Why I sit at the front
“I can’t understand people who choose to sit at the back of church meetings. I understand parents with small children who want the option of taking them out or whisking them off to the toilet. But everyone else?…”
– Tim Chester on an all-too-common feature of church life. (h/t Tim Challies.)
The new totalitarians
“Same-sex marriage advocates are determined not to allow a fair debate in the lead-up to the promised plebiscite.
A frightening glimpse of their illiberal tactics came on Thursday night when protesters closed an event at the Occidental Hotel featuring Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi and former union leader Joe de Bruyn speaking in defence of traditional marriage…”
– from the Sydney Daily Telegraph. (Image via the Daily Telegraph.)
Reflections on discipleship (part 2)
“I googled ‘What is a disciple?’ recently and got 8,370,000 results in 0.47 seconds. There’s a lot in the Christian cyber world about discipleship!”
– At Equal but Different, Lesley Ramsay continues to explore the meaning of Christian discipleship.
Hope, not Death: Euthanasia is no response to sexual abuse
“Reforms to allow euthanasia in Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria are likely to be debated this year, and Senator Leyonhjelm and the Greens want to give the Territories the power to legalise euthanasia. While suicide itself has long been legal throughout Australia – attempted suicide attracts no penalty or consequence – they want medical killing legalised. …
It is no stretch to imagine that a young woman with PTSD, a survivor of sexual abuse, might qualify for euthanasia in Australia in the future especially in an environment of over-stretched and under-funded mental health systems.”
– Read why in the full, troubling, article by Melinda Tankard Reist at ABC Religion and Ethics. (h/t SydneyAnglicans.net)
Appointment of American Bishop ‘leads to split with Nigerian Diocese’
“It has come to the attention of Reform, that the Bishop of Liverpool, The Right Reverend Paul Bayes, has appointed Bishop Susan Goff as an Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Liverpool.
Susan Goff is a Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of Virginia in The Episcopal Church. In July 2016, she voted in favour of changing the definition and purpose of marriage according to in Canons of The Episcopal Church…”
– Here’s a media statement from Reform in the UK.
Photo: The Diocese of Virginia.
Related: Diocese of Liverpool Global Links.
Why I’m not planning my funeral
“So, I’ve chosen all my funeral songs already” is a pretty standard refrain these days from believers. To which I always respond with the same question, “Why?” …
– The Proclamation Trust’s Adrian Reynolds hopes you know what he would want.
Church Society Lectionary videos
Are you attending a church which uses the Lectionary, but where the preaching doesn’t really help you understand the passages read?
Or are you attending a church which uses the Lectionary, and where the preaching does help you understand the passages read?
Either way, this new video series from Church Society may be a help and encouragement.
Professor John Bainbridge Webster FRSE (1955–2016)
“I first met John Webster in 1996 when he began as Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford. He was, as a friend of mine and I observed at the time, ‘quite frankly the most impressive theological voice in Oxford today’. …
Webster’s inaugural lecture as Lady Margaret Professor is justly famous. Entitled ‘Theological Theology’, he sought to rescue theology from its enslavement to the pursuit of academic credibility by adopting critical methodologies and return it to its proper vocation of attending to the triune God and all else in relation to God.”
– At his blog, Theological Theology, Dr Mark Thompson pays tribute to Professor John Webster, who died in Aberdeen, Scotland on Tuesday (24th May 2016).
The Church in the Furnace
David Mansfield follows up on his earlier article, ‘The Church in the Fridge’.
“Sometimes our thoughtlessness and insensitivity can seem cool and indifferent. At other time, as I mentioned in the last blog, in the story of the inveterate hugger of every newcomer and regular that he could get his arms around, our behaviour can be too intense. Rather than a church in the fridge, we may come across as a church in the furnace.
While extreme examples don’t apply to most of us, there may be more subtle ways that we do things that can also come across as a bit intense to the newcomer…”
– As someone who visits many churches, David spots sub-cultural quirks you might not notice. At SydneyAnglicans.net
Move to see ‘Anti-Transgender speech’ criminalised in Canada
“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a bill that would criminalize anti-transgender speech, with violators receiving up to two years in prison.
