Connect09 Prayer Day planned
A Day of Prayer for Connect09 is being planned for Friday May 22nd in the Chapter House of St. Andrew’s Cathedral – from 10:00am–2:30pm.
As the Lord Jesus reminded his disciples, ‘apart from me you can do nothing’. Details here. Video message from the Archbishop here.
The Disappearance of God
“Has God disappeared? The tragic reality is that we are living in an age that is marked by so much spiritual and theological confusion that the God of the Bible has largely disappeared from view — replaced by less imposing deities that are more amenable to the modern mind. …”
– Albert Mohler provides an extract from his new book, The Disappearance of God: Dangerous Beliefs in the New Spiritual Openness.
Report from Day 4 of ACC meeting
“In essence it would appear that the Archbishop is preparing himself and the communion for a significant change. He admitted it could no longer be the communion it was 20 years ago. Therefore the proposals are not an attempt to put the clock back, put Humpty Dumpty back together again or the toothpaste back in the tube. …”
– Chris Sugden and Philip Ashey (declared to be guilty of ‘cross border intervention’ and denied a seat representing Uganda) give their perspective on the Anglican Consultative Council’s 4th day of meeting in Jamaica, yesterday.
The Gospel in three minutes
This three minute video was produced for the UCCF New Word Alive 08 conference.
h/t Unashamed Workman.
ACC refuses to seat Ugandan delegate due to his ‘cross border intervention’
Background: At the Anglican Consultative Council’s meeting in Jamaica one of the elected representatives of the Church of Uganda has been refused a seat because he is involved in ‘cross border intervention’ in the US.
Here’s a Statement from the Church of Uganda —
“On the first day of the ACC-14 meeting, the Joint Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council made an unconstitutional decision to refuse to seat the clergy delegate from the Church of Uganda. The Church of Uganda is entitled to three delegates – a Bishop, priest, and lay person. …”
– from the Church of Uganda via Anglican Mainstream.
And the Anglican Communion News Service has released this statement justifying the decision – there’s also the audio of a press conference with ‘Secretary General of the Anglican Communion’ Canon Kenneth Kearon. Some questions from the press allege inconsistencies in the decision.
Canon Dr Chris Sugden sums it all up –
“We see here what appears to be a lack of fairness, evenhandedness and consistency applied to the advantage of those who have caused the current problems by departing from the teaching and practice of the Communion in faith and morals and to the disadvantage of those who have adhered to the teaching and practice of the Communion in faith and morals.”
Read the full text of his commentary here.
And the correspondence between Archbishop Orombi and Canon Kearon has been made available.
Foxes Book of Martyrs
Foxes Book of Martyrs is the free audio book from ChristianAudio during May.
Archbishop of Sydney in rallying call to Church of Ireland evangelicals
Delivering an extensive survey and commentary on the current inter-Anglican crisis over human sexuality last week at an open meeting of the Evangelical Fellowship of Irish Clergy (EFIC), the Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Revd Peter Jensen, issued a rallying call to Church of Ireland evangelicals to be vigilant that no “official act which endorses sin” should take place in the Church of Ireland. …
– The Church of Ireland Gazette. (Photo: Joy Gwaltney)
Cathedral to celebrate Graham Crusades
Chris Moroney, Senior Minister at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, writes –
“[W]e are holding a special Thanksgiving Service for the Billy Graham Crusades in Australia. This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the first Billy Graham Crusade in Sydney. It was a very exciting and significant time in the life of our churches, here in Sydney and in many other parts of Australia. Many of our key leaders were converted at the Billy Graham Crusades. Our own Archbishop, Peter Jensen, and his brother Phillip Jensen, the Dean of Sydney, were among those converted at that time.
This will be a special time to gather with people from all our Anglican Churches and fellow Christians from other denominations and give thanks to God for his gracious work of gospel proclamation and personal conversion.
The service will be led by the Dean and the Archbishop will be preaching. We will also be praying for ongoing gospel outreach, and taking up a collection specifically for evangelism. Copies of the DVD Remembering ’59 will also be available for sale.”
2:00pm Saturday 9th May 2009, St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney.
Download a PDF advertisement (with thanks to the Cathedral). Please pass on this news.
The amazing new iBible
Yes, it’s a spoof, but you might enjoy this YouTube video. A bit of light relief. (h/t Michael Kellahan.)
Standing with those who stand in Scotland
The Fellowship of Confessing Churches in Scotland seeks your prayers and invites your support –
“The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland meeting in May 2009 will hear an appeal against the decision of the Presbytery of Aberdeen to induct into a charge a minister who has openly declared himself to be living in a homosexual relationship.
If the Assembly votes to support the Presbytery of Aberdeen, it will publicly declare such behaviour as acceptable and honourable for a leader in Christ’s church. This would mark a historic departure for our church from the teaching of the catholic Christian faith, and a radical deviation from the clear Scriptural pattern that recognises the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman as the only proper place for sexual intimacy—a pattern which our church has hitherto always publicly affirmed.
To now declare explicitly an active homosexual lifestyle as holy, something the Bible unambiguously calls sin … would be immensely damaging for the cause of Christ in Scotland and disastrous for the national church. …”
Dr William Philip (St George’s-Tron in Glasgow) and other members of The Fellowship of Confessing Churches invite Christians worldwide to stand with them in prayer – and to indicate support of their call to the Church of Scotland General Assembly 2009 to uphold biblical orthodoxy on the issue of human sexuality. See the website to signify your support.
The Financial Breakdown: A Spiritual Diagnosis
How to make sense of the Global Financial Crisis? How should Christians think about debt-based financial systems?
Dr Paul Mills is an economist and a Christian. He spoke last week at Capitol Hill Baptist Church’s Henry Forum. What message might this have for Sydney Anglicans?
More importantly how might we turn conversations about the financial meltdown to the Lord Jesus Christ? Hear the talk and question time from the CHBC website.
Richard Dawkins and John Lennox on The God Delusion
This debate – on Richard Dawkins’ celebrated book The God Delusion – took place in Birmingham, Alabama, in October 2007.
The video is well worth watching – right to the end.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…