I re-read the recommendations on the back of the book for the twentieth time, wondering whether I had read something quite different by accident...

Mission amongst Muslim peoples is one of five strategic areas of ministry that CMS Australia is emphasising in Vision 2012. This Vision outlines the blueprint for how CMS will do mission over the next five years. As thousands gather for CMS Summer School in Katoomba this week, CMS Federal Secretary John Thew is highlighting the importance of mission in Muslim areas and hoping to see CMS have at least 65 workers in the Muslim world by 2012 "“ an increase of 50 within the next four years.

As the financial crisis deepens, Sydney Anglican organisations are working to cut costs.

In the quiet Austrian town of Amstetten in the balmy spring of April 2008, a truly horrifying vision of hell was discovered by police in the cellar of a normal suburban home.

Penny Reeve worked for TEAR in Nepal for 5 years with her husband. She has now written two childrens books - 'The Back Leg of a Goat' and 'Water or Goo'.

This summer Crusaders are supplementing their traditional 'offline methods of reaching students with the gospel with a new 'online strategy.

Without a shadow of doubt Seattle-based church planter Mark Driscoll was the most newsworthy person of the year for Sydney Anglicans. His evangelistic talk to 10,000 people at the Sydney Entertainment Centre was newsworthy in its own right, but it was his criticisms of local ministry that really shook up our news cycle. So what lessons can we learn from those stories that were popular, as well as those many worthy stories that failed to find an audience?

Just when I thought the National Church Life Survey team had gone quiet, along comes another outstanding report that raises two serious concerns for Sydney Anglicans seeking to connect to youth.