Global South Encounter 4

The Fourth Global South Anglican South to South Encounter (GSE4) will be held next week at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Singapore, and prayers are urged for this strategic meeting. Pray also for those travelling from Sydney for this event.

A prayer guide has been prepared by the Church of Uganda. See it here.

Free wallpaper from Southern Cross

SydneyAnglicans.net has made available (for a limited time!) wallpaper for your computer screen – from a cartoon by Southern Cross Art director Steve Mason. Wonderful.

Scroll to the bottom of this page to download your copy.

Kept low for your own safety

Wise words from C H Spurgeon –

“God blesses us all up to the full measure and extremity of what it is safe for him to do. If you do not get a blessing, it is because it is not safe for you to have one. If our heavenly Father were to let your unhumbled spirit win a victory in his holy war, you would pilfer the crown for yourself, and meeting with a fresh enemy you would fall a victim; so that you are kept low for your own safety.

When a man is sincerely humble, and never ventures to touch so much as a grain of the praise, there is scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of all grace, and fits us to deal efficiently with our fellow men. True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden.”

– Charles Spurgeon, Morning & Evening, April 5 – via Of First Importance.

Communiqué from The Primates’ Council of GAFCON/FCA

From the GAFCON Primates:

“We believe that it is only by a theologically grounded, biblically shaped reformation such as the one called for by the Jerusalem Declaration that God’s Kingdom will advance. The Anglican Communion will only be able to fulfil its gospel mandate if it understands itself to be a community gathered around a confession of faith rather than an organisation that has its primary focus on institutional loyalty.”

April 10, 2010

Communiqué from The Primates’ Council Of GAFCON/FCA

Grateful for the gracious guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the leadership of the Most Reverend Peter J. Akinola, the Primates Council of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON/FCA) met in Bermuda from April 5 through 9, 2010.  Read more

Abp Orombi to Rowan Williams as the Communion moves ‘further into darkness’

Archbishop of Uganda Henry Orombi has written to the Archbishop of Canterbury about the gradual take-over of “the Anglican Communion”.

“Many of us are in a state of resignation as we see how the Communion is moving away further and further into darkness…”

His letter is worth reading in full. Text below, or download the PDF file.

9th April 2010

The Most Rev. Rowan Williams
Archbishop of Canterbury
Lambeth Palace
London

Your Grace,

Easter greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In February I read with great interest Bishop Mouneer Anis’ letter of resignation from the Joint Standing Committee. I am grateful for his clarity and honesty. He has verbalized very well what many of us have thought and felt, and inspired me to write, as well.

As you know from our private conversations, I have absented myself for principled reasons from all meetings of the Joint Standing Committee since our Primates meeting in Dar es Salaam in 2007.

The first meeting of the Joint Standing Committee was later that year in New Orleans. At our Primates meeting in February 2007, we made certain requests of the Episcopal Church. In our Dar es Salaam communiqué we did not envision interference in the American House of Bishops while they were considering our requests. For me to participate in a meeting in New Orleans before the 30th September deadline would have violated our hard-won agreement in Dar es Salaam and would have been another case of undermining our instruments of communion. My desire to uphold our Dar es Salaam communiqué was intended to strengthen our instruments of communion so we would be able to mature into an even more effective global communion of the Church of Jesus Christ than in the past.

Subsequent meetings of the Joint Standing Committee have included the Primate of the Episcopal Church (TEC) and other members of TEC, who are the very ones who have pushed the Anglican Communion into this sustained crisis. How can we expect the gross violators of Biblical Truth to sanction their own discipline when they believe they have done nothing wrong and further insist that their revisionist theology is actually the substance of Anglicanism? We have only to note the recent election and confirmation of an active Lesbian as a Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles to realize that TEC has no interest in “gracious restraint,” let alone a moratorium on the things that have brought us to this point of collapse. It is now impossible to regard their earlier words of “regret” as a serious gesture of reconciliation with the rest of the Communion.

Together with Bishop Mouneer, I am equally concerned, as you know, about the shift in the balance of powers among the Instruments of Communion. It was the Primates in 2003 who requested the Lambeth Commission on Communion that ultimately produced the Windsor Report. It was the Primates who received the Windsor Report at our meeting in Dromantine in 2005. It was the Primates, through our Dromantine Communique, who presented the appropriate “hermeneutic” through which to read the Windsor Report. That “hermeneutic,” however, has been obscured by the leadership at St. Andrew’s House who somehow created something we never envisioned called the “Windsor Process.”

The Windsor Report was not a “process.” It was a Report, commissioned by the Primates and received by the Primates. The Primates made specific and clear requests of TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada. When TEC, particularly, did not clearly answer our questions, we gave them more time in 2007 to clarify their position.

