Credo Magazine — George Whitefield at 300
“In a day when ears itch and truth is shown the back door, what could be more needed than men who actually preach the Word? George Whitefield (1714-1770) was one of those men.”
– The latest Credo magazine looks at George Whitefield, three hundred years after his birth.
Once were Anglicans
“‘If anyone else thinks they have reason for confidence in their Anglican heritage, I have more.
Baptised an Anglican at three months, confirmed at 11 years, my parents are Anglicans, both sets of grandparents were Anglicans, my father is an Anglican priest, I attended Anglican schools. An Anglican of Anglicans, I studied theology for five years, have served as a curate and vicar for the past twenty, have sat on two General Synods. As to zeal… no one has ever questioned that.’…
Last Friday my licence from the Bishop to serve as vicar of the West Hamilton Parish was withdrawn. It was withdrawn because I had withdrawn my submission to the authority of General Synod. …
In deciding to withdraw my submission to the authority of General Synod I have asserted that the Bible is the Church’s supreme authority.”
– The Rev. Michael Hewat, until now the Vicar of West Hamilton Anglican Church – explains his departure from the Anglican Church – in the Waikato Times.
Related: Update following meeting with Bishop Helen-Ann, 11 July 2014 (PDF at West Hamilton Parish).
“In view of the overwhelming majority supporting Vestry’s and my refusal to submit to the authority of General Synod, Kimberley and I will offer ourselves as pastors to all who wish to remain with us – either here or on another site.”
(and other documents here.)
Please pray for Michael and the congregation in this uncertain time – and give thanks for their obedience to the revealed word of God.
Update, 25 July 2014: “Church defectors forming new flock in funeral home.”
“Former manager of the Diocese of Waikato Russell Armitage said Michael and Kimberley Hewat’s decision was ‘almost incomprehensible’ and took them down a ‘no-exit route into the religious wilderness’. [Oh yes – just like Hebrews 13:13 – ed.]
(Photo: Affirm.)
Melbourne ‘Multifaith Service for Flight MH17 victims’
“A Multifaith Service at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne on Thursday 24 July at 10am will mark the tragic loss last week of 298 lives aboard Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17. The Primate of Australia, the Most Revd Dr Philip Freier, and the Premier of Victoria, the Hon. Dr Denis Napthine…”
– More here.
Flourishing after the consecration of women bishops?
“Many of us in the Church of England today see the consecration of women as bishops to be a departure from God’s revealed plan for the flourishing of his church. As Christians, our basic confession is ‘Jesus is Lord’, and so we believe he must decide how the church is governed…”
– Church Society’s Director Lee Gatiss addresses the new situation in the Church of England.
NEXUS Conference 2014 talks
The talks from the 2014 NEXUS Conference are being posted on their website – see them here. Most encouraging.
Christians raped, murdered and driven from their homes
“For the first time in 1,600 years, Mass is not being said in Mosul: an ancient culture has been wiped out in a matter of weeks.
It’s a war crime that, strangely, no one seems to want to talk about …”
– Opinion piece by Tim Stanley in The Telegraph.
Sydney church member killed on flight MH17
“A western Sydney church is coming to terms with the loss of one of their own, Victor Oreshkin, one of the 298 passengers on MH17. Victor, aged 29, was a core member of the small Slavic Evangelical Pentecostal Church in Lidcombe…
Victor had been studying a Certificate of Theology part-time with Morling College in Sydney and was due to start his next subject — Old Testament — on Tuesday night this week.”
ACL President’s Address — 2014 AGM
President of the Anglican Church League, the Rev. Gav Poole, spoke at tonight’s ACL Annual General Meeting –
“Psalm 145 is a song of praise about ‘praise’. The only fitting praise for the LORD, is perfect praise. Praise that is declared everyday, everywhere for ever and ever.
Praise of the LORD is a return to order, a reversal of sin, curse and rebellion. It is to tell of his character – abounding in love; wondrous works and mercy to all. It stands opposed to speech that blasphemes, bears false testimony, incites rebellion or ignores the LORD. Read more
A letter from Rod Thomas to Reform members
“Dear Member of Reform,
You will have been saddened, but probably not surprised, by the General Synod’s vote last Monday on women bishops.
