Please pray for 2023 Sydney ordinands
From SydneyAnglicans.net:
Please pray for these candidates as they prepare for ordination on February 18, 2023 and for taking up positions at the following parishes:
Brian Barker, Hurstville Grove
Kingsley Box, Yagoona & Condell Park
Brodie Cutmore, Engadine
Cathy Dell, Lalor Park
Russell Denten, St Luke’s Miranda
Joshua Goscombe, Gladesville
Ed Hannah, St Luke’s Liverpool
Alex Hitchcock, Annandale
Jaison Jacob, St John’s Paramatta
Sarah Kinstead, Anglicare Hospital Chaplain
Benjamin Ko, Northmead Anglican
Braydon Lucas, Gladesville
Andrew Marrett, St James, Turramurra
Lachlan Orr, Naremburn/ Cammeray
Matt Shannon, Wollongong Cathedral
Netane Siuhengalu, West Ryde
Jeremy Smith, Stanhope Gardens
Miles Stepniewski, Riverstone
Ned Teuben, Artarmon
Simon Wang, St John’s Campsie
Scott Williams, Picton/Wilton
Nick Wood, Kirribilli and Neutral Bay.
Photo: SydneyAnglicans.net
You can watch the service live at 10:00am on Saturday 18th February (or afterwards) on YouTube.
Don’t take CMS Summer School for granted!
“I reflect on the 2023 CMS Summer School as someone who could only make it for one day.
I wish I could have attended more, but I was overseas. Yet, having landed in Sydney on the Monday of Summer School, I drove up to the Blue Mountains on Tuesday to attend for the day. It was definitely an experience; a combination of jet lag and the increased heart rate from walking up and down that hill – twice – after ten days of overeating over the holidays! And yet it was also an experience of being profoundly joyful and energised amongst fellow Christians.
As I drove back home late on Tuesday night, I remember thinking multiple times that we just can’t take CMS Summer School for granted. …”
– Ben George writes with encouragement at The Australian Church Record.
“We Cannot Bless what is contrary to God’s revealed will”: Former Bishop of Maidstone
“January 27, 2023
Dear brothers and sisters,
I thought I should follow up last week’s letter about the post-LLF proposals from the House of Bishops because of all that has been written since, and in the light of a recent residential meeting of the CEEC Council. First, I am conscious of the question put by my good friend Lee Gatiss in a recent blog about the position of evangelical bishops. I want to start therefore by reassuring you that in the College of Bishops I voted against the draft material on which the views of General Synod are now being sought, and I remain opposed to it.
After the College meeting ended, I felt both grief and shame. My firm desire is that all who treasure the Church’s existing position on marriage, including bishops, will vote against the motion which the House of Bishops is putting to Synod.
The reasons for this are threefold …”
– Bishop Rod Thomas, recently-retired Bishop of Maidstone, shares his stance on the proposals from the Church of England’s House of Bishops.
See also:
Church Society podcast recorded at last week’s CEEC residential gathering.
Glen Scrivener on the ‘Secular Sermon to Archbishop Justin Welby‘
Glen Scrivener at Speak Life responds to ‘a secular sermon’ open letter directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury by high profile UK TV presenter Sandi Toksvig.
Can we love people and disagree? Very helpful in thinking about how to respond to those with whom we disagree.
Removing fences: the ALRC Consultation Paper on Religious Educational Institutions and Discrimination Laws
“The Australian Law Reform Commission has now released a Consultation Paper for its current reference on “Religious Educational Institutions and Anti-Discrimination Laws”.
The paper, while formally acknowledging the importance of religious freedom and parental rights, will be a serious disappointment to those involved in religious schools and colleges.
It effectively recommends the removal of protections enjoyed by religious educational institutions which have been designed to safeguard the ability of these organisations to operate in accordance with their religious beliefs.
The “fences” protecting these bodies from being forced to conform to majority views on sexual behaviour and identity (and hence losing their distinctiveness as religious bodies) are to be knocked down, the ALRC says. But the paper offers no convincing reasons for this wholesale demolition of a structure which has served the diversity and plurality of the Australian community for many years.
Rather than supporting “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion”, the paper’s recommendations would require a compulsory uniformity which would undermine the reasons for the existence of faith-based educational institutions. …”
– Assoc Prof Neil Foster shares his thoughts about an important religious freedom paper.
