Australia | TLG Christian News

A basket made of Bibles wins art prize

16/07/2016 0 Comment

“The bread basket of Emmaus” winner of the Mandorla Art Award 2016

A basket, made from the pages of three Bibles has won a major art award. Artist Megan Robert won the $25,000 first prize in the Mandorla Art Award for a work which literally meant taking apart the Bible in order to tell the story of Jesus.

“The judges were impressed that her artwork expressed the presence/absence/presence mystery of the resurrection through the story of the journey to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-3..

He sold everything and moved his family to Thailand to battle child sex slavery

15/07/2016 0 Comment

Tony Kirwan loves what he does. The founder and international president of Destiny Rescue loves it so much that, even when he goes on holidays with his family, he visits brothels at night, posing as a customer.

So why does a good Christian man feel drawn to what he calls these “dark, ugly places”? As a father of three daughters, the northern Thailand-based activist is passionate about rescuing girls from the sex trade.

“About 12 months ago I went with my wife and fa..

Going back for more of the same

15/07/2016 0 Comment

The all-female remake of Ghostbusters, the latest dose of Star Trek and another version of Tarzan. This month, cinemas are again loaded with specific characters or storylines we’ve seen before.

Films frequently must be part of a franchise, either as a sequel, prequel, remake, reboot or novel adaptation. Many of us lament such repetition. We complain that movie-makers have no new ideas. Box office results, though, suggest we are creatures of a..

This run club is running for a higher purpose

15/07/2016 0 Comment

There are five people inducted into the BT Run Club’s “Hall of Pain”. They’re people who’ve truly encapsulated the club’s motto: “Run with endurance”, and they’re presented the award at the annual “Black Toenail” ceremony (black toe nails are a rather nasty sounding, common running injury).

Running is hard, says the club’s founder Simon Elliot. But it’s a great metaphor for the Christian life. And that’s fitting, because the BT Run Cl..

Help China’s poor don God’s armour

15/07/2016 0 Comment

The rise of false teaching and heresies in China underlines the need for greater access to affordable Bibles for China’s poor.

Chinese Christians recognise that the Bible is the key basis from which to grow in faith and draw wisdom for their daily life. God’s word is also the bedrock of their strength in resisting false teachings and heresies, which are problems in the Chinese church. But so many Christians cannot afford to buy a Bible for themselves, much le..

US evangelicals’ support for Trump soars

14/07/2016 0 Comment

Over the protests of some leaders, United States evangelical Christians are flocking to Trump, supporting him in higher numbers than the last Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Fully 78 per cent of white evangelicals (which includes pentecostals) say they would vote for Trump if the election was held today, according to a survey by the Pew Research centre. Recent local polls show that Trump is gaining on Clinton in crucial “swing” states.

“I will fight for religious freedom,” says Tim Wilson, incoming MP and former Human Rights Commissioner

13/07/2016 0 Comment

The incoming Liberal MP for Goldstein and former Human Rights Commissioner, Tim Wilson has accepted that freedom of speech and freedom of religion are “brothers”, agreeing with Ridley College theology lecturer Rev Dr Mike Bird that they are both “imperative to an open and free democracy”.

The pair were speaking at an event hosted by Mentone Baptist Church in Victoria on Tuesday night, considering the state of religious freedom in Australia.

Both speaker..

Pokemon GO is sending gamers to a most unexpected place

12/07/2016 0 Comment

If you’re one of the millions using the new Pokemon GO app, chances are you’ll end up at church. No, really. Churches around the world have become training places for Pokemon as part of the new Nintendo and Niantic Lab game launched this week. The new app is looking like it’ll have more daily users than Twitter pretty soon and already people are coming to church to battle their creatures.

If you’ve seen people walking along the streets glued to their ph..

Brian Houston chats with John Dickson about why we teach the Bible

11/07/2016 0 Comment

At Hillsong Conference’s daily segment called ‘Let’s Talk Church’, senior Pastor Brian Houston taught about what he called the “five-fold ministry gifts”: pastor, evangelist, teacher, prophet and apostle.

Walking around a section of Sydney’s Qudos Arena, Houston came across Sydney Anglican minister, author and head of Centre For Public Christianity, John Dickson. Crossing the denominational divide, Houston selected Dickson as his examp..

She became a Christian at Hillsong Conference

09/07/2016 0 Comment

My coming to Jesus happened almost entirely by surprise.

It was a small lifetime ago, in the year 2000, when I was just 16 years old. I remember it well: my jeans were flared, I had a strange affinity for cargo pants an addiction to wearing ribbons in my hair, and I confess to an embarrassing crush on Nick from the Backstreet Boys.

It was also the year I became a Christian at Hillsong conference, back in the days when it was held at the ol..