[0:01]
well good afternoon folks and uh good morning the people in perth like i can count i can count the gym that i go to each morning has recently put a poster on the wall and it said 65 000 reasons to run as i walked past it a couple of times i thought yeah it's an ad for city to surf but then i actually looked up closer at it and and the 65 000 is something quite

[0:32]
different it says 65 000 australians attempt to take their own life each year and it's an ad for the r u ok suicide prevention movement in fact next week there's a good chance i'll take a funeral for just one of those sad cases it couldn't help but it just hit me that we live in a nation that's so rich so prosperous and yet spiritually lost

[1:02]
not just for this life but lost for eternity and i'm sure that you agree with that or you wouldn't be sitting here or in one of the many hubs around australia now i've been asked to kind of if you like give a bit of an update on what has happened to start where were we at in 2019 and then what's happened since then so let me give you kind of a very quick update about 2019 where we were and if you were here then you may

[1:32]
remember that the update wasn't great news here we go the ncls national church life survey tells us that of churches all the churches in australia half of them are less than 50 people or very close to half of them are less than 50 people ncls did did some extra research for us and they pulled out the reformed protestant churches essentially our tribe and then compared that with protestant churches generally and then

[2:02]
all of ncls so we're looking at 47 000 people in protestant reformed churches who've done this survey and then uh what have we got 152 000 general pro uh protestants and 189 000 ncls here's some good news the reformed uh protestant people love our sermons in fact for them they said 61 of those people said that the sermon is a key thing uh in their one of the key things in their spiritual life that's compared with 37 percent of

[2:35]
ncls people generally they love the preaching but it's not all good news let me show you something about the age profile of churches in australia here we go uh the uh the dark blue line is church attenders and the uh the light blue line uh so yeah the light blue line is australia now where's the problem well you see i've highlighted in red i like subtlety where the problem is if you can't work out if you're not good with graphs and you can't work that out

[3:05]
here it is in a picture you ready right what is that i tell you what it means there's a reason those blue lines finish that is we are getting old i could be in the youth group of a lot of churches all right and so yeah now if you're over 60 like me we don't care that much we're going to be with jesus in 20 years but if you're under 40 you ought to get onto this so we're going to be sitting listen to qrikets okay so we're aging and by the way when you do the stats

[3:35]
the reformed the reformed protestants are only an average of three years younger than every other church but what truly troubled me as i looked at the stats that scotty sanders sent to me is this the ncls do a a review of how many people have actually joined churches that were not involved in any church five years ago so if you've joined in the last five years it'll come up as a percentage of the

[4:06]
church population so for every hundred people how many have joined in the last five years from nowhere right in church life well here's what the stats look like in um uh ncls generally only six percent in all protestant churches eight percent got that there's a hundred people in church only eight of them have joined in the last five years and how did the reformed protestants go we were even lower at seven that means for every hundred

[4:38]
church attenders in our churches maybe or less than two percent are joining each year and generally being converted from out of church life all right now it's not all that bad uh it's worse because covert just started okay uh what happened that's the scene basically 2019 then covet arrives and well you know what happened but here's what's interesting the covert thing's been very lumpy and how it has

[5:09]
affected our churches around the country as i've talked to the guys in perth via zoom during lockdowns etc they're saying virus what what's that we're still hugging and kissing each other over here uh as i talked to the guys in melbourne i did a screenshot of one of the zoom um zoom talks i did with the guys in melbourne they were starting to uh show the results of the lockdown really uh yeah here that's right we've got the one there it was tough actually i shouldn't i

[5:40]
shouldn't make light of it it was very tough i have a daughter in melbourne as well it was it was hard on her some of our church i said reformed protestants some of our churches around the country grew as a result of covert some have declined but generally in the kindness of god things have stayed reasonably stable and in fact with government help financially things have been generally good so what's happened once covered stopped

[6:11]
i got the opportunity to travel and i i may be the only one in the country whose frequent flyer points have gone up in the last year but since december i've been in every state capital and eight major rural um major rural towns so i've i've been around sorry i missed adelaide but i'll get to adelaide soon every state capital except adelaide what have i seen i just want to talk about two things the first one is denominations

[6:41]
now p j o'rourke the american writer said making fun of born again christians is like shooting dairy cattle with a high-powered rifle and scope making fun of denominations is even easier so i will not be doing that denominations that we have are necessary and good things and if managed properly they can they're very important because they can align resources and get people and things working

[7:11]
together and choose the right people to head them up it's very good it was great to see the sydney anglicans make a very good choice a couple of weeks ago in fact we're going to hear from kanishka i think it's tonight he's actually speaking at the conference which is great but around the country there are some denominations having a go but many that are not um we've got some that are imploding because of financial mismanagement we've got others that are getting ready

