Graphic Design Tips for Church
Phil Campbell at Mitchelton Presbyterian Church in Brisbane points to a new font resource that some may find to be useful – at his occasional blog Graphic Design Tips for Church.
Related: Don’t forget the Create conference coming up on November 14.
A gift-wrapped community
Here’s a great idea for Christmas –
“The Emmanuel Church in Glenhaven is gift-wrapping 1900 Essential Jesus Gospels in preparation for Christmas this year. Church members will door-knock homes in the local area over 2 Sundays, to give out their special gift…” – Story here.
Remembering B. B. Warfield
“At important moments in the history of the church God, in kind providence, has raised up men to give voice to His Word. And so there is Augustine, the theologian of sin and grace. He did not invent these doctrines, of course. But in his battle with Pelagius he gave them such clear and cogent articulation that forever since he has been recognized as the one who gave these doctrines to us. He was the high water mark. So also there is Anselm, the theologian of the doctrine of the atonement. And there is Luther, the theologian of justification. And Calvin, the theologian of the Holy Spirit.
In this sense exactly Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield of Old Princeton is the theologian of the doctrine of inspiration…”
– At Between Two Worlds, Fred Zaspel writes on the significance of B B Warfield, who was born 158 years ago today.
Diocese of Maine to ‘continue the conversation’ on same-gender couples
Bishop Stephen Lane of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine issued a statement on the result of the Marriage Equality referendum in his state –
“Yesterday, Question 1 provided each of us with the opportunity to exercise our franchise, to express our support for the right of same-gender couples to be afforded the full rights and responsibilities of a civil marriage or to disagree. Yesterday, Mainers chose to disagree.
Many faithful Episcopalians are deeply grieved at this decision.
Although the question of same-gender civil marriage may be settled in Maine for now, I would remind all Episcopalians – both here in Maine and across the wider Church – that we will continue the conversation about these issues for years to come.”
– Read his full statement on the Diocese of Maine website.
As Night follows Day?
“The premise is wrong, the logic is wrong and the conclusion is wrong, but who cares so long as we can make the Bible say what we want it to say?”
– Church Society’s David Philips on the slippery-slope of making the Bible teach whatever you want. (90kb PDF file.) From the Autumn 2009 edition of Cross†Way.
Where now, after October 20th?
“As long ago as 1971, Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote a book titled, What is an Evangelical? John Stott addressed the same issue in 1977, as did Mark Thompson as recently as 1995 in a book titled Saving the Heart? subtitled, What is an evangelical?
However, in recent years the evangelical identity has become even more diffuse, even within Anglicanism…”
– John Richardson gave this address at Forward in Faith’s Manchester branch last weekend. (It was on October 20th that the Vatican made its offer to Anglo-Catholics.)
Church discipline: a good idea?
The latest version of the 9Marks eJournal is devoted to the often-difficult question of church discipline. It’s available as a PDF file here.
A tip for the Melbourne Cup
Last year, Kel Richards and Dean Phillip Jensen discussed the topic of gambling at The Chat Room.
Watch it at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Free AudioBook for November
This month’s free AudioBook from Christian Audio.
Stott on Anglican Evangelical Identity
“First and foremost, by God’s sheer mercy, I am a Christian seeking to follow Jesus Christ.
Next, I am an evangelical Christian because of my conviction that evangelical principles (especially sola scriptura [Scripture alone] and sola gratia [by grace alone]) are integral to authentic Christianity, and that to be an evangelical Christian is to be a New Testament Christian, and vice versa.
Thirdly, I am an Anglican evangelical Christian, since the Church of England is the particular historical tradition or denomination to which I belong.
But I am not an Anglican first, since denominationalism is hard to defend. It seems to me correct to call oneself an Anglican evangelical (in which evangelical is the noun and Anglican the descriptive adjective) rather than an evangelical Anglican (in which Anglican is the noun and evangelical the adjective).”
– Quoted in R. Steers, The Inside Story, p. 191. (h/t Mark Thompson.)
‘Free to Live and Love as we see fit’?
“President Barack Obama signed the ‘Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act” into law on Thursday, fulfilling a campaign promise and handing the gay rights community one of its most sought-after achievements…”
– Albert Mohler draws attention to what the US President said as he signed the bill into US law.
FiF 2009 annual conference
Some of our readers may be interested in the upcoming Forward in Faith (Australia) Annual Conference.
Josiah Fearon, Bishop of the diocese of Kaduna, Nigeria, and Bishop Harry Goodhew are the speakers. The topic: ‘Upholding Christ in a Multi-Faith World’. Details.
(Related: CMS interview with Bishop Josiah Fearon.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…