Melbourne

The Beatitudes are a word for our time

/ MurrayCampbell

The assassination of Charlie Kirk on 10th September will bring unspeakable grief to those who knew and loved him.  His death is emblematic of the age in which we are sadly living. Not even an hour was permitted to pass without tirades of opinions and glee expressed online.

People are defending the shooter, even celebrating the murder. Many others dare to say that Charlie Kirk is simply a victim of his own making, while others again try to play the shadowy middle way game of whataboutism. 

People are losing the ability and desire to talk to one another about life’s biggest issues. People enraged by hardship and perceived injustice (or real injustice) drink from the fever-inducing cup that is easily found among online socials, justifying and fuelling hatred for the other.

The city of Melbourne, every weekend it seems, now witnesses protests, vile speeches, and violence. Victorian Police are right now preparing for and dreading another day of protest on Saturday. These thousands are but a tiny few of the many more who express their anger over on Bluesky, X and Facebook.

Photo by freestocks.org on Pexels.com

Most people have no idea who I am and have not heard my name, and yet I have written and said enough to have my name printed in newspapers and even on the front page of The Age. The former Victorian Premier resorted to his famous slander under the Parliamentary privilege because of a view I had expressed.  I have received more than a few ‘colourful’ letters in the mail or messages on the phone. As a consequence, there have been a couple of Sundays when I have had a quiet word with the Elders, just in case someone might turn up to interrupt or protest our Sunday service. Thankfully, when someone has come as a result of something I’ve written, it is in search of a merciful God and not with an agenda to shout down a preacher.

We will not find a way forward for the common good through joining in the competing choruses online; hate breeds hate, and conspiracy is often countered with misinformation. Of course, there is much going on that is maddening, harmful and concerning. Anger has a place (God can be angry), but it mustn’t be the only key in which we speak. Indeed, how we speak and what we say really does matter. Charlie Kirk, from the little I know of him, engaged his interlocutors with grace, and yet he is now dead. Far from reasoning that kindness doesn’t work, we need to double down on grace and kindness.

I have lost count over the past 5 years of how often I have seen comments from certain Christians who self-identify with the final Beatitude (blessed are the persecuted), and subsequently use this to justify relegating the first 7 Beatitudes to the category of ‘not in season’. Peacemakers and meekness and mercy are deemed an inconvenience; how differently Jesus sees things. 

The Christian doesn’t need to second-guess how to respond to world events and how to engage with others. The Christian isn’t left without guidance and recourse. Jesus gives the believer a paradigm in the Beatitudes.

He said:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The Beatitudes don’t detail how one enters the Kingdom of heaven, but the life of those who belong to this Kingdom. This posture in some ways pre-empts the final manifestation of the Kingdom by exhibiting its qualities in the here and now; to use Jonathan Leeman’s analogy, it’s much like an embassy in a foreign country.

Some Christians hold to some of the Beatitudes and play loose with others. Some of us focus on peace-making while sacrificing righteousness in order to achieve this goal. Some grab hold of righteousness with clenched fists, while ignoring how Jesus begins, with confession and contrition of our own sins. It is important to see how the Lord Jesus ties them together in an unbreakable bond.  All 8 Beatitudes belong together and work together to build godly character and a life that imitates, albeit imperfectly, the Lord Jesus.

Jesus leads us to begin with confession and contrition, acknowledging our complete dependence on God’s grace, which is his loving gift to us through the atoning death of Christ. The more we grasp the astonishing nature of God’s grace, we can no longer look at other Aussies with any disdain or wanting anything other than their good. 

I suspect some of my Christian friends believe that if we follow the first 7 Beatitudes, the outcome will be peace and happy relationships with everyone, but that’s not where Jesus leads us. He says, ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’

It is true, we can be shouted down because we’ve said stupid things, hurtful things, and said the right things wrongly; I know I’m guilty of all the above.  Nonetheless, Jesus indicates that living the Beatitudes and being concerned for God’s righteousness may still result in people being offended and not liking us and attempting to silence us. For Christians to think we can escape verses 10-12 is understandable but somewhat naive.

The Christian song sheet isn’t La Marseillaise,

‘Français, pour nous, ah ! quel outrage

Quels transports il doit exciter!

C’est nous qu’on ose méditer

De rendre à l’antique esclavage!’