The Gospel in the Gospels — Two Ways Ministries Forum 2023
From Two Ways Ministries:
Want to wrestle with God’s Word and develop a great network of other Young Adults who want to live single-mindedly for Christ?
Thursday Forum is the backbone of what we do – hear Phillip Jensen teach the Bible, ask your questions, discuss the implications in small groups with others in the 18-30 age group and pray together.
The topic for this year’s forums will equip us to read the gospel with a non-Christian friend (one of the best ways to evangelise), but what is the gospel in the gospels?
Location: Marcus Loane Hall, Moore College, Newtown
Time: Thursdays 7-9pm (BYO dinner to share from 6pm)
– See the website for dates and links for further details.
Commissioning in Cowra
From the Bathurst Diocese Facebook page:
“A great afternoon commissioning Ben (with Alissa) Connelly for ministry in Cowra with great thanks to BCA for their partnership. In the photos you’ll see the Rev’d Greg Harris, national director of BCA and various Bathurst clergy and spouses of who gathered for today.”
– A cause for thanksgiving and prayer. See also the BCA website.
CEEC formally responds to House of Bishops’ proposals and subsequent public communications
The Church of England Evangelical Council has issued a formal response to the Church of England’s House of Bishops.
“CEEC calls for action and offers the Church of England a better way forward
CEEC is grieved and dismayed by the House of Bishops’ response to Living in Love & Faith, and subsequent public communications, believing them to be contrary to the doctrine and teaching of the Church of England. If pursued, we believe these proposals will create further division and broken fellowship within the Church of England and a greater tearing of the fabric of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
We wish to alert the House of Bishops to the depth, breadth and strength of opposition to their proposals among members of CEEC, which represents lay and ordained, charismatic and conservative and open, egalitarian and complementarian evangelicals. The Council is drawn from numerous networks including Diocesan Evangelical Fellowships, EGGS, The Junia Network, ReNew, New Wine, Living Out, Latimer Trust, JAEC, Fulcrum, Fellowship of Word and Spirit, Crosslinks, CPAS, Count Everyone In, CMS, Christianity Explored, Church Society and evangelical College Principals.” (emphasis added)
‘Total betrayal of the doctrine of marriage’
Speaking with the Christian Institute in the UK, Global South spokesman the Rev Paul Eddy highlights the failure of the Archbishop of Canterbury and calls on evangelical bishops to speak out against the House of Bishops proposals.
Failing the Green Test II: A critical examination of the advice from the Church of England’s Legal Office
“In my previous paper on the bishops’ proposals I applied what I called the ‘Green test.’
This test, named after the late Canon Michael Green who taught it to me, holds that that there are two key questions that a student should ask of any item on a theological reading list.
These two questions are
(a) ‘What is this writer trying to sell me?’ and
(b) ‘Is this something I should buy?’
In my previous paper I argued that the bishops’ proposals failed this test. In this new paper I want to argue that the advice from the Legal Office likewise fails this test with the consequence that it does not show that what the bishops are proposing is legal. …”
– Martin Davie continues his analysis of the House of Bishops’ proposals for the blessing of same-sex marriages.
Photo: The late Canon Michael Green.
Preaching Trust Clubs in 2023
From The Expository Preaching Trust:
“The Trust is sponsoring clubs in Abbotsford, Armidale, Sutherland and Wahroonga. These Clubs meet 4 times each year and in one of the meetings feature a special guest.
Our special guest for 2023 is Phillip Jensen. Phillip will preach at each club and will speak on, ‘The future: obstacles and opportunities’.
There is no cost to register, but if you would like to attend the club for Phillip’s visit here are the details…”
Anglicans honoured in Australia Day list 2023
“A senior public servant and a former Dean of the College of Divinity are among Anglicans in Sydney given Australia Day Honours. …”
– Russell Powell has the story at SydneyAnglicans.net.
(Image: SydneyAnglicans.net)
Richard Johnson’s Address to the Inhabitants of New South Wales
This Australia Day, give thanks for the Rev. Richard Johnson, Chaplain to the First Fleet and first Chaplain to the Colony of New South Wales.
In 1792, Johnson wrote a tract designed to be distributed widely in the Colony. He gives his reasons for doing so:
“My Beloved,
I do not think it necessary to make an apology for putting this Address into your hands; or to enter into a long detail of the reasons which induced me to write it.
