“Archbishop of Wales Election Shatters the Communion”

“Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Gafcon family,

Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the earth.

It is with a heavy heart that I write to you of grievous events in our beloved Anglican Communion.

The decision by the Church in Wales to elect the Rt Revd Cherry Vann as Archbishop and Primate is another painful nail in the coffin of Anglican orthodoxy. …”

– Chairman of the Gafcon Primates Council, Archbishop Dr. Laurent Mbanda, shares a pastoral letter.

Earlier:

New Archbishop of Wales elected.

Bible Society sells its main property, Hillsong the likely buyer

“An office and former warehouse tenanted by Hillsong and smaller renters in Macquarie Park in Northern Sydney has been sold by the Bible Society. It was the former Headquarters for the NSW Bible Society. …”

– John Sandeman reports on a recent sale.

Image: OpenStreetMap.

Southern Cross August-September 2025

The latest edition of Southern Cross magazine from the Diocese of Sydney is now available.

“In this edition:
•   Ministry to seafarers
•   Holiday kids’ clubs
•   Reaching Gen Z
•   Testimonies of women working in specialised areas
PLUS: news, views, reviews and more.”

– including
•   Eleven churches and one big Bible college working bee
•   Emu music celebrates 25 years
•   A ransom to reckon with
•   Answer with gentleness and respect.

In churches now, or downloadable from sydneyanglicans.net/about/southerncross.

GSFA Primates Encourage Faithful Anglicans in England

“On Friday 18th July, the GSFA Chairman, Archbishop Justin Badi, together with Deputy Chairman Archbishop Samy Shehata and Hon Secretary Archbishop Titus Chung, had a series of meetings with Church of England leaders, culminating in a special evening reception for over three hundred clergy and leading laity at which they were the guests of honour.

They were invited by the Alliance, a broadly based movement of orthodox Anglicans which seeks to combat the move to overturn two millennia of Christian teaching on marriage and human sexuality being driven by the Church of England’s bishops in General Synod. …”

– from The Global Fellowship of Anglican Churches.

New Archbishop of Wales elected

“A new Archbishop of Wales has been elected today, 30 July 2025.

Cherry Vann who has served as the Bishop of Monmouth for the past five years, has been chosen as the 15th Archbishop of Wales.

She succeeds Bishop Andrew John who retired in July after three and a half years as the leader of the Church in Wales.

Archbishop Cherry was elected having secured a two-thirds majority vote from members of the Electoral College…”

– News and photo from The Church in Wales.

Reaction and background:

Press Release from Christian Concern (read it all at the link):

New Archbishop of Church of Wales living in blatant defiance of Christian teaching

“The Church in Wales has appointed an Archbishop who is openly living in defiance of Christian teaching.

Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of Christian Concern, comments: ‘Cherry Vann lives with her civil partner, Wendy, in a same-sex relationship. This directly contradicts the Church’s historic and biblical doctrine that marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman, and that sexual relationships are reserved for marriage.

‘As an ordained minister, and now Archbishop, Cherry Vann has sworn to uphold the teaching of the Church. Instead, she is publicly living in deliberate rejection of those very doctrines.

‘That she was elected with a two-thirds majority of the Electoral College demonstrates that the Church in Wales has now institutionally turned away from biblical teaching on sexual morality.…”

“We still need your prayers”: Anglicans appeal for prayer after DRC killings

 

“ ‘Please brothers and sisters, we still need your prayers.’ Clergy from the Anglican Church in DRC have appealed for prayers for peace following attacks that killed more than 40 people in a Catholic church in the eastern Congolese town of Komanda on Sunday 27 July.

A United Nations report on 28 July stated that elements of the ADF, an Islamic State-affiliated insurgent group that originated in neighbouring Uganda, carried out the attack in Komanda town, Irumu territory, Ituriprovince.The militants wielding guns and machetes struck around 1 a.m. while Catholic Christians were attending the prayer vigil.

At least 40 civilians were killed, including children. …”

– Report from The Anglican Communion News Service.

Ambition?

“I have a simple question: What is your ambition in life?

The themes of royalty and service stand out in Dr. Luke’s record of the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth. Although he is demonstrably God’s king, he never used his divine powers out of self-interest or self-aggrandizement, but for the good of others. His service is a constant theme.

In the opening lines of Luke chapter 10, we read that Jesus sent out seventy (or seventy-two) of his followers on a training mission so they could experience first-hand what ministry in his name means. Three themes stand out. …”

– John Mason writes in this week’s Word on Wednesday at the Anglican Connection.

Growing by five percent conversion growth — how might this work?

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“What change would a leader and church need to make for a congregation, denomination or movement to grow by five percent annual conversion growth?

The Gospel Coalition pulled together a mini summit of evangelical movement leaders from across Australia in June.

That gathering set an aspirational goal of doubling the number of evangelicals over twenty years.

