Graduates from Vocational Bible College, focused on everyday, working-class Christians, are serving in a variety of fields. John Delezio is one of them. John Delezio never expected to end up in full-time ministry, let alone church planting. Initially, the reason… Continue Reading
Every few years The Other Cheek looks to see if the numbers in church networks can be teased out. here is this year’s update Catholic: The official National count of Attendance reported 623,400 people on average, attended weekly mass in… Continue Reading
Previously unpublished data reveal a pattern behind the gentle decline (more rapid descent of you count Covid years) in attendance in the Sydney Anglican diocese. Fewer newcomers in church and an aging cohort of church attendees were revealed in stats… Continue Reading
One of Sydney Anglicanism’s most remarkable women leaders is getting a book written about her – that’s the likely outcome of a symposium on Margaret Rodgers, lecturer and encourager of women in ministry, ecumenical leader and master of media. She… Continue Reading
“It’s happening a lot. It’s happening way too often,” says Michael Doyle, a Sydney Anglican minister, when asked about staff relationships breaking down at churches and unloving responses by senior ministers. Doyle is speaking as chair of Uphold, a ministry… Continue Reading
Scenes from the Sydney Synod Quiet: The 800-strong Sydney Anglican Synod (church parliament) fell so silent you could hear a pin drop when Darlinghurst Minister Matthew Wilcoxen spoke. He told the story of fostering for the first time – receiving… Continue Reading
Requiring board members of schools and other organisations to sign statements of faith with contentious clauses – such as on marriage – will be a thing of the past for Sydney Anglicans if a new governance policy is adopted. The… Continue Reading
Mangrove Mountain, a small community in the NSW Central Coast hinterland, still has a church thanks to a bunch of Christians and atheists who banded together to save the “little white church at Mangrove Mountain.” Their Union church has been… Continue Reading
In a quiet corner away from the hall where the Sydney Anglican Synod is taking place, a sheet of paper attached to the noticeboard contained disturbing news. A gentle decline in attendance figures is shown in a table compiled in… Continue Reading
An Obadiah Slope column Archbishop Kanishka Raffel asked three indigenous leaders, Larissa Minniecon, a Synod member from St John’s Glebe; Naville Naden, Indigenous Ministry Officer of Bush Church Aid; and Michael Duckett, pastor of Macarthur Anglican Church, to address the… Continue Reading