Al Stewart's blog

Are you one of the Privileged Poor? It’s not an uncommon trap for ministry staff to fall into while we’re ‘giving all we’ve got to God’. And if you’re not one of them then there’s a good chance you’ll be trying to minister to them. Check out this interesting article… Keep Reading >>

If you’re looking for something great to read on leadership then Steve B. Sample’s The Contrarian’s guide to Leadership  is a brilliant read. This isn’t a Christian book, so weigh up what he says carefully, but he’s definitely “out of the box” with some of his ideas. David MacDonald has… Keep Reading >>

“How great leaders inspire action.” This short speech by Simon Sinek is well worth thinking about. According to Simon people respond to what we believe, not simply us telling them what we do, or what they should do. It’s worth thinking about in terms of how we lead, and particularly… Keep Reading >>

The story is told that in 1913 Ernest Shackleton the polar explorer needed a crew for his ship the Endurance. The mission: to be the first expedition to walk across the continent of Antarctica. He posted the following advertisement in an English newspaper. MEN WANTED: FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES,… Keep Reading >>

Here are 5 hard truths every young man needs to learn from Charles Pope: 1. Life is hard 2. Your life is not about you 3. You’re not in control 4. You’re not that important 5. You are going to die They’re drawn from his article on the Archdiocese of… Keep Reading >>

Here’s a good article by atheist Chris Berg, arguing that “... virtually all the secular ideas that non-believers value have Christian origins.” In short, the secular world has a christian foundation. The ideas he lists represent a good start, but he could allow them to come a little closer to… Keep Reading >>

I assume you’ve noticed, if you’re involved in youth ministry or have teenage kids, that The Hunger Games is the next big thing. For those of you out of the loop it’s a story aimed at young adults about a group of teens forced to fight to the death for… Keep Reading >>

If you ever wanted an example of someone’s own world view being invisible to them, here it is. Stuck in a drain by the grace of God - Steve Carter, SMH This article is beautifully ironic at many levels. Steve talks about, “...the infuriating tendency of so many religious people… Keep Reading >>

Any church or ministry needs to have a growth dynamic. What I mean by that is you must have something about the church or the ministry that will bring you into contact with people. I know people who are theologically astute will say, “We preach the gospel – that will… Keep Reading >>

I’ve just finished reading “What is the mission of the church?” by Kevin Deyoung and Greg Gilbert. The tag line for the book is “Making sense of social justice, shalom and the great commission”, which is what they do. The thing I liked about this book is that they actually… Keep Reading >>

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The Author

Al Stewart

Happily married with a bunch of kids he is passionate about helping grow God's church in Australia.

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