The Global Anglican — Vol 135, issue 4

From Church Society:

“The latest edition of The Global Anglican, our quarterly theological journal, is now published. Issue 135/4 includes Peter Jensen’s editorial, ‘Where is the True Church?’ in which he examines the relationship between local churches, denominations and the true church of Christ.”

Discipled by Algorithms — Where is ‘Big Tech’ Leading You?

“My wife and I ask each other a routine question about technology — and it may not be what you expect. Yes, we ask if the other heard us, and we ask to put down the phone for a while during family time. We, like most families in the digital age, have a ways to go to instill better technology habits in our homes. But the most frequent question we ask each other is, Did you see this online?

While that may seem like an odd question to ask, it reveals a much deeper issue with technology, one we often fail to consider amid concerns about screen time, app limits, and Internet filters. …”

– At Desiring God, Jason Thacker raises some important questions.

Related:

12 Ways your Phone is Changing You.

Why attend CMS Summer School this year? A chat with Dr Andrew Shead on the Psalms

“It speaks volumes that the most popular conference for Sydney Anglican clergy to network with each other (not forgetting the many others who also attend!) is a missionary conference. The good news of forgiveness in Jesus Christ is for the whole world, and right now our world needs to hear of Jesus just as much as ever.

So why sign up for CMS Summer School’s livestream talks this year? Aside from the fact that it’s easy, and the kids’ and youth program is this year entirely free, there is a great treasure in store as we are taken through the Psalms with Moore College’s Head of Old Testament Dr Andrew Shead. …”

– The Australian Church Record speaks with Dr Andrew Shead.

CMS Summer School runs from 8 – 14 January 2022.

Anglican Revisionists Keep Pushing their Agenda

“It’s 2022 so about time for an Anglican update. What’s new in the Anglican Church in Australia?

Well, not much. The situation can be characterised as revisionists now effectively ignoring the moratorium we were going to have before General Synod.

Action has been happening in 2 places in particular …”

– David Ould shares the latest moves in Wangaratta and Perth.

Image: The Crest of the Anglican Church of Australia and those of its members dioceses.

Related:

Sydney Diocese Response to actions in the Diocese of Wangaratta – December 10 2020.

Growing My Faith in the Face of Death

“I have spent a good part of my life talking with people about the role of faith in the face of imminent death. Since I became an ordained Presbyterian minister in 1975, I have sat at countless bedsides, and occasionally even watched someone take their final breath.

I recently wrote a small book, On Death, relating a lot of what I say to people in such times. But when, a little more than a month after that book was published, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I was still caught unprepared. …”

– Tim Keller, who in December shared that his cancer has progressed to ‘stage IV’, recently relinked to this article which he wrote for The Atlantic in March 2021.

And please do uphold Tim and his family in prayer.

See also:

Pastoring the city – Tim Keller on coming to Christ and learning to love the city – Part 1 of a December 2021 Q&A with Tim Keller by World Magazine.

“To make a long story very short, reading C.S. Lewis on pride helped me finally understand the depth of my sin as something that was not simply a matter of wrong behavior, but something profoundly wrong with my heart, identity, and outlook—and most of all, it was alienation from God. Underneath all the religiosity, I saw I was actually hostile to God. For the first time, I recognized the need for salvation by sheer grace. …”

Handling a hostile culture – Assessing how the Church is responding to shifting cultural pressures – Part 2 of December 2021 Q&A with Tim Keller by World Magazine.

“Every Sunday I preached, every meeting I taught, I took unpopular stands that went against the grain of center-city dwellers. I faced weekly—sometimes daily—opposition and hostility.

Redeemer Presbyterian Church is a conservative, evangelical church in secular, liberal Manhattan. Every single week I was telling people things that most considered absolutely outrageous, if not dangerous—Jesus is the only way to salvation; without believing in Him you are lost and going to hell; the Bible is true in every word and you must submit to it whether it fits your opinions or not; sex is only for a man and a woman in marriage; you should be radically generous with your money, and, if you are prosperous, you should adopt a modest lifestyle. And so on! …”

From the archives: Broughton Knox on Propositional Revelation, the Only Revelation

“For some time now it has been fashionable to deny what is called ‘propositional revelation’. The term has been coined by those who are opposed to the concept, and by it they appear to mean that revelation is not given to us by God in the form of truths couched in words, or propositions, but that all the revelation that God has given has come to us primarily as acts and events. …”

– It’s never a bad time to be reminded that, in Scripture, God speaks.

