Be Fruitful Ministries

Matthew trained first as a musician, completing a Bachelor of Music in piano performance with high distinction and, in 2012, a PhD at the University of Newcastle on the differences in worship between traditional and contemporary Baptist churches. He founded and ran a music education business, then moved into higher education, becoming Professor of Music and serving as Academic Dean and Chair of the Higher Education Committee. Years of guiding boards through difficult decisions, including complex legal matters, turned his attention to governance and to how a Christian lives in a hostile world. He describes himself as a serious student of that field, not a lawyer. The result is his talk, and a forthcoming booklet, Biblical and Legal Foundations for Thriving in a Hostile World.

He is married to Katie, who ministers with him and in her own right. They have eight children, and the family serves together in musical worship. A focus on Christian marriage, family, and parenting was not his plan. People came to Katie and him for prayer and counsel, and over time he took up that work, including the writing his father began.

His aim in ministry is the one he inherited: that people would come to Jesus, receive forgiveness, walk in grace rather than in their own strength, refuse the empty promises of the world, and extend forgiveness as Christ forgave them. With Paul, he wants to live peaceably with all, so far as it depends on him, without compromising Scripture. Life is hard, and it will not be carried in our own strength. God’s grace is sufficient, and his strength is made perfect in weakness. We are part of a plan settled before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4; 3:10–11). Isaiah 55:8–9 is the right scale for it: his ways and thoughts are as far above ours as the heavens are above the earth.