Tasmanian Anglicans to sell more than 120 properties for redress scheme

“Tasmania’s Anglican Church will sell more than 120 of its properties to contribute to the national redress scheme for survivors of child sex abuse, prompting Tasmanian survivors to hail the plan as ’groundbreaking’.

The proposed figure equates to nearly half of all the Diocese’s property in the state. …”

– Story from The Examiner.

See also: Anglican Church in Tasmania sacrifices to fund Redress – Diocese of Tasmania.

Lee Gatiss on learning from Christians of the past

The Australian Church Record has published part 2 of Steve Tong’s interview with Church Society Director Lee Gatiss.

What is the biggest problem facing Evangelicalism? Comfort

“The biggest problem facing the British Evangelical church today is, without doubt, our own personal comfort.…

Far too many of us are happy in our middle-class Christian enclaves, in comfortable areas of the country, going to churches full of people exactly like them. …

… there is no soft and dressed-up way to say this, a generation of middle-class believers will have to give up their idolatrous worship at the altar of comfort and commit to taking the gospel to the urban poor and deprived communities.”

– Here’s a hard-hitting article by Stephen Kneale, minister at an evangelical church in Oldham, near Manchester.

GAFCON Primates Council Communiqué, Entebbe, April 2018

“We gathered on 16-19 April 2018 in Entebbe, Uganda to share in Bible study, prayer, worship and fellowship.  We give thanks for the gracious hospitality of Archbishop Stanley Ntagali and the Anglican Church of Uganda.

We began our day with Bible study led by Bishop Andy Lines, Archbishop-elect Laurent Mbanda and Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje. As we met, we finalised our plans for our upcoming conference in Jerusalem, discussed matters affecting our common life, and received updates from our Gafcon provinces and branches. …”

– GAFCON General Secretary Bishop Peter Jensen and Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies were among the participants at the GAFCON Primates Council meeting in Entebbe, Uganda, last week. Read the full Communiqué at the GAFCON website.

(Click the group photo for a larger version.)

Our Religious Freedom campaign — from Barnabas Fund

Take the time to explore Barnabas Fund’s Our Religious Freedom website.

It includes resources such as the Turn the Tide booklet (PDF), which gives a good summary of the issues and helpfully documents some of the key developments threatening religious freedom in Australia.

As well, you can sign the Petition to the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives –

“We the undersigned call upon the Australian government to ensure full, permanent and adequate protections of religious freedoms:

the freedom to worship; to read Scriptures in public; to interpret Scriptures without government interference; to choose or change one’s faith; to preach and try to convince others; to establish places of worship; and the freedom from being required to affirm particular beliefs to study, stand for election, hold particular jobs (except where there is a genuine occupational requirement such as chaplaincy posts), or give parental care to a child.”

You can also download the printed petition sheet.

Lessons from the Worst Sermon I Ever Heard

“I spent this past summer on sabbatical, so I had an opportunity to listen to a lot of preaching in a bunch of different churches. All of the churches I attended – and all of the men who pastor them – are faithful to Christ. As far as I can tell, they love God and love his gospel, and are anxious to see people come to Christ in faith. All of the sermons I heard contained true, convicting, and useful things for listeners to know, believe, and act on.

But by the end of the summer, I’d come to the conclusion that there’s something very wrong with lots of evangelical preaching. …”

– At 9Marks, Mike McKinley gives us a sobering analysis – with helpful suggestions for doing better.

Related: Good news about preaching – Peter Jensen.

California set to enact legislation barring sale of any books expressing orthodox Christian beliefs on sexuality

In today’s issue of The Briefing podcast, Albert Mohler examines extremely disturbing legislation passed yesterday by the State of California General Assembly.

This is an important episode with plenty of relevance for Australians, given the current discussions on religious freedom and freedom of speech. Listen here.

Related story from the National Review.