If the writer or website you read regularly uses language of ‘revolution’ and ‘war’, ‘taking back’, and throwing around rage and expletives, perhaps it’s time to find a more useful read. After all, Proverbs warns us, 

“Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person,

    do not associate with one easily angered,

or you may learn their ways

    and get yourself ensnared”. (Proverbs 22:24-25)

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Blessed are those who mourn.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

Melbourne needs Christians leaning ever closer to the Jesus of the Beatitudes. The United States and Australia need Christians who are learning to press closer to Jesus’ words, trusting him and doing as he asks. If you’re not yet convinced, then take a look at the cross. Did Jesus abandon his Beatitudes as he hung crucified? Or did he embrace them, such that he died with and for the sins of the world?

That’s the message our city and world need more than ever. That’s the life our churches need to embody more than ever. 

Church offers stunning answer for social cohesion and hope

/ MurrayCampbell

This weekend, I am having a mini break, which means it’s an opportunity to visit another church. 

I love the church where I am a member and belong, but annual leave is an opportunity to visit other churches and be encouraged by what God is doing elsewhere.

We had originally thought that we would visit one of the churches in Melbourne CBD, but knowing police are overstretched and multiple protests were being organised, we thought it best not to go. Why add to the business? And who knows how long we’d be stuck in the city while protesters blocked intersections around the CBD. 

Photo by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels.com

So we visited Mentone’s daughter church, Regeneration Church in Clayton. It was lovely to catch up with old friends and encouraging to meet around God’s word and see how the church has grown since I last visited. It was a beautiful sight: a room filled with mostly 25-year-olds and representing so many different ethnicities, from all over the world and yet with one voice praising God and enjoying a deep sense of unity in Christ. I said to the pastor afterwards, ‘here [the church] is the answer to all of the friction and suspicion and anger in our community’. 

It’s true, if you want to see a glimpse of what God is doing around the world today, go to your local church. If you wish to have a little taste of what life in eternity will be like,  drop into your local church next Sunday and see where disconnected men and women from all backgrounds, jobs, education, ethnicity are finding joy and peace and love and life together through Jesus Christ. 

Sometimes the music is happening, sometimes it’s out of tune. Sometimes the coffee is proper Melbourne, most of the time it isn’t. Sometimes the kids are noisy; often they are. The building’s architecture may be plain or striking, the preacher a great storyteller or simple words explaining the Scriptures. In these many different settings, from Clayton to Camberwell, from Pakenham to Preston, and from Mentone to Melton, church is like a breath of fresh air compared to the anx and rage filling our streets. 

What a contrast with the clashing protests in Melbourne city today, where protests met with counter-protests, one volume of insult matched with further insult and even assault. Yes, many are probably marching for a myriad reasons, concerns over housing and cost of living, and fear of the unknown. But with the surprise element of boiling water burning you, these protests were already marked with signs of what they were about. When a protest is arranged under the banner, ‘stop mass immigration’, and then days out it’s described as defending ‘white heritage’ and denouncing Chinese and Indians in our country, of course, the march was going to go off the rails. So when a known neo-nazi is given a microphone and addresses the crowd from the steps of Parliament House, to the cheers of people below, what were you expecting to see? 

A few days ago, Victorian Police expressed concerns that to deal with these protests, they were forced to take away resources from their search to apprehend a man who murdered two of their own and seriously wounded another only 5 days ago. Why would we create further strain on our police after the shocking week they have endured? And then, at the protest in Adelaide, a poster appeared, supporting the alleged police murderer.

Melbourne’s new Lord Mayor wants to claim the title of the ‘optimistic city’, but Melbourne is anything but optimistic or happy. Melbourne has turned into the nation’s protest capital, with weekly interruptions by protests and marches, often promoting the most insidious of causes. Our city is experiencing tumultuous divisions and doubts and fears. One solution often produces another misstep and further erodes public confidence and our social cohesion is increasingly tenuous. We are no longer the city we once were. 

Jesus once warned, 

“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” (Luke 21)

Tired of bad news? Exhausted by the negativity and fear? There is someone to whom we can turn. I’ve said it before, and I will keep on saying it: there is good news. There is really good news, and it can already be seen and experienced in Melbourne.  There is something beautiful and good and happy taking place across our city where people from all manner of backgrounds are finding not a feeling of optimism but a happy and certain hope. To be sure, it won’t make the newspapers of 6pm news; good news stories don’t sell. But boy, do we need a better story than the ones filling every breaking news. As Jesus explained, what we get to see in our churches is tasted and seen in a million different cities and towns around the world and in a thousand languages and on a billion faces, 

“This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

Melbourne, let’s talk about happiness

/ MurrayCampbell

Are you happy? How do we measure happiness? Is Melbourne a happy city?

