John Piper’s reflections after a mainline church service

“Since our church has a Saturday night service and my wife was out of town, I was feeling perhaps especially venturesome a couple of weeks ago and decided to go to our church on Saturday night, and then go to a mainline Protestant church in downtown Minneapolis. …

If you walk into that church, and you didn’t know any better, you’d say this looks like a church from forever ago — this is what church is. Big stained-glass windows, and pastors at the front, a big organ, lots of music, singing about Jesus — what could be more churchy than this? Except there’s nothing there of any ultimate reality.”

– John Piper shares his reflections after visiting a liberal, progressive church.

It may be that many Bible-believing Anglicans have had little experience of what is taught in some other churches. A taste of bland, liberal heresy can be a strong incentive to value Bible-focussed and Christ-honouring worship.

Standing on the Authority of God’s Word

“The absolute necessity of what Gafcon rightly contends for is becoming a very personal experience for me. My wife, Gillian, and I have been married for 37 years and I write (with her agreement) on our last wedding anniversary. …

For the suffering and the dying, the pick ’n mix optional orthodoxy of the new Canterbury Anglicanism simply will not do. If my understanding of God’s grace in the gospel and my hope in Christ are just that – my understanding – where is my assurance and confidence in the face of the ‘last enemy’?…”

– In a deeply personal note GAFCON’s Membership Development Secretary, Charles Raven, shares the hope he and his wife Gillian cling to – the sure promises of Gods Word. And do pray for them both.

The Church and the Bible (Part 1)

“On this issue of the relation of the Church to the Bible, the declared position of the Church of England is explicit and unmistakable. The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are avowedly acknowledged as supreme and sufficient in authority.

They provide the Church as well as every individual Christian with a decisive God-given rule of faith and conduct. Everything which is either believed or done, with the accompanying claim that it possesses proper Christian sanction and authority, must be capable of being tested and vindicated by this standard. …”

– Alan Stibbs’ words in The Australian Church Record of 1960 are every bit as relevant now as they were then.

What do you do when there is conflict in your church?

“What do you do when there’s conflict in your church?

Because there will be at some point.

How can you deal with conflict well?

What do you do when there’s no conflict to prepare for the times when conflict will come? How to you give your people a framework for understanding and resolving conflict?

What do you do when a couple comes to you and the marriage is a warzone? What should you outsource? What should you do yourself?

Bruce Burgess is the Australian Director of Peacewise.”

– Bruce was interviewed by Dominic Steele on this week’s episode of The Pastors Heart.

Religious Freedom and land-clearing

“A religious group has claimed that “religious freedom rights” allow it to ignore Australian laws governing land-clearing and other provisions regulating land development. The claim is clearly wrong. It is important to spell out why, so this false claim does not affect other, justifiable, arguments that can be made about appropriate protection of religious freedom. …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Assoc. Professor Neil Foster points of that Religious Freedom does not give a license to ignore the law.

Dean defends cathedral screening films with graphic sex scenes and paganism

“A cathedral is pressing ahead with plans to show two “not for the faint-hearted” horror films and Monty Python’s Life of Brian on an inflatable big screen – despite opposition from some church wardens.

The Dean of Derby, The Very Reverend Dr Stephen Hance, said the decision to host the city’s QUAD cinema’s Fright Club and other films in the nave would not compromise the cathedral’s holiness. … [despite] a graphic nude sex scene and themes of paganism.”

– Story from ITV News. (Photo: Dr Stephen Hance, Derby Cathedral.)

The value of training women for ministry

“Tracey Gowing helps oversee evangelical student ministry across Australia. In her role she has trained and influenced countless women, and worked with plenty of men.

Tracey is full of practical wisdom on how to live out the Bible’s teaching on men and women. I thought I’d pick her brains, firstly on how she trains women, and then next time on how she works with men.”

– At GoThereFor.com, Lauren Driscoll speaks with Tracey Gowing.

Middle-aged white men can tell the Truth

“Maybe we never realised it, but John 1:1 changes the way we understand everything.

It means that we believe in objective truth. That is to say, truth is real, it sits above us all, and all things ought to be conformed to it.

Truth is not merely ‘my truth’ or ‘true for me.’ Truth is true for everyone. …

But truth is dying in the West. …

This is why identity politics has caught on so quickly. It teaches us that we are no longer to measure things by what is said (ie whether it’s true), but rather who said it.

There are those who have no right to speak about things because of who they are. Because their group identity makes them ‘privileged’ they cannot speak about issues affecting other groups who are ‘victims.’

Examples abound. Only yesterday…”

– Here’s a thoughtful piece from Martyn Iles at The Australian Christian Lobby.

NSW CMS Summer School applications open

Gary Millar is the main speaker at the 2019 NSW & ACT CMS Summer School.

Applications are now open.

Ramon Williams on Christian media ministry

Ramon Williams, who retired in February 2018 after fifty years of using his media skills to serve Christ’s church, has been interviewed by Keith Garner on Wesley Mission’s Wesley Impact.

Ramon speaks about how he begin his media work in the 1960s, his coverage of Cyclone Tracy in 1974, and what you need, most of all, to serve in this way.

Watch the interview here. Part 2 begins at 23:30 into the program.

(We gather there are plans to tell Ramon’s story more fully, and will share details when available.)

We can’t talk about unethical transgender medicine involving children?

“Here we go again.

Now the University of Western Australia has caved in following protests by the LGBTI lobbyists and cancelled a talk by Quentin Van Meter, an American paediatric endocrinologist who has been visiting Australia this week, speaking out about unethical transgender medicine being practised on children.

Dr Van Meter is a clinical associate professor at both Emory and Morehouse Schools of Medicine and he trained at John Hopkins, which did much of the early work on transgender.

The Perth talk was to have been the last in a week-long tour sponsored by the Australian Family Association. …”

– This opinion-piece in The Spectator Australia includes an hour-long ‘must-watch’ video of Dr Van Meter’s Sydney talk.

Related:

Findings from the New Atlantis Report on Sexuality and Gender, October 8 2016.

The Judges of Jesus

“Luke brilliantly plots the intersection of the eternal with the temporal (Luke 3:1–2). It was in Tiberius Caesar’s fifteenth year, AD 28, that John the Baptist began proclaiming the word of God.

He also remarkably captures the political complexity of Palestine. Pontius Pilate was military governor of Judea, Herod’s son Herod Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee, and Caiaphas was high priest of the temple city, Jerusalem.

In the narrative that follows Luke traces the movements of Jesus within the jurisdictions of those three men. …”

– At his blog, Bishop Paul Barnett reflects on the legacy of the three judges of Jesus.

Jesus never directly said “I’m God!”: Answering our Muslim friends (Part 1)

“A common objection we hear from our Muslim friends regarding the deity of Jesus is this: Jesus never directly said “I’m God”.

How would you defend the deity of Jesus using his own words? …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Ryan van der Avoort provides some very helpful resources.

Preferred new Anglican Bishop chosen for Christchurch — name secret

“A preferred candidate has been chosen as Christchurch’s new Bishop – but their name will remain a secret until a vote by the church’s governing body.

The involved and legal process to determine a new Bishop for the city began after Victoria Matthews stood down from the role in May.…” – The Press, NZ.

Statewide meeting to be held to take on Tasmanian Anglican Church’s proposed property sales

“A coalition of parishioners protesting the planned sale of Anglican Church property around the state will band together in Campbell Town on Sunday.

This will be the first statewide meeting of regional groups under the banner of Save Our Community Soul. …”

– Story from The Advocate.

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