Barry Newman on Baptism Revisited — full series

Barry Newman has now completed his series of posts revisiting his earlier series on Biblical Baptism – and he’s made them available as a PDF file at his blog.

Sure to provoke discussion.

Smiting Morality with Gospel Joy

John Piper reads a powerful quote from CS Lewis.

Not enough sex talk?

“Gender and sexuality have caused divisions in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. Same-sex unions are upheld in some churches and not in others; the same is true for gay clergy. While there are more than 3,300 churches that affirm lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender congregants, 57 percent of Protestant clergy hardly ever discuss issues specific to the gay and lesbian community.

But according to “Sexuality and Religion 2020,” a report released this week, they probably should. …

“Religious leaders in clergy are not getting the training they need to address sexuality, and 70 percent seldom or never discuss sexuality issues,” said the Rev. Debra Haffner, director of the institute and co-author of the report.”

– Story from The Statesman in Austin, Texas.

The Religious Institute, a pro-homosexual multifaith organisation, has posted their document here. (Is this the training for clergy they had in mind?)

Update: Al Mohler comments.

Why I return with hope from the C of E General Synod

The Rev. Phil Ashey, Chief Operating and Development Officer of the American Anglican Council, and Bishop David Anderson, travelled to the Church of England General Synod to observe the debate on Lorna Ashworth’s Private Member’s Motion.

“I come home with great hope for the future of orthodox, Christ-centered, biblical and missional Anglicanism in North America and the UK.”

Read his report here – and also the report from Bishop David Anderson.

C of E extend pensions to gay partners

“The Church of England has voted to extend the same pension rights to the partners of gay clergy as those now given wives or husbands, officials say…” – Story from UPI.

Lorna Ashworth’s motion on ACNA

Anglican TV has made available the video of Lorna Ashworth’s speech in support of the Anglican Church in North America at the Church of England General Synod.

Votes for 309, against 69, abstentions 17.

Audio of the entire debate is available from the Synod website.

Vanishing Christianity — A Lesson from the Presbyterians

The liberalism of the Presbyterian Church of the USA is not new, but a recent survey highlights the issues. In writing about the survey, Albert Mohler concludes,

“This is a church that has lost its confidence in the Gospel in terms of the clear biblical claim that salvation comes only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. … The crisis has migrated from the pulpits to the pews, and recovery is only a dim and distant hope…”

– The report to which Dr Mohler refers in his article is available here.

(The older, now liberal, PCUSA, about which he writes, should not be confused with the PCA, of which Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, is a member.)

Honour for Sydney churchman

“The deputy chancellor of the Diocese of Sydney, Robert Tong, has been appointed a member of the Order of Australia for services to the Anglican Church. The award was announced on Jan 26 in the Australia Day honours list…”

– The Church of England Newspaper reports the Australia Day Honours – via George Conger’s blog.

Ageless newsletter Feb 2010 online

The February 2010 issue of Ageless, the newsletter of TABA (Ministry To and By the Ageing) is now available as a PDF file from their website.

(TABA is a ministry of the Anglican Deaconess Institution Sydney.)

Anglican Church (of Canada) facing threat of extinction

“The Anglican Church in Canada – once as powerful in the nation’s secular life as it was in its soul – may be only a generation away from extinction, says a just-published assessment of the church’s future.”

– The Globe and Mail reports.

C of E General Synod votes on ACNA

“The Church of England today offered the slenderest of lifelines to the dissident US conservative Episcopalians who split from their church after it elected a gay bishop.

The general synod – the church’s parliament, meeting in London – passed a motion recognising the breakaway group’s desire to remain Anglicans but declined to promise to ally with them in their ongoing wrangles with the mainstream US church…”

– The Guardian reports on the Church of England General Synod vote on the Anglican Church of North America.

For a much more positive assessment, here’s a media release from ACNA —   Read more

Should South Carolina be nervous?

From the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina –

“Recent actions by The Episcopal Church which impact the Diocese of South Carolina have caused the Bishop and Standing Committee to postpone our upcoming Diocesan Convention. Bishop Lawrence has written an important pastoral letter to both the clergy and laity of the Diocese which explain the actions taken.”

– Read Bishop Mark Lawrence’s pastoral letter explaining why he has postponed the diocesan convention. (PDF file.)

Matt Kennedy on ‘Leaving home’ (part 2)

A year ago, Matt Kennedy and his congregation at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Binghamton, New York, lost their property to the Diocese of Central New York. Matt continues the story of what happened next — at Stand Firm. (Missed Part 1?)

Photo: Ten News, Syracuse.

‘Why should I be driven out?’

Bishop of Fulham, and Chairman of Forward in Faith UK, John Broadhurst, was interviewed for this week’s HardTalk on BBC TV. There’s a 2’50” clip here.

The English General Synod: The Centre Cannot Hold

“If Lorna Ashworth’s Private Member’s Motion ‘That this Synod express the desire that the Church of England be in communion with the Anglican Church in North America’  is passed by the Church of England’s General Synod tomorrow,  she will have done  a great service to English Anglicans as well as the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) because it is as much about the English Church as the Church in North America.

She poses precisely the sort of question that the Church of England’s leadership wants to avoid because the ACNA represents a choice which must be made between two incompatible forms of religion – historic biblical Anglicanism and that pseudo- Anglicanism being promoted by TEC and its allies which derives its energy from the spirit of the age rather than the Spirit of Christ.…”

– Charles Raven writes about the choice facing the Church of England General Synod.

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