Melbourne’s Lord Mayor, Nick Reece, has announced a grand plan to make Melbourne the ‘most optimistic city’, including KPI’s to measure our happiness.

This audacious vision was conceived out of the recent M2050 Summit where 700 Melbournians brainstormed a future for our city as they enjoyed good wine, cheese and ‘don’t worry, be happy’ on loop (this isn’t a literal translation of what transpired!). 

VIctor Perton from the ‘Centre for Optimism’ is championing Melbourne’s new vision (neither did I know that the ‘Centre for Optimism’ was a thing!). Perton has been interviewed alongside the Lord Mayor to promote Melbourne’ new ethos. 

When a reporter contacted Perton about a Herald Sun article on the topic, he responded,

“The article was dripping with sarcasm. The writer dismissed optimism as fluff, equating it with naïveté or escapism.

How revealing.

Well, our arguments proved stronger than the cynics.

Later that day, the Lord Mayor and I appeared on several radio and television channels, putting forward a clear, confident case for optimism as a civic virtue, a strategic advantage, and a public good.”

Well, I guess it must be true then.

As I delved deeper into the website of optimism, I came across this bold and optimistic claim,  

“The answer to life’s most pressing questions is optimism. 

That is the optimism principle

The Optimism Principle distils the wisdom and insights acquired over ten (10) years of research on Australian Leadership and Optimism. We have found that optimism isn’t merely beneficial; it’s fundamental to achieving personal and organisational success and catalysing positive change.”

Hmmm. Not buying it? Neither do I.  This approach smells familiar, much like the prophets of Jeremiah’s day who repeated the mantra, ‘peace, peace’, all while the city fell apart.

“They dress the wound of my people

    as though it were not serious.

‘Peace, peace,’ they say,

    when there is no peace.’ (Jeremiah 6:14)

Like a naked Emperor parading down Swanston Street or a French Queen with an appetite to, ‘let them eat cake’, just thinking positive doesn’t make it so. You can be the most optimistic person in the world, but like the Yarra River 200 years ago, people see through it.  People need hope with substance. People need answers that go deeper than that iteration of the hedonist dream. 

Now, I love Melbourne. Melbourne is the city where I live and where Susan and I raised our children. I started this blog 8 years ago to offer ‘ideas about and for Melbourne’. So, this isn’t an anti-Melbourne rant. It is rather an appeal to be real, and to recognise that our 5 million plus people need a better hope than what the Lord Mayor is offering. 

The most obvious flaw in the Mayor’s plan is the implicit consensus that we are not a happy city. Melbourne is not an optimistic place, and we are not a particularly happy people. The Mayor wants to cultivate the mood change because optimism isn’t our thing. 

One would have to be lying on a Tahitian beach for the past 6 years not to realise that a dark cloud hovers over Melbourne’s city and suburbs. 

  • Levels of youth mental health issues is beyond blue, it is one of the few true crises facing us.
  • The volume of student absentee days across Prep-Year 12.
  • Our State Government blows out public infrastructure projects by $ billions, and then doubles down when costs are revealed.
  • Crippling State debt that will haunt generations to come.
  • Youth Crime and underworld crime is increasing and police often feel helpless to intervene. 
  • The cost of housing and the cost of living are driving 100,000s of families to despair
  • Children need their mum and dad, but parents are caught in this vicious cycle of chasing the Australian dream, which forces parents to work more and earn more and therefore spend less time at home. 
  • Social fracturing as demonstrated by weekly protests and growing anti-semitism.
  • Public transport that works and runs on time. 

And the list continues longer than the Nepean Hwy.

Despite popular conception, our situation wasn’t created by the pandemic. Two years of almost constant lockdowns and restrictions certainly took their toll on us, but it wasn’t the catalyst that brought about pessimism or diminished energy and positive outlook. COVID functioned like a fast retreating high tide, exposing our hidden skeletons. The pandemic uncovered conditions that were already at work in our city: We are not happy. We are more anxious, troubled, divided and afraid, and with little hope of that trend changing soon. 

