Apostolic gospel must be at the core, says David Short
The priest of the largest Anglican parish in Canada, who is under ecclesiastical siege from revisionist New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham, says his denomination has lost faith in the gospel. This is evidently revealed in the diocesan newspaper, which gives the impression that the gospel is about being nice, being compassionate, recycling, “and we will even bless your pets”.
“The eternal gospel of redemption through the sacrifice of Jesus’ death and the power of his resurrection has been replaced with a gospel which is about approval, affirmation and acceptance. The apostolic gospel of sins forgiven, of rescue from eternal punishment has been smoothed and soothed to be more acceptable and relevant,” said the Rev. Dr. David Short, pastor of St. John’s, Shaughnessy in Vancouver. …
Report from VirtueOnline.
See also the St. John’s website. (Photo of David Short at the Anglican Network in Canada national conference last weekend: Ed Hird.)
Fort Worth visit an ‘unwarranted invasion’, Schori tells Venables
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has advised Southern Cone Presiding Bishop Gregory J. Venables in an April 29 letter that his planned May 2–4 visit to address a special convocation of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth “with the expressed purpose of describing removal to the Province of the Southern Cone is an unwarranted invasion of, and meddling in, the internal affairs of this Province.”
– Report from the Episcopal News Service. (Photo credit: Washington National Cathedral.)
The text of the letter is below: Read more
Gene Robinson: ‘I am incredibly orthodox’
The BBC’s Roger Bolton interviewed Gene Robinson for the BBC Radio’s Sunday programme. As his new book is published in the run up to Lambeth, Bishop Robinson says his ‘passion is about the gospel’. He asserts, ‘I am incredibly orthodox in my beliefs – in my holding to the historic creeds’.
Hear the interview here (RealAudio file) or as an mp3 file – starting 31:20 into the programme.
(Photo credit: Geoff Forester and Diocese of New Hampshire.)
TEC bishop to Venables: not welcome here either
Bishop Jerry Lamb, of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, has written to Archbishop Gregory Venables protesting his visit to the area. Today Archbishop Venables arrives in the Diocese which seceeded from TEC last year.
The letter claims Archbishop Venables “violates the Windsor Report and statements from subsequent meetings of the Primates”.
Interestingly, both this letter and the one written the previous day by Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, are copied to “The Primates and Moderators of the United Churches of the Anglican Communion”. The text of the letter is below: Read more
Church sues for breakaway diocese property
The U.S. Episcopal Church has sued to take church property back from the rebel Diocese of San Joaquin.
In the 30-page lawsuit filed this week in Fresno County Superior Court, the church argues that last year’s vote by 42 of 48 parishes to leave the national church doesn’t entitle them to keep any property.
– report from the Fresno Bee via tradingmarkets.com.
Tim Keller at Google
Last month, Tim Keller spoke at Google’s Mountain View, California, headquarters to discuss his book, “The Reason for God”.
The 60 minute talk and question time is available on YouTube. (Thanks to Monergism for the link.)
Covenant unlikely to help: Venables
In an interview for VirtueOnline, Archbishop Gregory Venables in Vancouver has spoken of the reality of a broken Communion and the unlikelihood of an Anglican Covenant helping things –
“Since we don’t stand together on Scripture or the creeds, it is unlikely that a covenant will do what they (Scripture and creeds) have failed to do. If we don’t stand on these two basic foundations, we are unlikely to stand on a Covenant regardless of how many drafts are written or how long it takes. The likelihood is that the language will be so nuanced that even orthodox folk will think that something has been said to satisfy them, when in fact it hasn’t.”
Other issues covered in the interview include his use of the ‘divorce’ illustration and also Bishop Tom Wright’s criticism of GAFCON.
The interview is available at VirtueOnline.
Canadian diocese declares: in full communion with Anglican Network
LC.net/Canada reports that the Synod of the diocese of Athabasca, in northern Alberta, has broken ranks with the leadership of the national Church by declaring it is “in full communion” with the parishes and bishops who have left the Anglican Church of Canada to join the Anglican Network in Canada.
The Synod reportedly passed these resolutions –
Resolution # 2008-11 – BE IT RESOLVED that the Synod inform the parishes and the bishops who have joined the Anglican Network in Canada and the Province of the Southern Cone that we are in full communion with them.
