A New Evangelical Anglican Vision?

“Just this past term I have had the great pleasure of co-teaching – with Professor Ashley Null, the renowned Cranmer scholar – a MA unit offered here at Moore College entitled ‘Anglican Identity’. In it we made careful study of the development of the English reformation and the works of leading figures like Fisher, Cranmer and Hooker.

A highlight was reading the moving testimony of Catherine Parr, last wife of Henry VIII, to her conversion to the gospel of justification by faith.

I was curious, however, as to why so few Sydney clergy thought this was a subject that might interest them, or that the study of the founding documents of our denomination might be well worth their while…

More than ever, we need to renew our vision of what it means to be an evangelical Anglican. My conviction is that not only is being evangelical the most authentic way of being Anglican – we’ve been saying that for years – but also that being Anglican is a great way of being evangelical.”

– Read Michael Jensen’s full post at The Blogging Parson.

ACL Centenary Dinner Address

The Rev. Ed Loane gave this reflection on the history of the Anglican Church League at the ACL’s Centenary Dinner on Thursday 3rd September 2009:

I’ve been asked this evening to offer some account of the work of the ACL over the last 100 years. So I humbly put on my amateur historian hat – and amateur should be read in capital letters in light of present company – and I offer these reflections…

It has often been claimed that Sydney Diocese, with its pervasive and dominant conservative evangelicalism, is unique within the Anglican Communion – particularly within western Anglicanism. One of the chief questions that this situation raises is ‘how did this come to be?’ Read more

Gospel opportunities abound

The ‘viral’ phase of the Bible Society’s Jesus. All About Life campaign begins today (September 7), with the other phases to start soon.

See details of the planned TV advertising from Dan Willis on this YouTube video.

The Connect09 Inspiring People panel discussions begin next week (September 15). See this 60 second video from John Dickson, courtesy SydneyAnglicans.net.

And for resources to help you, see Evangelism Ministries and also others they recommend.

Colossians 4.2-6 is a good reminder of our privilege and responsibility.

Edinburgh Expositors’ Conference audio

Audio files from the 2009 Expositors’ Conference held at the Faith Mission Bible College in Edinburgh the week before last have now been made available.

Iain Murray’s talk on The Expository Ministry of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones is well worth hearing.

The files are on the College website. (h/t Colin Adams.)

Focussed on Christ

“The holiest Christians are not those most concerned about holiness as such, but whose minds and hearts and goals and purposes and love and hope are most fully focussed on our Lord Jesus Christ.”

– J.I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit.
With thanks to Of First Importance.

UCA statement on Jews and Judaism

A ‘unconfirmed minute’ of a Statement from the Uniting Church of Australia’s 12th Triennial Assembly, held in July, has now been published as a PDF file on the UCA website.

While the statement rightly rejects anti-semitism, it does not call people to place their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, nor give any reason why they should need to.

Related: UCA Working Group on Christian – Jewish Relations – but also see, for example, Romans 10:1-17, Acts 4:1-12, John 14:6.

Tea or Tanks on the Lambeth Palace Lawn?

“This week, seven ‘Communion Partner’ bishops from The Episcopal Church made a private visit to the Archbishop of Canterbury. We might well imagine them enjoying a cup of tea in the Lambeth Palace gardens and little more imagination is needed to guess the reason for their call…”

– Charles Raven’s latest piece on events in the Anglican Communion may be found at SPREAD.

Related: Canterbury hosts seven Episcopal bishops for private meeting – from EpiscopalLifeOnline.

FCA launched in South Africa

“Seventy Anglican clergy and laity are today (September 3) attending the launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (South Africa) at St John’s Church in Port Elizabeth…

– from David MacGregor in Port Elizabeth.

Moralism is not the gospel

“Far too many believers and their churches succumb to the logic of moralism and reduce the Gospel to a message of moral improvement. In other words, we communicate to lost persons the message that what God desires for them and demands of them is to get their lives straight.…”

– Albert Mohler writes on the very real danger of preaching a false gospel.

Australian marriage statistics

On Monday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released a selection of data on marriages and divorces in Australia. While only highlighting a limited range of data, it’s a reminder of some of the ways in which our culture is changing.

See Crikey.com.au. (h/t/ Malcolm Purvis.)

The Nameless One

Carl Trueman writes about the ‘young, restless and reformed movement’ – and more – at Reformation21. –

“One striking and worrying aspect of the movement is how personality oriented it is. It is identified with certain big names, rather than creeds, confessions, denominations, or even local congregations…
Often cults of personality can degenerate in short order into cults, pure and simple, especially when every word of the guru figure becomes virtual Holy Writ…”

Update:
Tim Challies writes of this article –

“I had something else to post today but wanted to put it on hold for a day or two so I can draw your attention to what I consider a very important article… In the past few months I’ve sat down again and again to write out some of my thoughts about the whole Young, Restless, Reformed movement we are experiencing today. But never have I quite been able to convey my thoughts on it as clearly and succinctly as I’d like. I’ve wanted to share both praise for what God is doing and misgivings for what I think we, the church, are doing poorly. Never was I able to strike the balance, so I just left it rotting in my drafts folder.
Trueman, though, has nailed it. …”

815’s Day of Reckoning approaches

(‘815’ is the nickname for the TEC’s headquarters at 815 Second Avenue, New York.)

“[San Joaquin, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh and Quincy] are the four dioceses which have thus far voted to leave the Church, and each departure has spawned a lawsuit. ECUSA from the beginning has adopted a high-stakes, winner-take-all strategy which depends for its success on its ability to prove in court the proposition that a diocese is not free to withdraw from the voluntary unincorporated association which ECUSA has been since its formation at common law in 1789…

The fact is that ECUSA has never – until now – had to prove its unwritten prohibition against leaving in a court of law. But there are four court cases currently pending in which it will have to do so, sooner or later…”

– Christian lawyer A.S. Haley writes at Anglican Curmudgeon.
Image adapted from the TEC donation website.

9Marks eJournal on Church Discipline

“Western culture doesn’t seem to understand tough love. Love today means unconditional acceptance. If you love me with conditions, you don’t love me. You’re judgmental and intolerant.

God knows better. He knows we’re finite and fallen. Therefore, his love challenges us at the very points of our finitude and fallenness for our good, and that’s not comfortable.

Church discipline is just such an uncomfortable act of tough love, which is why 9Marks would like to spend two issues of the eJournal considering this important topic…”

– Jonathan Leeman introduces the current 9Marks eJournal – on the seldom-addressed topic of church discipline. Worth reading – it’s available as a 420kb PDF file.

The Antioch dimension

“If there is to be long-term church growth today, there must be a regular, considerable amount of Christian teaching, as well as extensive evangelism. How else can the Lord’s commission of Matthew 28:19, 20 be fulfilled, if there is not a comprehensive explanation and application of the Lord’s doctrinal and moral teaching?…”