Government trial decimates SRE
“If ethics classes compete directly with SRE next year as planned, then Scripture enrolments will be slashed by up to 60 percent, the NSW Government’s own trial demonstrates.
Across the ten trial schools, Anglican and Anglican-Protestant scripture classes lost 123 students or 47 percent of those enrolled“”
– Jeremy Halcrow reports at SydneyAnglicans.net
Related: Save our Scripture.
Preparing your church for suffering?
Matt Chandler and C J Mahaney spoke about suffering from a very personal perspective at the Together for the Gospel Conference.
Watch or listen (Session VIII).
Related: The news story referred to by C J Mahaney.
J.C. Ryle on Success, Humility and Ministry
J.C. Ryle, meditating on Luke 10:17-24:
“We learn, from this passage, how ready Christians are to be puffed up with success. It is written, that the seventy returned from their first mission with joy, “saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through your name.” There was much false fire in that joy…”
– read the full quote, posted by Ligon Duncan, at Reformation21.
Related:
“Even though many of his books are still in print, Ryle seems no longer to be in fashion. This is a pity because his kind of teaching is the answer to the superficial atmosphere in which we live, and in which many who call themselves Evangelicals are hardly distinguishable from those who deny the foundation truths of the Gospel.”
– ‘Bishop Ryle and me’ – David Phipps in Cross†Way (PDF file).
FCA General Secretary responds to the Global South to South Encounter
Archbishop Peter Jensen:
“In my judgment, the assembly was unresponsive to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s video greetings. I don’t think that what he said was obscure. It just seemed to be from another age, another world. His plea for patience misjudged the situation by several years… He seemed to suggest that the consecration of a partnered lesbian Bishop will create a crisis. In fact the crisis itself has passed. We are now on the further side of the critical moment; the decisions have all been made; we are already living with the consequences.” (Read it all.)
The Fourth Blast of the Trumpet
The image of the trumpet blast seems to be an over-dramatic description of the communiqué issued from the latest Global South Encounter. In fact, the response to it has been somewhat muted. But as a guest at the conference, I believe that it fully deserves the title ‘trumpet’ and will in time be regarded as an historic statement.
One reason why it fails to create a strong reaction is that it simply confirms the obvious. The crisis moment has now passed. Many of the Global South provinces have given up on the official North American Anglicans (TEC and the Canadian Church) and regard themselves as being out of communion with them. They renew the call for repentance but can see that, failing something like the Great Awakening, it will not occur. The positive side to this is that they are committed to achieving self-sufficiency so that they will cease to rely on the Western churches for aid. That is something the Global South has been working on for some time, with success.
In my judgment, the assembly was unresponsive to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s video greetings. I don’t think that what he said was obscure. It just seemed to be from another age, another world. His plea for patience misjudged the situation by several years and his talk of the Anglican covenant was not where the actual conference was at. He seemed to suggest that the consecration of a partnered lesbian Bishop will create a crisis. In fact the crisis itself has passed. We are now on the further side of the critical moment; the decisions have all been made; we are already living with the consequences. And it was in working out the consequences that the communiqué may eventually be seen to be historic. Read more
N. T. Wright to leave Durham
“The Bishop of Durham, Dr N. T. Wright, has announced that he will be retiring from the See of Durham on August 31 … and will take up a new appointment as Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews in Scotland…”
– from the Diocese of Durham and also the University of St. Andrews.
(Photo: Diocese of Durham.)
‘Why we always lose this debate’
“I’m convinced that we continue to lose the argument about homosexuality and Christianity because the traditionalist almost always makes his case within a conversation that has been framed by the opposing viewpoint. The Christian doesn’t lose the argument at the micro-level. The argument is lost from the beginning because of how the discussion is framed…”
– Trevin Wax, author of Holy Subversion, reflects on an appearance on Larry King Live on CNN last week. (h/t Tim Challies.)
Page CXVI album free download this week
The US-based Christian band Page CXVI has just released a new album of Hymns (called Hymns II) – and to help publicise it, they are making their first album (not surprisingly called Hymns) available as a free download this week.
You can preview their albums before you buy / download. See their website here.
New Bishop of Bunbury
“On Saturday, 17th April 2010 Anglicans from around the South West and Great Southern gathered together in Bunbury and elected The Rt. Revd. Allan Ewing to be the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Bunbury. Currently Bishop Allan is serving in the Diocese of Canberra/Goulburn.”
– from the Diocese of Bunbury website.
Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild
“This is a wonderful book with amazing insight into the hearts of women (and men!) who feel pressured by today’s ‘wild’ culture – and also deep, spiritual insight into the Bible’s wisdom regarding the beauty of true womanhood as God created it to be.”
—Wayne Grudem on Mary Kassian’s new book, Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild.
More endorsements at Between Two Worlds. Available from Moore Books.