One reason may suffice. I find I cannot express my regard for you, so often, or so fully, as I wish, in any other way.
On our first arrival in this distant part of the world, and for some time afterwards, our numbers were comparatively small; and while they resided nearly upon one spot, I could not only preach to them on the Lord’s day, but also converse with them, and admonish them, more privately.
But since that period, we have gradually increased in number every year (notwithstanding the great mortality we have sometimes known) by the multitudes that have been sent hither after us. The colony already begins to spread, and will probably spread more and more every year, both by new settlements formed in different places under the crown, and by a number of individuals continually becoming settlers. Thus the extent of what I call my parish, and consequently of my parochial duty, is enlarging daily. On the other hand, my health is not so good, nor my constitution so strong, as formerly. And therefore I feel it impracticable, and impossible for me, either to preach, or to converse with you so freely, as my inclination and affection would prompt me to do.
I have therefore thought it might be proper for me, and I hope it may prove useful to you, to write such an address as I now present you with…”
Johnson’s warm pastoral tone, and his urgent call to trust Christ and to turn from sin, are clearly evident in this Address.
Download An Address to The Inhabitants of The Colonies Established in New South Wales and Norfolk Island as a PDF file here.
(Photo: Richard Johnson’s Address – copy held by Moore College.)
Global South Releases Response to Same-Sex Blessings in Church of England
The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA)
Press Release
For Immediate release 24 January 2023
CHURCH OF ENGLAND ‘BLESSING’ GAY UNIONS WOULD VIOLATE BIBLICAL TEACHING & JEOPARDISE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY’S CONTINUING ROLE IN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION
IF the General Synod of the Church of England affirms the House of Bishops’ recommendations to ‘Bless’ Same Sex Marriage, or Civil Partnerships, the Church of England will be in violation of the “clear and canonical teaching of the Bible”, and it will lead to “impaired communion with many provinces of the Anglican Communion”.
The role of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, as a “moral leader, and a figure of unity within the Communion” will also be “severely jeopardised”. So says the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) which covers around 75% of Anglicans across the globe, ahead of the Synod’s London meetings, February 6-9.
The House of Bishops’ Response to the six-year Living in Love and Faith ‘listening’ process says lawyers have advised them that the official Doctrine of Marriage would remain, despite the Church, from now on “joyfully welcoming and recognising permanent, stable same sex relationships” through services and prayers of blessing.
The Most Reverend Justin Badi, Primate of South Sudan, and Chairman of the GSFA responded, saying: “What the English bishops are recommending constitutes unfaithfulness to the God who has spoken through His written word. Their Response belies the loss of confidence by the bishops in the authority and clarity of the Bible as we have received it. They are re-writing God’s law for His creation; laws that are re-affirmed by Christ in the Gospel accounts.”
Last summer, at the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, the GSFA sounded a global call to re-affirm ‘Lambeth 1.10’ (the Anglican Communion’s official teaching that the only place for sexual intimacy is marriage between one man and one woman for life, and specifically rules out blessing of same sex relationships). Archbishop Badi says the bishops’ proposals are “in clear contravention of Lambeth 1.10” , and “will lead to consequences for the Communion if the General Synod affirms. We therefore call on Synod to reject the bishops’ proposals on blessing same sex unions.”
Archbishop Badi said the GSFA “laments the bishops’ collective failure to keep their ordination/consecration vows to defend biblical truth by their life and doctrine, and are dangerously accommodating the culture of the day”. He said their 53-page Response: “turns out to be a farcical compromise, with many contradictions, and no theological case made for blessing same sex unions.” The GSFA says that the proposed pastoral resource of Prayers of Love and Faith for blessing and affirming gay couples, contradicts Holy Scripture taken as a whole, and in particular, the bible’s teaching on marriage and sexual ethics.
Theology apart, the GSFA also says the attitude towards the Anglican Communion shown by the House of Bishops in their Response once again demonstrates a problematic relationship between the Mother Province and the world-wide Anglican church.
Archbishop Badi said: “Anglican ecclesiology requires that provinces don’t act independently of each other. Even more so for the CofE in its special historical and ecclesiastical role in the Anglican Communion. Assent by General Synod would show disregard for the wider Communion (the majority of whom hold to orthodox teaching on Marriage & sexuality), and will increase the pressure for the Communion to fragment. Several GSFA provinces are already in ‘impaired communion’ with revisionist provinces like The Episcopal Church (USA), the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church in Wales. If Synod votes to back the bishops’ recommendations, then it is foreseeable that several Global South provinces will also be in impaired Communion with the Church of England.”
