Bruce Winter to retire as QTC Principal

“After five years spearheading a dramatic reversal in fortunes of the Queensland Theological College (QTC), Rev Dr Bruce Winter will step down as principal, while continuing to have an active role in educating theological students as Director of the Institute for Early Christianity at Emmanuel College and in the honoured position of Research Professor at QTC…”

– press release (PDF) from the Queensland Theological College.

‘A not too subtle attempt to mislead’

“The Presiding Bishop and her Executive Council are currently meeting in Fort Worth…

her appearance in Fort Worth was preceded by some unusual shenanigans which seem to have been designed only to mislead, demoralize or confuse the members of one of the larger parishes in Bishop Iker’s Fort Worth Diocese.”

– Lawyer A S Haley (the Anglican Curmudgeon) keeps his eye on TEC’s activity in Fort Worth.

‘Homosexual marriage and the registration of civil partnerships in churches’ in the UK

Media release, via Reform, 16 February 2011 –

“Joint Statement by Affinity, The Christian Institute, Christian Concern, Reform and the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches

There has been speculation in the press about the Government’s proposals for civil partnerships to be registered in places of worship. There has also been speculation, and indeed confusion, over the separate issue of scrapping the definition of marriage in order to allow two people of the same sex to hold a marriage certificate.

Government proposals to allow civil partnerships in churches implement changes made in the 2010 Equality Act. However, there has been no announcement from the Government that it has any plans to introduce full same-sex marriage…”

– Read the full statement on the Reform website.

Griffith Thomas’ Principles of Theology – Introduction

Church Society is continuing to post online sections from Griffith Thomas’ classic work, Principles of Theology. They’ve just added his Introduction. At Church Society.

Don Carson on the Church — at YEMA

Don Carson spoke at the 2011 Yorkshire Evangelical Ministry Assembly two weeks ago. His topic? The Church.

The Yorkshire Gospel Partnership has graciously made the audio files available on their website. (h/t Unashamed Workman.)

Moravians in ‘full communion’ with TEC

“With an evening Eucharist Feb. 10 that blended elements of the liturgical and musical practices of both traditions, representatives of the Episcopal Church and the two provinces of the Moravian Church in North America formally inaugurated a full-communion relationship between the denominations. …

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Moravian Provincial Elders Conference presidents, the Rev. Dr. Elizabeth D. Miller (Northern Province) and the Rev. David Guthrie (Southern Province) officiated at the service…”

– from The Episcopal News Service. (Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg.)

An Exposition of the Theses — 1

“A number of people have suggested that, like Luther, I should expand on the theses I posted to help people think through the basis of a new reformation of the Anglican Communion. Luther’s Resolutiones disputationum de indulgentiarum virtute was published in 1518 and sought to explain the basis for each of the 95 theses. I have already risked mockery for being so presumptuous as to write the twelve theses I posted in January. Who do I think I am to suggest such a theological basis for the necessary change? But now do I dare go further and explain my own theses as Luther did?

I have decided it is worth doing, if for no other reason than the opportunity to clarify my own thinking and make it just a little more difficult for my words to be misunderstood…”

– Mark Thompson expands his thoughts at Theological Theology.

‘Suppressing the truth’

In his latest video discussion with Anglican TV’s Kevin Kallsen, Bishop Gregory Venables points to Romans 1 as the key to understanding the ills of the Anglican Communion.

Another devastating analysis of the Dublin Primates’ meeting.

2011 DG Conference for Pastors

Audio and video from the 2011 Desiring God Conference for Pastors is now available on the Desiring God website.

This year’s theme: The Powerful Life of the Praying Pastor.

‘Catholic church gives blessing to iPhone app’

“The Catholic Church has approved an iPhone app that helps guide worshippers through confession…”
– report from BBC News.

(These apps may be more helpful for you.)

ARCIC III — ‘an ecumenical farce’

Former Anglo-Catholic priest, and now Roman Catholic writer (and author of What Will Happen to God?) William Oddie, writes about ARCIC III –

“The trouble with ARCIC always was (as a former Catholic member of it once explained to me) that on the Catholic side of the table you have a body of men (mostly bishops) who represent a more or less coherent view, being members of a Church which has established means of knowing and declaring what it believes.

On the Anglican side of the table you have a body of men (and it was only men, on both sides, in those days) the divisions between whom are just fundamental as, and sometimes a lot more fundamental than, those between any one of them and the Catholic representatives they faced: they all represented only themselves.”

– from The Catholic Herald (h/t Anglican Mainstream.)

To make ARCIC even more problematic for the Roman Catholic side, the Anglican Church of Canada’s Bishop Linda Nicholls has been appointed as an Anglican representative.

(Photo: Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.)

C of E General Synod 2011 Reports

David Phillips, Church Society General Secretary, is posting summaries of this week’s Church of England General Synod, meeting in London.

Monday 7th February,
to come: Tuesday 8th February, Wednesday 9th February.

Updated website for Reform

Reform, in the UK, has updated their website – including a video from Rod Thomas, explaining what Reform is about.

‘Thank God for those primates who were not at Dublin’

“During his closing press conference, Dr. Williams stated that there was “unfinished business” for the Church in regards to the eligibility of non-celibate homosexuals as bishops.

Did he mean by this that the door remains open, in his mind, to adjust the settled teaching of the Anglican Communion (Lambeth 1.10 (1979)) to permit the ordination and consecration of non-celibate gay and lesbians to leadership within the church? Whatever the answer to that question, the Archbishop of Canterbury has made clear that he is not willing to apply any discipline whatsoever to cure what ails the Communion.”

–  Canon Phil Ashey writes in his weekly e-mail update from the American Anglican Council.

Theses for a new reformation in the Anglican Communion

At his blog, Theological Theology, ACL President Mark Thompson contemplates “doing a Luther” for the Anglican Communion. Very helpful. He writes –

“Speaking prior to last week’s meeting of some of the Anglican Primates in Dublin, Bishop Mouneer Anis spoke of the need for a new reformation within the Anglican Communion. The failure of its current leadership to guard and proclaim the gospel, to live consistently according to the teaching of Scripture, and to discipline those who would undermine the faith and the godly lifestyle of Christians around the world, cannot go unchecked forever.

Of course we should recognise that faithful Anglicans around the world have attempted repeatedly to call the denomination back from the brink. In particular, the Global South and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (arising from GAFCON in 2008) have been crystal clear in their stand for biblical truth and for integrity in our personal and corporate lives in line with the teaching of Scripture. Yet to this point their protest, and the message they have promoted so consistently, have been steadfastly ignored. Bureaucrats from the Anglican Communion Office (amongst whom the most notorious is Canon Kenneth Kearon) have ensured a distorted version of the facts reaches the world’s media and even the church press. The false shepherds continue to protect themselves at the expense of the people of God. And so the crisis goes on.   Read more

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