Jesus, Lord of His Church and of the Church’s Mission

The transcript of Bishop Michael Nazir Ali’s address to the Leaders Conference of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in London last month, has now been posted online.

It’s entitled “Jesus, Lord of His Church and of the Church’s Mission”.

“I was once at a very grand assembly of a denomination in the West, let’s put it like that. It was very grand, very awe-inspiring. But in the middle of it, I had this sense that they had the form of godliness but not the power. You know what I am talking about.

What makes the church has to do with the Gospel, that is to say, everything that the Church needs in its ministry – its life together, its preaching, the celebration of the sacraments – comes about because of the nature of the Gospel itself. In other words, how we are church is not different from what the Gospel is. The Gospel produces what is authentically church.

This is a lesson we must learn again and again if the ecclesia is to be semper reformanda: again and again to check how we are church against the Gospel, and you’d be surprised at how much resistance there is to such an idea in some circles if you put it forward.”

Photo: GAFCON.

Moore Missions 2012 over and out

“Moore College Missions 2012 (held April 29 to May 6) have successfully concluded for another year. It has been a wonderful display of God’s people evangelising…”

– Read it at the Moore College website.

Happy Birthday, New Bible Dictionary

“This month marks the 50th anniversary of The New Bible Dictionary, first published by IVP back in May 1962. Initially edited by James D. Douglas, it featured contributions from a host of evangelical scholars, including Australians like Leon Morris, Donald Robinson, Edwin Judge, Alan Cole, Broughton Knox, and more recently, Peter Jensen and David Peterson…”

– Over at The Briefing, Sandy Grant gives thanks for a most significant and enduring resource.

New Bishop for Wellington, NZ

“Justin Duckworth has been announced as the next Anglican Bishop of Wellington.

And he may just be the least likely-looking bishop ever elected in New Zealand. He has dreadlocks, for starters. He’s usually in shorts and bare feet, too. But the voters in the Diocese of Wellington saw past that…”

– Report from Anglican Taonga. More from the Diocese of Wellington.

Is the Reformation over?

At last month’s Together for the Gospel conference, Carl Trueman spoke at a breakout session on ‘Why the Reformation isn’t over’. He gives five reasons why the Reformation matters in our churches today –

“The Centrality of the Cross, the Centrality of the Word, the Centrality of Assurance, the Centrality of the Pastor, and the Centrality of more than just the gospel.”

Audio here.

Getting the name right: revisionism

“By and large you don’t get too many Jehovah’s Witnesses knocking on doors on the campus of a conservative evangelical theological college like ours. When they do, the odds are that the first question is, ‘What do you think is wrong with the world?’

It’s a searching question because it makes you try and boil down all your misgivings into as small a phrase as possible, preferably even a single word. It makes you focus. The short-hand answer is ‘sin’, and put less technically perhaps something like, ‘We have all loved ourselves at the expense of our love of God and of our neighbours.’

In a similar vein, Anglicans at the moment have to answer the question, ‘What do you think is wrong with the Anglican church worldwide?’ Because there’s a pretty widespread agreement something is. And while it is right to answer that question in terms of sin and a disordered love of self, it is also helpful to try and be a bit more specific…”

– Dr Mike Ovey at Oak Hill College in London reflects on last week’s address by Archbishop Eliud Wabukala at the FCA Leaders Conference.

Churches oppose Greens motion on same sex marriage

Media release from the NSW Council of Churches – 03 May 2012

“The motion, set for debate in the May sittings of the NSW Legislative Council, could be voted on as early as today.”

Churches oppose Greens motion on same sex marriage

The NSW Council of Churches has urged church leaders to publicly oppose a motion by Greens MLC the Hon. Cate Faehrmann supporting same sex marriage and calling on the federal parliament to extend the legal definition of marriage to include same sex couples.

The motion, set for debate in the May sittings of the NSW Legislative Council, could be voted on as early as today.  Read more

Stories from FCA Leaders Conference — Dr William Philip

Dr William Philip from the Church of Scotland was an observer at the FCA Leaders meeting in London. He’s interviewed by Russell Powell in this 2 minute video.

Related: Video of Ministers and Elders Meeting, June 2011 (esp. #3) at St. George’s Tron in Glasgow.

Archbishop Peter Jensen at the FCA Conference: Audio

Hear Archbishop Peter Jensen’s address on “The issues the face us” – given at the  Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Conference evening session on 26th April 2012. (Photo: Russell Powell.)

Reform welcomes FCA commitment

Tuesday 1st May 2012

Rev’d Rod Thomas, Chairman of Reform, the conservative evangelical network in the Church of England, has welcomed the recent statement of commitment at the conclusion of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) conference in London. (to see the FCA statement click here)

He said: “Archbishop Wabukala of Kenya hit the nail on the head when he said the crisis at the heart of the Anglican Communion is ‘not only institutional but spiritual’.

“We see a prime example of this here in the UK. Recent statements from some church leaders in England on issues of human sexuality indicate the full-scale departure from traditional Biblical teaching that a tiny minority are seeking to impose on the Church of England. Their gospel of radical ‘inclusion’ is undermining the Biblical gospel of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. God welcomes those who come to him knowing they need forgiveness. Those who simply want God to affirm their lifestyles have not understood the gospel.

“It is very encouraging therefore to know that the leaders who represent the vast majority of the world’s Anglicans are willing to stand with and support those who wish to hold to the Biblical gospel as being good news from God for a world in desperate need.

“We also agree with Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali’s assessment that the Anglican ‘Instruments of Unity’ have failed dramatically, and encourage the FCA to model an alternative way forward of working together within our Communion across the globe to fulfill Christ’s command to make disciples for Him.

“Here in the UK the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) has been established to do just that – model a new way of working within an Anglican framework and fellowship, with a panel of orthodox Bishops providing oversight to those churches who need it. This solution will not suit all, but it is a much-needed encouragement for some to know that their ministry is recognized and affirmed by a worldwide fellowship of Anglicans.”

– from Reform.

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