The Lambeth Decision: Dean calls briefing on 14th March
‘The Lambeth Decision: Refining or Redefining Anglicanism?
Sydney’s Bishops are not attending Lambeth – What do we do?’
It’s been announced that Dean Phillip Jensen is planning an afternoon briefing on the reasons for, and implications of, recent decisions concerning Sydney’s participation in world Anglicanism.
To be held in the Chapter House at the Cathedral on Friday 14th March, 1:30 – 3:30pm. The speakers will be –
Phillip Jensen – Should we break fellowship? Why? When? With whom?
Mark Thompson – What has happened in World Anglicanism to bring us to this point?
Robert Tong – What can Lambeth achieve?
Russell Powell – What is GAFCON all about?
Realignment and Gospel Unity in Canada
Over the weekend, more Canadian churches voted on their relationship with the Anglican Church of Canada –
Islanders split from national church
“Parishioners from a Vancouver Island Anglican church have become the latest Canadian congregation to separate from the national body, primarily over the issue of same-sex marriage. … St. Mary, located in the rural Victoria suburb of Metchosin, will now align with the Anglican Network in Canada…” Read more
Canadian bishop for Christchurch?
A Canadian woman bishop who has signalled support for blessing gay marriages is being confirmed as Christchurch’s new Anglican bishop.
The move is likely to stir controversy among many Anglicans and there is still a chance that Victoria Matthews’ appointment could be vetoed by the general synod, which incudes representatives from Polynesia.
Church sources said yesterday that Dr Matthews, a former bishop of Edmonton, was two-thirds of the way through the ratification process.
Full story from The Press in NZ.
(Victoria Matthews was Bishop of the Diocese of Edmonton 1997–2007.)
Professor David F Wright 1937–2008
Widely respected evangelical church historian and theologian in the Church of Scotland, Professor David F Wright, departed this earthly life on February 19th. The Scotsman has a tribute –
“Wright specialised in patristic and Reformation theology, and he published extensively on the fathers of the early Church, especially Augustine, and on the magisterial figures of the European Reformation – Calvin, John Knox and Peter Martyr, for example. He also wrote on contemporary ethical issues facing the Church, particularly questions of sexuality, where he took up a thoroughly conservative position.”
– as do Reformation21 and Global South Anglican. (Photo: Global South Anglican.)
“Arrogant Archbishop’s protest conference ignores own advice”
“Prelates such as Sydney’s Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen demonstrate considerable arrogance by holding their protest conference in Jerusalem against the wishes of its bishop, Suheil Dawani. …
Dawani is closely involved with efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East, to which he gives a higher priority than the theological squabble over homosexuality. …”
– An unsympathetic opinion-piece in The Sunday Canberra Times.
However see Archbishop Peter Jensen’s statement to the Standing Committee of Sydney Diocese about that “theological squabble”.
And in a report about the Diocese of Kentucky’s annual Convention, the whole debate is characterised as “a family argument”.
Building may be on the line – another Canadian church to vote
Same-sex marriage blessings are the “flashpoint” but not the main reason a St. Catharines Anglican church is voting on whether to break from the national body, a spokesperson said.
Members of the Church of the Good Shepherd on Grantham Avenue will make their decision Sunday in a meeting after the morning service. …
– Full report from The St. Catharines Standard. See also the Good Shepherd website.
St. Hilda’s Anglican Church isn’t just in a theological battle
The first sign that St. Hilda’s Anglican Church is under siege is a posting on its front door warning locksmiths who may arrive to change the locks to think twice. The posting said they are walking into the middle of a ‘legal dispute’ between the parish and the Diocese of Niagara and anyone who fools with church property could be liable. …
“I’m not supposed to be on the church property, I’m not allowed to minister in Canada, and I am not to speak disparagingly against the bishops, other priests, or the Anglican Church of Canada,” Rev. Charbonneau explained. …
Full story from The National Post.
From the St. Hilda’s website:
“As far as the congregation of St. Hilda’s is concerned, Pastor Paul is a man of God and, in spite of being ‘suspended’ by the Diocese of Niagara, is still our Pastor.”
(Photo courtesy St. Hilda’s Oakville.)
Bishop Ingham sends ‘notice of presumption of abandonment’ to St. John’s Shaughnessy
Bishop Michael Ingham has asked eight of his clergy to formally declare whether they’re in or out of the Anglican Church of Canada.
The priests have been involved in a series of meetings in which congregations in two Parishes in the diocese have voted to join a foreign Church. Read more
It’s time to return to the fold
Last week, Vancouver’s St. John’s Shaughnessy, the largest Anglican congregation in the country, overwhelmingly voted to separate itself from the Anglican Church of Canada …
The real story here isn’t that a schism is now occurring in one of Canada’s most prominent Churches. What should be of most concern to those who sit in the pews is that the leadership of the Anglican Church in Canada has abandoned its traditional roles of defending the faith and the authority of Scriptures. …
Full story from The National Post.
(Photo of Bishop Michael Ingham courtesy of the Diocese of New Westminster.)
Tim Keller speaks about the Cross
Three talks given by Tim Keller (Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York) in January last year are very helpful in thinking about the implications of the cross.
How the Cross Converts Us
How the Cross Changes Us
How the Cross Unites Us
– mp3 downloads via Between Two Worlds.
The Cross
“I find no balm for a sore conscience, and a troubled heart, like the sight of Jesus dying for me on the accursed tree.
There I see that a full payment has been made for all my enormous debts. The curse of that law which I have broken has come down on One who there suffered in my stead. The demands of that law are all satisfied. Payment has been made for me, even to the uttermost farthing. It will not be required twice over.
Ah! I might sometimes imagine I was too bad to be forgiven. My own heart sometimes whispers that I am too wicked to be saved. But I know in my better moments this is all my foolish unbelief. I read an answer to my doubts in the blood shed on Calvary. I feel sure that there is a way to heaven for the very vilest of men, when I look at the cross.”
– J.C. Ryle, Old Paths . Courtesy First Importance.
San Joaquin: Bp Schofield responds to ‘Interim Pastoral Presence’
The Interim Pastoral Presence (see Episcopal Life) in the Diocese of San Joaquin have begun their “listening tour”. Bishop John-David Schofield has written to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s appointees, Canon Brian Cox and Canon Robert Moore.
The text of Bishop Schofield’s letter (pdf file) is available on the San Joaquin website.
Bishop Iker of Fort Worth to attend GAFCON
The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, announced today that he plans to participate in the Global Anglican Future Conference, to be held in Jerusalem, June 22–29, 2008. Read more
Why GAFCON?: The Anglican Communion over the past year
“Criticisms have been directed against GAFCON, many of them by those considered to be conservatives. And these criticisms are not to be ignored. But for the Global South and their allies, no real alternative to GAFCON is evident, given two factors.
The first is the evasiveness of the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church (TEC) in responding to the communiqué of the Primates’ Meeting of February 2007.
The second, no less compelling, is Canterbury’s undercutting of the Primates’ Meeting and of the Primates themselves, apparently to avoid rejection of the HOB response. By way of giving grounds for this view, this article traces the sequence of events giving rise to GAFCON. …”
Read the rest of this analysis by the Rev. Theodore L. Lewis, Theologian in Residence at All Saints’ Church, Chevy Chase, Maryland, on VirtueOnline.
Can the Church reach out without selling out?
The Nashville Conference on the Church and Theology was held at the Nashville Community Bible Church February 10-12.
The topic?: Can the Church reach out without selling out? Speakers: Don Carson, Steve Lawson, Tim Challies.
The audio of the talks is now available at ReformationUnderway.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…