ACR Journal Winter 2019 now out

The Australian Church Record’s ACR Journal for Winter 2019 is just out.

“This issue is packed with articles about ministry: being ordained to the ministry, training for ministry, ministry in the Bathurst diocese, and ministry across the Southern Hemisphere.

As well as these ministry insights, Nathan Walter recounts what exactly was decided concerning the remarriage of divorced people at last year’s Synod.”

Good Friday – not just good, but glorious

“Childhood impressions linger, don’t they? I’m so grateful for (most of) them. My earliest memory of 1950s church life is full of happy thoughts, good people and full Sundays. Sunday mornings, afternoons and evenings – there was always something engaging and purposeful to do (yes, Sunday afternoons: Christian Endeavour).

As helpful as all that was, there are someone boyhood memories that need tweaking or straightening out later.

Each year, our evangelical Baptist church gave huge attention to Palm Sunday, followed five days later by a much more sombre Friday morning service. Even without specific instruction, this pattern taught me to celebrate the joy of Palm Sunday but to tone it down on Good Friday. This was the order of things, from glory to gloom: after the glory of the triumphal march into Jerusalem we must move to the gloom of the Cross. Which prompted, of course, that perennial childhood question: “Dad, why is Good Friday good? Isn’t it bad, what they did to Jesus?”

Reflecting on this glory to gloom transition, I now wonder if it needs correction. …”

– Presbyterian Moderator-General, John P Wilson, reflects on why Good Friday is glorious.

The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits

“It began as an assignment. It ended as a milestone in my Christian life. My church history professor assigned the class to memorize the Apostles’ Creed. Obediently, I began to memorize this historic affirmation of the Christian faith word by word, phrase by phrase, truth by truth. Within a few hours I had committed the Apostles’ Creed to memory, ready when called upon in class to recite it. But even at that time I knew that something else had happened. …

It was the most important class assignment I ever had. …”

– Albert Mohler has shared this excerpt from his about-to-be-published book, The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits.

What’s the point of theology? (Ephesians 1:17-18)

“The full name of the college I teach at is ‘Moore Theological College’.

That word ‘Theological’ says something important about who we are. It reminds us about what we’re on about: we’re training students to think theologically, not just ‘learn the Bible’.

Yes, the Bible is at the centre of everything we do. Yes, we seek to train people for ministry. Yes, we’re driven by the worldwide mission of Jesus Christ. Yes, we’re committed to learning together, and having our characters formed in loving Christian community.

But our careful study of the Bible, and our pastorally-motivated ministry and mission training, and our encouragement of one another in our community, all matter because of something more basic that connects to all of them…”

– Lionel Windsor continues his series on Ephesians. Read or listen at Forget the Channel.

Little ones to him belong

“Over 40 years ago, Jay E Adams opened his little book, The Meaning and Mode of Baptism, with an observation that still rings true today: ‘obviously, some immersionists speak overmuch on the subject; but just as truly, most of those who disagree with them say far too little’.

The above observation might be most true amongst evangelical Anglicans. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Peter Blair argues for clear teaching about infant baptism.

Glorify God in Your Body – new book from Martin Davie

The latest Podcast from Church Society discusses an important new publication by Martin Davie – Glorify God in your Body. The book’s subtitle is Human identity and flourishing in marriage, singleness and friendship.

Clear biblical teaching on these topics is much in need in today’s church.

From the cover of the book:

“This study, written by Dr Martin Davie in collaboration with a representative group of other Evangelical theologians, is commended by the Church of England Evangelical Council as a resource in the discussions taking place in the Church of England in relation to the House of Bishops’ ‘Living in Love and Faith: Christian teaching and learning about human identity, sexuality and marriage’ project.

It explores a Christian approach to human identity, marriage, singleness, friendship, sex and family life in the light of the worldview that is laid out for us in Scripture and the classical Christian tradition. It considers the current challenges to this approach arising from the sexual revolution and from technological developments in the fields of birth control and infertility treatment and looks at how Christians should respond to them in ways that will enable them to fulfil St. Paul’s injunction to ‘glorify God in your body’. (1 Corinthians 6:20).

