Book Review: Against the Sexual Revolution

“Review of Louise Perry, The Case Against the Sexual Revolution, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2022.

Some sort of reality may be attained in incremental steps, and Louise Perry’s critique of the sexual revolution of our times could be placed in a category of ‘A Half-Return to Sanity’. It is not a Christian critique, and ultimately may achieve little, but Mrs Perry, who gave birth while she was writing this book, has made some cogent points in speaking into our times.

In eight clear chapters Perry sets out her case:

  1. Sex must be taken seriously;
  2. Men and women are different;
  3. Some desires are bad;
  4. Loveless sex is not empowering;
  5. Consent is not enough;
  6. Violence is not love;
  7. People are not products;
  8. Marriage is good.…”

– Peter Barnes, former Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, writes in their national journal, AP.

Also from Peter Barnes at AP:

Shining as Lights Amid the Encircling Gloom:

“…the Biden administration has waged war on the pro-life cause. In mid-May in Washington DC seven pro-lifers were jailed under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. If only they had burnt down buildings, looted property, and threatened lives under a BLM banner, they would have fared better. But they protested peacefully against the practice of abortion. Lauren Handy, aged 30, was sentenced to 57 months (nearly five years!) while a 76-year-old grandmother and a 69-year-old man were among the other six to be jailed, albeit for shorter terms.”

Walk for Life – notice of Love Sydney’s Walk for Life on 21 September 2024.

And another contribution from our Presbyterian friends:

Who has the last laugh? – David Burke reflects on Psalm 2:

“It is easy to slip into human defaults of fight, fright, or flight. It is especially easy to be despairing, pull up the bridges and take the Benedictine option of retreating to our equivalent of desert caves and putting the light of the gospel under a bushel. The nett result of that is to deny our God-given gospel mission.

Psalm 2 gives a different frame.…”

Can the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans chase the snakes out of the Anglican Communion?

“Yesterday, in a monastery in the Egyptian desert, the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans (GSFA) met for their first Assembly, under their new covenantal structures. Their purpose? To reset the Anglican Communion.

In his keynote address, the current Chair of the GSFA, the Primate of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, Archbishop Justin Badi, set out their plan. …

The Global South Fellowship of Anglicans has waited twenty-five years for the Instruments of the Anglican Communion to bring order to the divided church community, but they will wait no longer.”

– Susie Leafe writes at Christian Today.

The Assembly videos can be seen here.

Strategies to increase the retention of the children of members

From The Pastor’s Heart –

“There are three different ways that the adult population of churches can grow:

  1. Adults being saved.
  2. Christians transferring from another congregation within your denomination of switching from another denomination.
  3. Children of members growing up in the church and taking on their parents faith for themselves.

Most evangelical churches – even growing churches – are underperforming in the first and third ways. …”

– At The Pastor’s Heart this week, Dominic Steele speaks with Al James from Sydney Anglican Youthworks.

Make the Main Thing the Main Thing on Sundays

“If everything in a church needs to change, where should a pastor start? I want to offer a convictional testimony for making the Bible the main course on Sunday. Every other change should follow. …”

– At 9Marks, Bret Capranica has encouragement for pastors.

Southern Cross magazine June — July 2024

The latest issue of Southern Cross magazine from the Diocese of Sydney is now out.

Copies will be available in churches – and also here online.

Report from Global Assembly of Global South Fellowship of Anglicans, Egypt

From the American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey:

“Dear friends in Christ,

I am writing from the St. Mark’s Coptic Monastery in Khataba, Egypt, where almost 200 delegates from 11 Anglican Provinces, 3 ‘Provinces-in-formation’ duly constituted by Gafcon and recognized as such by the GSFA, and numerous mission agencies from over 40 countries are gathering for the first Global Assembly of the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans (GSFA). This Global Assembly marks an historic ‘reset’ of the Anglican Communion with regards to:

1.    What Anglicans believe (a common confession of faith based on Biblical faith, Apostolic tradition and the Anglican formularies);

2.    A true and genuine Communion of Anglican Churches based upon covenantal structures that provide clear and fair criteria for membership– with mutual accountability and discipline within the boundaries of Reformational Anglicanism; and

3.    A passionate commitment to Christ’s Great Commission to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:16-20) –  undeterred by false teaching – through mission partnerships that will enable Anglicans to proclaim Christ faithfully to all nations…”

– e-mail, via Anglican Mainstream.

Fact-Checking a popular story of Christian origins

“The latest book by bestselling author and controversial Australian feminist Clementine Ford is I Don’t: The Case Against Marriage (Allen & Unwin, 2023).

She wants this book to not only dissuade people from getting married but also ‘to end marriages’, because of the harm they bring to women.

This article isn’t about her main thesis, but the striking way she begins her case against marriage. The very first step Ford takes is to outline the history of Christianity and so discount the moral authority of the church. …”

– Robert Martin at Northcote Baptist Church in Melbourne does a spot of fact-checking for The Gospel Coalition Australia. This could be helpful if you have friends who are reading the book.

