Together in Love & Faith? Should the Church Bless Same-Sex Partnerships? A Response to the Bishop of Oxford
From The Latimer Trust in the UK, here’s a very helpful response from Vaughan Roberts to the announcement from the Bishop of Oxford that he now supports the blessing of same-sex relationships.
The Latimer Trust:
“Writing from his own experience of same-sex attraction, Vaughan Roberts responds to the Bishop of Oxford’s argument that the Church of England should change its doctrine and practice in relation to same-sex relationships. Read more
Helpful, free, e-books
In exchange for your e-mail address, the Good Book Company is giving away the free e-book ‘Transgender’ by Vaughan Roberts.
Really worth downloading as a short overview of the issues we are facing in society and in the Church and how to provide a Christian response. From this link.
The Good Book company is also giving away a free ebook of expository preaching by David Helm – also well worth grabbing.
Another helpful book – this one from Monergism – The Sovereignty of God by A.W.Pink.
Donald William Bradley Robinson (1922-2018)
“We at Moore College rejoice today that our dear brother and father in the faith, Archbishop Donald William Bradley Robinson AO, has been called home to be with Christ, ‘which is better by far’.
The debt we owe to this faithful disciple and Bible teacher is truly incalculable. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, many of whom do not even know his name, have been shaped in their reading of the Bible by the approach to biblical theology that he pioneered at Moore College in the 1950s and 1960s. Graeme Goldsworthy’s Gospel and Kingdom and Vaughan Roberts’ God’s Big Picture have taken that approach around the world.
Donald William Bradley Robinson was born on 9 November 1922, the son of a clergyman in the Diocese of Sydney. He studied classics at Sydney University, graduating in 1946, and theology at Queen’s College, Cambridge, graduating in 1950. …”
– Moore College Principal Dr. Mark Thompson adds his tribute to Bishop Donald Robinson.
Read it all at Theological Theology. (Also published at the Moore College website.)
GAFCON Ireland to be launched on 21st April
“We are delighted to announce the creation of a new Gafcon branch – Gafcon Ireland.
The launch will take place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, this Saturday (21st April).
For those unable to attend in person, the event will be streamed live on Gafcon’s Facebook page. Simply ‘like’ the page and you’ll be able to watch from anywhere in the world.
Proceedings will begin at 10am BST (GMT+1) and will feature contributions from Rev. Vaughan Roberts (Rector of St Ebbe’s, Oxford), Archbishop Peter Jensen (General Secretary of Gafcon), Archbishop Greg Venables (Primate of South America) and Archbishop Buba Lamido (Archbishop of Kaduna Province, Church of Nigeria).
We do hope that as many as possible will be able to enjoy this great occasion.”
– from David Binder, GAFCON Comms Team, by e-mail.
Faith in a time of crisis
“This is a book written by people of gospel conviction who are calling all those with gospel conviction to stand for that gospel. And it is not just for Anglicans.”
– ACL Council member Nigel Fortescue reviews “Faith in a time of crisis” by Vaughan Roberts and Peter Jensen – on the GAFCON website. (Originally published in Southern Cross, August 2017.)
See also this earlier review by fellow ACL Council member Dan McKinlay, published in June.
The book is available from Matthias Media (AUS), The Good Book Company (UK) and Amazon (for fun, click on ‘Peter Jensen’ in the Author line at Amazon, to see other books written, or nor written, by Peter Jensen.).
You might have missed — June 2017
Here are some posts you might have missed from the last few weeks –
The Crisis of ’77 by Bob Thomas. (About the continuing Presbyterian Church. Today is the 40th anniversary of ‘Church Union’.)
Forty-forty vision – Presbyterian Moderator-General reflects on 40 years of ‘continuing’.
Review of Faith in a Time of Crisis – a new book from Vaughan Roberts and Peter Jensen.
Craig Roberts to be new Youthworks CEO.
Report on the ACL’s 2017 AGM.
Canon Andy Lines to be ACNA Missionary Bishop.
Bishop Richard Condie to Tasmanian Anglicans: We need to change!
Faith in a Time of Crisis – Standing for Truth in a Changing World – Review
“The book could not have come at a more vital time. The Scottish Episcopal Church has just agreed to perform same sex weddings. It is only a matter of time before the Church of England follows, as it has historically done on other issues.”
Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans New Zealand launched with two conferences
“Nearly 500 Anglicans from around New Zealand, including the Vicars of many larger churches, have met together this week at two conferences in Auckland and Christchurch to launch the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans NZ (FCANZ). FCANZ is a local expression of the Gafcon movement, and a message of support was read out at the conferences from Most Rev Dr Eliud Wabukala, Chair of the Gafcon Primates.
Video greetings were also received from Most Rev Foley Beach (Primate of ACNA) and the Rt Rev Richard Condie (Bishop of Tasmania and Chair of FCA Australia).
Rev Canon Vaughan Roberts (St Ebbe’s, Oxford) gave 4 talks on True Gospel, True Sex, True Love and True Unity, and was joined by Rev Canon David Short (Vancouver), Dr Peter Adam (Melbourne), Rev. Dr. Sarah Harris (Auckland) and others.
The formation of FCANZ has been in response to the passing of Motion 30 in 2014 and the subsequent release of the ‘A Way Forward’ Report, due to be presented to the General Synod of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia next month. The report proposes the blessing of same-sex civil marriages thereby rendering them as “rightly-ordered” relationships opening up the possibility for those in them to be accepted as candidates for ordination.
Rev Jay Behan, Chair of FCANZ, said ‘This week has been a hugely significant moment for orthodox Anglicans in New Zealand. FCANZ is committed to promoting faithfulness and providing fellowship, and orthodox Anglicans now know that through the FCANZ there is a place for all orthodox Anglicans in New Zealand, whether they are inside or outside the current Anglican structures.
We continue to pray that General Synod will pull back from making a decision which will tear the fabric of the communion, undermining the allegiance to General Synod for many Anglicans in New Zealand.’
– Media release from FCANZ, via Anglican Mainstream.
Evangelical Ministry Assembly 2015 talks
The Proclamation Trust has made available audio of the talks from the 2015 EMA, held 22-24 June at the Barbican in London.
The theme: “Identity Crisis: Preaching to a Confused World”.
Speakers included –
- Christopher Ash (Director of the Cornhill Training Course)
- Tim Keller (Redeemer Presbyterian, New York)
- Andrew Reid (Holy Trinity Doncaster)
- Vaughan Roberts (St Ebbe’s, Oxford)
- Bruce Ware (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)
- John Wyatt (University College London).
The audio files are all on this page.
Prominent Oxford Diocese Evangelicals call for the resignation of the Bishop
“This morning not one but two prominent evangelical ministers in the Diocese of Oxford appeared on BBC radio to call for the resignation of Bishop Alan Wilson…”
– David Ould has the details.
Winter (heart) warmers
From The Proclamation Trust:
“Last month saw our annual Autumn Ministers conference, the audio from which is now online. Vaughan Roberts’ opening and closing expositions from Revelation encouraged and challenged us in our ministry.”
Listen to both expositions here.
Feeling weary?
Vaughan Roberts’ closing exposition on Luke 10:17-24 from the Proclamation Trust’s Autumn Minister’s Conference is a great encouragement.
Well worth watching the video here.
(We first posted this in November.)
Reform’s ReNew Conference 2013 audio files
Reform’s “ReNew conference met Nov 26th to 27th, 2013. The conference was predominantly for church leaders and for women in paid positions of ministry in the Church of England. The purpose of the conference was to establish the basis on which Anglican evangelicals can work together and to begin to chart a way ahead.”
– Audio files of the talks are currently being added to the Reform website. The audio is a little over-compressed, but is quite audible and the talks are well worth hearing.
So far they have the talks by –
- Hugh Palmer – Proclaiming the gospel – the urgency of the hour
– 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, - Alasdair Paine – Defending and contending for the gospel – Romans 16:17-20,
- and Vaughan Roberts – JC Ryle – an Anglican Evangelical role model.
The Proclamation Bible
Here’s a soon-to-be launched resource from the Hodder & Stoughton in the UK that’s worth checking out.
Includes introductory articles by Christopher Ash, Graham Beynon, Gerald Bray, Simon Gathercole, David Jackman, Karen Jobes, Dick Lucas, Douglas Moo, Peter O’Brien, Adrian Reynolds, Vaughan Roberts, William Taylor, and Chris Wright.
Gay marriage Bill — Letter to The Telegraph
This letter from church leaders across England, was published in The Telegraph yesterday (20th May 2013) –
The Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Bill is set to isolate hundreds of thousands of young students and workers across the country who hold a fuller view of marriage based on religion or a traditional view. These young people, from teenagers to 30-year-olds, will suffer discrimination and face new risks to their careers, and futures, if the Bill passes in its present form. Read more
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…