Bishop Harvey welcomes St John’s
“St John’s has shown true leadership both now and over the past difficult years. I look forward to ministering with them and moving forward together in mission and in full communion with the tens of millions of orthodox Anglicans worldwide who have been so supportive of us.”
Press release from the Anglican Network in Canada.
Biblical thinking about the crisis
This week’s vote by the congregation of St. John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver has come after a long period of reflection on the Scriptures. This 2004 paper by St. John’s Rector, and Moore College graduate, David Short, gives some background –
“For Anglicans, in a denomination that now sanctions same sex unions, this now means changes in the shape of our relationships so they might help rather than hinder the mission of Christ. …”
See also David’s paper, “Are we Stronger than He?”, published in ACL News in 2005. 360kb PDF file.
For another report on yesterday’s vote, see Anglican Journal, published by the Anglican Church of Canada.
Commissary of the Diocese of New Westminster, Dean Peter Elliott, thinks the move is “unnecessary”, however read the articles above.
St. John’s Shaughnessy has voted to join Southern Cone
Members of what is described as the largest congregation in the Anglican Church of Canada voted strongly Wednesday to split with Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham over his support for same-sex blessings.
“It means that the community speaks with one mind,” said St. John’s Shaughnessy Anglican Church spokeswoman Lesley Bentley, after a preliminary count showed that out of 495 ballots cast, only 11 opposed the split and nine abstained. …
The vote means the church, which has more than 700 members, will break with Ingham and join with the conservative Anglican bishops of the Diocese of the Southern Cone, which includes Argentina and Paraguay. …
Report from The Vancouver Sun.
ABC Religion Report on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s comments
From ABC Radio National’s The Religion Report on 13th February 2008:
“The Archbishop of Canterbury’s suggestion that some form of sharia law is inevitable in Britain has provoked public outrage – The Times has labelled him a traitor and there have been calls for his resignation. Now Rowan Williams says he has been misunderstood – he never intended to suggest there should be parallel legal jurisdictions. We speak to the author of Londonistan, Melanie Phillips, about why Britain’s elites seem so strangely reluctant to defend the idea of a common culture.”
Transcript and audio from the ABC website.
Uganda not going to Lambeth either
Church of the Province of Uganda
Statement by the Provincial Assembly Standing Committee on Lambeth Conference 2008
1. The Lambeth Conference is a gathering that brings together the Bishops of the Anglican Communion from all 38 Provinces of the Communion at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The conference is usually held every ten years. It provides Bishops with an opportunity for “worship, study, and conversation,” discussing and making resolutions that affect the Anglican Communion. Read more
St. John’s Shaughnessy to vote today on breaking with church
“The fate of what is described as the largest congregation in the Anglican Church of Canada hangs in the balance tonight.
Members of St. John’s Shaughnessy Anglican Church, a neo-Gothic landmark in the heart of the city’s wealthiest neighbourhood, are gathering for an expected vote on breaking with Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham over same-sex blessings … Read more
Statement from the Archbishop of Sydney on the Government’s apology to the Stolen Generations
The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Peter Jensen, welcomes the government’s apology.
Dr Jensen says, “As Christians, we know that repentance and forgiveness liberates people to serve one another.”
“I hope the apology will help to reconcile indigenous and non-indigenous Australians and that it will make a real difference in the lives of those affected.”
– Media release from Sydney Diocese.
UK Anglican Bishop Fined £47,345 and Sent for ‘Re-Education’
The Anglican bishop of Hereford has been ordered by a court to undergo “equal opportunities training” and pay a fine of £47,345.00… for refusing to hire an active homosexual for a position of trust with young people. The ruling also stated that Hereford diocese staff “involved in recruitment should receive equal opportunities training”.
Story from Life Site. (Photo: Diocese of Hereford.)
General Synod updates from Church Society
For those interested, the Church Society is posting updates on the progress of the Church of England General Synod at Evangelicals.org.
An Unfortunate Draft
“The fundamental weakness of the Covenant, as many have pointed out, has been the decision not to push for an agreement on theological foundations as either a part of the Covenant document itself or as a necessary corollary to it. As it stands the Covenant is simply a way of relating. It is a structure founded on a process that exists for the sake of the structure. …”
Matt Kennedy at Stand Firm suggests that the draft Anglican Covenant can only legitimise heresy.
Thinking theologically about the UK debate
“But there is a second reason why Rowan Williams was theologically wrong, and that is that the Christian approach to Muslims should surely be neither to bring them further under the laws of Islam, nor to offer them the scraps from the table of modern secularism, but to offer them the gospel.”
John Richardson gets to the heart of the issue on
The Ugley Vicar.
Presidential Address to the opening of C of E General Synod
“Some of what has been heard is a very long way indeed from what was actually said in the Royal Courts of Justice last Thursday. But I must of course take responsibility for any unclarity in either that text or in the radio interview, and for any misleading choice of words that has helped to cause distress or misunderstanding among the public at large and especially among my fellow Christians. …”
From the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Presidential Address to the Church of England General Synod last night Australian time.
(Photo: Jim Rosenthal, Anglican Communion News Service.)
Advice to Pastors: Preach the Word
John Piper’s sermon from the installation of a colleague is good advice –
My message to you is very simple and very precarious. It is 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the Word.”
I call it precarious, because there is a constant temptation to do other things in the place of this. There ARE other things to do in the ministry, as these letters to Timothy show. And we must do them to be found faithful. But none of them is treated as solemnly and forcefully as this one simple exhortation from the apostle: “Preach the Word.” …
Available as text and audio download from Desiring God.
Book to be launched in UK: “God, Gays and the Church”
Anglican Mainstream has an item about “God, Gays and the Church”, a new book to be launched on Wednesday to coincide with the Church of England’s General Synod meeting –
“Orthodox Anglicans make a new contribution to the homosexuality debate within the Church of England, by launching a book containing testimonies of Christians who once believed they had a homosexual orientation …”
See Anglican Mainstream for the article and Latimer Trust to order copies.
Elections for two new NZ bishops
The Anglican Church in New Zealand is in the process of choosing two key leaders – new bishops for the Dioceses of Waiapu and Christchurch.
The Diocese of Waiapu Electoral College gathered in Havelock North last Friday evening (February 8) and ran through until the following evening. And the Christchurch Electoral College convenes in Christchurch this coming Friday evening (Feb 15) and runs through till Sunday Feb 17. …
– from a press release from the Anglican Church of New Zealand.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…