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Would You Win an Arm Wrestle?

By Philip McMaster, from their ministry newsletter, McMaster News, October 2018 Did you arm wrestle when you were growing up? I used to love arm wrestling with my brother and my dad when I was younger (and stronger!) It was great fun trying to win and you never quite knew what would happen ...

What or who is a Disciple?

By Robin Dennis Discipleship is nothing new. We find the concept of a disciple – that is, a person following a master – among Plato, Socrates and Herodotus; in ancient Hebrew culture, Elisha (2 Kings 4:38), Isaiah (8:16), Samuel (1 Sam 10:5), then we know that John the Baptist had ...

The Foundation of Many Generations

By Doug Utley, Melbourne Labouring Community We escaped to Hamilton Island in August for a week. Glorious sun and warm water, beaches and coral reef. One night, I got up for a drink and was stopped in my tracks by the night sky entering through the balcony doors. It was a moonless night and with ...

Your Questions Answered - Navigator Discipleship

Fran Johnson from our Melbourne Labouring Community answers some of your questions about Navigator discipleship. Why have you enjoyed Navigator discipleship, in group and individual settings? Navigator one-to-one discipleship began my spiritual transformation. I was quite broken spiritually ...

A Life Transformed by the Gospel

By Phil McMaster I first met 'Derek', a trainee Army cadet, in January at a voluntary church service during Year One Familiarisation Training (YOFT) at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). He came from a small regional town in Victoria. It wasn't clear whether he had any sort of faith ...

How do we care for international student graduates?

Caring for our co-labourers is a vital ingredient in keeping our communities strong. Kanini Mapperson and her husband, Tim, are community leaders in our International Student Ministry in Melbourne. June Sparks took the opportunity to sit with Kanini to get some tips on how to continue caring for ...

Viewing Human Achievement: Western Culture 4

   “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;     the whole earth is full of his glory.” Is 6:3 Each day we are surrounded by people’s incredible achievements. We can purchase almost any food at any time of the year, we have social welfare systems that assist in times of ...

Your Questions Answered - The Chain Illustration

This year, we look at some “discipling” tools and how we can use them for our own ministries. In the last issue, Robin Dennis discussed how we could apply The Word Hand illustration. In this issue, he looks at The Chain Illustration - How to claim a promise, with an example of how to use ...

Jordan got baptised!

By Andrew Oldfield, Canberra Labouring Community. One of the highlights of this year's ministry at ADFA was seeing one of the cadets, Jordan, get baptised. I’d met Jordan for the first time at the start of the year as I started with Navigators at ADFA. Before this he had met with Thomas, ...

Caring Like Christ

By Grant Dibden “People are our most important asset.” I often hear that from organisations, but it’s a lot less common to see it actually being lived out. Of course, there has to be a balance with getting the task done, but the task and caring for the people can be symbiotic. Christian ...

An Easter Reflection

By Grant Dibden "To me it makes as much sense as bunny rabbits handing out chocolate eggs ..." Easter in Australian society is thought of as a holiday time.  And many – most? – people don’t understand the significance of Easter, and often they don’t want to. A local Eastern Sydney ...

Relational Resilience

By Ian McIntosh We can see relational conflict all around the world and throughout history. These conflicts have resulted in wars. We see this in the news today. These wars take place on a much larger scale, but I think I can say all of us have experienced relational conflict on a smaller scale. ...

From Grant To You - Beautiful Feet

Dear Friend, There are all sorts of feet. There are large feet, small feet, long feet, short feet, lean feet, and pudgy feet. Did you know that there are foot models? They get paid to have their feet photographed! Look at your feet. Do you like them? On a scale of one to ten – one being ...

Cries of the Soul

By Bruce Clarke, first printed in Compass, Spring 2015 All of us will experience suffering or adversity at some point in our lives. Some fall away when God does not deal with them in a way that they desire. But it is also true that many come to faith when adversity strikes. Adversity can ...