This was the logical outcome of the decision in 1993 to enable women to be ordained to the presbyterate in the Church of England. That decision prompted the formation of Reform and since then we have actively sought to urge the Church to reform herself under the authority of the Word of God. …”
– Rod Thomas, Chairman of Reform, responds to the Women Bishops vote.
Celebrating one giant leap for the gospel
St. John’s Cathedral at Parramatta is celebrating 200 years since Samuel Marsden’s first Mission to New Zealand at their 10:00am service on Sunday 20th July. David Pettett will be the guest speaker. (PDF flyer.)
As well, the book Launching Marsden’s Mission, edited by Peter Bolt and David Pettett, will be launched.
(Contributors include Greg Anderson, Peter Bolt, Malcolm Falloon, Michael Gladwin, Meredith Lake, Simon Manchester, Malcolm Prentis, David Pettett and Craig Schwarze.)
Bathurst Diocese ‘to fight asset sell-off’
“The Commonwealth Bank is demanding the Anglican Diocese of Bathurst repay its $25 million debt immediately, and to do so it must sell-off church buildings. However, Bishop Ian Palmer says the church will not go down without a fight and will do all it can to protect its churches…”
– Story from The Central Western Daily.
The Christian origins of NAIDOC week
“This week is NAIDOC week across Australia, celebrating the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. What many don’t realise is that it was Aboriginal Christians that started NAIDOC week. Specifically, it was the initiative of an Aboriginal Christian, William Cooper, who asked the churches to start praying for aborigines on what would become known as ‘Aboriginies Sunday.’…”
– Dominic Steele writes at The Briefing.
‘Get with the Program’ — The Church of England votes to ordain Women Bishops
“Writing about the age of John Milton, the British author A. N. Wilson once tried to explain to modern secular readers that there had once been a time when bishops of the Church of England were titanic figures of conviction who were ready to stand against the culture.
‘It needs an act of supreme historical imagination to be able to recapture an atmosphere in which Anglican bishops might be taken seriously,’ he wrote, ‘still more, one in which they might be thought threatening.’
Keep that in mind as you read the news that the General Synod of the Church of England voted yesterday to approve the consecration of women as bishops of the church …
Ruth Gledhill is profoundly right about another aspect of Monday’s vote as well. It won’t stop with women bishops. ‘Now the church can move into the 20th century, although perhaps not the 21st,’ she wrote. ‘A change on gay marriage would be needed to do that.’ Well, stay tuned, as they say”
– Albert Mohler writes on what happens when bowing to the spirit of the age is more important than a serious commitment to biblical Christianity.
‘Out of step’ with the times — but not the Bible
“The Church of England’s decision to allow women bishops may represent a historical shift in attitudes in its General Synod, but to the dismay of supporters of the ordination of women, the move may hold little sway for Sydney’s Anglican community…
‘As much as we respect the Church of England, it is no longer the centre of our world,’ Bishop Forsyth said. ‘It’s not our Rome, it’s a partner church in the worldwide community of Anglicans.’…”
– from The Sydney Morning Herald.
Includes a quote from ACL President Gav Poole –
”Sydney is known around the world for its evangelical character and its holding to the authority of the scriptures,” he said. ”That’s a long tradition here in Sydney and something we have always appreciated.”
‘Anglicans mad only if they ignore Bible’
“Amid the swirl of opinion around the Anglican General Synod’s decision to commit to finding a way to bless gay couples, the epithets for orthodox Anglicans have mounted: anti-gay, homophobic, wrong, immoral, betrayers of Jesus, unloving, judgmental, intolerant, bigoted, ostracising, unjust and hypocritical. Doubtless an incomplete list, but enough to paint a nasty picture…”
– In this opinion-piece for the New Zealand Herald, Michael Hewat (Vicar of the West Hamilton) argues that the NZ Anglican General Synod has failed ‘the LGBT community’.
Related: Same-Gender blessings: NZ General Synod votes. (May 14 2014)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…