[7:42]
to tear themselves apart because of theological liberalism or you know some of them wanting to go down the same sex marriage track but many of them are actually just gently snuggling in to palliative care because palliative care is comfortable in church life and especially in denominational life but here's what i want to say and you've heard me say denominations are necessary and good things etc this all we need to learn

[8:13]
even for the best of our denominations the mission energy and gospel urgency that we need to reach australia will not come from denominations at a human level reaching australia for jesus the denominational cavalry is not coming they only had four horses two of those escaped one they can't find the saddle and they're eating number four all right it's not going to happen

[8:43]
and you say wait a minute al you work for denomination yes i do so you really should listen to me huh yeah okay but the second thing i want to talk about is this the sovereign god gives growth where he chooses but the biggest single human factor in gospel growth by a mile is leadership and you know what we all

[9:15]
know it but we're a little sheepish about saying it why well because we don't appear we don't want to appear arrogant when it's going well and we don't want to appear harsh when it's not going well let me show you something that the apostle paul says about leadership fact you've all got your bibles and you guys know pull out your bibles open it up to timothy chapter 2 and i want to show you what paul says about leadership the things we need to take seriously here we go he says 2 timothy chapter 2

[9:47]
verse 1. i'm actually going to wait till you find it and this is quite probably the last letter that paul ever writes as he faces execution so he is very serious he says this chapter 2 verse 1 you then my son be strong in the grace that is in christ jesus and the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses and trust to reliable people who will

[10:18]
also be qualified to teach others they've got the generational move that the older teaching the younger passing on the truth training in ministry etc then he says what about leadership join with me in suffering like a good soldier of christ jesus no one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs but rather tries to please his commanding officer similarly anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor's crown unless by competing

[10:48]
sorry except by competing according to the rules and verse six the hard-working farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops reflect on what i am saying for the lord will give you insight into all this now you notice the analogies for the for the christian minister for the the one in gospel work the soldier the athlete and the farmer somehow there's actually pushback sometimes about being concerned for results in terms of christian leadership oh we shouldn't be worried about results

[11:18]
and put really you couldn't get three more uh result orientated jobs the soldier the athlete the farmer you get the results wrong you end up dead beaten and starving results matter and he goes on to say this verse 8 remember jesus christ raised from the dead descended from david this is my gospel of which i am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal but god's word is not chained it's beautiful he knows verse 8 he gives

[11:49]
the gospel and it's worth actually stopping saying how much he packs into 10 words there actually eight words in the original he's talking about leadership that's focused working hard after results why verse 10 therefore i endure everything for the sake of the elect that they too may obtain salvation that is in christ jesus with eternal glory it's because he believes in election that he that he expects gospel ministry to be done this way it's because he believes in election that he knows it'll bear fruit

[12:22]
and so folks this is what i want to say to you um the energy the urgency for gospel mission has got to come from the leadership of churches denominations can do their bit yes but it's got to come if you like from us that's where it's got to come from leadership that's godly and gifted and leaders that are holding themselves and others accountable for what we do now that's that's confronting and i tell you what takes courage it takes courage to get the right people in the right places and it takes even

[12:55]
more courage to get the wrong people in the wrong places to move but it needs to be done and that's why reach australia is so special and and why i love this movement why because we can learn together the one generation teaching another we can actually encourage one another and and we can do that beyond or across institutional lines because what holds us together is gospel convictions so the next couple of days i hope we'll be confronting

[13:26]
and as we keep going year by year i hope it will be confronting as we we care about results and we hold one another accountable and we work on getting the right people in the right places as iron sharpens iron the scriptures say let me finish with a great quote from charles spurgeon i've read it before on this platform and if i get the chance to speak again next year i'll probably read it again then i like it so much it's from charles spurgeon's lectures to my students

[13:57]
given in 1875 it's not gender inclusive language forgive me but i'm sure you can translate it let me read you what he says it's just it's great we must be done with daydreams and get to work i believe in eggs but we must get chickens out of them i do not mind how big your egg is it may be an ostrich egg if you like but if there is nothing in it pray clear away the shells we want facts deeds done souls saved it is all very well to write essays but

[14:27]
what souls have you saved from going down to hell your excellent management of your school interests me but how many children have been brought into the church by it a sinner's converted to swing to and fro on a five-barred gate is not progress yet some seem to think so brethren do something do something do something while committees waste their time over resolutions do something while societies and unions are making constitutions let us win souls too often we discuss

[14:57]
and discuss and discuss and satan laughs in his sleeve it is time we had done with planning and sought something to plan i pray be men of action all of you and get to work quit yourselves like men you pray with me father we we pray for our nation this nation that you've been so kind to and yet as a people we ignore our creator and live for created things we ask please that you might bring

[15:28]
thousands millions of men and women to repentance and faith in the lord jesus please raise up workers for the harvest who will take your gospel to this country please use the next few days as we encourage one another and teach one another please make us diligent preachers of your gospel and godly leaders of your people and we ask this in jesus name amen