Bring lasting hope
Through their Lasting Hope Appeal, CMS Australia is seeking the help of its supporters to bring lasting hope to Buddhist Asia.
To sustain their work, they are praying to reach their $1.5 million goal by the June 30th deadline!
Trouble ahead for U.S. Churches?
“The problem is that with this decision, the not-Supreme-and-not-a-court has set the stage for a monumental conflict between two constitutional rights: the right to exercise one’s religion under the First Amendment, and the right to marry (which soon will have to be extended to polygamy and polyandry, since there are no limiting principles to the new “right” just discovered).
And the worst part is that the only umpires for this impending conflict will be: you guessed it — unelected lawyers in black robes.
What may come as news to some is that the United States has been there before — and the results were not pretty…”
– Christian lawyer A S Haley comments.
Related: American Tragedy: Now Gird Up Your Loins.
“… this will turn out to be the greatest American tragedy for the civil liberties of persons of faith, for the cause of sexual purity… and for the lives of persons struggling with same-sex attraction…”
New TEC Presiding Bishop elected
“The Episcopal Church’s General Convention made history June 27 when it chose Diocese of North Carolina Bishop Michael Curry to be its 27th presiding bishop.
He will serve a nine-year term that officially begins Nov. 1. On that date, Curry will succeed current Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and he will become the first person of color to hold that position.”
– Report and photo from The Episcopal News Service.
Some background:
“Throughout his ministry, Bishop Curry has also been active in issues of social justice, speaking out on immigration policy and marriage equality.”
D A Carson on the US Supreme Court decision
On Desiring God’s Ask Pastor John podcast, Tony Reinke asked Prof. D. A. Carson for his response to the US Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision.
Runs for 18 minutes. Worth listening.
Responses to US Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision
“The threat to religious liberty represented by this decision is clear, present, and inevitable.
Assurances to the contrary, the majority in this decision has placed every religious institution in legal jeopardy if that institution intends to uphold its theological convictions limiting marriage to the union of a man and a woman. This threat is extended to every religious citizen or congregation that would uphold the convictions held by believers for millennia.”
– Read it all – at the SBTS website.
Russell Moore also has wise words in this video. via Justin Taylor.
“This is not the time for Christians to panic. We have a God who is sovereign. The Supreme Court can do many things, but the Supreme Court cannot get Jesus Christ back into the grave.”
David Robertson at the Spring Senior Ministers Conference
David Robertson (Minister at St Peter’s Free Church in Dundee) spoke at the recent Spring Senior Ministers Conference in the UK.
His talk, and a following Q&A, (each >60 mins) have been posted on the Proclamation Trust website. Most encouraging, especially for those involved in full time ministry.
Falls Church Anglican seeks new home
“The Falls Church Anglican, the large congregation of defectors from the Episcopal Church denomination who occupied but was eventually forced by the courts to vacate the historic Falls Church site on S. Washington St., has bought a new five-acre location… within a mile of its former site in Fairfax County…”
– The Falls Church New-Press reports on Fall Church Anglican’s purchase of a new property. (The report is not terribly sympathetic.)
For background, see The costly faithfulness of the Falls Church. from May 2012.
(Photo of Rector, John Yates II from a video from Falls Church Anglican.)
The ‘No Compromise’ tour
An upcoming series of concerts featuring the music of Keith Green will help support the ministry of The Bush Church Aid Society around Australia.
Download the flier (PDF) and links to buy tickets via the BCA website.
GoThereFor.com 2.0 now live
The new GoThereFor.com from Matthias Media was launched last night, with lots of resources available, and they’re offering a free trial sign-up.
(“Sign up for a free trial by June 30 and receive an exclusive free ebook, Can we talk about Islam? by Tony Payne.”)
Here’s what ACL Council member Dr. Lionel Windsor says about it:
“I’m thinking GoThereFor.com is a bit like Netflix, but better.
It’s like Netflix because – a simple subscription gives you access to lots of content.
It’s better because – the content is all excellent quality, the subscription is cheaper, and subscriptions help people in the developing world to access resources for making disciples who wouldn’t otherwise be able to.”
GAFCON Chairman’s Pastoral Letter, June 2015
Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council, writes:
“My dear brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you in the name of our only Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
It is a strange thing that in the Church we can see both extraordinary strength and extraordinary weakness at the same time.
The strength of Christian faith has been revealed in a most profound way by members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston following the shooting of nine of its members during a bible study…
In contrast, there are too many examples in the Church of weakness in the face of the subtle challenges of cultural and financial pressure. In Africa we are still too dependent in our thinking on outside agencies. This makes us vulnerable to relationships designed to buy influence and damages the integrity of our witness, while in the more economically developed world there is too often a fear of being out of step with secular culture.
In this context I cannot avoid mentioning a very disturbing event in England…”
– Take the time to read it all, including a quote from Archbishop Peter Jensen at last week’s FCA meeting in Belfast.
Moore Matters — Winter 2015
The Winter 2015 edition of Moore Matters is now available as a 3.5MB PDF file on the college website.
Check it out, and be encouraged in your prayer (and other) support of the college.
Reckless Abandon by the Sea
“This week marks the 150th anniversary of Hudson Taylor’s Brighton Beach experience – one of the seminal events of the Gospel’s advance in China and in the history of missions…”
– Tim Keesee marks a significant anniversary – with the hope of stirring hearts today.
Update: Tim Keesee has a guest post at Challies.com –
“One of my favorite quotes from Hudson Taylor, the very quotable pioneer missionary to China is ‘There are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.’ Taylor knew about impossible…” – read it all here.
The Heresy of Racial Superiority
“In 1995, on the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention, the denomination publicly repented of its roots in the defense of slavery.
In 2015, far more is required of us. It is not enough to repent of slavery. We must repent and seek to confront and remove every strain of racial superiority that remains and seek with all our strength to be the kind of churches of which Jesus would be proud — the kind of churches that will look like the marriage supper of the Lamb…”
– Albert Mohler looks at the history of his own denomination – and college.
Prominent Oxford Diocese Evangelicals call for the resignation of the Bishop
“This morning not one but two prominent evangelical ministers in the Diocese of Oxford appeared on BBC radio to call for the resignation of Bishop Alan Wilson…”
– David Ould has the details.
Expositional Preaching – new 9Marks Journal
The latest 9Marks Journal is out. It’s on expositional (otherwise called expository) preaching.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…