David Burke

Maybe you’ve stumbled across this page on the internet or have only been to church for a wedding or funeral. Or maybe you have a colleague or neighbour who goes to church, and you’ve wondered what it’s all about. Here is what you will usually find. Christians usually gather on Sunday, because we believe that […]

Division seems characteristic of modern Australia and the wider world, I am writing this from another country on January 26th, 2026. Even writing ‘January 26th’ can be seen as divisive while the debate over the naming and timing of Australia Day continues. The recent Bondi killings of Jewish people sharpen that sense of division. Which

It is that time of year when hope springs eternal. Australian political and community leaders greeted the new year with words of hope. A common sentiment went like this: ‘There are stormy waters ahead, but there is also great hope for this great nation of ours’. Really? The signs are of increasing pessimism in Australia.

Summer in Australia means Christmas and, for many, heading to the beach. Our beaches see summer tragedies on a too regular basis. Perhaps a family group of inexperienced swimmers is chilling out on a sandbank which gives way and exposes them to a  deadly rip. Once in the grip of a rip, it is a

Jesus famously prayed for his followers in these words: ‘ … that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me’ (Jn 17:21). Historically this has proved challenging. The

Much of the world, was recently transfixed by an Australian murder case. A Sunday lunch resulted in three deaths and one near-death. The sole survivor was the husband of one of the victims and a local church pastor. He gave a victim impact statement at sentencing and offered forgiveness to the murderer of his wife

The scene was a gathering of church leaders and trainee leaders in another country. A trainee leader had publicly confessed to a significant sin. He rightly stepped back from church roles while related matters were addressed. What would the senior leaders do? What could they do? The easy, and perhaps more natural, thing was to

The Christian church has long insisted that every human life matters.

This teaching goes back to the creation account in Genesis where we read: God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Gen 1:26)

Most Christians through history have been outsiders to their homeland. They same is true of most Christians today. This is the feeling of not really belonging in a world that has the operating system of another religion or ideology. This feeling of being outsiders is increasingly common in Australia as the vestiges of Christian influence

Consider these words said by a widow at a recent church service: “Now I better understand Jesus’ words: ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do’ (Luke 23:34)”