Bishop John Harrower reflects on 15 years in Tasmania
The Diocese of Tasmania is preparing to elect a new Bishop on 27-28 November. Nominations closed on Friday.
Last month, in an interview with Dean of Hobart, Richard Humphrey, Bishop John Harrower reflected on his 15 years as Missionary Bishop of the diocese.
Related:
A prayer of thanks – Bishop John’s blog.
My intention to retire – Bishop John’s blog.
“Following much prayer and consultation with family, senior colleagues and close friends, I believe God is leading me to draw my ministry as the 11th Bishop of Tasmania to a close mid-September.”
Please pray for the churches of Tasmania as the election synod draws near.
The Word: One to One
The Word: One to One evangelistic resource is now available in Oz. The idea is simple:
“Many people are totally ignorant as to what the Bible really says. The Word One to One is a resource that helps you walk through John’s Gospel with your friends. As you turn over the pages with them they’ll see what the Bible says about who Jesus is, and what He came to do.”
Read about it at their website – and watch the video intro by Rico Tice.
Available locally from Matthias Media.
Thomas Cranmer and the fear of death
“On 21st March 1556, Thomas Cranmer, was marched out to Oxford’s University Church.
However many thousands of services he had attended in over twenty years serving as Archbishop of Canterbury, this was to be his last. Condemned as a heretic, he was to be burned, like so many of his protestant colleagues and friends under the short but bloody reign of Mary. A small cobbled cross on Oxford’s Broad Street still marks the spot to this day…”
– For Church Society’s Formulary Friday, Sam Brewster draws us to consider the ninth Homily, ‘An Exhortation Against The Fear Of Death”.
My Bishop, a liar and a schemer
“The latest biography of the late B.A. Santamaria, by Gerard Henderson, records an interesting incident.
Santamaria had cooperated with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix, to see the successful establishment of the Democratic Labor Party in Victoria, but had less success with the church’s Sydney hierarchy…”
– Presbyterian Moderator-General David Cook on the foundation of the Christian faith.
Schools, same sex politics and religion in NSW
“So there is no doubt the film is ‘political’, as dealing with a matter of highly charged debate in the Federal Parliament and in the public sphere. Yet the school was proposing to cancel classes and direct all students to attend, while also encouraging (if not directing) all of them to wear the colour purple as a mark of support for homosexuality…”
– at Law and Religion Australia, Associate Professor in Law, Neil Foster looks at the controversy over the planned screening of a film at Burwood Girls’ High.
Related:
Gayby Baby imbroglio – Denials, fear and a lack of tolerance – Miranda Devine, The Telegraph, 28 August 2015.
“A department spokesperson was quoted in The Guardian on Wednesday, saying: ‘The school has not received any complaints from Burwood High School parents.’
That just wasn’t true…”
Redefining Sex & Marriage: talks available
At Moore College’s Centre for Christian Living, the topic discussed on Wednesday night was “Redefining Sex and Marriage: how to think, live and speak as Christians when the world heads in a different direction”.
Sandy Grant and Tony Payne both gave addresses, and there was a question time.
The event was fully booked out, so we are grateful that the talks have now been made available online.
Ashley Madison and the Death of Monogamy
“I wrote an essay on Ashley Madison as ‘Adultery Incorporated’ back in 2011, after Bloomberg Businessweek published a cover story on the business. Back then, it was clear that many people saw Ashley Madison as a joke. No one is laughing now…
Given the numbers involved, the exposures are likely to hit nearly every community, millions of families, countless churches, and just about every major corporation and institution…”
– Albert Mohler on the sobering story of Ashley Madison.
And Village Church in Annandale is offering hope to locals:
“Annandale has 455 Ashley Madison accounts according to the Sydney Morning Herald, which the newspaper describes as being 6.27% of the postcode …
If you are struggling, either you have hurt someone or been hurt, and you would like to see if it’s possible to fix things with God and your spouse then it’s possible we can help.”
‘NSW Education Minister bans school from screening gay film’
“Public pressure appears to have forced a Sydney girls’ high school to screen a documentary on gay parenting after school hours, instead of during scheduled lesson time…” – Report from The Sydney Morning Herald. (School flier here. PDF.)
8th Planned Parenthood video + resources
“C. S. Lewis once wrote in the preface to the Screwtape Letters,
The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid “dens of crime” that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.
He could have been writing about Planned Parenthood and StemExpress.
Today (August 25, 2015), The Center for Medical Progress released its eighth video using undercover footage exposing the reality of what goes on behind these closed clinical doors…”
– At The Gospel Coalition, Justin Taylor has a description of the video, plus some resources for healing.
Bishops call for ‘climate justice’
“Several bishops around the Anglican Communion have made short videos describing the impact and implications of climate change in their dioceses and calling for prayer and action…”
– Bishops call for ‘climate justice’.
(Photo: Bp Tom Wilmot, Diocese of Perth.)
Related:
“The Primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, has called on Anglicans everywhere to join Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and other Christians in a World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on 1 September…” – The Anglican Communion News Service.
Michael Stead to be next Bishop of South Sydney
“The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, has announced he has chosen the Rev Michael Stead to be the next Bishop of South Sydney.
He will replace Bishop Robert Forsyth, who retires in December after 15 years in the position…
The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Sydney confirmed the appointment tonight (Monday 24th August).”
– News from SydneyAnglicans.net.
Shouting is not a debate
“As the discussion around the proposal to change the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples is played out in the media and in the parliament, other larger questions have been thrown into stark relief.
Perhaps the most important of these is how we will deal with those with whom we disagree. Put in its starkest form, will we still allow our citizens the freedom to dissent without reprisal?
The signs at this stage of the debate are disturbing, to say the least…”
– Moore College Principal, Mark Thompson, has this opinion-piece in today’s Sydney Morning Herald.
See also: Homosexuality: Jesus deeply loved ‘the sexually broken’ – Murray Campbell, lead Pastor at Mentone Baptist Church. (Brisbane Times. h/t SydneyAnglicans.net.)
A taste of life at Moore College
From Moore College: “Wondering what a theology student’s life looks like? Come along to our Open Events in August and September to find out!”
Open Night, Monday 31st August.
Open Week, Monday 31st August to Friday 4th September
Open Day, Saturday 26th September.
Phil Wheeler to head Evangelism and New Churches
“The board of Evangelism and New Churches (ENC) has announced that the Rev. Philip Wheeler will be its new Director, to continue its work of evangelism and church planting.
Mr Wheeler replaces the Rev Bruce Hall who has directed the organisation for the past four years.
ENC grew from the well-established Department of Evangelism, run by the late evangelist John Chapman over four decades in the 20th century…”
– News from SydneyAnglicans.net. (Photo from Anglican Deaconess Ministries.)
‘Religious instruction scrapped from [Victorian] curriculum’
“Victorian schools will scrap special religious instruction from class time, with changes to the state’s curriculum throwing the future of the controversial program in doubt.
The Andrews government has ordered that the weekly 30 minute program move to lunchtime and before and after school in 2016 to make way for new content on world histories, cultures, faiths and ethics…”
– Report from The Age. More from Bible Society Australia.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…