Bishop Martyn Minns interviewed on BBC
Bishop Martyn Minns was interviewed on the BBC’s HARDtalk on Monday. Following the usual style of the programme, the mode of Stephen Sackur’s interview is aggressive.
The 23 minute segment may be seen in Real Video format via this page. (Photo: BBC.)
‘The archbishop says No’ (to reforms)
“The Anglican Church faces a modern Great Schism, with gay-tolerant Christians on one side and radical ‘Bible-believers’ on the other. And at the forefront of the hardliners is Australia’s outspoken evangelist Peter Jensen. …”
– David Marr in The Good Weekend in last Saturday’s The Sydney Morning Herald. It’s those hardline “radical ‘Bible-believers’” causing trouble again!
See Archbishop Jensen’s statement last Friday, for a somewhat different perspective. (Photo: Ramon Williams.)
Word of Faith preachers
Like it or not, some members of your church probably watch US TV preachers. The so-called ‘Word of Faith’ preachers increasingly dominate the US Christian cable channels, and are also being seen in Australia. Who are these preachers – and what is their message?
One who has studied their teaching is Justin Peters. He visited faith healers as a teenager, hoping to be healed of Cerebral Palsy. At Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, his Master’s thesis was an examination of the life and ministry of Benny Hinn.
Justin went back to Southwestern to give a 30 minute overview of the seminars he runs in churches. A video file of that overview is available on his website (a 101MB download in Windows Media format via this page). Justin has also been interviewed on Christian radio in Toronto (5.2MB mp3). DVDs of his seminars are available from his website.
(For some light relief, here’s a page from Sacred Sandwich.)
Canadian Pastor fined and told to remain silent
On Friday, the Alberta Human Rights Commission ordered Alberta pastor Stephen Boissoin to desist from expressing his views on homosexuality in any sort of public forum. He was also commanded to pay damages equivalent to $7,000 as a result of the tribunal’s November decision to side with complainant and homosexual activist Dr. Darren Lund. The tribunal has also called for Boissoin to personally apologize to Lund via a public statement in the local newspaper. …
– Full story from LifeSite News. (Photo: CanadianChristianity.com)
Other ways of talking about the divine?
“I am a deacon in the Sydney Anglican Diocese. In the Anglican Church I have found my life enriched and my faith strengthened. Yet that has not always been because of the teaching of its leaders in Sydney. …”
– Plenty for discussion in this Opinion piece by Susan Emeleus in The Sydney Morning Herald and Brisbane Times.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…