Prayers for pastoral ministry

Serving in the bush — especially if you the bishop — can involve a great deal of travel. Bishop David Mulready of North West Australia writes:

“On May 7, we leave Geraldton again and fly to Perth in order to fly to Broome, Kununurra and Wyndham for our annual visit. Whilst at Broome, I will drive 600km with Tim Mildenhall to visit Michael and Faye working in the Looma Community, then Derby to visit Pastor Timothy Iga. After a few days in Broome, we’ll fly 1200km to Kununurra to visit the ministry team and Congregations in Kununurra and Wyndham.

On May 14 I will Induct Gary Alexander as the Minister-in-Charge of the East Kimberley Parish and Ordain Andrew Hadfield who is working amongst Indigenous people in Oombulgurri, Wyndham and Kununurra. We fly home via Perth on May 17.

Late June and most of July will be huge with the three week visit of Bishop Joseph and Ann Abura from our link Diocese of Karamoja in Uganda.

On top of that, Maureen and I will be on the road for four weeks visiting Parishes in the Pilbara and Gascoyne, driving 4,000+kms.

That gives you a small taste of what we’ll be doing in the weeks ahead.”

Please keep David and Maureen and those they serve in your prayers.

(More from the DNWA website. Photo with thanks to Outback Magazine.)

Great Jazz to help theology students in poor countries

Moore College External Studies has a great idea to raise support (and awareness) for theology students in poor countries (esp Nigeria, Fiji and Cuba). It involves jazz.

Read about it here – and tell your church!

Presbyterians in the fight for SRE

Presbyterian Youth NSW is also encouraging Christians to go to the Make a Stand / Save Our Scripture website and to make their views known to the NSW government.

See their videos and other resources here.

Col Marshall, MTS, The Trellis and the Vine, and Cricket!

Mark Earngey recently interviewed Col Marshall for his podcast (Pilgrim’s Podcast number 30).

Among other things they speak about his book The Trellis and the Vine – hear it here.

It’s getting dangerous out there — a preacher is arrested in Britain

“We have seen this coming for some time now. The public space has been closing, especially when it comes to Christian speech — and especially when that speech is about homosexuality.

Now, a Christian preacher has been arrested in Britain for the crime of saying in public that homosexuality is a sin. This arrest is more than a news event — it is a signal of things to come and an announcement of a new public reality…”

– Albert Mohler on the wider significance of the arrest of street preacher Dale McAlpine.

SRE on Trial

“On November 25, 2009, the former NSW Premier Nathan Rees made an unprecedented intervention to waive regulations, giving students in State schools the choice between SRE (Special Religious Education) and the trial of Ethics-based classes.

This is against long-standing assurances given by governments and current legislative guidelines where no secular subjects can be taught during the period assigned for SRE.”

See the website.

J. C. Ryle on SermonAudio

SermonAudio has gathered many readings from J. C. Ryle and posted them on their website.

(h/t Faith By Hearing.)

Songs For Little Rooms

Emu Music Australia has released their latest album, Songs For Little Rooms.

“Songs For Little Rooms presents an intimate live recording of new and classic Emu songs. Our aim is to demonstrate how a small music group can provide a big lead in church and how to use your instruments and singers effectively and creatively.”

Sounds great, and includes a DVD. Details and sample audio from the Emu website.

‘Help defend marriage’

A press release from FamilyVoice Australia –

“Until now marriage – the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life – has been the only couple relationship that could be registered under New South Wales law. The reason for this unique treatment of marriage is that:

•    only marriage provides the best environment for raising children – stability plus complementary male and female role models (Mum and Dad);
•    men and women complement each other in marriage – benefiting each other and society.

Now the Keneally government has introduced the Relationships Register Bill 2010, to enable unmarried and same-sex couples to register their relationships in the Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

On 23 April, government MP Barry Collier, on behalf of Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt, said: “Unmarried couples, whether in heterosexual or same-sex relationships, will be able to register their relationships, receive a certificate of registration, and know that their relationship is respected and recognised in New South Wales.”   Read more

The AAC’s Bishop Bill Atwood on GSE4

30 April 2010

“And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you,that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord God of your fathers promised you.” – Deuteronomy 27:2-3

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Clearly, when the Jews left the wilderness and crossed the Jordan to enter the Promised Land, their struggles were not over. They still had many challenges and battles to fight, but the passage of crossing the Jordan was a tremendously important one, and the Lord called them to mark it with large stones.

The Fourth Global South Encounter (GSE4) that was just held in Singapore was a huge passage for many, but particularly so for the Anglican Church in North America. I have noted with interest that some people have expressed great disappointment with the lack of “action,” but I’d like to suggest that they may have missed some points of tremendous significance.   Read more

Thomas Cranmer’s ‘True and Catholick Doctrine of the Sacrament’

In 1990, D A Scales wrote a paper for Churchman on Cranmer’s doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. Church Society has just republished it.

“The doctrine of the Lord’s Supper was not unimportant in Cranmer’s eyes, because that Sacrament speaks of the central doctrines of the Christian faith—of salvation through the atoning death of Christ. It was instituted, in St. Paul’s words, to proclaim the Lord’s death till he come: right views of the death of Christ and right views of the sacrament will tend to go together; false views of the sacrament will tend to obscure an understanding of our salvation through the finished work of Christ…”

See it here – PDF file.

Archbishop Mouneer Anis on the Global South

Archbishop Mouneer Anis spoke at last week’s Global South to South Encounter in Singapore. He gave an historical overview of the global south Anglican movement and spoke of the future –

“we are not creating a new Anglican Communion, because we are the Anglican Communion. We need a structure not to compete with the current dysfunctional structure of the Anglican Communion, but to move forward…”

See his address at Anglican TV. (Thanks to Kevin Kallsen.)

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