The new bill, introduced May 17 on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, aims to amend the Canadian Criminal Code to expand the country’s ‘hate speech’ prohibitions to include any public speech or communication that ‘promotes hatred’ on the basis of ‘gender identity’ or ‘gender expression.’ It would also change the Canadian Human Rights Act to cover transgender people…“
– Story from The Blaze.
Related: Questions and Answers from the Canadian Department of Justice.
“Q. Will “gender identity” and “gender expression” be defined in the Bill?
A. In order to ensure that the law would be as inclusive as possible, the terms “gender identity” and “gender expression” are not defined in the Bill. With very few exceptions, grounds of discrimination are not defined in legislation but are left to courts, tribunals, and commissions to interpret and explain, based on their detailed experience with particular cases.”
Photo: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Greetings for new Kenyan Primate
The GAFCON website has posted these messages of greeting to the new Kenyan Primate The Rt. Rev. Jackson Ole Sapit, who was elected last week:
Archbishop Peter Jensen – on behalf of GAFCON.
Archbishop Stanley Ntagali – Primate of Uganda.
Archbishop Foley Beach – on behalf of ACNA.
Andy Lines – on behalf of Crosslinks, also gives thanks for the ministry of Archbishop Eliud Wabukala on his coming retirement.
Catch up with the Nexus16 conference
If you missed the Nexus16 conference at Annandale today (or would like to revisit it), you can view the videos at the Nexus website.
The videos include interviews with various attendees – and the talks!
Are you ashamed of Jesus?
“You’re an embarrassment to be around.”
“Please don’t walk next to me – I don’t want people to know that we’re together.”
These are painful words that no one ever wants to hear. But does my life speak these words to Jesus?
This is the question that has troubled me since my first day visiting persecuted Christians in the Middle East with Open Doors…
– At Communicate Jesus, Steven Kryger has a challenge for you.
Primate of Uganda welcomes new Kenyan Primate
Archbishop of Uganda, Stanley Ntagali, has sent this message to the newly-elected Archbishop of Kenya:
The Rt. Rev. Jackson Ole Sapit
Archbishop-elect
Anglican Church of Kenya
KENYA
Dear Archbishop-elect Jackson,
Greetings from the Church of Uganda in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!
On behalf of the House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda, the clergy, and laity of the Province, we extend our hearty congratulations to you on your election as the next Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya.
We have been praying for the election and believe that God’s will has been done. Your colleagues have recognized God’s apostolic calling and anointing on you, and we believe His grace will be sufficient for the big ministry ahead of you. We shall warmly welcome you to the GAFCON Primates Council and look forward to walking together as neighbours in East Africa in the cause of Christ, His Gospel, and the expansion of His Kingdom into every corner of our region and into every heart.
We thank Archbishop Eliud for his steadfast leadership of the Anglican Church of Kenya and the global GAFCON community. He has been single-minded in proclaiming and contending for the “faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). We believe the future is very bright for the Anglican Church of Kenya and we thank God for your election to serve as Archbishop and shall pray for you as you prepare to receive the baton being passed to you.
Your brother, in Christ,
The Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali
ARCHBISHOP OF CHURCH OF UGANDA.”
– via GAFCON.
Women teaching Men — How far is too far?
“Where is the line when it comes to women teaching men? May women preach on Sunday mornings? Teach a Sunday school class? Lead a small group? Instruct a seminary course? Speak at a conference? At a couples retreat? Or on the radio?
May women ever teach from Scripture when men are in the audience? Should men even be reading this article? How far is too far?
It’s a question being asked by scores of women who want to be faithful to the Bible and want to exercise their spiritual gift of teaching in a way that honors God’s pattern of male headship in the church…”
– Mary Kassian outlines an answer at Desiring God. (h/t Tim Challies.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…