Our optimist friends point to, 

“we are cool.

From laneway galleries and artisan coffee to the Australian Open and cutting-edge science precincts, Melbourne has earned global recognition as one of the coolest cities on the planet. A city of thinkers, creators, performers, innovators.”

Sure, I guess that’s kind of true. But is this the sum total of what constitutes ‘happiness’? 

It is somewhat telling that, as far as most global measures are concerned, it doesn’t get better than Melbourne. We are still considered one of the most liveable cities in the world, and yet we don’t feel it. When it comes to education, standard of living, food, sport, and culture, we are the Mount Everest of metropolises, as tall as Babel. Nevertheless, Melbourne is a melancholic city. We are more Nick Cave than Kylie Minogue. We are Marc Rothko, not Andy Warhol, we’re into abstract expressionism not pop art. We are a monochrome city. Our uniform is black on black with only the occasional shade of grey to separate the layers of black. Moodiness is what we do well. Perhaps part of our problem is our insufferable pride. Our expectations are so high and our competitiveness so insistent, that we normalcy and averageness are seen as failure. 

There is also an intrinsic misstep in our approach to life. We decided that we no longer need God and we don’t need a new creation, because we can create heaven on earth. And we succeeded, and it wasn’t enough. 

In 2006, world-renowned psychologist Jonathan Haidt wrote, ‘The Happiness Hypothesis’. Haidt argues, 

“Happiness is not something that you can find, acquire, or achieve directly. You have to get the conditions right and then wait.

“Those who think money can’t buy happiness just don’t know where to shop … People would be happier and healthier if they took more time off and spent it with their family and friends, yet America has long been heading in the opposite direction. People would be happier if they reduced their commuting time, even if it meant living in smaller houses, yet American trends are toward even larger houses and ever longer commutes. People would be happier and healthier if they took longer vacations even if that meant earning less, yet vacation times are shrinking in the United States, and in Europe as well. People would be happier, and in the long run and wealthier, if they bought basic functional appliances, automobiles, and wristwatches, and invested the money they saved for future consumption; yet, Americans and in particular spend almost everything they have – and sometimes more – on goods for present consumption, often paying a large premium for designer names and superfluous features.”

Interestingly, ‘The Happiness Hypothesis’ was followed in 2012 with ‘The Righteous Mind’, and then, ‘The Coddling of the American Mind’ (2018), and finally, in 2024, ‘The Anxious Generation. If we need an illustration that speaks to the unravelling of a generation in 12 short years, Haidt’s thoughtful output is demonstrative. 

We don’t overturn an anxious generation with skin-deep positive thinking, but with hope and a hope that has deeper meaning and consolation than a good coffee and money to pay the rent. That’s the problem, Melbourne’s new vision isn’t honest enough. Sure, we can pump out Pharrell Williams ‘Happy’ all day long, and ‘look at the bright side of life’, but cliches and forced smiles won’t cut it. 

We have lost the ability to forgive. We are proficient at naming and shaming, while we wait for the day when our own sins will be exposed. We don’t know how to forgive, and without forgiveness, there is no happiness.

We have lost our grip on community. We know how much people need other people. Friendships and human connection is a basic life requirement, and yet almost every step in our society works against building community. 

We have lost contentment. Contented lives are anathema in Melbourne, as businesses, schools and sporting codes vie for our attention and promise more.  The contented person is almost frowned upon. How can you be happy with a small house or less than average income? How dare you be happy while living with chronic illness. 

We have lost hope. Happiness without hope cannot exist, but where in our city do we find hope? Hope that depends on us will either lead to pride because ‘we can do it’ or to despair because reality catches up and we can’t. Which leads to this next ingredient essential for true happiness.

We have lost transcendence. This is something Zoomers seem to be waking up to as many under 25s are beginning to ask questions about spiritual realities and are beginning to read the Bible and turn up to churches around Melbourne. While my generation mocks Christianity and even calls it ‘dangerous’, and while Melbourne Councils find little to no room for places of worship in their grand designs, on the ground, there is an emerging recognition that we need God and that we are wired for God. 

Ecclesiastes, the ancient book of wisdom, was right all along, 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

The Bible’s offering goes deeper than any optimist strategy. The Scriptures address the raw and real of the human condition. There’s no sugar coating in the Bible. We do however, find costly love and sacrifice, and hope for the helpless and joy that will outlast the best of what Melbourne has to offer. 

