Another Vancouver Island parish leaves diocese
The congregation of St Matthias Anglican Church, in Victoria, British Columbia voted decisively on Sunday, March 8, to come under the episcopal oversight of Bishop Donald Harvey, Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC)… St Matthias, which is one of the largest Anglican parishes on Vancouver Island, is the 16th former Anglican Church of Canada parish and the third on Vancouver Island to join ANiC in the past 13 months … 94.4 per cent in favour of realigning with ANiC…
– news from the Anglican Network in Canada.
Sacred cows
“It is dangerous to shoot sacred cows. We all get upset, irrationally and emotionally when something we hold as precious is attacked. The more irrational our attachment the more anger is engendered when our favourite bovine is assailed. …”
– Phillip Jensen writes for the Cathedral newsletter.
Charges to a young Minister
In January, Dick Lucas preached at the institution of Robin Sydserff at St Catherine’s Argyle in the Church of Scotland. He preached on 2 Timothy 2:1-7.
Hear Dick’s sermon – it is a 7MB mp3 file (direct link) and runs for 28 minutes.
h/t Faith by Hearing. (Photo: St.Catharine’s Argyle.)
‘Jesus. All about life’ goes state-wide
Press release from the Bible Society of NSW:
Bible Society’s ‘Jesus. All about life’ campaign will now cover all of NSW.
‘Jesus. All about life’ is a non-denominational, advertising-based, mass-media campaign which aims to increase the general public’s awareness of the person of Jesus, and what he said ‘about life’. Read more
ACNA Provincial Assembly announced
Bishop Robert Duncan has written to the Common Cause Partnership outlining details of the first Provincial Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America. The meeting will be held June 22 – 25 at St. Vincent’s Cathedral in Bedford, Texas.
Details from the Common Cause Partnership.
Christianity and the Tolerance of Liberalism
In three talks Lee Gatiss looks at the crisis which hit American Presbyterianism in the 1920s and 30s. The conservative hero of that struggle was J. Gresham Machen, whose Christianity and Liberalism remains a classic.
What does Machen’s battle with liberalism have to teach us today in a church still ravaged by liberalism and those who tolerate it?
– Hear the talks at The Theologian. See also an extract “When a Theological College Goes Wrong”, from Lee’s book on the topic.
(Image of J. Gresham Machen: The Theologian.)
Using the Online ESV to Listen
“As long as we are drawing your attention to the ESV Study Bible Online, let me tell you one of the uses I make of it that you might not think of. …”
– John Piper shares a helpful idea in his blog.
An Anglican Prayer Book (2008) reviewed
“For evangelicals in the Church of England who are not familiar with the history of The Episcopal Church, the more conservative of the denomination’s evangelicals succeeded from the church in the 1870s due to the growth and increased influence of Tractarianism in the church and the incipient Catholic doctrines of the 1789 Book of Common Prayer. Those who remained in The Episcopal Church became Broad Church liberals. By 1900 evangelicalism had disappeared from The Episcopal Church. Anglo-Catholicism and Broad Church liberalism became the dominant theological streams in The Episcopal Church. …”
– Robin G. Jordan, who runs the blog Anglicans Ablaze, critiques and outlines the history of An Anglican Prayer Book (2008) prepared for the AMiA.
From the current issue of Cross†Way – published by Church Society. A valuable insight into the situation in the USA. Download the article as a PDF file (direct link).
New video resources coming from Sydney
“Today Anglican Media announces the arrival of a new video platform set to deliver free visual resources to Christian workers across the Diocese.
In the tradition of Southern Cross and Sydneyanglicans.net, the monthly production called SX Digital will provide news, events and resource videos aimed at assisting local churches. …”
– story from SydneyAnglicans.net. The first update is now online – with video via Vimeo and also as a 66MB mpeg4 download.
Something missing?
The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund of the Anglican Church of Canada has published a book of Lenten Studies with a brief comment on a Bible passage for each day.
The comments illustrate a liberal approach to the Bible. Here are some excerpts – see if you can spot what’s missing – Read more
The 1928 Prayer Book
Why are we running an article on the 1928 Prayer Book now? A new ‘orthodox’ province has been established in North America (only a day ago as I write). It has set out in a provisional constitution its doctrinal position but has not adopted any formal liturgies. The Jerusalem Declaration from GAFCON affirms the 1662 Book of Common Prayer but in the United States in particular the traditional prayer book before the 1970s was their 1928 book. That book is not the same as the English 1928 book, a matter that has caused considerable confusion in some discussions, but nevertheless it is also not the 1662 book. …
– David Phillips, General Secretary of Church Society, writes in the current issue of Cross†Way and the article is available as a PDF file (direct link).
Free online access to the ESV Study Bible (for a month)
Here’s a press release from Crossway:
“Crossway is pleased to make the ESV Online Study Bible available free—for anyone and everyone—for a limited time beginning today, March 2, 2009. Until now, the ESV Online Study Bible has been available exclusively to those who have purchased the print edition.”
– Details at the ESVSB Blog.
Northern Michigan Elects ‘Christian-Buddhist’ Bishop
News from last week:
The Diocese of Northern Michigan elected the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester as bishop Feb. 21 at a special diocesan convention. … The announcement of Fr. Forrester’s nomination sparked controversy last month because he is also a practicing Buddhist and said he had received Buddhist “lay ordination” and was “walking the path of Christianity and Zen Buddhism together.” …
– from The Living Church. Other details from the Diocese of Northern Michigan. (Photo: Episcopal News Service.)
Dever interviews Carson on Books
Last December, 9 Marks published online the first part of an interview by Mark Dever with Don Carson.
In the second part of the interview, just published, focusses on some of the books Don has written. It runs for 56 minutes and is available here at 9Marks.
The Anglican Covenant: A House on Sand
“As the March 9th deadline approaches for Provincial responses to the Covenant Design Group, an odd but telling paradox is emerging; in order to stabilise the Anglican Communion, it seems essential that the Covenant’s biblical foundations should be weak. …”
– Charles Raven at SPREAD writes on the proposed Anglican Covenant.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…