Diocese of North Queensland “on the brink of financial collapse” — report
“The Anglican Diocese of North Queensland is on the brink of financial collapse as it struggles to pay millions of dollars in compensation to victims of child sexual abuse.
Bishop Keith Joseph has revealed the diocese, which covers more than a third of Queensland, needs to find about $8 million to pay its victims.
The diocese is now preparing a Supreme Court application to formally restructure so it can sell assets to pay the compensation. …”
– Report from ABC News.
Map with thanks to the Diocese of North Queensland.
Adults are becoming Christians every day
“One of the questions we commonly get asked at Evangelism and New Churches is how the evangelism process worked for people who became Christians as adults.
People want to hear about what happened and why it was so effective. Many of the people asking these questions don’t know people who became Christians as adults – perhaps because many of them are younger in age.
I want to tell you that people become Christians as adults in Australia every single day. It happens all the time. …”
– A brief word of encouragement from Dave Jensen – at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Image: Dave Jensen speaking at Nexus25.
Ashley Null consecrated as the second Anglican Bishop of North Africa
“On Sunday 11th May, the world-renowned Thomas Cranmer scholar, the Rev Canon Dr John Ashley Null, was consecrated as the second Anglican Bishop of North Africa in a joyful service at St George’s Tunis …”
– Report from Charles Raven at the GSFA website.
(Gafcon photo.)
The clever move of Leo XIV. Five factors of attraction
“In chess terms, the election of Leo XIV was a knight’s move: surprising, indirect, coming from the rear, and disrupting the board in ways that force everyone to rethink their position. The game has changed. …”
– In taking a first look at the election of the new Pope, Leonardo De Chirico reminds us that we must not be lacking in ‘evangelical discernment ’. At Vatican Files.
The real Jesus: in more than one dimension
Moore College Principal Mark Thompson preached from John 2:12-22 in the College’s chapel yesterday (16 May 2025).
– Watch here.
Anglican Heroes: Thomas Cranmer — Church Society podcast
From Church Society:
“In the first of a new miniseries on the podcast, Lee Gatiss talks to Ros Clarke about Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, his life, work and legacy for the Church of England today.”
Learn about Cranmer’s aim to reform the Church, and how his ideas and methods are very relevant to us today.
– Listen here.
Portrait of Thomas Cranmer by Gerlach Flicke.
Related: Dr. Ashley Null on Thomas Cranmer – from an interview with ACL News in 2001.
Notice of the Anglican Church League’s 2025 Annual General Meeting
The ACL gives notice and warmly invites its members to attend the 2025 Annual General Meeting.
Date: 6.00 pm, Thursday 12th June, 2025.
Location: T.C. Hammond Room, Moore Theological College, 1 King Street, Newtown NSW (enter via Carillon Avenue).
Come and hear Dr. Mark Thompson, Moore Theological College Principal & ACL Vice President on –
“The night the Diocese, the College and the ACL all almost imploded.”
The agenda for the meeting, including positions that need to be filled by election, is available by clicking the image below.
The list of current Council members can be found here.
Need to renew your ACL membership? (Due by 6:00pm 12th June). Please use this link.
The vision of the ACL is to advance the reformed and evangelical character of the Anglican Church of Australia, particularly in the Diocese of Sydney.
Authentic Anglicanism
What is an Anglican? How is Anglicanism being stretched out of shape to be unrecognisable? Sydney’s Doctrine Commission has produced a report on authentic Anglicanism and the following is an abridged version, with some language simplified for general reading.
“ ‘Anglicanism’ is the label attached to a form of Christian corporate life that traces its theological convictions and ecclesiastical practice to the New Testament, with an especially formative period during the English Reformation.
Its congregations are part of the ‘one holy catholic and apostolic church’ confessed in the ecumenical creeds, yet they share distinctives that mark them out from other communions and denominations. …”
– Dr Mark Thompson writes at SydneyAnglicans.net.
(Mark is Chairman of the Sydney Doctrine Commission.)
Have your heart warmed for global mission
We’ve previously mentioned the work of Dr Tim Keesee, founder of Frontline Missions, and his Dispatches from the Front documentaries.
“Dispatches from the Front is a series of documentary films that highlight the marvellous extent, diversity, and unity of Christ’s Kingdom in our world. The journal format of each episode underscores the daily unfolding of God’s activity on the ‘frontlines,’ bringing viewers up-close with sights and sounds from distant corners of the Kingdom.”
While the films are still available on DVD format (remember that?), in the video linked above, Tim Keesee explains that the videos are now available to stream at no charge.
These would be ideal to show in a home group.
Go to frontlinemissions.info/dispatches and scroll down to click on each title.
Under “Add DVD to cart”, there’s now the option to “Stream for Free”.