However, the primate says this does not mean GSFA provinces will leave the Communion. He added: “It would only double their desire to reset and revitalise the Communion along biblical lines, and in keeping with its formative theology, ecclesiology and ethos. The Anglican Church has always seen itself as an expression of God’s ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.’
“GSFA provinces are committed to our calling to be ‘a holy remnant’ within the Communion, marked by its loyalty to God and the plain teaching of holy scripture – whatever the cultural winds of the day. But a Synod vote in favour of the bishops’ proposals would be a major step in revisionism and sadly, alienate the Mother Church from large swathes of the Communion. It will inevitably lead to a re-configuration, and a re-structuring of the Communion as we currently know it.”
Archbishop Badi says it would also remove the Archbishop of Canterbury’s moral right to be an Instrument of Unity for the Communion. He said: “Archbishop Welby cannot compartmentalise his role as Primate of England from his role as ‘first among equals (head of the world-wide Communion)’. He says he will not personally use the ‘prayers of blessing’, but his “extremely joyfully celebratory” welcome of the blessing prayers, and his leadership of the House of Bishops in proposing this Response, means that he is actually advocating false teaching from a biblical point of view.”
The GSFA says if any Communion province was considering changing its Doctrine of Marriage, and/or its Pastoral Guidelines, then this should first be discussed and decided by the Primates’ Meeting. That is, if a global Anglican Church as a ‘communion of churches’ is to be maintained, rather than “a loose network, or federation of autonomous national or regional Churches,” he explained.
To orthodox clergy and laity in the Church of England, Archbishop Badi was keen to send a clear message of encouragement and support. He said: “The GSFA is committed to care for those who abide by the ‘faith once delivered’, and who want to be true to the Communion, and its foundational roots, while responding to a changing world. In a word, we seek to continue to ‘shepherd’ those who want to be faithful to the covenant-keeping God revealed in Christ and the Scriptures. This includes Orthodox Anglicans in England, bishops, clergy and laity. We will do this as best as possible in a non-schismatic way.
“We will also be especially mindful to care for, and encourage those who are same sex attracted, but whose love of the Lord, and His teaching, mean they abstain from same sex unions. Our mission of ‘truth and grace’ in a broken world will also include welcoming and relating to those in some form of same sex relationship. We will welcome them as persons into our church communities, relate to them as they present themselves, and seek to introduce them to the transforming love of Christ that heals our brokenness, and helps all of us sinners to be continually transformed more and more into His likeness.”
Finally, the GSFA leader says he believes that particularly over the last decade, the debate on marriage and sexuality has distracted, if not diverted, the life in many parts of the Communion, and certainly the Church of England, from the main task of the Church: proclaiming Christ and making disciples of all who live in the nation, including those who increasingly, in a confused and morally ambivalent society, struggle with issues of identity. He concluded: “The mission Christ entrusted to His Church must cause us to take the Gospel out to those who have yet to know and respond to the good news of Jesus Christ, and to live out the kingdom in a holistic way. We will, in the grace of God, both defend and propagate this death-defeating, life-transforming Gospel.”
The GSFA has recently invited orthodox provinces across the Communion to formally sign up as full Covenant Members of the Fellowship. It is also in the process of offering Associate Membership to Anglican Churches and organisations within revisionist provinces who are seeking to be a ‘holy remnant’, and who may require support from the global body of Anglicans, including alternative episcopal oversight at some point.
• For more information about the GSFA, and membership, visit www.thegsfa.org
ENDS
(This copy with thanks to The American Anglican Council.)
Woe to the English Bishops – with Lee Gatiss and Ben Kwashi
From The Pastor’s Heart – a “Must watch”:
“The Bishops of the Church of England have announced that same sex relationships will be able to be blessed in Church of England churches.
In a massive turnaround, the English bishops are saying that what God says is sin, is blessed.
The prophet Isaiah says,
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. – Isaiah 5:20
Despite the u-turn, in a fudge, the Bishops claim that by not authorising same sex weddings in church, there is no change in doctrine.
We talk with General Secretary of the Gafcon Movement, Ben Kwashi and Director of the Church Society UK, Lee Gatiss.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…