As a Christian, I don’t subscribe to optimism or to pessimism, because the good news of Jesus Christ breaks pessimism apart and it won’t give room to hubristic ventures. This good news message offers people a way of viewing life with greater clarity, humility, thankfulness and joy. It doesn’t ignore material needs and the gains from improving education and green spaces, and hospitals, it does provide a firmer foundation, and it breaks the world open to what has eternal value.

The world’s most famous book on happiness (joy) is found in the Bible, Paul’s letter to the Philippians. From beginning to end, this short letter is filled with expressions of joy by man who was struck in a prison cell and facing an uncertain end. 

“Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two…

whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him… not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[ Christ… I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

If we are hoping for happiness, we will need to find forgiveness, friends, contentment, hope and transcendence. I’ll happily argue any day of the week that these realities are found in the person of Jesus and experienced in local churches that are scattered around Melbourne. If these KPIs are missing from Melbourne’s vision, then the project is already bound to fail. 

Our Lord Mayor’s vision for Melbourne is too superficial. We are not plastic people who can be made happy by sensory experiences alone. Human beings are made for communion with God and made for community. The heart cannot be satisfied by material gain alone. As Jesus famously quipped, ‘what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul’.

Ollie Dempsey: Footy, Faith and Fear

/ MurrayCampbell

Melbourne and footy are synonymous, so it’s only fitting to dedicate a whole episode to footy and faith! Geelong AFL player, Ollie Dempsey, has recently shared his story about faith and footy. He is one of many professional athletes in Australia who believe in and follow Jesus. Maybe it sounds strange, but why are more young people investigating Jesus? His story might serve as a quiet encouragement to many young people

I really enjoyed reading two recent interviews with Ollie Dempsey. His openness about the challenges of believing in Jesus is normal to the Christian experience and an encouragement.

You can watch my latest episode in ‘Tomorrow’s Melbourne’ below on youtube or on your preferred podcast platform.

Church: do I choose new or old?

/ MurrayCampbell

As Zoomers try out church, many are looking toward older and more traditional churches. What is behind the growing interest in liturgical and classical churches? What are some helpful tips for choosing an authentic and legitimate church? In this episode, I explore 2 ways to assess the ‘real thing’: learning history and going back to first principles, namely the Bible.

or listen on Apple Podcast

Or on spotify

3 Reasons Why You Should Read The Bible

/ MurrayCampbell

Everyone wants to belong to a story. In this episode, I suggest that the Bible is the greatest story, and we are part of it.

The Bible is the story of the world.

The Bible is the story of God.

The Bible is the story of you?

Along with a reference to Courtney Barnett’s song ‘DePreston’, Rachel Gilson’s book ‘Born again this way’, and Tom Holland

Enjoy…

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/3-reasons-why-you-should-read-the-bible/id1504044662?i=1000717445196

Or at Spotify

Be Radical and Read the Bible

/ MurrayCampbell

A challenge if you live in Melbourne. A challenge no matter your age, and especially if you’re part of Generatoin Z

Be radical and read the Bible!

Check out the latest on ‘Tomorrow’s Melbourne’ and how an upsurge of Bible reading in the UK could help us take the Bible more seriously here in Melbourne

Evil in Melbourne

/ MurrayCampbell

Melbourne has been rocked this week with 2 men charged with abusing little children. 1200 children are now required to be checked for STDs. Imagine the horror for these families? How do people begin to process what has happened?

In this episode of my new podcast, I want to address the question of evil, and needing a God who judges and who hates evil even more than us.

Or listen on Apple Podcast – https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/episode-3-evil-in-melbourne/id1504044662?i=1000715507939

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/episode/0uuIqzbk2Q6aqsEVGQA6Dj?si=ea124dbda07b44c5

Did Melbourne just see a sign?

/ MurrayCampbell

Melbourne was an exciting place to be over the weekend.

No, I’m not referring to the footy. Carlton, what are you doing to me?!

Hundreds of men attended the Belgrave Heights Men’s Convention and sat under the word with Sam Allberry and Stephen McAlpine. Lots of Churches around the city and suburbs preached Christ and believers were encouraged and non Christians were intrigued. I was at the Baptist BBQ while the Melbourne Anglican Diocese met to decide who would become the next Archbishop.