Resolution # 2008-12 – BE IT RESOLVED that the Synod of the Diocese of Athabasca express its dismay that bishops of dioceses have resorted to secular courts when parishes within those dioceses have found it necessary to align themselves with the Anglican Network in Canada and the Province of the Southern Cone. (emphasis added)
With thanks to lambethconference.net (Photo of Bishop John Clarke: Dio. Athabasca)
Dr J I Packer re-licensed to Southern Cone
Dr J I Packer is one of those re-licensed as an Anglican minister, under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Greg Venables in the Province of the Southern Cone, after he had resigned from the Anglican Church of Canada last week.
Ed Hird, Communications Director for the Anglican Coalition in Canada (and minister of St. Simon’s Anglican Church in North Vancouver), has posted a ‘visual reflection’ on this weekend’s Anglican Network in Canada national conference. (Photo: Ed Hird)
Anglican Communion ‘in first stages of divorce’
The Archbishop of the Southern Cone says the Anglican Communion is in the first stages of divorce.
“I believe that the time comes when a marriage is no longer a marriage and you have to recognise it. With reference to the two positions in Anglicanism at present we are incompatible doctrinally and ethically and quite different in our presuppositions…” said Archbishop Gregory Venables, Primate of the Southern Cone. …
Speaking at a press conference of the Anglican Network in Canada, a conference of 400 orthodox Anglicans meeting near Vancouver, BC, Venables said liberal Christianity does not have a doctrine of salvation or believe that Jesus is uniquely the Son of God. Liberal Christianity is not true Christianity. There is no eternal hope or salvation. …
from David Virtue at VirtueOnline. (Photo: Anglican Network in Canada. L–R: Bishop Don Harvey, Archbishop Greg Venables, Dr J I Packer.)
True Worship
“To worship God ‘in spirit and in truth’ is first and foremost a way of saying that we must worship God by means of Christ. In him the reality has dawned and the shadows are being swept away (Hebrews 8:13). Christian worship is new covenant worship; it is gospel-inspired worship; it is Christ-centred worship; it is cross-focussed worship.”
– D.A. Carson, Worship by the Book (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 37. With thanks to firstimportance.org
San Joaquin legal action begins
As has been widely expected, The Episcopal Church has begun legal action against the Diocese of San Joaquin (Southern Cone) –
“The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin and The Episcopal Church (TEC) filed a complaint in Fresno County Superior Court on April 24 ‘to reclaim possession of the real and personal property belonging to the diocese’. …”
– from Episcopal Life Online.
Update: Anglican Mainstream now has a letter from Bishop Schofield to the members of his diocese.
Vero Beach Florida in ‘amicable separation’
Bishop John Howe, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, has written to the members of Trinity Episcopal Church Vero Beach, Florida –
“It was agreed that those who wish to disaffiliate from The Episcopal Church will do so as of July 1, 2008. They will leave the historic Trinity Episcopal Church property and organize as a new congregation elsewhere. …”
Read the full letter below – Read more
J I Packer at “Compelled by Christ’s love”
Dr Jim Packer has spoken on the first day of the “Compelled by Christ’s love” conference currently being held in Vancouver.
“May I begin by saying where I come from. If a certain dignitary kept his word and threat, I am here under false pretences. Two days ago I will have been deprived of the ministry to which I was ordained in 1952 and I ought not to be wearing a clerical collar. It is utterly tragic. This led me to resonate deeply with the way Archbishop Venables presented in his talk. I have a joyful heart. …
God is preparing and toughening us for specially demanding conflict. In our call to mission, I suspect that over the next generations it is going to be exceedingly tough as we face secularism and ethnic religions surge which do not tolerate Christianity. The pressure is on and increasing. God is toughening us for mission. …”
Southern Cone bishop lends support
Why can’t Canada’s infighting Anglicans just love each other?
That’s the question one of South America’s high-level Anglicans is bringing to the country – even while he accuses Vancouver-area Anglican Bishop Michael Ingham of not being an authentic Christian for allowing the blessing of same-sex relationships.
“I tell people in Canada not to get filled up with bitterness about the homosexual issue, to just try to allow Christ’s love and generosity to come through,” says Gregory Venables, who was elected primate (senior archbishop) of the Southern Cone in 2001. … “I believe truth is above geography. I place doctrine above jurisdiction,” Venables said, the day before he was to attend a conference at South Delta Baptist Church sponsored by the Anglican Network in Canada, which represents breakaway Anglicans. …
Report by Douglas Todd in the National Post. (Photo: Bill Keay/Canwest News Service)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…