Gospel Speech Online
“I’ve written this Brief Book to help Christians to speak the gospel of the truth in love in the online world. I draw on principles of Christian speech from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In many ways it’s a sequel to my earlier book Gospel Speech. …”
– from Lionel Windsor at Forget the Channel. A very timely resource!
Justification – “A Most Wholesome Doctrine”
“The eleventh article introduces us to the most important point of controversy in the sixteenth century. It would not be an exaggeration to say that polemics raged round the question of Justification by Faith. …”
– The Australian Church Record is continuing to reprint Archdeacon T.C. Hammond’s series on The Thirty Nine Articles. This from April 1956.
Why Princeton’s snub of Tim Keller should outrage progressives
“If you’re a conservative evangelical Christian who feels called to ministry, you’re welcome to attend Princeton Theological Seminary. But you’re not worthy of honor there. That’s the message sent by PTS’ president, Craig Barnes, today. …
If Christians like Tim Keller are unworthy of honor and deserve to be marginalized, American Christianity is in serious trouble. …”
– Jonathan Merritt writes at Religion News Service.
Related: What Hath Amsterdam to do with Princeton? – Reformation21.
“In 1898 B.B. Warfield invited the Dutch Reformed theologian Abraham Kuyper to deliver six lectures at Princeton Seminary for the inaugural Stone Lectures. These lectures were eventually bound and printed as Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. In these lectures, Kuyper discussed what he believed to be the manner by which a Calvinist and Reformed worldview ought to be applied to quite a number of spheres of life.
The inaugural Stone Lectures forever linked the theology of Dr. Kuyper with Princeton Seminary. This connection was further solidified in the creation of the Kuyper Prize, awarded by the Kuyper Center for Public Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.”
The history and theology behind Princeton’s decision not to honour Tim Keller
Albert Mohler unpacks Princeton’s decision not to award the Kuyper Prize if it means giving it to Tim Keller.
The GAFCON vision in action
“The Anglican Communion worldwide is a most amazing gift of God, but it is being squandered by false teachers determined to substitute their own ideas for God’s revealed will in Scripture. They do this without rebuke from the Communion’s traditional leadership.
Gafcon is the future. Through Gafcon the true gospel is being proclaimed and the Bible guarded. We hope this snapshot will demonstrate that the faithful of the Anglican Communion have risen and have begun to reclaim the Communion for a confident and clear witness to Jesus Christ. …”
– GAFCON has produced this overview of what they do, with the hope of gaining your support.
How showing a picture of a dead foetus has become a crime
“Showing a picture of a dead foetus in public is now a crime following a ruling in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Tuesday which will strengthen the hand of the abortion industry lobby across Australia, warns the Australian Christian Lobby.’…”
– from The Australian Christian Lobby.
On Leaving the Church of England — Gavin Ashenden
The Rev. Gavin Ashenden gives his reasons for leaving the Church of England in this video released overnight.
While our readers might hold to a somewhat different theological perspective (Gavin speaks from an Anglo-Catholic position), he raises concerns which many would share. The video runs for 27 minutes.
Related:
Princeton Seminary cancels award to Tim Keller after LGBT complaint – Christian Post.
Princeton Seminary reforms its views on honoring Tim Keller – Christianity Today.
Northwest Network March 2017
“Mining towns in Australia are well known for boom and bust cycles.
Old timers who have survived previous boom and busts usually just laugh at the reactions of newbies. They make comments like, “what do you expect, it’s mining” or “what, you expected the good times to last forever”.
Sadly, this bust period saw many of the ‘old timers’ pack their bags and leave town. Some with nothing to show for their time in the Pilbara and so unable to afford to live here any longer; others with pockets bursting from new found wealth through selling their property. These were followed by the people who bought those properties at the height of the boom, but now unemployed, houses repossessed by the banks, filing for bankruptcy, or contemplating suicide (with some succeeding).
This is the gloomy reality for many in the ‘City’ of Karratha.”
– The latest issue of Northwest Network is out.
Use it to fuel your prayers for the churches and the people of North West Australia. (575kb PDF file.)
Christianity in Iraq is finished, says Canon Andrew White, ‘Vicar of Baghdad’
“He is one of the world’s most prominent priests, but Canon Andrew White – known as the ‘Vicar of Baghdad’ – has reached a painstaking conclusion: Christianity is all but over in the land where it all began.
‘The time has come where it is over, no Christians will be left. Some stay Christians should stay to maintain the historical presence, but it has become very difficult. The future for the community is very limited,’ White told Fox News this week.”
– From Fox News. (via Anglican Mainstream.)
Royal Commission ends Anglican phase
“The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has finished its investigation of the Anglican Church, with a summary hearing in Sydney that revealed some statistics on offences against children.
The commission set aside four days for its hearing into issues such as the structure of the church, training and formation, professional standards and redress. …”
– SydneyAnglicans.net has published this report on the Royal Commission.
Related:
Anglican leaders promise unity on child protection: royal commission – Sydney Morning Herald.
“Not every Anglican diocese has robust child protection measures, with Sydney Archbishop Glenn Davies telling a royal commission the lack of national consistency is ‘extremely disappointing’.”
NEXUS17 coming up on April 3rd
NEXUS17 is at MBM Rooty Hill this year.
“Four outstanding talks, morning and afternoon tea, a spit-roast lunch, time to talk with old friends and meet new ones…”
Theme: The Reformation we need today.
Details at the Nexus website.
Church Society pays tribute to former Director
“Members of Church Society will be saddened to hear of the recent death of the Revd David Streater who was Director of the Society 1991 – 1998.”
– Michael Walters pays tribute at the Church Society blog.
(On this anniversary of the death of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, it might be appropriate to read this article by David Streater on another Anglican Reformer who died for the gospel, Bishop Hugh Latimer. – PDF.)
‘Gay rights activists target IBM executive’
“Marriage equality advocate IBM Australia is being targeted by militant gay rights activists who have condemned the company over a senior executive’s links to a Christian organisation. …
The social media campaign comes after the same activists shamed Adelaide brewer Coopers into pledging allegiance to Australian Marriage Equality after its ties with the Bible Society were exposed.”
– Report from The Australian. (paywalled)
An FAQ on shaping your ministry culture around Disciple-making
“In 2009 a small Australian publisher quietly released a book entitled The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift that Changes Everything, co-authored by Sydney Anglicans Colin Marshall and Tony Payne.
The book became an unlikely international bestseller, especially when Mark Dever offered his unsolicited endorsement that “This is the best book I’ve read on the nature of church ministry,” and began reading excerpts of the book aloud at conferences.
If you haven’t read it, you don’t need to. …”
– At The Gospel Coalition, Justin Taylor explains why you don’t need to read The Trellis and the Vine.
Beer, Bibles and free speech in Australia
“The Bible Society of Australia has recently celebrated its 200th birthday – a significant milestone in a country whose European settlement only took place about 230 years ago. It decided to celebrate the event by way of connecting with popular Australian culture – and in a fairly secular country, a key aspect of that culture is beer!
So in a creative move, the Society formed a partnership with Coopers, a long-established but slightly “niche” brewery, to arrange the release of cans of “Coopers Light”, a low-alcohol beer, with Bible verses on the cans. (The link was all the more appropriate because the motto of the Society was “Live Light”. Coopers also claims to be “Australia’s longest living family brewery”, having been established in 1862.)
So far, so good …”
– At MercatorNet, Neil Foster recounts the disturbing tale of the “Keeping it Light” video.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…