peace". The first concept understood by followers of Jesus is personal peace. This idea to is understood in private individual categories. The second is within a local community of followers of Jesus. This emphasis highlights the need for ongoing conflict resolution, relational forgiveness and mercy, and the communal emphasis of loving "one another" as disciples
I read the books on spiritual disciplines and tried to learn from them – Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, other earlier great mystics, and more contemporary writers. Yet unaccountably, none of them mentioned the benefits of nail polish as an aid to spiritual disciplines!I discovered it accidentally. Some time ago I was quite sick and eventually diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. All of a sudden my life was full of people whom I had never needed before.I was seeing lots of my general practitioner, and also spending regular time with my oncologist, and seeing a palliative care doctor: I had an accountant helping me sort my finances and a lawyer ensuring my affairs were in order. Surrounded by
“Redemption stories sing…” Sometime during my childhood I read a novel about a boy who survived as a pickpocket on the streets of London. He is adopted by a new family. He is bathed—his first bath. The account of this bath has always stuck with me. His clothing has never been removed—a wad of items worn web thin, layered like a decrepit pass the parcel. Trousers are pulled back like slices of ham. A colony of fleas requires massacring. And his skin, blackened by waste and imprinted like linen, is mistaken for cloth and attempt made to remove it. He is put in a tub and scrubbed of dirt for hours. Underneath—a child! Redemption stories sing so sweetly to our hearts, perhaps they are like comfo
There’s been an interesting side effect to society’s changing perspective regarding women and leadership; many women are finding the need to reevaluate their perspectives on their own leadership call. Some are being forced to ask themselves the question: Who am I when the Lid is lifted? Like you, I’m fortunate to know a very large number of gifted and talented women. They’re strong, courageous, encouraging, visionary, and they’re all out for female empowerment. Some were brought up in the previous generation and the curtailing of women’s right to lead heavily impacted their lives. The manifold wrongs of this have been played out in many a long and heartfelt conversation over coffee and lunch
Tell us a little about yourself My name is Louisa I am 26 years old and I am married to Simon. I am currently working in university ministry in Sydney but next year I am heading to bible college to study a Masters of Divinity at SMBC. During my childhood I lived in the US for 10 years with my family but Australia has always been my true home. What's your favourite bible passage & why? My favourite bible passage is psalm 146 particularly verses 1-3. It has been a powerful ongoing reminder how great our God is and that he is our refuge in whom we can trust irregardless of the craziness that’s happening in life. He is always there for me and demonstrates that even when I weather a storm God ha
Tell us a little about yourself I grew up as a TCK in the Middle East before returning to Australia for university. After trying a few different things I completed a Bachelor of Theology in Melbourne, and spent some time back in the Middle East working with refugees. I am currently working at Scripture Union Victoria, in the team that overseas beach missions and summer camps. I spend the rest of my time working on my writing (I am currently getting my second book of poetry ready), investing in various communities, hopefully studying more theology next year, and watching Netflix =) What's your favourite bible passage & why? I tend to think in terms of stories rather than verses, so I would ha
Tell us a little about yourself With my family, I worked in the Middle East for over two decades, in education (adult Arabic literacy, teacher training) - I still miss it. As an ethnographer, I did major research in adult literacy in Egypt, and on the women’s mosque movement in the Middle East. I currently teach people how to think theologically about and practically engage with other cultures, and other religions, particularly Islam. I’m based in the CMS training college, and also part of the When Women Speak… training and research network. About 18 months ago I was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. We’re all ‘terminal’, but the horizon has come a lot closer for me and our family. So I’
Tell us a little about yourself I'm an Ordained Minister with the Churches of Christ in South Australia and I also have experience and training in Community Development and Not-For-Profit Management. I'm currently working with Baptist Care SA as Senior Consultant for Church Community Development. I value working with vulnerable and marginalised people groups and have consulted with Churches and Charities both in Australia and internationally in this area. I think in this work especially we need creativity and innovation and I value these a lot. I live in a great community in Edwardstown with a small flock of chickens as well as my husband James, our 2 year old son Daniel and a sibling due a
When you were little did you ever throw coins into a wishing well? As a little girl, I remember my Mum giving me coins to throw in any wishing well we would come across and I would close my eyes and make a wish – I would wish for what every little girl wishes for at some point – I would wish for a pony! But I never made my Mum buy pony food or a saddle after making my wish because I never actually expected it to come true. However, if my Mum promised me an ice cream when I got home I would be planning what flavour I was going to have and what toppings I would put on it because I expected to get an ice-cream. {The difference between a wish and a promise is found in our expectation} I wonder i