From the Church of England Evangelical Council website, you can download the complete 324 page book as a PDF file, or in Kindle and ePub versions. There’s also a link to purchase printed copies from the Latimer Trust.

Read the Press Release accompanying the publication of the book (PDF file).

Two current stories highlight the need to not only understand God’s word, but also to live by it.

The Reality of Sexual Abuse Hits Home: What Happened? What Do We Do Now? – Albert Mohler.

“A massive investigative report appeared in the Sunday editions of the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News. The headline was direct — ‘20 years, 700 victims: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms.’…”

Thomas Brown elected 10th bishop of Maine in historic vote – Episcopal News Service.

“Brown will become The Episcopal Church’s only openly gay and married bishop currently leading a diocese. … The church currently has one other openly gay bishop. The Rt. Rev. Mary Glasspool was elected as bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Los Angeles in December 2009…”

Taking our biblical rest — Encouragement from Archbishop Glenn Davies

“The rhythm of work and rest is a biblical rhythm, founded in creation and expressed in the fourth commandment. The seven-day pattern of six days of work and one day of rest continues into the new covenant, because the end of the age when we enter God’s Sabbath Rest has not yet arrived. …”

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Archbishop Glenn Davies encourages a biblical view of rest.

#inChrist (Ephesians 1:3)

More treasures from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, thanks to Dr. Lionel Windsor.

Posts already published at Forget the Channel:

  1. Lift Your Eyes: Introducing Ephesians.
  2. Paul: in his own words (Ephesians 1:1a).
  3. Amazing holiness (Ephesians 1:1b).
  4. This God (Ephesians 1:2).
  5. #inChrist (Ephesians 1:3).

– with plenty more planned.

9Marks Journal: Ecclesiology for Calvinists

The latest 9Marks Journal – February 2019 – is now available as a free download.

Plenty to think about.

Visible and invisible

“The distinction between the Church visible and invisible was coined by Luther and Zwingli in the sixteenth century, and was much used by all the Reformers, our own included.

The wording of Article XIX (“The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men…”) implies this distinction, and it was in fact basic to all Anglican thinking about the church for more than a century after the Reformation. …“

– The Australian Church Record has republished this 1962 article by Dr. J. I. Packer.

The Cross — Why did Jesus die?

“Why did Jesus die?

This series is entirely given over to exploring answers to that question. It’s an odd question to ask in some ways. What sort of question are we asking?

It could, of course, be a medical question. History tells us Jesus died by crucifixion, but a coronial inquest might want to go into exactly how crucifixion brings about someone’s demise. Was exposure, or asphyxiation, or heart failure the actual cause of Jesus death? Jesus did after all die with unusual speed. A death by crucifixion often took days; for Jesus it was a mere six hours. There’s something here worth exploring.

Historians, on the other hand, are interested in the historical causes of Jesus death.

A historian might ask whether the claim that Jesus died by crucifixion is historically plausible. The French atheist Michel Onfray claimed several years ago that the Romans didn’t crucify Jews at this period in history, and therefore the claim that Jesus died by crucifixion was historically suspect. Onfray’s claim is a little perplexing, given the preponderance of evidence for first century Roman executions of Jews. Still, it is a claim that could be asked and answered in good faith by historical method.

Historians might also be interested in the political question. On which charges, and under who’s authority, and through the action which historical actors, was Jesus crucified?

These are all questions to which we may return. Christian theology is not easily partitioned off from history, politics, or even biology. But the primary purpose of this series is to address a different question, the theological question. What was God doing in the death of Jesus? …”

– Rory Shiner begins a six-part series at The Gospel Coalition Australia.

A Tale of Two Levels – and Good news for Gnostics

At Church Society’s blog, Stephen Walton looks at the connection between two current stories in the Anglican Communion –

“What do these two stories have in common? Many things, but I want to concentrate on just one, that these are two new manifestations of a very old error: Gnosticism.”

–  You can follow his argument here.

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