Cross-cultural ministry that seeks to connect

“In our part of Sydney, Chinese migrants come from very diverse backgrounds. Their occupations range from working on construction sites as builders, to running their own businesses, to working in offices as white-collar workers. There is a real mix of people in Lidcombe since it is now an important transport hub in Sydney, and it attracts many Chinese migrants who settle here. …”

– At the Moore College website, Danny Au Yeung, Rector of Lidcombe Anglican Church, shares some points for prayer in a strategic part of Sydney.

Abortion was the leading cause of death worldwide in 2024. And it wasn’t even close

“Throughout 2024, the mainstream press woke up to a brutal reality: Despite decades of sinister fearmongering about ‘overpopulation,’ the world is experiencing a critical shortage of babies that will threaten our way of life in every way imaginable.

… abortion was the leading cause of death globally in 2024, ‘with a record 45 million unborn babies killed in the womb, according to data provided by Worldometer.’ The numbers are excruciating and impossible to fathom: As of 12 p.m. on December 31, 2024, an estimated 45.1 million abortions were perpetrated throughout the year. For context, Canada’s entire population is 40.1 million. …”

– Very sobering article from The Bridgehead, via Anglican Mainstream.

Alistair Begg: Honesty, Humour and Hope

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“We speak to Alistair Begg about pastors, suffering, humility and surviving long term in ministry. Alistair Begg is in Sydney this week speaking at the Church Missionary Society conference in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.

Alistair has served the people of Cleveland Ohio for 42 years at Parkside Church and has a global impact through the influential Truth for Life Ministry.

We go backstage with Alistair to discuss: His teaching on 1 Peter, focussing on suffering, perseverance, trials, humility and standing firm in God’s grace. Reflections on 40+ years of pastoral ministry and lessons learned along the way. Insights into global mission and the long-term commitment of missionaries. His upcoming transition after more than four decades of leadership. The impact of Australia on his ministry in the US, including his close friendship with former Moore College Principal John Woodhouse. Insights into preparing for life after pastoral leadership as he approaches his final months as senior pastor.”

– Watch or listen here.

1700 Years after Nicaea — Credo Magazine

A new issue of Credo magazine is out, with a focus on the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity:

“Without the doctrine of the Trinity we have no Christianity. So, something is fundamentally wrong when countless churchgoers and churches today never say the Nicene Creed together on a Sunday morning. In fact, some have never heard of the Nicene Creed at all.

The year 2025 is the anniversary of the Nicene Creed, meaning this year is a strategic opportunity for pastors everywhere to put the creed back in the church where it belongs. In this new issue of Credo Magazine, we explain why the creed should not only inform the doctrine of the church but its worship, pervading its liturgy. No longer can the church afford to go without that creed which brings us into fellowship with the communion of the saints and summons us into communion with the holy Trinity. …”

– Worth reflecting on the first three sentences – and reading through some of the articles in this issue.

From the first featured article, A Map to Organise Wonder:

“The Nicene Creed, written in 325 years then ratified and expanded in 381 at the Council of Constantinople, represents a doctrinal map seeking to organize the greatest Wonder within all the cosmos: the Triune God. It is not a replacement for the Wonder itself but helps pilgrims on the journey towards the Celestial City. The Creed prompts us to marvel at True Wonder as we progressively encounter his beauty before reaching him in glory. Thus, without the Nicene Creed, Christians are in danger of being lost in a sea of doctrinal and moral confusion. Whether evangelical Christians recite the Creed in gathered worship or not, we are indebted to the theological luminaries of the fourth century. To jettison the Creed is like disabling a GPS in an unknown territory.”

Holding out the good news to multicultural western Sydney

“Minchinbury is a suburb in the heart of western Sydney located just south of Mount Druitt and Rooty Hill. The local area is a melting pot of nations, with only 53 per cent of people in the catchment born in Australia. (It’s 70 per cent across New South Wales.) If Minchinbury was a street with 100 people living in it, 10 would be Filipino, four Indian, 81 would speak more than one language, 12 would be Islamic, 33 would be Catholic, and only 15 people would have no religion. …”

– Moore College has published this encouraging report from Mike Smith in the parish of Minchinbury.

Earlier the College published this ministry story from David Misztal at Wentworthville.

GSFA New Year 2025 Devotional

“In 2025, we are reminded to focus on Jesus the Truth and life. Hebrews 12:2.

Each year comes with its own challenges, but once we trust God these challenges turn into opportunities for the gospel of Christ. My prayer to you all is that; Emmanuel God with us will challenge  every challenges that may encounter us as a GSFA family, particularly preaching and teaching biblical truth. …”

– Dr. Stephen Samuel Kaziimba, Archbishop of the Province of the Church of Uganda, shares a New Year devotional from the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches.

The Lost Coin

“In Luke 15, Jesus tells the story of a woman who has lost a coin and sweeps her entire house looking for it. It’s clearly not a large coin. It’s clearly not laying in the middle of the floor. It’s probably a smaller coin – somewhere in a corner.

Reflecting on that lost coin, I am left wondering about the lost souls in the world today. Particularly those whom none of us are trying to reach. …”

– 9Marks has republished this article by Mark Dever which encourages us to think about how we might reach those in minority language groups.

Related:

A very useful resource – the 5Fish app – from Global Recordings Network.

