Anglican Church of Canada chooses litigation over negotiation
News Release from the Anglican Network in Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada’s House of Bishops has rejected an overture from the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) to seek negotiated settlements of property disputes rather than pursue litigation.
Bishop Donald Harvey, moderator of ANiC, expressed his disappointment, and said that, while he was fully aware of the sensitivities of “diocesan autonomy” and wasn’t surprised at this response, “I had hoped the Primate would have attempted to facilitate negotiations between the dioceses and the Anglican Network parishes.” Read more
Another church leaves TEC
“The Rev. Stan Gerber has preached his last sermon at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Tomball. On Sunday, the Episcopal priest, most of his staff and an expected majority of churchgoers will worship in a local junior high school. …”
Report from The Houston Chronicle. The new church – St. Timothy’s Anglican – is at sttimothysanglican.org. (Photo: Houston Chronicle.)
Canadian Bishops decline Network’s request
Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada, at their April 14-18 meeting, declined a request for national-level negotiations over church property from the Anglican Network in Canada…
– Report from the Anglican Church of Canada’s Anglican Journal. (Photo: Solange de Santis, Anglican Journal.)
St. John’s Shaughnessy stays focussed
David Short, the Rector of St. John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver, writes –
A number of people have asked me what has happened since our Vestry vote of February 13th to join the Anglican Network in Canada and receive the Episcopal oversight of Bishop Don Harvey under the jurisdiction of the Southern Cone. Across the country, 14 other congregations have voted to join the Network and the response of the different dioceses has been varied. … Read more
Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi responds to alleged attacks
Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi of the Diocese of Jos in Nigeria, has replied to allegations, published last week, of attacks on leaders of Changing Attitude in Nigeria and the UK. See the Changing Attitude website for the allegations and an open letter to GAFCON leaders who were supposedly behind the attacks(!). Read more
New ultimatum to Lambeth bishops
“Bishops attending the Lambeth Conference will be asked to affirm their willingness to abide by the recommendations of the Windsor Report and work towards the creation of an Anglican Communion Covenant. …”
– report by George Conger in The Church of England Newspaper.
Interview with Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti
The Rt. Rev. Robinson Cavalcanti, Bishop of Recife, might justly feel rejected. …
The crisis for the bishop and his diocese began at the end of 2004… “I was opening two congregations every six months because the gospel was being preached and many were coming to Christ. Suddenly, when myself and 32 priests were deposed because we would not accept the direction the church was going theologically and over sexuality issues … the province immediately cut off all financial support…”
David Virtue interviews the Bishop of Recife, Robinson Cavalcanti, for VirtueOnline.
(Photo: Diocese of Recife.)
Connect09 website launched
As part of the Connect09 initiative, Sydney Diocese has launched a website dedicated to equipping and encouraging Christians to connect with their friends and neighbours.
Just launched, the website has a video interview between Archbishop Peter Jensen and Russell Powell. Worth passing on to your Christian friends.
The website address (not surprisingly) is connect09.com.
Together for the Gospel 08 audio
The 2008 Together for the Gospel Conference is currently under way in Louisville, Kentucky.
More than 2,500 Christian leaders have gather to be encouraged by Mark Dever, John Piper, and friends. Mark Dever’s talk is titled: Improving the Gospel: Exercises in Unbiblical Theology.
As each talk is given, the audio is being made available for free download here.
Peter Jensen interviewed on ABC Radio
Archbishop Peter Jensen was interviewed by Richard Glover on ABC Radio in Sydney yesterday. The topic was sexuality and the controversy over the Anglican Church of England Grammar School in Brisbane.
The interview runs for 12 minutes and may be heard at the ABC Sydney website. SydneyAnglicans.net also has a roundup on the latest.
No pre-Lambeth meeting for TEC House of Bishops
Members of the House of Bishops have voted not to meet before the Lambeth Conference in July, the canon to the Presiding Bishop announced April 16.
Earlier this month, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori moved forward with preparations for a vote to depose Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh at a special House of Bishops’ meeting before the Lambeth Conference. … Bishop Jefferts Schori was not “seeking approval to proceed; rather, she seeks the mind of the House as to when to proceed” with a vote to remove Bishop Duncan.
Report from The Living Church.
Counterfeit Gospels
How many counterfeit gospels can there be?
9Marks’ Jonathan Leeman summarises seven ‘counterfeit gospels’ – from the book How People Change: they are – Formalism, Legalism, Mysticism, Activism, Biblicism, Therapism, Social-ism.
He asks, “How many of these do you recognise in your own heart?”
– Read about them at Church Matters, the 9Marks blog.
ESV Study Bible in the works
A Study Bible based on the ESV is in its final stages of preparation and it is due to be published (in the US) in October.
Details are available at www.esvstudybible.org.
Sydney Archbishop backs gay ban
The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen has backed a Brisbane school’s decision to turn down a request by gay students to bring male partners to a school dance.
A number of Anglican Church Grammar School’s 215 Year 12 students want to take their gay partners to their end-of-year dance on June 19. …
Report from The Australian.
Huldreich Zwingli, Swiss Reformer
“Zwingli was born on January 1st, 1484, a few weeks after Luther, in a tiny village high in the Alps above Lake Zurich. Of peasant stock, he early showed his brilliance, and graduated at the University of Vienna in 1505, where he met Wittenbach. Ordained in 1506 and appointed to the pastoral charge of Glarus, he laboured there ten years studying the classics, the Fathers, and the Bible at the same time.
In 1516 he removed to Einsiedeln, where he began to show his real theology. He preached that Christ, not Mary, is our only salvation, and gained his reputation as a preacher. He was promoted to Zurich in 1518 and by his Biblical preaching began to formulate the principles and doctrines of the Reformation. …”
In 1961, Churchman published an article by James Atkinson on this Swiss Reformer. Happily, Church Society are continuing their tradition of republishing helpful Churchman articles, and this one has just been placed online.
It’s available as a PDF file here.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…