Take a hammer to your downloads!
Over at the Fervr website, Tim Yap has some godly advice for youth – though there are many adults who should hear it too.
“Let’s keep it simple: downloading ‘free’ stuff from the internet which is supposed to cost money, whether it be music, movies or games, is against the law.”
‘Excited throng to welcome new Anglican bishop’
“Wollongong Bishop-elect Peter Hayward will adopt one of Australia’s biggest Anglican flocks at a packed consecration ceremony in Sydney … on April 13 …”
Encouragement from Psalm 41
Allan Blanch, an Emeritus Vice-president of the ACL, and who served as Rector in the parishes of Broadway, Beecroft and St. Philip’s York Street, recently preached at St. Paul’s Lithgow on Psalm 41.
Most edifying. Listen here.
Christianity and McLarenism
Kevin DeYoung has published his review of Brian McLaren’s book A New Kind of Christianity.
It’s comprehensive – and devastating. Read it here (PDF file).
“H. Richard Niebuhr’s famous description of liberalism has not lost its relevance: ‘A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of Christ without a cross.’”
Related: Tim Challies on A New Kind of Christianity.
Prayer for Mission Area consultations
Meetings are being held around Sydney Diocese to discuss the setting up of Mission Areas to help local churches work together in their proclamation of Christ.
Please pray for the Rectors, and others invited to attend, that they will be recaptured by the joy of this task, and please pray for Bishop Ivan Lee in his chairing of these meetings.
Good Book sale
The Good Book Company (through their Australian distributor Reformers’ Bookshop) has a sale on some helpful resources until the end of March. Worth having a look.
Lots of other useful material at regular prices too.
(This is an unsolicited plug.)
‘MacKillop likely to become saint tomorrow’
“Mary MacKillop is likely to be announced as Australia’s first saint by the Vatican tomorrow night.
The final hurdle in the process will be a final assessment by the commission of cardinals, followed by a formal papal declaration from Pope Benedict…”
– Report from ABC News.
See also this related article by Bishop Glenn Davies last December.
Being Faithful now available for download
“Being Faithful”, prepared by the Theological Resource Group of GAFCON as a commentary on the The Jerusalem Declaration, has been released in digital form for free download.
“Being Faithful” and “The Way, The Truth, and the Life” (which was launched at GAFCON) are available as a single PDF file from the GAFCON website.
Printed versions are also available for purchase (details here).
Classic Anglican fudge
John Richardson writes about one fudge after another in the Church of England –
“Let us go back, for a moment, to the decision to ordain women into the priesthood of the Church of England, taken in 1992 — or rather, let us go back to the ‘indecision’ … the Church itself spoke about the introduction of women priests as being a ‘process of reception’. That is to say, it was not prepared to commit itself to saying that this was exactly right — rather the approach would be ‘suck it and see’.”
– Read his full post at The Ugley Vicar.
A New Kind of Christianity?
Tim Challies writes about Brian McLaren’s new book, A New Kind of Christianity and comes to a tragic conclusion –
“It wasn’t too long ago that I wrote about Brian McLaren and got in trouble. Reflecting on seeing him speak at a nearby church, I suggested that he appears to love Jesus but hate God.
Based on immediate and furious reaction, I quickly retracted that statement. I should not have done so. I believed it then and I believe it now. And if it was true then, how much more true is it upon the release of his latest tome A New Kind of Christianity. In this book we finally see where McLaren’s journey has taken him; it has taken him into outright, rank, unapologetic apostasy. He hates God. Period.”
Tim Challies is not alone – Kevin DeYoung is planning a three-part review, and Mike Wittmer (who teaches Theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary) has also been analysing the book.
Brian McLaren was invited to speak at the 2008 Lambeth Conference.
(Photo: brianmclaren.net)
Latest Anglicare newsletter online
Anglicare’s latest CARE newsletter is now online.
“Commencing a new year, I realise perhaps more than ever, that faith is the glue that holds our work together. Amidst all the necessary planning, thinking, meetings and sheer hard work we undertake at ANGLICARE, faith in Jesus Christ is indispensible.” – Anglicare CEO Peter Kell.
Reduce your carbon footprint for Lent — bishops
“British church leaders are encouraging people to give up their iPods for Lent, to help save the planet. The Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, and the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, are among those calling for a carbon fast for Lent…”
– Report from News.com.au. See the related Tearfund UK press release – and also this from Kairos (Canada) ‘Carbon Fast for Lent’.
(Lent used to be a time of reflecting on the Lord Jesus Christ and what he laid aside in order to save men and women from hell.) Photo: Bishop Richard Chartres.
Carson at Moore on Christ and Culture
Don Carson spoke at Moore College in April 2008 – and his talks on ‘Christ and Culture’ are now available on the MTC website. (h/t Justin Taylor)
Ridley Preaching Conference 2009
Looking for encouragement in preaching?
Kanishka Raffel, David Jackman and Peter Adam spoke at last year’s Ridley Preaching Conference in Melbourne. You can hear the talks at the Ridley website.
What would the ACNA look like in 3D?
“Last Wednesday’s vote in the English General Synod to ‘recognize and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) to remain within the Anglican family’ was a very positive step forward. …
But taking part in a BBC television debate yesterday about the future of the Anglican Communion… brought home to me that the theological truth of the ‘fork in the road’ embodied in the GAFCON Jerusalem Statement and Declaration of 2008 needs to be kept crystal clear if this process of recognition is going to bear good fruit and not be terminally compromised by institutionalists …”
– Charles Raven writes at SPREAD.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…