After 150 years of Christian compassion Leprosy is nearly defeated

“In November, people from nearly thirty countries gathered in New Delhi for the 150th anniversary of The Leprosy Mission. they thanked God for amazing progress in treating the disease and committed to strive for a world without leprosy by 2035. A world without leprosy is within sight. With improved preventative medication, diagnostic tests, and even vaccines, the tools and knowledge needed to end leprosy are in our grasp.

‘It was a marvellous time of celebrating the progress we’ve made, but also longing to finish the job,’ said Greg Clarke, the CEO of The Leprosy Mission Australia (TLMA).…”

– This article by Anne Lim at The Gospel Coalition Australia is a great encouragement. It’s also a reminder of the key work of Australian doctors such as Grace Warren.

Photo: Dr Grace Warren meeting Diana, Princess of Wales, Anandaban Hospital, Nepal, 1993. From Leprosy Mission Australia.

The new Federal privacy tort and religious freedom

Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia alerts churches to a possible legal complication:

“In the closing Parliamentary days of 2024, the Australian Federal Parliament created a new statutory privacy tort action, which may have a significant impact on churches and other religious groups. In the context of a possible disciplinary action against someone who has behaved contrary to the principles of a religious group to which they belong, it may be necessary to inform other members of the group about the person’s behaviour. In doing so the group will be in danger of breaching a right of privacy set up by the new law. The tort action (which will probably come into operation on 11 June 2025) seems to cut across important rights of religious freedom, and the exemptions under the law do not take this into account.

In this post I aim to outline some aspects of the operation of the new law, and recommend that before it commences Parliament provide specific recognition of religious freedom as an exemption to the availability of the action. …”

– Read his full post here.

Image: Associate Professor Neil Foster speaking at a Diocese of Sydney Safe Ministry conference.

Former Archbishop and his Driver freed in Nigeria

“Nigerian media report that former Archbishop Godwin Okpala and his driver have been released from captivity. The two men had disappeared December 6 as Okpala, former Archbishop of the Niger Province, was en route to a funeral.

No report made clear whether the church paid a ransom for the two men, or who had kidnapped them, though there are frequent tensions between Anglicans and radical Islamists in Nigeria. …”

– There have been many reports of kidnappings in Nigeria in recent weeks – The Living Church has this report on the highest profile example.

A Primer on Roman Catholic Apologetics Targeting Evangelicals

“In the late 19th century, liberal theology predicted the end of apologetics as the child of an entrenched, defensive, and doctrinaire faith. It was wrong. Apologetics is alive and well, especially on the web, where initiatives aimed at comparing different interpretations of the gospel (e.g. Roman Catholic, Orthodox, evangelical) flourish.

It can be said that YouTube has become the encyclopedia where one can find apologetic comparisons and confrontations of all kinds. The field that is emerging as a growing reality is that of Roman Catholic apologetics, especially targeting evangelicals. This seems to be primarily a North American phenomenon where religious discourse has always been characterized by religious pluralism, strong passions associated with religion, and multiple changes of religious affiliation in people’s lives.

Traditionally, American evangelicals have been proactive in evangelizing Catholics with a specific intentionality. The result is that so many American evangelicals were born Catholic and became evangelicals later in life, thanks to Billy Graham’s campaigns and the many parachurch initiatives dedicated to evangelism in universities, for example.

This is no longer the case. …”

– At Vatican Files, Leonardo De Chirico alerts evangelical Christians of something relatively new.

Related:

Same words. Different worlds. Reaching Roman Catholics. – On the Pastor’s Heart, Dominic Steele speaks with Leonardo De Chirico and Rachel Ciano on understanding our Roman Catholic friends and sharing the saving news of Jesus with them.

Image: Leonardo De Chirico spoke at the NSW & ACT CMS Summer School in January 2023.

An Australian Creed for Sexual Integrity

From Mark Powell at AP, the Australian Presbyterian national journal:

“Glenn Davies, the current bishop for the Diocese of the Southern Cross and former Archbishop of Sydney, discusses why he helped to produce an Australian creed for sexual integrity.

This document seeks to faithfully uphold the teaching of the Bible and provide a positive vision for human flourishing.”

– Learn about the Australian Creed for Sexual Integrity, and watch Mark Powell’s interview with Bishop Glenn Davies.

See The Australian Creed for Sexual Integrity.

Also mentioned:

The Alliance.

Diocese of The Southern Cross.

Presbyterians extend hand of fellowship to Bishop of the Diocese of the Southern Cross – August 2022.

2025 Summer Prayer Diary

Tara Sing at SydneyAnglicans.net has produced a very helpful resource:

“It’s summertime and we’re getting out into the sunshine, sharing the good news of the gospel and diving deep in understanding the word of God.

With the weeks packed with camps, conferences and missions, we’ve put together an eight-day prayer diary featuring some of the great kingdom initiatives that we can bring before the Lord. …”

– Find it here.

The God Who Does Not Wipe Out Rebels

From The Gospel Coalition, part 2 in a series of 14 talks from Don Carson about the message of the Bible:

“In this lecture, Don Carson examines Genesis 3, focusing on the Serpent’s deceit and humanity’s rebellion, which leads to shame, guilt, and broken fellowship with God.

He discusses the curses placed on Satan, Adam, and Eve, highlighting the introduction of sin and the long-term effects on creation. Carson emphasizes the need for reconciliation with God, pointing to the promise of redemption through Jesus. …”

– Listen (or read the transcript) here.

Photo: Don Carson speaking at The Next Level conference in Sydney in 2016.

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