What is the Anglican Consultative Council meeting for?

“The Archbishop of Canterbury has written to urge all Anglican primates to attend the Anglican Consultative Council in Lusaka from April 8-19.

The primates of Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda have indicated that their representatives cannot attend because the spirit of the Primates Meeting in Canterbury, which introduced consequences for TEC and its participation in Communion decision-making on doctrine and polity, appears to be being overridden or ignored. …

Kenya and Nigeria were very gracious in trusting the conversations at Canterbury and the decisions made there. They now suspect that they were misled.

Lusaka is not the place to sort out church polity, unity, doctrine or matters of sexuality. Those are the callings of the primates meeting and the Lambeth conference of Bishops.”

– Chris Sugden writes for The Church of England Newspaper. Via Anglican Mainstream.

Gospel speech: now available as an ebook

Gospel Speech: a fresh look at the relationship between every Christian and evangelism is a short biblical exploration of the way the gospel shapes the speech of every Christian as they confess Jesus Christ with their mouth.

Written by ACL Council member Dr Lionel Windsor, the book is now available in electronic format.

The Primates’ Authority does not depend on Canterbury

“As I observed last week, the Primates must be wondering why they even came together in January at Archbishop Welby’s request if he is now unable to defend them.

And as Archbishop Mouneer notes, that is the source of our impaired Communion. It is a great pity that the source of impaired communion lies in great part in the lack of leadership by Canterbury himself.”

– The American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey looks at the failure of Canterbury to respond publicly to the Anglican Consultative Council’s public repudiation of Primatial authority.

Moore Graduates called to die to self

“This year’s 102 graduates from Moore Theological College have been called upon to “die to self” in their ministries, so that their work will produce more fruit for the gospel.

The address, focussing on John 12:24 and delivered by former Director of the UK Cornhill Training Course the Rev Christopher Ash, directed people to the pattern of Christ…”

– Story from SydneyAnglicans.net. Please be encouraged to pray for those who are now seeking to serve Christ in various spheres of ministry.

Back to Basics 3 — Fellowship

“Fellowship, or Communion, is a very precious gift of the gospel. The Lord Jesus laid down his life for his Church, his Bride. Christians are united to Christ for their salvation. Inevitably, then, we are united with one another. We are all one in Christ Jesus.

I have been trying to think through the implications of the January meeting of Primates for the Anglican Communion and for GAFCON.

The Communique and the story of the meeting certainly put a lot of store on fellowship and unity. The Primates, we are assured, were unanimous in their desire to walk together, difficult though it is…”

– Dr Peter Jensen, GAFCON General Secretary, writes the third of his reflections following the Primates Gathering in January 2016.

Your labour in the Lord is not in vain

“Wee Waa’s boom years were the mid 1960’s to the mid 1980’s, there was plenty of water, and cotton, as an Australian industry, was in its infancy.

American farmers led by Paul Kahl and Frank Hadley, two Christian men from California, were instrumental in establishing the industry, centred on Wee Waa.

Wee Waa Presbyterian was our first parish. We ministered there from February 1976 to December 1981. This last Easter we had the joy of going back to lead the Easter services…”

– David Cook goes back to Wee Waa, where he was the Presbyterian Minister forty years ago.

‘In Pakistan, Taliban’s Easter bombing targets, kills scores of Christians’

“On Easter Sunday, a crisp spring day, some of the city’s Christian population mingled with their Muslim neighbors, celebrating in a neighborhood park — taking their kids on rides or pushing them on swings. Then, the sound of tragedy.

Without warning, a blast tore through the park, killing indiscriminately.

Because of the innocent setting, an unusually high number of those injured were women and children. But the attack, claimed by a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, intentionally targeted Christians, the perpetrators say…”

– This report from CNN.

Bishop of Salisbury ‘leads backlash against fixed date for Easter’

“A prominent Church of England bishop has spoken out against plans by the world’s main Christian denominations to fix the date of Easter to the same Sunday every year. … the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Rev Nicholas Holtam, warned that the move would detach Christianity from its Jewish roots by breaking the link between the timing of Easter and Passover.”

– Story from The Telegraph. (Photo: Diocese of Salisbury.)

Praying for Belgium

“On Good Friday night, a performance of the Messiah at St Andrew’s Cathedral was dedicated to the people of Belgium.

Here is a transcript of the introduction by the Dean of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel…”

– read it at SydneyAnglicans.net.

‘University of Sydney evangelical students vote to keep Jesus’

“An evangelical student group has refused to remove a vow to Jesus from its constitution despite being threatened with deregistration from the Sydney University student body.

The Sydney University Evangelical Union was issued an ultimatum by university’s student union last week to remove a requirement that new members sign ‘Jesus is Lord’ or be deregistered from the university…”

– Eryk Bashaw reports in The Sydney Morning Herald.

See also Enlightenment is just so yesterday at university by Brendan O’Neil, in The Australian –

“If there were a prize for the most Orwellian action of the year (there really should be), the USU would surely win.

The student union has given the EU until March 31 to overhaul its constitution. But the EU is fighting back: this week its members voted by a whopping 71 to 1 against changing its membership rules to suit the tastes of the interfering union.

… If ruling bodies, whether the state or a student union that wields power on campus, can use pressure or threats to make private associations rewrite their constitutions, which is the soul of all institutions, then we enter into very dark territory indeed.”

(Photo: Chappo – this photo of him was taken during the 1980 SUEU Mission – would be cheering the EU. Hear him speak at a 1979 SUEU lunchtime meeting on “Jesus claims to be the only way to God”.)

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Reality of the Gospel

“The pattern of the Christian year is an exercise of the Church’s discipline. The annual celebrations of Christmas and Resurrection Day force the Church to ponder again the truths of Christ’s incarnation and resurrection.

Christians understand that every Lord’s Day is Resurrection Day, but this Sunday is the festival which draws all Christians face to face with the empty tomb and the truth of the resurrected Lord.

Resurrection Sunday is the central event in the church year–the climax of worship, expectation, and celebration. This celebration is also an acid test of the Church’s faithfulness and conviction…”

– Albert Mohler reminds Christians that we have a heavenly mandate to preach the Resurrection of Christ.