Related:

Who will champion marriage? – Marriage Foundation via Anglican Mainstream. The linked story includes some interesting charts.

GSFA takes on the challenge of resetting the Anglican Communion

Anglican Futures has published the second of three posts on the aims of this week’s Global South Fellowship of Anglicans Assembly in Egypt:

“The GSFA are resetting the Anglican Communion by creating a means of global accountability and discipline.” (Emphasis added)

– Read the second post – though you might want to begin with the first in the series, “The GSFA – a potted history”.

Image: GSFA leaders at Lambeth in 2022.

John Stott’s Dream Church

“In 1974, on the 150th anniversary of the dedication of All Souls Church in London, John Stott shared his dream for the church, focusing on five elements of faithfulness that would be for the glory of God and the good of the world. Riffing on Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech directed to the injustices of American society, Stott painted an inspiring picture of the church at its best.

In a time of upheaval, when the church’s weaknesses and sins have been exposed, it’s good to remind ourselves what the church has been and can still be when we’re marked by faith, hope, and love. Here is Stott’s fivefold dream for the church, as later published in The Living Church. …”

– Trevin Wax writes at The Gospel Coalition.

Singing as Spiritual Formation

“Churches in Australia go to incredible lengths to sing together. Typically, churches do not have the resources to do music as they’d like. What’s more, views differ on the place of music in church life. Yet Sunday after Sunday, the church sings.

Over the last 15 years, I’ve had the privilege of visiting churches throughout Australia to help in music ministry training. Almost all have been struggling to motivate their congregations to sing heartily, and to develop bands that lead the congregation well. Some church music teams are thriving – praise God! Yet mostly, churches are just getting by. I know of churches where faithful music teams are few in number and exhausted. I know of churches with no musicians – they sing along to YouTube videos in their services instead. I have served on staff as Music Pastor at three evangelical churches (2 in Sydney, 1 in Melbourne), each holding slightly different views on the place of singing and seeking to lovingly engage with congregational expectations of singing’s purpose and song choices. Perhaps these are familiar scenarios. Music ministry is complex.

And yet I’ve not encountered a single church that has excluded singing from its gatherings. Singing on Sundays – some way, somehow – seems to be a non-negotiable. …”

– Greg Cooper published this article back in March at EFAC Australia.

Image: gregcoopermusic.com

June 6, 1944, One of the Most Morally Significant Days in Western History

In his The Briefing broadcast for Friday 07 June 2024, Dr Albert Mohler reflects on D-Day.

Latest George Whitefield College newsletter

Screenshot

The latest newsletter (May 2024) from George Whitefield College in Cape Town has been uploaded to their website.

Good to see what’s happening, and as fuel for your prayers. (Click PRINT FULL NEWSLETTER for the PDF version.)

Anglican Global South leaders meet in Egypt to reset and renew the Anglican Communion

“The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) is a recognised grouping within the  Anglican Communion which includes some 75% of Anglicans worldwide and traces its origins to the  first ‘South to South’ Encounter in Kenya in 1994. Since then, regular ‘Encounter’ gatherings have  brought the voice of Global South to the wider Anglican Communion and next week, 11th-15th June, a  group of 200 leaders is being gathered by the GSFA in Egypt as its ‘1st Assembly’ under a new  Covenantal structure.

The Assembly will meet in the context of the rapid growth of Anglican Churches of the Majority  World, in contrast to the Western Churches which, on the whole, have been unable to resist a  cultural drift away from orthodox Christianity. …”

– Report on the upcoming GSFA Assembly in Egypt.

via Anglican.ink. Image: GSFA.

The gospel in jars of clay

“Some years ago I was asked what the mission strategy was for the youth ministry at our church. What did we do for evangelism? How were we reaching the lost and proclaiming the good news to non-Christians?

I took the question in good faith, even though I detected a hint of haughty accusation underlying the question, i.e. ‘If you’re not running courses, holding attractive evangelistic events and presenting Two Ways To Live each week, then are you actually doing any evangelism?’ seemed to be the subtext. …”

– Mike Dicker, Principal of Youthworks College, writes in the current Southern Cross magazine – and at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Remembering D-Day

Today marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day on 6th June 1944.

Five years ago, Joe Carter wrote this potted summary for The Gospel Coalition.

Students of history know that D-Day represented a massive effort to win freedom from Nazi tyranny, and there was great personal sacrifice. In a world where so many take for granted the freedoms we enjoy, it is good – and sobering – to remember.

Yet Christians know that our liberation from sin and death came at an even higher price. Incalculably so.

As we remember and give thanks for those who laid down their lives to defend our freedom and civilisation, let’s never take for granted what the Lord Jesus has done for us.

Related:

Hear the NBC radio broadcast announcing the D-Day invasion.

A D-Day story: Part One – The crossing – Tom McCarthy at The Conservative Woman.

Freedoms of West make our culture worth defending – John Anderson

Image: 1977 photo of a stone marker in Saint-Malo, France – part of La Voie de la Liberté – the Road to Liberty – opened in 1947. It commemorates the route of the Allied forces as they fought to liberate Europe.

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