Tag Archives: gospel

Farewell, Pastor Martin

Today is Pastor Martin Pakula’s final Sunday service as Interim Pastor of Hills Bible Church. Martin has been with us since June 2011, and has served the congregation at Hills faithfully week in and week out. It is a sad day, as we have grown in fellowship and friendship with Martin and Jennie. Martin’s clear and accurate expositional preaching has been provoking, challenging and encouraging. His drive for Hills to be a church focused on evangelism and outreach will be an enduring part of his legacy. He instigated scripture reading training, the Christmas gingerbread house event, the regular public and systematic reading of scripture in our services, and hospitality evangelism. We will also miss his regular blog contributions. Jennie has also been faithful member at Hills, serving on the music team, and playing a leading role at the women’s events.

Picture caption: A recent Ministry Leadership Team meeting. Left to right – Stu pretending to be Luke Hodge, Lindsay looks to be off fishing, and Martin in his Anglican garb on his way to deliver the Eucharist at St. Chuzzlewit’s. 

Martin, we have much to thank you for, not least for putting up with our Baptist sensibilities. We’re sorry you weren’t able to finish off the elements each Lord’s Supper, but it’s just not the way it’s done. In all seriousness, both you and Jennie will be sorely missed. May the Lord bless you and your family in the next chapter of your life and ministry.

Stranger Evangelism

Photo credit: Susan NYC, some rights reserved

I’m always amazed at the capacity we Christians have for justifying our own sinfulness and apathy.  I have done my fair share of stranger evangelism in the past.  It’s not easy, but almost always rewarding (and easier than you think it will be!).  Stranger evangelism is basically the idea of walking up to someone you don’t know and sharing the gospel with them.  This could take the form of door-knocking or walk up evangelism at University or the shopping centre, etc.  But it’s amazing how many reasons Christians can suddenly think of as to why we shouldn’t do it!

This week I was out at the University campus, not doing stranger evangelism, but inviting strangers to Continue reading

Attitudes and hostility to Christian faith

Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Check the detailed infographic above of Australian views. Australia is probably similar in religious attitudes to most European countries, and Canada.

There are similar figures available for Europe from the Eurobarometer and Gallup Polls – unfortunately these do not measure animosity/hostility as such, though this may overlap considerably with the percent of non-theists in their research results.

The USA is numerically very different, but George Barna Research recently reported that over the last decade, as a Continue reading