Toronto Anglicans eyeing same-sex blessing
Toronto Anglicans will start blessing same-sex relationships within a year, the Toronto Star has learned, a move that puts local churches at the forefront of the issue but could inflame an already divisive debate within the church. …
– Story from The Toronto Star.
(Photo of Bishop Colin Johnson: Diocese of Toronto.)
“I’ll appoint women, says new bishop”
“Australia’s newest Christian leader has broken with the religious tradition in which he was raised and worked for almost 25 years, vowing to appoint women as bishops in the Anglican Church.
The Reverend Stuart Robinson, who trained at Moore College in the conservative Sydney Anglican diocese, will be consecrated as the bishop of Canberra-Goulburn in St Saviour’s Cathedral, in Goulburn, today. …”
– Story from The Sydney Morning Herald. (Photo: St. Paul’s Chatswood.)
The Good Book Company to launch in US
“The Good Book Company is a Christian resourcing agency that began in the UK and grew out of the need for attractive, quality, practical materials for gospel work, which don’t compromise on the essentials of the Christian faith. It has a particular focus on daily devotional reading, small group Bible study, outreach, discipleship and resources for youth and children.
From the 2nd February 2009, The Good Book Company will make available its full range of resources to churches and individuals in North America from its new US-based website.”
– This should be of interest to our North American readers. Their website will be online from Monday.
New England churches hear about ‘Jesus. All about life’
News from The Bible Society of NSW –
At the invitation of the Right Reverend Dr Peter Brain, Bishop of the Armidale Anglican Diocese, Karl Faase and Martin Johnson spoke this week at four meetings across the Diocese to promote interest in a regional ‘Jesus. All about life’ (JAAL) campaign. Read more
Connect09 public website online
Connect09’s public website is now online.
Please be encouraged to check it out and consider how you could use it to point others to the Lord Jesus.
Biblical Authority in Evangelicalism
After reading this week’s piece by Charles Raven on ‘Rowan Williams and Revelation wrapped up’, readers may find this article on Biblical Authority helpful –
Written by Lee Gatiss and published in Churchman in 2006, it’s entitled “Biblical Authority in Recent Evangelical Books” and has just been made available online in PDF format (direct link) by Church Society.
Sovereign Grace sale
Bob Kauflin announces a sale at Sovereign Grace.
“Well, we figure that most of us have been affected by the present economic crisis. We want to do whatever we can to make it easier for people to benefit from what we produce. We want to serve churches and individuals by providing biblically informed, gospel-centered resources at a low cost.”
– with reduced international shipping as well, this may be of interest. (h/t BTW.)
Living with the Underworld
Next month, the Equip Book Club looks at Peter Bolt’s very helpful book, Living with the Underworld. In preparation, they’ve published a short interview with Peter.
– at the Equip Book Club.
Welsh Primate says new Province is ‘total nonsense’
The Primate of the Church in Wales will oppose any attempt to form a parallel Anglican jurisdiction when the primates of the Anglican Communion meet next week in Alexandria, Egypt. …
On Jan. 24, Archbishop Barry Morgan of Wales told delegates attending the annual council meeting of the Diocese of Virginia he would oppose the creation of the ACNA with “every fibre of his body.”
– Report from The Living Church. (Photo: The Church in Wales.)
New chair of CEEC: Interview
From the UK:
“For Anglican Evangelicals, 2008 ended badly. After a divisive consultation in November, the Church of England’s Evangelical Council (CEEC) chairman, Dr Richard Turnbull, quit, and an appropriate successor seemed hard to find. Now, after a unanimous vote by the CEEC, a new leader has been appointed to begin 2009 on a more promising note. The Venerable Michael Lawson is the Archdeacon of Hampstead. …”
– Interview with the new CEEC Chairman, Archdeacon Michael Lawson, from Religious Intelligence.
Rowan Williams and Revelation wrapped up
“Last Sunday, 25th January, the Archbishop of Canterbury delivered a sermon at Great St Mary’s Church, Cambridge, England as the Diocese of Ely launched its 900th anniversary celebrations. Although barely noticed by the press, it was an event which brought a lamentable truth into sharp focus — that despite centuries of Christian heritage, what now passes for Anglicanism in England has drifted far apart from the faith which GAFCON reaffirmed last year in the Jerusalem Declaration.
While it is the part the Archbishop has played in the advocacy of homosexual lifestyles over the past twenty years which has attracted the most controversy, the heart of the problem is his understanding of the doctrine of revelation. …”
– Charles Raven at SPREAD reflects on one’s attitude to holy Scripture.
You can read the Archbishop’s Hulsean sermon at his website.
It’s interesting to read something of the history of The Hul’sean Lectures. They began in 1777 with four or six sermons preached each year at Great St. Mary’s, Cambridge.
Some of the sermons are available online, such as this 1867 book of four sermons by The Rev. Edward Henry Perowne in which he upholds ‘The Godhead of Jesus’. He wrote about his own aim in fulfilling the purpose of the lectures –
“It is the duty of the Christian minister to resolve the doubts of others, not to engender them by parading his own. … I shall endeavour to shew from the Gospel narrative that the Jesus, of whom the Evangelists wrote, is very and eternal God.” [pages 5–6]
‘If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all liberally. Only let him ask in faith, nothing doubting’ the goodness or power of the Most High. It was with the hope of helping such persons to a right conclusion that this Lectureship was established, no less than to confute the assailants of our Holy Religion. My object will be, in the three succeeding Lectures, to state concisely some of the grounds on which we may rest a defence of this doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ.” [page 17]
How do you use Greek in the pulpit?
“Before the ESV was available, I used another translation that was a little freer in its translation philosophy. There were two Sundays in a row where I had to correct its interpretation to make what I thought was the true point of the passage. After the service a new Christian came to me and asked, ‘Can I not trust my Bible?’ Ouch!
So here is one of the big no-noes from the pulpit. Do not correct the English Bible. Ever! Never say, ‘the translators got this wrong.’ The damage you can do to a person’s trust in Scripture is unimaginable. …”
– Read Bill Mounce’s wisdom on the way forward at Zondervan’s Koinonia blog. (h/t Challies.com)
Christian Life Conference 2009: Name Above All Names
Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis ran its Christian Life Conference last Friday to Sunday with the theme “Name Above All Names”.
Scottish-born pastors Alistair Begg (pictured) and Sinclair Ferguson spoke and the audio is now available online, thanks to Second Presbyterian.
Alistair Begg serves at Parkside Church near Cleveland, Ohio, and previously pastored churches in Scotland. Sinclair Ferguson serves at the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina – and has worked with the Banner of Truth and at St George’s-Tron Church in Glasgow. (h/t Between Two Worlds.)
Episcopal church starting from scratch
“The mission parish was created by the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York following last month’s departure of most members of the former St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, a large, conservative congregation that had been at odds for years with the direction of the national church. …
Now Gordy has the job of trying to pick up the pieces for the Episcopal Diocese. She begins with a parish of four people and a determination to get past the past. …
Sunday, Gordy said goodbye to her current congregation, Trinity Church on Delaware Avenue, perhaps the diocese’s most theologically progressive parish…”
– Report from The Buffalo News. (See this earlier post from Oct 2008 for context.)
Canberra consecration on Saturday
Stuart Robinson will be consecrated as Bishop of the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn at a service at 11:00am on Saturday 31st January 2009 in St. Saviour’s Cathedral, Goulburn.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…