Melbourne Synod Charge online
The Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, gave his Synod Charge to the Melbourne Synod last Thursday. It’s available on the Anglican Media Melbourne website (pdf file).
(Photo: Bryce Amner.)
Mateship doing it tough as cash cult cracks
Traditional Australian values of mateship, good neighbourliness and offering a helping hand to those in need could be seriously tested by the economic downturn, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, has warned…
– The Sydney Morning Herald reports on last night’s Presidential address at Synod.
Archbishop Peter Jensen’s 2008 Synod Presidential Address
The audio file of Archbishop Peter Jensen’s Presidential Address to the 2008 Synod meeting of Sydney Diocese – given late this afternoon – is now available at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Connect09 and GAFCON were among the key topics covered. Worth hearing – the 28MB file runs for 80 minutes.
The text of Archbishop Jensen’s address is also available. (Photo: Anglican Media Sydney.)
The Archbishop speaks about Canon RBS Hammond, Rector of St. Barnabas’ Broadway in the 1930s. “RBS” is mentioned in this story about Arthur Stace, “Mr. Eternity” – a man who made Sydney his mission field in an innovative way.
ACL Dinner hears of GAFCON encouragement
The Chapter House of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, was tonight packed for the annual ACL Synod Dinner.
Dr Karin Sowada interviewed two of the Sydney participants at GAFCON – Bishop Glenn Davies and Rev Allison Street. Both bore testimony to the great encouragement it was to share fellowship with Bible-believing Anglicans from around the world. Both speakers also reported the excitement and enthusiasm of the GAFCON attendees over the Final Statement and the Jerusalem Declaration. (Sydney endorsement of the Jerusalem Declaration is set to be debated on Monday night October 20.)
ACL Synod Dinner and Synod Survival Guide
Get your invitation to the ACL’s Synod Dinner on Monday 13th October. (RSVP Thursday Oct 9th.)
– and also grab a free copy of The Synod Survival Guide (4th edition) by Robert Tong
– by clicking on the images at left.
The authority of the Bible – Leon Morris
Australian New Testament scholar Dr Leon Morris on the authority of the Bible –
“It is especially important in the contemporary situation that evangelicals bear their witness to the authority of the Bible. Men have lost their best certainties, and in many cases are groping for an authority they can trust. One result of the work of modernists and extreme liberals has been to undermine men’s faith in the Bible. …”
– from Churchman back in 1961. Relevant then. Even more relevant now. Made available by Church Society (pdf life).
Related: Propositional Revelation, the Only Revelation by Broughton Knox.
The need for clear thinking in this area is illustrated by a story from The Calgary Herald in Canada – “Minister enhances faith through meditation”
Meakin, an Anglican priest, was introduced to Christian meditation by her spiritual director while in seminary. … “There are many factors in how we interpret the spiritual life, but once you set aside the words, we can recognize our unity…” (emphasis added.)
Words of comfort for faithful feeling stress
“The Anglican Church should expect its congregations to experience more anxiety than has been seen for many years because of the economic crisis facing Australia and the world, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, is expected to tell the Sydney Anglican synod today.
Dr Jensen’s warning about the stress parishioners could face in coming weeks and months will be part of his address at the synod, which will focus on the Church’s multimillion-dollar mass evangelisation campaign, called Connect09…”
– Report from The Sydney Morning Herald. (Photo: Joy Gwaltney)
A Conversation: Keller, Piper, Carson
A wide-ranging hour-long conversation between Tim Keller, John, Piper, and D.A. Carson was video-recorded at the 2008 leadership meeting of The Gospel Coalition and has been posted on Facebook:
Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6. (hat tip Justin Taylor.)
Don’t Desire Wealth
John Piper:
I can smell it. It’s like toast or steak or brownies. It doesn’t just draw our desire, it creates desire. Deep drops in the stock market make many people salivate. They know it will rebound. They are sitting on cash. By year’s end their pile could ride the recovery to riches.
For such people I have a word from God. Read more
Time for lay administration
“When I first attended our diocesan Synod (= denominational ‘parliament’) 10 years ago as a new Anglican Parish Rector (= Senior Pastor), I expected to sit quietly and get a feel for how things worked, reading the business papers and listening to speeches from ‘old hands’ to shape how I’d vote on the various motions and ordinances (= denominational laws).
Somewhat to my surprise, I found myself on my feet, seeking the chance to enter a debate.…”
– Sandy Grant, Rector of St. Michael’s Cathedral Wollongong, writes at the Sola Panel.
Vic abortion bill ‘betrays humanity’
Catholic Church officials in Victoria have described the passing of the abortion law reform Bill is a betrayal of humanity.
The state’s Upper House last night passed a bill to remove abortion from the Crimes Act, by 23 votes to 17, rejecting all amendments.…
– Report from ABC News.
See also our post from February about the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne – but also see this press release issued before the vote by Anglican Media Melbourne on Thusrday night –
Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, expressed concern tonight that the controversial Bill on Abortion legislation currently before the Upper House of State Parliament unless amended will make no provision “for conscientious objection for doctors and nurses who on account of their conscience cannot participate in the termination of pregnancies.”…
(Photo: Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.)
Thinking about church planting?
Mark Dever interviews church planter Mike McKinley about the travails of planting and why we should plant churches WITHOUT a vision statement.
– Hear the audio file at 9 Marks.
News roundup from David Virtue
“The most sinister development of the week is that Katharine Jefferts Schori and her attorney David Booth Beers will put a resolution on the table at GC 2009 forcing all parishes to reconstitute their legal titles to reflect irrevocable trusts with their respective bishops as beneficiaries, and by extension, The Episcopal Church.”
– from David Virtue’s ‘Viewpoints’, a weekly roundup and commentary.
St. Bartholomew’s breaks away from Episcopal Diocese
Members of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church will become the first [Diocese of Western New York] congregation to break ties with the Episcopal Church since the contentious 2003 ratification of an openly homosexual bishop by the national governing body…
With average weekend attendance of more than 500 people, St. Bart’s ranks as the largest Episcopal congregation in upstate New York.
– Report from The Buffalo News. See also George Conger’s report for Religious Intelligence.
Free audio book – Spurgeon’s ‘All of Grace’
This month’s free audiobook from ChristianAudio is a reading of C.H. Spurgeon’s “All of Grace”. Use the code OCT2008 at the checkout.
The mp3 files are around 100MB and run for over three hours – available free until the end of October.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…