For decades the tide has been going out as the force of secularism and scepticism has claimed moral victory after intellectual triumph. And yet, left behind on the sandy shores around Port Phillip Bay isn’t the kind of happiness and freedom and contentment that we were promised. Instead, our streets and suburbs are floundering under the pressure of what is perhaps the worst mental crisis in our history, and growing social, economic, and relationship strain. My generation and my parents’ generation persist in closing the windows, locking the doors and telling the kids that there’s nothing outside; there is no God worth looking to let alone trusting for life. Not everyone is buying that script any longer. The emptying tide has left behind millions of people and exposed layers of rubbish on the sand produced by the materialist ideal. 

We are not happier. We are not safer. We are not more content. 

Is it surprising that we are hearing reports and stories of a gentle tide coming into shore in the UK and parts of the United States? In some parts of Asia and South America, it is a high tide with huge numbers of people, including Gen Z and younger who are becoming Christians and joining Churches and discovering that the God of the Bible is God today. 

We are not seeing a fast-moving incoming tide in Melbourne, but something is happening. I know there are recent reports of baptismal floods, but I suspect some at least are spurious. Nonetheless, there is something happening. Government and academic institutions are continuing to double down on sexual ethics and religious freedom issues, progressive Churches continue to play those songs on their playlist, and yet there is a gentle counter voice that can be heard.

Anecdotally, across various Baptist churches and Anglican, in University Christian groups, and among our Orthodox and Roman Catholic friends, young adults are experiencing Christianity for the first time. They are ignoring the warning signs that my generation posted on every street corner. There is a curiosity emerging, an interest in Jesus, and an intrigue to discover the meaning of the world’s most important book: the Bible. 

I wonder, if the Anglican Archbishop election is another small sign of a changing tide toward evangelical Christianity. 4 candidates were nominated for Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne; all 4 are evangelical Christians: Wei Han Kuan, Tim Johnson, Megan Curlis-Gibson, and Ric Thorpe. Someone may correct me, but this is rare and possibly the first time in many decades that all candidates are evangelical. This alone is significant and a result for which we should be thankful. 

Ric Thorpe was elected on Saturday afternoon and will be installed as the new Archbishop later this year. Bishop Ric Thorpe is an Englishman with a pedigree from Holy Trinity Brompton and training at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.  He is one of the few Church of England Bishops to uphold a Christian understanding of marriage and human sexuality. He is passionate about evangelism and church planting. These are all great indicators.

Melbourne needs more churches. Melbourne needs 100s more Christ-centred, Gospel-believing and preaching, people-loving churches.

I’m not an Anglican so feel free to take my observations with the same volume of water found in a baptismal font (bad joke). My Melbourne Anglican friends are overwhelmingly encouraged and thankful for all candidates and the outcome, even as the Diocese looks over troubled waters. Like all our Christian denominations, much deep work of theological and spiritual reform needs to take place. Theological liberalism and moral progressivism is like sand in the car after a day at the beach; the granules find their way into different spots and crevices and lingers long afterwards with distraction and annoyance. The fact is, most of our churches (across denominations) are in decline, and biblical literacy and cultural understanding are shallow. That can lead to desperate pragmatism or compromise. But mission with fraudulent theology won’t save anybody, just as sound doctrine without love gives people a spiritual migraine. Church planting without the Gospel is the devil’s strategy. Who would want to be in Christian leadership today?

And yet Christ is on the throne. Evangelism and church planting and revitalisation isn’t God’s Plan B. It’s always been Plan A and there is no plan B. The Gospel remains God’s power to save. The Church is the bride and centrepiece of God’s redeeming purposes. Let’s be thankful for Christian leaders who are convinced of this and who in love can navigate our churches in the shallows and deep.

It may be that as the cultural tide withdraws, small rock pools and large ones will be left behind, and they will become safe places for people to splash and swim and come to know the God who saves. Gospel Churches may be easier to spot and more inviting for those who need rest.

I sense a quiet excitement mixed with soberness as we see the landscape before us. Did we see a glimpse of things to come this past weekend? May it drive God’s people to prayer and eagerness.

Almost as important, someone needs to nudge Ric Thorpe toward the right footy club (Carlton) and teach him how to make a decent coffee and double-check that his visa includes a condition on who to support in the Ashes later this year.