Authority in the Church – Resource paper
We posted a link to this very helpful paper back in February. In the run-up to Lambeth (next month) and GAFCON (this month) it’s well worth reading –
“At this present moment of crisis, there is hardly a more important issue for us to address than that of authority in the church. It is certainly true that God’s people need to keep returning to the question of authority. The legacy of the rebellion in the Garden of Eden ensures that even those who have tasted God’s extraordinary generosity and mercy too readily assert their own opinions and preferences as the measure of all things. …”
– An important resource paper written by Dr Mark Thompson, Academic Dean of Moore Theological College and President of the Anglican Church League.
It was presented to the GAFCON Theology Resource Group and can be read in full on the GAFCON website.
TEC gay weddings next month?
Episcopal Churches in California will begin offering gay weddings next month. On May 22, one of Los Angeles’ largest Episcopal parishes – All Saints Church, Pasadena, announced that in light of the California Supreme Court’s decision to strike down laws barring gay marriage, it “will treat all couples presenting themselves for the rite of marriage equally.”…
– Report from George Conger in Religious Intelligence.
(Photo: Diocese of LA Bishop’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Ministries.)
The revival of a rebel Jew
In the context of a piece on a new biography on Francis Schaeffer, Tim Challies shares the testimony of Richard Ganz, pastor of Ottawa Reformed Presbyterian Church –
“In my youth I spent every afternoon studying the Hebrew Scriptures, five days a week, and on Friday night and Saturday I worshipped. As I grew older I worshipped for a time each day in the synagogue morning and evening. I would rise before dawn and before going to the morning service, in obedience to rabbinic tradition, I would put on tefillin—the boxes containing God’s law—on my forehead and arm.
Then one cold, clear midwinter night my life was shattered. …”
– from Challies.com.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…