They said a key way to do it is by pursuing a target of seeing five percent of the average attendance saved each year.

David Jensen leads the Evangelism part of the Department of Evangelism and New Churches in the Sydney Anglican Church.

Chris Braga is senior pastor of Grace West Church at Glenmore Park in Western Sydney.”

– Watch or listen here.

A Biblical Theology of Faith — 2025 Annual Moore College Lectures — with Dr Peter Orr

From Moore Theological College:

“Since 1977, the Annual Moore College Lectures have showcased leading contemporary biblical and theological scholarship on topics ranging from a theology of the Christian life with Kelly Kapic, the use of the Pentateuch in the New Testament with T Desmond Alexander, and last year’s series on the Book of Galatians with Tom Schreiner.

This year, Peter Orr, lecturer in the New Testament Department at Moore Theological College, will be delivering the 2025 Annual Moore College Lectures on the topic of faith.

What is faith? Is faith with knowledge still faith? What did Jesus mean when he said that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can uproot a tree or move a mountain (Luke 17:6; Matt 21:21)? And why does Paul tell us that we are declared right with God by “faith apart from works of the law” (Rom 3:28), while James insists that “a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (Jas 2:24)?

Join us on the mornings of Monday 4 to Friday 8 August and hear from Peter Orr how God provides us with an unfolding revelation of faith across the whole Bible.”

– See the details here.

A new era of support

“More than a century after Anglican chaplains first went on to the battlefield with soldiers, chaplaincy has been established to veterans of Australia’s Defence Force.

The historic move was marked at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney with the collation of the inaugural Archdeacon to Veterans, the Ven Andrew Nixon. …”

– Russell Powell has this report at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Photo: Former Governor General David Hurley, Mrs Jenny Nixon, Mrs Linda Hurley, Archdeacon Nixon.

Of Snakes and Satan

From Phillip Jensen;

“Strangely, some people find it easier to believe in Satan than to believe in God. But what they think of Satan can be so different to the Bible as to not be recognisable.

Moving to Genesis 3 has given us an opportunity to pause and think about Satan: his character, his nature, and his ways of operation. I don’t want you to enjoy a discussion on Satan, but I do hope you find it stimulating and informative.”

– Listen here.

Inaugural Archdeacon to Veterans appointed

From the Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs –

“Reverend Andrew Nixon has been appointed as the inaugural Archdeacon to Veterans by the Anglican Church of Australia (ACA) during a ceremony at St Andrews Cathedral in Sydney today.

The ceremony was led by the Primate of the ACA and the Bishop to the Defence Force, and was attended by over 200 guests, including former Governor-General David Hurley AC CVO DSC, Rear-Admiral Chris Smith AM CSM RAN, Department of Veterans’ Affairs Secretary Alison Frame, and other senior Defence, government and religious representatives.

‘This appointment is about bringing to the fore the importance of supporting our veterans and recognising that there are veterans right across the country in all our parishes, in our suburbs and in our neighbourhoods,’ Reverend Nixon says.

Reverend Nixon served as a Navy officer from 1989 until 2001 …”

– Read the full story here.

(2020 photo of Andrew Nixon.)

Unless a Grain of Wheat…

“Over two weekends in June and July I attended farmers’ camps, one in Gippsland and one in Yackandandah, both in Victoria.

Gippsland was made up mostly of dairy farmers battling to be more efficient to reduce costs as they receive less and less for their milk.

At Yackandandah many of the farmers were graziers, their concern is late rain …

At both camps I preached on John 12:20-26, where the Lord Jesus announces that his hour has finally come.”

– David Cook writes at The Expository Preaching Trust.

Image: A 2024 photo of Armidale’s Bishop Rod Chiswell with David Cook.

From campus to classroom: An interview with Jeanette Chin

At The Australian Church Record, Jocelyn Loane interviews Jeanette Chin, asking about her journey to school ministry.

“As high school drew to a close, I started thinking about what to do with my life. In God’s sovereign goodness, he exposed me to the pain of death in multiple ways.

While hard, this clarified my priorities (as Psalm 90 says). This life is very short – eternity is forever. So how could I use my life to promote Jesus?

When I got to university and discovered there were hundreds of students eagerly thinking the same way, I was thrilled! AFES and Beach Mission (with Scripture Union) were very formative in training me for a lifetime of loving Jesus. I learnt how to read the Bible for myself, how to run Bible studies, how to think theologically about different things, and how to talk to unbelievers about Jesus. …”

– Read here.

Bathurst Diocesan Prayer Diary — July 2025

The Bathurst Diocesan Prayer Diary has been updated with the latest points for prayer and thanksgiving.

Maybe you could use it to help you pray for the work of the gospel in this huge area of New South Wales.

“Please pray for our diocese as a whole, that the Lord
…would fill us with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that we may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way.
See Colossians 1:9-10”

Download here (PDF file).

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