Suddenly, though, after the 2007 Primates Meeting in Dar es Salaam, the Primates no longer had a role to play in the very process they had begun. The process was mysteriously transferred to the Anglican Consultative Council and, more particularly, to the Joint Standing Committee. The Joint Standing Committee has now evolved into the “Standing Committee.” Some suggest that it is the Standing Committee “of the Anglican Communion.”

There is, however, no “Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion”. The Standing Committee has never been approved in its present form by the Primates Meeting or the Lambeth Conference. Rather, it was adopted by itself, with your approval and the approval of the ACC. The fact that five Primates are included in no way represents our Anglican understanding of the role of Primates as metropolitan bishops of their provinces.

Anglicanism is a church of Bishops and, at its best, is conciliar in its governance. The grave crisis before us as a Communion is both a matter of faith as well as order. Matters of faith and order are the domain of Bishops. In a Communion the size of the Anglican Communion, it is unwieldy to think of gathering all the Bishops of the Communion together more frequently than the current pattern of every ten years. That is why the Lambeth Conference in 1998 resolved that the Primates Meeting should be able to “exercise an enhanced responsibility in offering guidance on doctrinal, moral and pastoral matters.” (Resolution III.6).

What has emerged, however, is the Standing Committee being given “enhanced responsibility” and the Primates being given “diminished responsibility,” even in regard to a process begun by them. Indeed, this Standing Committee has granted itself supreme authority over Covenant discipline in the latest draft. Under these circumstances, it has not been possible for me to participate in meetings of the Joint Standing Committee that has taken upon itself authority it has not been given.

Accordingly, I stand with my brother Primate, Bishop Mouneer Anis, in his courageous decision to resign from the Standing Committee. Many of us are in a state of resignation as we see how the Communion is moving away further and further into darkness, especially since the Primates’ meeting in Dar es Salaam.

Your Grace, I have urged you in the past, and I will urge you again. There is an urgent need for a meeting of the Primates to continue sorting out the crisis that is before us, especially given the upcoming consecration of a Lesbian as Bishop in America. The Primates Meeting is the only Instrument that has been given authority to act, and it can act if you will call us together.

The agenda for that meeting should be set by the Primates themselves at the meeting, and not by any other staff in advance of the meeting. I reiterate this point because you will recall our cordial December 2008 meeting with you, Chris Smith, and the other GAFCON Primates in Canterbury where we discussed the agenda for the Primates meeting to take place in Alexandria the following month. None of our submissions were included in the agenda. Likewise, at the beginning of the January 2009 Primates meeting I was asked to present a position paper on the effect of the crisis in the Communion from our perspective, but I was not informed in advance, so I did not come prepared. Yet, other presenters, including TEC and Canada, were given prior information and came very prepared. I have never received a formal written apology about that incident, and it has caused me to wonder if there are two standards at work in how a Primate is treated.

Finally, the meeting should not include the Primates of TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada who are proceeding with unbiblical practices that contradict the faith of Anglicanism. We cannot carry on with business as usual until order is brought out of this chaos.

Yours, in Christ,
The Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi
ARCHBISHOP OF CHURCH OF UGANDA.

xc:    Primates, Moderators, and Members of the Standing Committee of the ACC

(via e-mail).

9Marks on Deacons

Yes, it’s written from a Baptist perspective, but as usual, the 9Marks eJournal is full of helpful and through-provoking ideas.

“Jesus came to deacon (Mark 10:45; Rom. 15:8).

So did Paul, Apollos, and Tychicus (1 Cor. 3:5, 6; Eph. 3:7; 6:21; Col. 4:7). And the greatest among us will be deacons (Mark 10:43). It’s not a bad label to wear, apparently.

The New Testament only mentions this unassuming office two, maybe three times (Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:8-13; cf. Rom. 16:1). But pay attention. It seems to direct the deacon’s attention to the church’s physical good, which in turn will serve the church’s spiritual good. The deacon is a unity builder—and shock absorber! There should be nothing unspiritual about a deacon.

What about your church? Do you officially recognize anyone as a deacon? Doing so publicly holds forth models of Christian love and service. We hope these articles will stimulate you to consider why and how to employ such individuals in your congregation.”

Archbishop Okoh’s Easter message

The central message of the Christian Gospel is that God through Christ was reconciling the world to Himself and has given us the ministry of reconciliation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By this, the walls of hostilities erected in the past by human prejudices and racial idiosyncrasies had been pulled down. God is now available to whoever approaches Him with an open and clean hearts.

This means that in Christ, there is a new community that finds its anchorage and power in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Consequently, there is both unfettered relationship vertically and horizontally.

