General Synod updates from Church Society
For those interested, the Church Society is posting updates on the progress of the Church of England General Synod at Evangelicals.org.
An Unfortunate Draft
“The fundamental weakness of the Covenant, as many have pointed out, has been the decision not to push for an agreement on theological foundations as either a part of the Covenant document itself or as a necessary corollary to it. As it stands the Covenant is simply a way of relating. It is a structure founded on a process that exists for the sake of the structure. …”
Matt Kennedy at Stand Firm suggests that the draft Anglican Covenant can only legitimise heresy.
Thinking theologically about the UK debate
“But there is a second reason why Rowan Williams was theologically wrong, and that is that the Christian approach to Muslims should surely be neither to bring them further under the laws of Islam, nor to offer them the scraps from the table of modern secularism, but to offer them the gospel.”
John Richardson gets to the heart of the issue on
The Ugley Vicar.
Presidential Address to the opening of C of E General Synod
“Some of what has been heard is a very long way indeed from what was actually said in the Royal Courts of Justice last Thursday. But I must of course take responsibility for any unclarity in either that text or in the radio interview, and for any misleading choice of words that has helped to cause distress or misunderstanding among the public at large and especially among my fellow Christians. …”
From the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Presidential Address to the Church of England General Synod last night Australian time.
(Photo: Jim Rosenthal, Anglican Communion News Service.)
Advice to Pastors: Preach the Word
John Piper’s sermon from the installation of a colleague is good advice –
My message to you is very simple and very precarious. It is 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the Word.”
I call it precarious, because there is a constant temptation to do other things in the place of this. There ARE other things to do in the ministry, as these letters to Timothy show. And we must do them to be found faithful. But none of them is treated as solemnly and forcefully as this one simple exhortation from the apostle: “Preach the Word.” …
Available as text and audio download from Desiring God.
Book to be launched in UK: “God, Gays and the Church”
Anglican Mainstream has an item about “God, Gays and the Church”, a new book to be launched on Wednesday to coincide with the Church of England’s General Synod meeting –
“Orthodox Anglicans make a new contribution to the homosexuality debate within the Church of England, by launching a book containing testimonies of Christians who once believed they had a homosexual orientation …”
See Anglican Mainstream for the article and Latimer Trust to order copies.