Iain Murray on reading church history

“The reason church history is not always thrilling is that people do not read it around the flesh-and-blood figures of men and women whom God used to shape its course.

Biographies raise the questions: Why were individuals so used? What made Mary Slessor or William Carey? What are the abiding spiritual lessons? Biographies show that doctrinal belief is not a secondary or theoretical thing; rather, it has vital consequence in the way Christians live. Weak doctrine produces weak lives. Those who ‘turn the world upside down’ are always those ’mighty in the Scriptures.’…”

– from an interview with Iain Murray (the Banner of Truth founder) at Ligonier Ministries.

The Horn of Africa Famine Crisis Appeal

“The Archbishop of Sydney, The Most Rev Dr Peter Jensen,through Anglican Aid, is seeking the goodwill of all Sydney Anglicans to show an extraordinary outpouring of compassion and generosity to raise $500,000 for drought and famine relief for the peoples of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.”

– Read about Anglican Aid’s latest appeal here.

ACL subscription reminder

Here’s a friendly reminder for members of the Anglican Church League.

Subscriptions for 2011/12 are now due. If you have not paid since April, we would very much appreciate it if you could please do so here (Paypal and credit cards). Alternatively you could download the renewal form (PDF) to post with your payment. Thank you for your support!

With thanks for John Stott

“His death has made me realise afresh that I’ve been reading John Stott all my Christian life. The Cross of Christ is still my favourite among his books, but My Confirmation, as I have said, shaped me at a very significant stage of my development. Tapes of his sermons, books and articles written by him have been helpful in the years that followed. I’ve read his last few books with particular interest. They are the lasting testaments of an elder statesman, deceptively simple and yet rich in biblical truth and gospel wisdom. …”

– At his blog, Mark Thompson expands on his earlier tribute to John Stott.

Christ abolished death

“The death of the evangelical Anglican preacher and author John Stott at the age of 90 has been greeted with acclamatory obituaries in the leading newspapers of the English-speaking world. This was a man named by Time magazine as among the top 100 influential people on the planet in 2005. So what was all the fuss about?…”