From Grant to You - Resilience of Joseph

A message from our National Director, Grant Dibden. This message also published in Compass Winter 2022 issue. Perhaps one of the greatest stories of resilience in the Scriptures is that of Joseph. As we think of Joseph’s life, we see that he experienced great extremes – he was his father’s ...

"As the Father has sent me..."

By Bruce Clarke, first published in Compass, Spring 2019 The word “mission” has its origin from the Latin “mittere” used to translate the Greek “apostele”, giving us the word “apostle”. It has the meaning of God sending and people being sent for the purpose of salvation and ...

Christmas in the MER

A Christmas message from our National Director, Grant Dibden, from the Middle East Region (MER).   10 000 Afghanistan Army soldiers are killed each year that we know of. There’s probably more, and about half that number of civilians. And this doesn’t include the enemy. That was what ...

G'day from Melbourne - an update

By Mike Johnson, Melbourne Labouring Community  Intercession for the people of our city has been a primary goal for us this year. Beginning with God, we then attempt to pray for the people and great needs of our city based on our meditation on the character and attributes of God. Using ...

Belonging Before Believing

By Luke Midena, Canberra Community Leader, first published in Compass Winter 2021 edition You may have heard the phrase, ‘belong before believe’. It was the catchcry of some within the Emerging Church Movement of the last few decades. Driven by a desire to share Christ with the world, ...

Resilience in the Gospel

By Ian McIntosh, first published in Compass Winter issue 2022 What do you think about when you hear the word resilience? TV interviews with disaster victims or soldiers fighting a David and Goliath battle? Relational conflict? People battling their personal demons relating to themselves, others ...

Living with Christ as Lord

By Scott Brown, Sydney City Leader (first published in Compass Autumn 2023) From the earliest days of the Navigators, Dawson Trotman’s Wheel Illustration highlighted the importance of living with Christ as Lord, or as he termed it, with Christ the Centre. Galatians 2:20 and 2 Corinthians 5:17 ...

Christlikeness, Day by Day

By Mike Johnson, Melbourne Labouring Community, first published in Compass Winter issue 2023 If the Spirit of God lives in a person, change is inevitable. How could it not be so? He is the Spirit of truth,1 God’s agent of transformation.2 God loves and wants the best for His children, so He ...

The God Who Saves

By Luke Midena, Canberra Labouring Community  I wonder, have you shared about Jesus with someone who seemed to recognise the good news for what it is, but never embraced the message? I’ve often wondered where the process has broken down. Was it me – did I overlook a vital element of the ...

Your Questions Answered - How to Meditate

This year, we’ve looked at some “discipling” tools for ministry with Robin Dennis. In this post, he addresses one question he has been asked many times over the years, especially by new Christians: How to Meditate. (First published in Compass Summer 2023 issue). An easy way is to remember ...

God's Word Impacting Young Hearts

By Rob Allen (with Angie Allen), Queensland Labouring Community, first published in Compass Winter 2024 issue. Angie and I thank God for having the opportunity to share God’s message of love and hope through His Word with young people over the decades. Many are under enormous social, ...

Growing in Godliness

By Thomas Bielenberg, first published in Compass Summer issue 2023 What would you say if asked, “What is godliness?” You might think that godliness is good conduct, or bearing the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, etc. But godliness is more than that, as I thankfully ...

The Power of God's Word From Neighbours to Nations

By an Australian Navigators Labourer Our neighbourhoods are a wonderful place to advance the gospel. My friend, on numerous occasions, has met neighbours from differing cultures with different exposure to Jesus and the Scriptures. With great regularity, I hear how she shares the Scriptures with ...

For the Sake of the Nations

By Scott Brown If you closed your eyes and imagined what it means to embrace something or someone, I wonder what you might envision. Does the word embrace invoke ideas of a friendly smile and an arm over your shoulder? Or perhaps it stirs notions of a warm and hardy handshake. For me, ...