John Piper writes:
“Beware of watching these Dispatches films if you don’t like being moved and inspired and shaken out of the ruts of your life. My wife and I were riveted in watching the frontline reports of God’s work as recorded in the Dispatches from the Front series. This is the sort of information that builds faith in the present providence of God over His mission and stirs up action for the sake of lost and hurting people near and far.”
There’s also a companion book by Tim Keesee – “Dispatches from the Front: Stories of Gospel Advance in the World’s Difficult Places” available from Reformers Books.
Anglican Communion participants in choice of next Archbishop of Canterbury announced
“The Archbishop in Jerusalem, Dr Hosam Naoum, is to be one of the five representatives of the global Anglican Communion who help to decide the next Archbishop of Canterbury.
The names of the Communion representatives were announced on Tuesday morning, along with those selected from among the central members elected by the General Synod for a five-year term.
Previously, the Canterbury Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) has had only one representative of the Anglican Communion…”
– Church Times reports on the latest in the search for a new Archbishop of Canterbury.
See also:
‘Omnishambles’ May Delay Canterbury Selection – The Living Church.
‘Not so fast my friend’ – 1700 years since Nicaea – with Rachel Ciano and Leonardo De Chirico
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“It is 1700 years since the Council of Nicaea and the publication of the Nicene Creed – but what are we to make of it?
It was the twentieth of May in the year 325 that the Council of Nicaea first met. Pope Francis said ‘The Nicene Creed is a powerful sign of unity among Christians.’
The 17 hundredth anniversary of the Council of Nicaea is being used by the Roman Catholic Church to push the idea that ‘All Christians are Nicene Christians.’
However the difficulty is that while we say the same words, Roman Catholics and Protestants mean vastly different things, and any unity is a fake unity at best.
Leonardo De Chirico is pastor of the Church Brecha di Roma and director of the Reformanda Initiative.
Rachel Ciano lectures in Christianity and History at Sydney Missionary and Bible College. She is a faculty member at the Rome Scholars and Leaders Network, hosted by The Reformanda Initiative.”
Related:
The Nicene Creed – The nature of Christian unity and the meaning of gospel words – Edited by Mark Gilbert and Leonardo De Chirico. Matthias Media.
“The Diversity of Religions is the Will of God”. A Window into Pope Francis’s Theology of Religions – Leonardo De Chirico at Vatican Files.
The Genesis of Science
From Phillip Jensen:
“You knew that we couldn’t undertake a series on Genesis 1-11 without dealing with science – and so here it is.
Mind you, it may be different to what you are expecting as we explore the background to the warfare between science and religion (aka Christianity). We do not want to hold the Bible to ransom from the captivity of science, but science from the captivity of history. Where has science come from and how has it been derailed or helped by an understanding of the sinfulness of humanity?
Neither Peter or I claim any expertise in the practice of science, but both of us have serious questions about the history of science, the understanding of Genesis in the light of science and the understanding of science in the light of Genesis. I hope you find it informative.”
– Listen at Two Ways News.
Save the date for Gafcon Sunday 2025 — 29th June
From Archbishop Dr Laurent Mbanda, Chairman, Gafcon Primates Council:
“Dear Gafcon family,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Will you celebrate with us Gafcon Sunday on the 29th June?
On this day in 2008 we gathered at our first Gafcon conference to unveil the historic Jerusalem Statement, which continues to express the truth and unity that binds together our movement in love.
At our G25 mini-conference in Plano, Texas in March, we played this short video that captured this historic moment:
We invite every Gafcon church to devote time during worship services on Sunday 29th June to read or display a short item about Gafcon, and to lead prayers for our movement.
We also humbly request that each church collect a special thanksgiving offertory for Gafcon, so that through your precious partnership in the gospel, you might equip us to guard God’s gospel.
In the coming weeks our Gafcon Secretariat will make available some digital resources which you may choose to distribute or display at church, or share via email and social networks.
As we gathered in the land of our Lord Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection, we experienced a moment that continues to lead us to pray to see the Bible at the heart of the Anglican Communion.
Please join with orthodox Anglicans everywhere, as we gather to celebrate Gafcon Sunday on 29th June, in just under eight weeks’ time.
The Most Rev’d Dr Laurent Mbanda
Chairman, Gafcon Primates Council
Monday, 12th May 2025.”
Preach the Word
At the recent gathering for the 50th Anniversary of Campus Bible Study at the University of New South Wales, Phillip Jensen speaks to remind and encourage his hearers to Preach the Word.
– Listen here. (The audio quality improves greatly after the first few minutes.)
Very much worth your time, and good for your heart.
Related:
Giving thanks for Campus Bible Study — 50 years on – The Pastor’s Heart.
Southern Cross May – June 2025
The latest issue of Southern Cross magazine (May – June 2025) is now downloadable from SydneyAnglicans.net.
If you attend a Sydney Anglican church, you should be able to pick up a printed copy there.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…