Read Dr Broughton Knox’s article in our Resources section.

Rico Tice preaches at the St. Helen’s Insurance carol service

Yes, Christmas is over, but it is always wonderful to hear Christ preached.

Rico Tice spoke from Matthew 2:1-12 at the St. Helen’s Bishopsgate Insurance Carol Service in December 2021.

Be encouraged to likewise share the news of Christ.

Clarifying “transgender hate speech”

“An important appeal decision in November 2021, REP v CLINCH (Appeal)[2021] ACAT 106 (3 November 2021), provides significant clarification on what amounts to “transgender hate speech”, and what does not, under the law of Australian Capital Territory – and provides a helpful and persuasive set of reasons which may be influential in other jurisdictions.

Is it unlawful to say that ‘a trans woman is a man’? Not according to the Appeal Tribunal in the Rep decision …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster looks at a clarifying decision.

Roman Catholicism as a “Temptation” for Evangelical Theology

“The Presidential Address at the Evangelical Theological Society is a helpful barometer to measure where the wind blows in North American evangelical theology. This year (on November 16), President Al Mohler dedicated his address at the 73rd annual convention in Fort Worth, Texas, to the four temptations for contemporary evangelical theology.

In Mohler’s view, present-day evangelical theology faces these temptations: Fundamentalism, Atheism, Roman Catholicism, and Liberalism.

These words are not to be taken lightly; the trajectory of evangelical theology has not always been peaceful. What is interesting is to understand the main dangers surrounding it.

Let me briefly comment on three temptations and then focus on Roman Catholicism…”

– At Vatican Files, Leonardo De Chirico is thankful for Albert Mohler’s clarity.

(Link via Tim Challies.)

Related:

Article XIX of The Thirty Nine Articles.

‘Same-sex couple have marriage blessed in Albury Anglican church after two-year battle’

“It’s just before nine o’clock on Sunday morning and the bells are ringing out loudly at St Matthew’s church in Albury.

It’s already 25 degrees Celsius and the sun is beating hot and bright onto a small knot of people milling around outside. Among them are two men with matching cream linen jackets and nervous smiles. …

The two men have driven 10 hours from their hometown in the north of New South Wales after their own parish would not recognise their relationship. …

Albury priest Peter MacLeod-Miller, a long-time advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, tells Sunday’s congregation that ‘we are celebrating a better, kinder world, and also a real change’.

He reads a letter from Bishop Clarence Bester, head of the Wangaratta diocese of which St Matthew’s is a part and which adopted a resolution to offer blessings for same-sex marriages in August 2019.”

– Report from the ABC. Base map: Anglican Church of Australia.

Earlier:

Sydney Diocese Response to actions in the Diocese of Wangaratta – December 10 2020.

“It would be naïve to think that mutually contradictory views on same-sex marriage can co-exist within our national Church. Pronouncing God’s blessing on a same-sex marriage is contrary to the teaching of Christ. It is therefore untenable to have some members of the Church purporting to declare God’s blessing in such circumstances. To pursue this course will not bring healing but will only lead to a collapse in the fellowship that binds us together.”

More good news from the Diocese of Bathurst

Good news for Parkes and Peak Hill – from the Diocese of Bathurst Facebook page:

“With great thankfulness to God, we share the news that Ben Mackay, following his ordination on 12th February, will be appointed Deacon-in-Charge of the parish of Parkes and Peak Hill. We are also thankful that the Rev’d Natalie Quince will continue to serve in the parish as Assistant Priest. (Ben pictured here with is wife Bron, and three children, Ella, James and Elijah.)”

– Please continue to pray that the Lord will raise up men and women to share the good news of Jesus in the cities and towns of the Diocese of Bathurst, and pray for Bishop Mark Calder in this key work.

Sunday Morning Encouragement

With thanks to Rob Smith and St. Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney.

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