The Christian Community which came out of the life of Christ, therefore, is a community of peace irrespective of race, religion, sex, ethnicity or economic status. As we celebrate the victory of Christ, in the resurrection over the power of sin, death and evil of all descriptions, we call on all Nigerians, Christians and non-christians alike to seek, pursue and promote peace in their different local contexts.

It must be emphasized that the frequent disturbances in our country are avoidable distractions. Therefore, in the interest of peace, which is a pre-requisite for good government, economic growth, industrial peace and harmony as well as the general well-being of Nigerians, we call upon leaders at all levels across religious boundaries, to enjoin their followers to be bearers of the message of peace in their utterances and actions. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” John 14:27.

The Most Revd. Nicholas Okoh
Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria
4th April, 2010

– from the Church of Nigeria website.

Rise Up, O You Sleeper, Awake: Jesus Makes All Things New!

Andrew Peterson has made available a free song from his album The Resurrection Letters volume 2. A beautiful reflection on the new creation.

“Come broken and weary
Come battered and bruised
My Jesus makes all things new
All things new …”

See the lyrics and download the mp3 file at Between Two Worlds.

Mark Ashton with Christ this Easter

“Mark Ashton, Vicar of St Andrew the Great Church in Cambridge (STAG) since 1987, died this last Saturday from cancer at the age of 62.

He had known he was dying for over a year, and used that time to strengthen his witness to the Christian hope of salvation through the death and Resurrection of Jesus – a hope which he offered faithfully throughout his ministry. He has served the Lord and the Lord’s people with faithfulness and distinction, and many others have come to the Lord through him. Alleluia!…”

– David Thomson, Bishop of Huntingdon in the Diocese of Ely, is one of many who have written with thanksgiving for the life and ministry of Mark Ashton. See also Mark’s words of testimony on the linked video.

Gavin McGrath also thanks God for Mark Ashton, and John Allister shares these words.

Please uphold in prayer all of Mark’s family, and the church at Cambridge at this time.

Why the National Curriculum Must include the Bible

“Dousing the fire and brimstone of politics for a moment, the question has to be asked: Why?

Why shouldn’t elements of the Bible be taught in public schools? It has had an unparalleled impact on Western culture, history, music, the arts, politics, morality, law and literature.

Are we embarrassed about our country’s foundations or, worse, have we become intellectual cowards?…”

– Scott Monk in a thoughtful opinion piece in Quadrant Online. (h/t Andrew Cameron.)

L’Abri & Francis Schaeffer Online

The L’Abri website has made its library available online. Many lectures and talks, including a large number by Francis Schaeffer, are available for download.

(h/t Todd Shaffer at Faith by Hearing.)

G W Bromiley on The Resurrection

“Every churchman claims to believe in the resurrection of the dead. In all ages, however, this Christian truth has been both attacked and misunderstood. Probably misunderstanding is the greater danger. It usually has its origin in a deliberate attempt to re-state the Christian teaching in a form acceptable to non-Christian thought.

In the present age there is particular need that Christians should fully understand and fully proclaim the truth of resurrection. There are many reasons why this should be so…”

– Church Society has republished this booklet by Dr Geoffrey W Bromiley.
(Image: by Don Milici via Christianity Today.)

Rowan Williams on the uniqueness of Christ

“On 2 March Rowan Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury delivered a lecture in Guildford, England entitled ‘The Finality of Christ in a Pluralist World’. It presents as a meditation on John 14:5–6 and Acts 4:8–13…”

– So, exactly what does the Archbishop of Canterbury say about the uniqueness of Christ? See what ACL President Mark Thompson thinks – at Theological Theology.

The answer to my doubts

“I find no balm for a sore conscience, and a troubled heart, like the sight of Jesus dying for me on the accursed tree.

There I see that a full payment has been made for all my enormous debts. The curse of that law which I have broken has come down on One who there suffered in my stead. The demands of that law are all satisfied. Payment has been made for me, even to the uttermost farthing. It will not be required twice over.

Ah! I might sometimes imagine I was too bad to be forgiven. My own heart sometimes whispers that I am too wicked to be saved. But I know in my better moments this is all my foolish unbelief. I read an answer to my doubts in the blood shed on Calvary. I feel sure that there is a way to heaven for the very vilest of men, when I look at the cross.”

— J.C. Ryle, Old Paths. (With thanks to Of First Importance.)

John Piper on Rick Warren

John Piper explains why he has asked Rick Warren to speak at the 2010 Desiring God Conference.

For another perspective see John Macarthur’s comments on The Purpose Driven Life. And pray that Christ will be honoured, and the gospel made clear, in all the discussion of these things.

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