ACNA Provincial Assembly preview
Ahead of this week’s first Provincial Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America, this 3 minute video has been released to highlight the significance of the gathering.
With thanks to Kevin Kallsen of Anglican TV. Please pray for all involved in this assembly.
Saving the Church
Read about the upcoming conference ‘Confess or Die’ – in Sydney, 7 & 8 August 2009.
“The contemporary church seems to have amnesia about what it really believes. This two day conference is here to jolt the church’s memory, and give it new life for mission. …”
Speakers include Carl Trueman, John McClean and Mark Thompson.
See all the details at confessordie.com – and then book in!
ACNA Provincial Assembly starts Monday
The Provincial Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America will be held in Bedford, Texas from June 22-25 2009.
It will be a crucial event for this new Province because it will formally unite more than 700 Anglican congregations in 28 dioceses and ‘dioceses-in-formation’ in North America into a single body.
A dedicated website has been set up to allow those farther afield to follow proceedings – it’s at www.acnaassembly.org.
Related item: Sydney Standing Committee ‘warmly welcomes’ new Province. (8 Dec 2008)
Piper on Parker on Calvin
To mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, Desiring God have reprinted T.H.L. Parker’s classic 1954 biography.
Not only is it available to be purchased, but a free PDF download is also available – both via this link.
You can see John Piper speak about why they did it at Desiring God.
T.H.L. Parker –
“When I was asked to write a life of Calvin for the S.C.M. Religious Book Club, there were reasons why I was happy to agree. For one thing, it offered a pleasant relief from the arduous task of translating Karl Barth’s Kirkliche Dogmatik into English, which had taken up much of 1950 and 1951. More importantly, there had been no biography of Calvin for many years. Moreover, I saw this as an opportunity to correct some of the commonly held misunderstandings and prejudices clustered around his name. …
Now, what do I at the age of ninety-two make of this book that I wrote in 1952 and 1953 in my mid-thirties?”
– read it and come to your own conclusion.
New Anglican Church poses dilemma
“The Anglican Church in North America will be formally founded next week, challenging the legitimacy of the U.S. Episcopal Church and posing a dilemma for the worldwide Anglican Communion over who represents Anglicanism in the United States and Canada. …”
– Julia Duin writes in the Washington Times.
Anger over Rwandan plan to regulate religions
“Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda is spearheading a drive by the country’s Christian and Muslim leaders to defeat a bill introduced by the government that regulates the formation and finances of the country’s churches and mosques. …”
– George Conger reports for CEN. (Photo: Joy Gwaltney)
A Trite Habit?
“It is a slowly growing pattern of life. So slow in its development that we do not even notice it happening to us. We make a thousand little decisions and finish with a way of living that we never planned or meant to happen. …”
– Phillip Jensen, Dean of St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney, writes about the great danger of living in the Western world.
Money, Sex, Indaba: Corrupting the Anglican Communion Listening Process
“The Listening Process, also known as the ‘Continuing Indaba Project’, was announced last month at the Kingston, Jamaica meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council after a briefing by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Anglican Communion Office (ACO).
The staff of the ACO, under the direction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, announced that a $1.5 million gift was given to fund this project-a gift 2-3 times the size of any previous gift received by the Anglican Communion Office for its work… The delegates to the Anglican Consultative Council were told that the money was coming from a grant through the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.
After subsequent questioning at press conferences, it turns out that the Satcher Institute is not the source of the $1.5 million dollars.
So where did the money come from?…”
– Ralinda B. Gregor, writing for The American Anglican Council asks some uncomfortable questions of the Anglican Communion Office.
Adelaide tributes to Sir Marcus
Adelaide’s diocesan newspaper, The Guardian, pays tribute to Sir Marcus Loane in its current (June 2009) issue. It’s on page 3 of the PDF file available here (direct link).
It is God’s battle
“We are always looking inwards and pitying ourselves and being sorry for ourselves, and looking for something to help us. Get rid of that outlook, forget yourself for a moment; the battle is the Lord’s! Salvation is His. It is for the honour of His great and holy Name.
But go further and realise that because it is God’s battle this almighty power is being exercised on our behalf even when we do not realise it. Things are being done in this great campaign of which we are not aware. We may perhaps be half-asleep at our post, and we do not realise that the great Captain is planning something with respect to us. We are unconscious of it. We would all be lost were it not for that. He, I say, is exercising this power on our behalf.”
– Martin Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Solider (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1977), 30. With thanks to Of First Importance.
We need to be reminded: Don’t waste your life
A thought-provoking 3 minute video using preaching from John Piper – from Desiring God.
“Repent and Refocus on mission” — Bishop of Rochester to say at launch of FCA
Anglican clergy and laity attending the launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in the UK and Ireland in London on July 6 will hear the Bishop of Rochester call for ‘repentance and a renewed commitment to evangelism and mission’. …
– Press release via Anglican Mainstream. (Photo: Joy Gwaltney, GAFCON.)
Christ’s atoning death
“Christ’s atoning death ratified the inauguration of the new covenant, in which access to God under all circumstances is guaranteed by Christ’s one sacrifice that covers all transgressions (Matt. 26:27-28; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 9:15; 10:12-18). Those who through faith in Christ have ‘received reconciliation’ (Rom. 5:11) ‘in him . . . become the righteousness of God’ (2 Cor. 5:21). In other words, they are justified and receive the status of adopted children in God’s family (Gal 4:5). Thereafter they live under the motivating constraint and control of the love of Christ for them as made known and measured by the cross (2 Cor. 5:14).”
– J. I. Packer, “Sacrifice: Jesus Christ Made Atonement for Sin” (with thanks to Of First Importance.)
Sometimes you need to be blunt
This 4 minute video on BlipTV doesn’t pull any punches. Sobering viewing with a strong exhortation. Is your Christianity genuine? Do you care for the lost? (h/t Tim Challies.)
New Westminster Day 8
ANiC Parishes Closing Argument – June 8, 2009
“The morning began with counsel for the parishes, Geoff Cowper, QC, explaining to Mr Justice Kelleher that he expected presentation of his argument to be two full days. Two volumes of a ‘Statement of Facts’ and ‘Written Argument of the Plaintiffs’, together with a two volume ‘Book of Authorities’ were handed to the judge, who last week, jokingly remarked he had enough material before him and he didn’t want anymore. …”
– from the Anglican Essential Canada blog.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…