Lanced
“I find that there are many uncomfortable reflections that the Armstrong story continues to raise: questions about hero-worship, self-justification, self-righteousness and our powerful urge to find scapegoats. …”
– Nick Tucker at Oak Hill College in London sees the Armstrong confessions as a lesson to us all.
C of E House of Laity rejects vote of no confidence in Chairman
“The Church of England website reports today that the House of Laity, meeting in Church House, Westminster today, rejected a motion of no confidence in its Chair, Dr Philip Giddings, with 47 voting for the motion and 80 voting against, with 13 abstentions.
The motion was brought by Mr Stephen Barney, a lay canon of Leicester Cathedral, who said he had lost confidence in Dr Giddings as Chair of the House of Laity following Dr Giddings’ speech in the debate on women bishops legislation in November. …”
– EV News. There are also reports at Anglican Mainstream (of which Dr Giddings is a Trustee). Dr. Giddings had spoken against adopting legislation to allow the consecration of women bishops.
‘How much do you have to hate someone to not proselytise?’
“The Penn and Teller show is a favourite of mine, so I was interested to watch this video of Penn, an atheist, speak about being evangelised. …”
– Steve Kryger at Communicate Jesus links to a very thoughtful video.
Four things Christians can learn from the Lance Armstrong debacle
“The rise and fall of Lance Armstrong should serve as a reminder for us all as to how easy it is for us to allow sin to destroy all that we have.” – Ed Stetzer comments.
‘Egyptian court sentences Christian family to 15 years for converting from Islam’
“The 15-year prison sentence given to a woman and her seven children by an Egyptian court for converting to Christianity is a sign of things to come, according to alarmed human rights advocates …”
– Report from Fox News. (h/t SydneyAnglicans.net)
Testimony of an Unlikely Convert
David Murray at Head Heart Hand writes:
“There are some stories that just need to be told – some testimonies of the Lord’s grace that are so unusual and so encouraging that they will bless everyone who hears them.
This is exactly the case with Rosaria Butterfield who recently authored The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert.”
– He and Tim Challies interviewed Rosaria Butterfield in October 2012 (audio: 20 minutes) – and just last week she was interviewed by Marvin Olansky at Patrick Henry College in Virginia (YouTube: 65 minutes).
She speaks about her journey from a homosexual lifestyle to trust in Christ, and bears witness to those who moved out of their comfort zone to care for her.
Challenging and with much food for thought.
‘Why Steve Chalke is mistaken and the liberality of liberals cannot be trusted’
“Before the vote, there were many people telling the ‘traditionalists’ that they were ‘valued’, that they should be ‘enabled to flourish’, ‘respect’ and so on. …
Unfortunately, when the vote went the ‘wrong’ way, what we saw was not an acknowledgement that the flourishing of traditionalists would have to be sought another way, but an outbreak of something little short of rage and the heaping of opprobrium on those, especially those evangelicals, who had dared to mess things up.”
– John Richardson in the UK reflects, not so much on this week’s announcement by Baptist Minister Steve Chalke affirming same sex relationships, as on words and intentions.
Related:
Steve Chalke affirms same sex partnerships.
The Bible & Homosexuality: a response to Steve Chalke – Evangelical Alliance UK.
Preaching matters (2)
The team at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate have been adding to videos to their Preaching Matters series.
In the latest additions, Charlie Skrine from St. Helen’s shares thoughts on preaching persuasively while Phillip Jensen answers questions on how to apply the Bible.
Both well worth watching.
Priscilla & Aquila Centre conference — 4th February 2013
“Amongst a plethora of conferences to be run this year, one that should not be missed will be held on 4 February at Moore College. It will be run by the Priscilla and Aquila Centre, fast becoming one of the most important venues worldwide for creative thinking about how a commitment to biblical complementarianism might be lived out in the churches and in the world.
This year the conference is entitled ‘Teaching Truth Together’ and the keynote speaker is James de Costobadie from St James Latimer Square in Christchurch.”
– Dr. Mark Thompson commends the coming “Teaching Truth Together'” conference at the Priscilla & Aquila Centre. (Registration closes Monday 21st January!)
Sword of the Spirit — True Spirituality
The Australia Day Convention is coming up on Monday 28th January at the Cathedral.
“The person and work of the Holy Spirit is so important and so misunderstood that instead of doing 1 convention on this topic, we thought we’d do 3! In 2013, Australia Day Convention VI, Easter Convention, and Queen’s Birthday Convention VI will become a trilogy on the Holy Spirit.” Details here.
‘It is no empty word for you, but your very life’ (Deut. 32:47)
At Theological Theology, Peter Bolt, Head of New Testament at Moore College, presents his third and final post responding to recent publications on women preaching to mixed congregations of men and women.
Global South Primates ‘deeply concerned and worried’
The Global South Primates have added their voice to calls for the C of E’s House of Bishops to reverse its stand on Civil Partnerships. See the 12th January 2013 statement here. h/t Anglican Ink.
A wink and a nod?
In this extract from his weekly e-mail, Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council, turns to the announcement from the C of E House of Bishops –
“Orthodox Anglicans, both within the CoE and worldwide, see this for the great mistake and stumble toward the precipice that it is…”
Read below – Read more
The Public Inauguration of a New Moral McCarthyism
“The Presidential Inaugural Committee and the White House have now declared historic, biblical Christianity to be out of bounds, casting it off the inaugural program as an embarrassment. By its newly articulated standard, any preacher who holds to the faith of the church for the last 2,000 years is persona non grata…”
– Albert Mohler on the latest from the thought police.
Related:
The Louie Giglio Moment: Are Evangelicals (and about 4 of 10 American Adults) No Longer Welcome in the Public Square? – Ed Stetzer.
“Simply holding the view held by every Roman pontiff and by every congregation and synagogue in the world until very recent days is enough to make one “radioactive” in public.” – Russell Moore.
The Church of Nigeria responds to the Church of England Bishops and Civil Partnerships
The Church of Nigeria Responds to the Church of England Bishops and Civil Partnerships
“Sadly we must also declare that if the Church of England continues in this contrary direction we must further separate ourselves from it and we are prepared to take the same actions as those prompted by the decisions of The Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada ten years ago.”
Full text:
1. The Bishops of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) meeting for their annual retreat held from Jan 7/11, 2013, at the Ibru Centre, Agbarha Otor, Delta State, Nigeria, heard with dismay the news of the recent action of the Church of England House of Bishops. The decision to permit homosexual clergy in civil partnerships to now be considered for the episcopacy is one step removed from the moral precipice that we have already witnessed in The Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada. Read more
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…