Moore College open night — Monday 27th August

“An informal night to come along and check out the College and find out for yourself what Moore is all about.”

– Details from Moore College.

350th Anniversary of the Book of Common Prayer

Bishop Paul Barnett give thanks for the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and points out three characteristics –

1. The BCP expresses a faith that is ‘catholic’.
2. The BCP expresses a faith that is ‘reformed’.
3. The BCP expresses a faith that is defended liturgically.

He goes on to comment on some recent trends –

“Post-modernism puts emphasis on the individual and evangelicals tend to be robust individuals. Many depart from the principle of commonality and uniformity and design their own services away from BCP. There is one Bible reading (or even none); there is no creed (or just occasionally); there is no calendar and no collects.

For them preaching the preacher is the all-important thing. The loss of liturgy means that the voice of the congregation is substantially silenced. Leaving only a single voice of the leader or preacher.

The preacher has replaced the liturgy as the defender of true doctrine…”

– But read it all here.

Even Barry Jones gets it wrong…

“To disagree with Barry Jones feels like taking on the Encyclopaedia Britannica. You know he knows more than you do before you start, and whatever you do know, he will be able to show you that you are wrong.

This, of course, is to do him a great disservice. As a previous Federal Minister for Science and a keen educationalist, Barry Jones has always promoted the idea of inquiry, challenging ideas and public debate.

So, with some residual reservation of a child listening to the quiz show where Barry’s prodigious knowledge first came to public attention, I would like to challenge the public intellectual’s understanding of the relation of church and state in Australia. …”

– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column.

Moore College Sunday — 19th August

Just a reminder to pray for Moore College (and not just this Sunday).

Resources here.

David Cook next Moderator-General of Presbyterian Church of Australia

via Gary Ware. (David is well known and loved by many Sydney Anglicans, having studied at Moore College, and spoken at many conferences and conventions. He is the former Principal of SMBC. David has been preaching at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London in recent months.)

Why Johnny can’t sing hymns

The latest White Horse Inn broadcast –

“What is the impact of technology on the way we live and think as Christians? How has popular culture changed the way we worship on Sunday mornings? On this edition of the White Horse Inn, Michael Horton discusses these issues with T. David Gordon, author of Why Johnny Can’t Preach, and Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns.”

– Plenty of food for thought for ministers and congregations. Well worth listening. 36 minutes.

When to jump ship?

“Anyone in a mainline denomination infected by liberalism, or some other divergence from the evangelical faith, will have faced the question of when to stay or when to go? How bad does the denomination have to get before you decide to abandon ship? Recently, this question came closer to home as an evangelical Anglican pastor in Australia, when a bishop in another diocese knowingly appointed a clergyman in an open same-sex relationship to charge of a parish. …”

– Over at The Briefing, Sandy Grant mulls the question – with help from John Charles Ryle.

‘Church leaders pay tribute as Bishop Wallace Benn nears retirement’

The Church of England Newspaper has a report on the coming retirement of Wallace Benn, Bishop of Lewes.
(Photo:Peter Frank / GAFCON.)

Applying the Bible to applying the Bible

Tonight’s public Moore College Lecture for 2012 – given by the Rev. Chris Green from Oak Hill College in London – was streamed live on the web. If you missed it, you can watch the full lecture here.

Info on the upcoming lectures here.

Challenging equality Britain

“George Orwell’s famous allegory, Animal Farm, gave us the wry phrase, ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’. It brought out the way that you could have all the talk about equality and rights, but that it actually worked out with inequalities and with favoured groups. In Animal Farm, you remember, it was the pigs who ended up more equal than others.

I suspect that is how many Christians are coming to think about equality Britain. It’s a Britain where comedians are feted for their ‘daring’ in taking on the Christian religion on national TV, while never quite having the bottle to dish out equal satire to the equally fervent Richard Dawkins. It’s a Britain where major human rights abuses against Christians in countries such as North Korea or Syria are not reported as such.

It’s a Britain where you pray with someone in hospital at your peril, in case some third party takes offence. It’s a Britain where a prime minister appears to be under the impression that he can change what constitutes marriage. I suspect many of us find ourselves both frustrated and bewildered. How did it come to this?…”

– Oak Hill Principal Mike Ovey writes in the latest issue of Oak Hill’s Commentary magazine – available as a 6.4MB PDF file. Download it for the many worthwhile articles.

New CMS Victoria State Director

“The Revd Dr Jonathan Wei-Han Kuan has been appointed the new State Director of the Church Missionary Society in Victoria, the Chair of the Victorian Branch Council of CMS, Pam Thyer, has announced.

Dr Kuan will take up his appointment on Monday 24 September…”

– CMS Victoria media release, via Anglican Media Melbourne.

Preserving the Gospel in the Seminary

in March last year, Albert Mohler (President of Southern Baptist Seminary) and Peter Lillback (President of Westminster Seminary) spoke about the history of their seminaries. It’s a good reminder of what needs to be preserved. From ‘Christ the Center’. (Audio & video here, or on YouTube – via Justin Taylor.)

The Two-Pronged Strategy of a Master Evangelist

“It’s amazing how culture changes and we don’t notice it. The practices that one generation took for granted become unknown, and slightly shocking, to a later generation. Even for those of us who live through the change it happens too incrementally for us to observe it. It is when we revisit the old times that we detect how much we have changed – sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, and often without any real difference.

Recently, I had the privilege of publicly interviewing John Chapman as he recounted his many decades of Christian ministry. In the interview, he unwittingly challenged us about changes happening that neither he nor we had noticed. …”

– Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column. (Photo: John Chapman, 1980.)

President’s Address — Dr Mark Thompson at the 2012 ACL Annual General Meeting

At the Anglican Church League’s Annual General Meeting tonight, outgoing President Mark Thompson gave his last address as President –

“For seven years I have been the President of the League, and as you know, tonight that privilege and responsibility will pass to another.”

Read more

Gav Poole elected President of the Anglican Church League

Media release, 9th August 2012

At its Annual General Meeting on 9 August, the Anglican Church League elected the Rev Gavin Poole, Rector of Cherrybrook Anglican Church, as its new President. Mr Poole succeeds the Rev Dr Mark Thompson who had been the President of the League since 2005.

Dr Thompson spoke enthusiastically about the new president.

‘Gavin brings to this role his wealth of experience as a Rector in the diocese, as part of a ministry team in the United States for several years, and helped organise the FCA Leaders’ conference in London this year’, he said.

‘He is deeply committed to the evangelical character of our diocese and the importance of the work of the League in guarding and growing that critical inheritance. He is an excellent choice to lead the League into the next period of its life.’

Gavin commented,

‘I have a strong appreciation for this diocese and its evangelical heritage. We must work hard to maintain and build upon that which has been left to us by our evangelical forefathers. I am also thankful for the way Mark has served the ACL over the past 7 years. I look forward to serving in this capacity.’

The ACL Council encourages prayer for Gavin as he takes up his new responsibilities.

(Photo: The four most recent Presidents, left to right: The Rev. Gav Poole, Outgoing President Dr. Mark Thompson, Previous Presidents Rev. Zac Veron and Canon Bruce Ballantine-Jones.)

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