Last words: Archbishop Peter Jensen’s 2012 Synod Address

[Updated with video.]

Last night Archbishop Peter Jensen gave his last Presidential Address to the Synod of the Diocese of Sydney.

There was much encouragement as well as sober exhortation –

“I have never had such good opportunities in speaking to people about Jesus as in the last few three or four years. Our theory of Connect 09 is true – there are people everywhere who would like to know the gospel and will want us to befriend them. In particular lay people are ideally placed to quietly but confidently share Christ and show what a difference he makes.”

Hear (77 minutes / 53MB mp3) or read (PDF) Archbishop Jensen’s full address.

Video: – part 1 (first 35 minutes), part 2 (if you watch nothing else, watch the first 8 minutes of part 2).

It is well worth setting aside the time to hear or watch the whole address.

Report from Anglican Media Sydney.

Meet the new Presbyterian Moderator-General

The Pulse, the magazine of the Presbyterian Church in NSW & ACT, has a profile on Moderator-General-designate David Cook. Himself a Moore College graduate, David served as the Principal of SMBC for 26 years.

Read the profile here or on page 7 of the October 2012 edition of The Pulse (PDF). h/t Gary Ware.

Reform National Conference 2012

Reform has posted online audio from their recent UK National Conference, including –

Lessons from America – Martyn Minns
Culture in Crisis – Melvin Tinker
Gospel Trials in 1662: to stay or to go – Peter Adam.

Creeds and Confessions in the Contemporary Church

Carl Trueman was interviewed on the role of creeds and confessions in the church – at Christ the Center broadcast.

Where general church culture is increasingly forgetting the place of creeds, this is worth hearing. The interview starts 5:15 into the audio file.

Related: See also the video about Trueman’s new book The Creedal Imperative here. (Availability.)

Sydney Synod to begin Monday

The Synod of the Diocese of Sydney begins its 2012 gathering on Monday.

Please pray for all of the Synod members, and all the support staff and helpers who serve in many different ways.

Please particularly uphold in prayer Archbishop Peter Jensen as he delivers his last Address as President of the Synod.

Pray that the Lord Jesus would be glorified in all the discussions and deliberations of the Synod.

Related: Introduction-to-Synod videos.

Why Archbishops must lead Theologically

The latest issue of The Australian Church Record (number 1906 / October 2012) is now available for download at their website.

Here’s the Editorial –   Read more

The Power of overlooking an Offense

“In her masterful biography of Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin records an interesting story in the mid-1850’s, when Lincoln was in the middle of his career in law. The story shines light on Lincoln’s ability to overlook major personal offenses. …”

– Trevin Wax gives an illustration with wide contemporary application. (h/t Tim Challies.)

Archbishop Wabukala condemns attack on Nairobi Sunday School

“Following the explosive attack at Anglican Church of Kenya St. Polycarp Parish on Juja Road in Nairobi yesterday, Archbishop Dr. Eliud Wabukala joined other religious leaders in condemning the explosive attack. …

‘This is a cruel provocation, but I appeal to Christians not to feed violence with violence, either in word or deed, because we are called to overcome evil with good’…”

– from The Anglican Communion News Service.

Preaching Matters

The beginnings of a what looks to be wonderful video resource from Great St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.

Preaching Matters. (h/t Reformation21.)

October — November Prayer Notes from DNWA

Bishop of Northwest Australia, Gary Nelson, writes:

“Dear Praying Friends,

It is such a delight and encouragement to hear about the many who are praying for gospel work in the north-west. It’s certainly a matter for rejoicing in the Lord. I know it is very easy to get anxious about the ordinary things of life, let alone the responsibility of Christian service. So Paul’s words to his friends in Philippi are such a terrific reminder that when we’re anxious we need to be turning to our loving Father in prayer. …”

– Download the latest Prayer Notes & Bishop’s Letter here (PDF).

Speaking of Prayer, there’s a request to pray for “God to raise up someone to minister in the parish of Paraburdoo-Tom Price”.

The hermeneutics of homosexuality: A response to Michael Kirby

“In his winsome way, the Honourable Michael Kirby introduces his recent Marshall Memorial Lecture with a surprising autobiographical account of his Sydney Anglican Protestant credentials, given the more Melbourne Anglo-Catholic audience…”

– On the ABC’s Religion and Ethics website, Gordon Preece (co-editor of Sexegesis) responds to a lecture by Michael Kirby, also published on that website.

Related posts.

‘Churchman’ digitised for the Web

“Church Society are pleased to report that Rob Bradshaw, Director of “Theology on the Web”, has recently digitised and uploaded to the internet, most back articles of Churchman (est 1879), dating from the 1920s. In total Rob has uploaded 3,531 individual Churchman articles to his Biblical Studies website, for which the Council of Church Society express their deep gratitude.

Click here to view the Churchman page on Rob’s Biblical Studies website. It is hoped in due course that these files will also be made available on the Churchman website. …”

– from Church Society’s EV News.

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