Scotland’s Little Pink Guards

“If the Israel Folau incident gives us an insight into how our ‘liberal’ elites seek to bully Christians into accepting their doctrines, then what has been happening back home in Scotland to the Church of Scotland minister Mike Goss gives another. …

When SSM was passed (in the name of tolerance) we warned that one of the consequences would be the marginalisation and demonisation of those who upheld the traditional Christian position – and of course, we were mocked and abused as extremists for suggesting such a ridiculous idea.…”

– David Robertson writes at The Wee Flea.

GAFCON Ireland to be launched on 21st April

“We are delighted to announce the creation of a new Gafcon branch – Gafcon Ireland.

The launch will take place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, this Saturday (21st April).

For those unable to attend in person, the event will be streamed live on Gafcon’s Facebook page. Simply ‘like’ the page and you’ll be able to watch from anywhere in the world.

Proceedings will begin at 10am BST (GMT+1) and will feature contributions from Rev. Vaughan Roberts (Rector of St Ebbe’s, Oxford), Archbishop Peter Jensen (General Secretary of Gafcon), Archbishop Greg Venables (Primate of South America) and Archbishop Buba Lamido (Archbishop of Kaduna Province, Church of Nigeria).

We do hope that as many as possible will be able to enjoy this great occasion.”

– from David Binder, GAFCON Comms Team, by e-mail.

Keeping the Evangel in Evangelism

“In our culture, people who think themselves autonomous will claim the right to define all meaning for themselves. Any truth claim they reject or resist is simply ruled out of bounds by society at large. We will make our own world of meaning and dare anyone to violate our autonomy.

This is why evangelism is often perceived as insensitive or even threatening in our culture. Evangelism demands that we press the authority of Scripture and the claims of Christ on sinners as we invite them to the free gift of salvation provided through Christ’s atoning work…”

– Albert Mohler writes with a timely reminder of what evangelism is all about.

Armidale Diocese: Plans to grow Northern Inland services for people in need

“From 1 July 2018 the operations of Anglicare Northern Inland (ANI) in the Armidale Diocese will amalgamate with those of Anglicare in the Sydney Diocese. …”

– News from the Diocese of Armidale.

Also at the Anglicare website.

David Robertson speaks with Dominic Steele at The Pastor’s Heart

Dominic Steele spoke with David Robertson on the latest The Pastor’s Heart podcast.

Fascinating and encouraging. Watch it here.

High Court upholds rejection of inter-state vilification orders

“In a Federation like Australia, different jurisdictions (States and Territories) may have different rules on what amounts to ‘discrimination’ or ‘vilification’, and how those things interact with religious freedom. One of the pressing issues here in recent years has been whether there will be a ‘race to the bottom’ in freedom of speech on religious issues, with one jurisdiction in particular, Tasmania, raising deep concerns with a very broad prohibition on causing ‘offence’ related to matters such as sexual orientation.

Today the High Court of Australia, on appeal from NSW, has affirmed the decision of the NSW Court of Appeal that State and Territory ‘tribunals’ (non-judicial panels usually used in discrimination issues) have no jurisdiction to impose penalties on residents of other Australian jurisdictions under their own local laws. …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Assoc. Professor Neil Foster looks at today’s decision.

The Folau case is a public relations disaster for Qantas and Rugby Australia

“What has happened to Israel Folau indicates that the inclusion and diversity programs run by Qantas and Rugby Australia seem to be, to coin a Trumpsim, ‘fake’ initiatives.

Moreover, the exposure of the attempts to gag Israel Folau has created a public relations disaster for Qantas and Rugby Australia. …”

– Commentary by Spiro Zavos at The Roar. (Link via SydneyAnglicans.net.)

Related: Israel Folau – Heretic or Hero? – David Robertson.

A tribute to David Wheaton — former Principal of Oak Hill

At Church Society’s website, Gerald Bray pays tribute to David Wheaton, former principal of Oak Hill College and sometime vice-president of Church Society.

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