Grafton and Riverina adopt five-day week for thriving clergy

“Clergy health and safety has been behind the decisions two dioceses in NSW recently made to reduce the number of days their ministers worked.

The synods of the Anglican Dioceses of Grafton and Riverina both voted to embrace five-day working weeks for clergy in June. …”

– Story from The Melbourne Anglican.

Victorian Inquiry into Cults

“A new submission by Freedom for Faith warns that the Victorian Government’s inquiry into cults, coercive control, and high-demand groups may pose serious risks to religious freedom if not carefully scoped and defined.

While commending the inquiry’s aim to protect individuals from abuse, the submission emphasises that poorly drafted laws could stigmatise or even criminalise legitimate religious practices. …”

– Read more at Freedom for Faith (especially if you are in Victoria).

Alistair Begg gives thanks for John MacArthur

In this video, Alistair Begg gives thanks for John MacArthur.

See also:

Crossway gives thanks – with links to a number of articles by John MacArthur.

Testimony about John MacArthur from the fitness trainer who didn’t know his identity – NottheBee.

The evangelical application problem — with Richard Coekin

From The Pastor’s Heart –

“We evangelicals, says Richard Coekin, have a problem – and it’s a preaching problem.

Richard Coekin says we are too often careless – his word– when it comes to application in preaching.

We work hard on exegesis, we labour to understand the original context and the author’s intent – but then we stop short. We leave our congregations with sound doctrine, but little direction.

Richard has just concluded 29 years as senior pastor at Dundonald Church in London and as the founding leader of the Co-Mission network across the UK capital. He now heads up Reach UK.

Richard’s new book, Apply: How to Preach the Bible for Real Life, is about to be released – and today he joins us to explore why good application is not an optional extra, but the very purpose of preaching.”

– Watch or listen here.

Kirsten Birkett on Proverbs — Church Society podcast

From Church Society:

“Kirsten Birkett discusses with Lee Gatiss her new commentary on Proverbs in the Hodder Bible Commentary series.”

– Listen here.

Why mission needs strategy: A conversation with Scott Sanders

The Australian Church Record speaks with Scott Sanders on why mission needs strategy –

“I went to college with a strong desire to plant churches in cross-cultural contexts, and that naturally drew me into the early stages of the church planting happening around 2008–2009.

Geneva Push was forming in response to the broader church planting momentum that was happening globally at the time.

I joined in June 2010, shortly after their first conference, and initially worked to build out the assessment process and coaching systems. There wasn’t much of a plan—just a bold vision to see hundreds of new churches evangelised into existence. It was an exciting, ambitious goal. …”

– Read Kirsten McKinlay’s interview of Scott Sanders here.

What God has Joined Together — The plan for sexual intimacy

From Phillip Jensen:

“As we continue to think about the creation of the man and the woman in the garden, we find marriage being introduced as the outcome of our sexual polarity.

The woman is created to the joy of the man. Consequently, the man is to leave his parents to ‘cleave’ to his wife. The old-fashioned verb to cleave has been changed in most modern translations. But the concept of sex inside the marriage cannot be changed. So Peter and I wander into a discussion about sexual intimacy in and out of marriage.”

– Listen at Two Ways News.

John MacArthur 1939-2025

Grace Community Church in Sun Valley California, the church pastored by John MacArthur since 1969, has announced that he has been called home to be with the Lord.

– Church website here.

Wonderful help for reading the Bible in public

Many of us can give thanks for excellent public Bible reading in churches.

But how can we help church members read the Scriptures clearly and in an engaging manner?

Clifford Warne (1930 – 2003) was a much-loved Christian communicator and broadcaster.

Perhaps his greatest passion was to ensure that the Bible is communicated well.

In 1979, he and Paul White published, through the Anglican Information Office in Sydney, a small book entitled “For Reading Out Loud”.

In the introduction they state –

“Some people who think the Bible has nothing to say to them, do so not because they’ve read it, but because they’ve only heard it read.

An unprepared or careless reading of God’s Book meant to them blurring of meaning and boredom.

These are days of trained news readers on television and radio. Why should we not have skilful Bible readers in church?

For the reader, learning, using and mastering the few rules set out in this book will make the Scriptures live in a new way.

For those who listen, it can mean a new understanding of the Bible and a desire to read it for themselves.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER IN READING ALOUD IS

TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU READ
TO SOUND NATURAL and
TO MAKE THE MEANING CLEAR.

When words are spoken, the meaning is not in the words alone, but in

THE EMPHASIS
THE PHRASING and
THE EXPRESSION given to those words.”

In addition to writing on the subject, Clifford Warne gave many talks and lectures. Three, in particular, were often distributed on cassette tape.

Thanks to Russell Powell at Anglican Media Sydney, three key recordings are once again available and are wonderful resources for individuals and churches.

They are –

The art of reading the Bible aloud.

A storyteller’s secrets.

How to hold an audience.

They are all accessible from this page at SydneyAnglicans.net.

We can be thankful for excellent Bible reading in churches – Let’s help all who read do it well!

Spiritual Conflict

“In his Screwtape Letters CS Lewis observes that there are two equal and opposite errors that people fall into regarding the dark powers. One mistake is to disbelieve in their existence; the other is to believe in them to excess.

In Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 12, Paul the Apostle writes:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power… For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places…

Paul takes the reality of conflict in the world to another level…”

– John Mason urges us to see what we need in the struggle against the cosmic powers of this present darkness.

Be radical and read the Bible

From Murray Campbell in Melbourne:

“A challenge if you live in Melbourne. A challenge no matter your age, and especially if you’re part of Generation Z

Be radical and read the Bible!

Check out the latest on ‘Tomorrow’s Melbourne’ and how an upsurge of Bible reading in the UK could help us take the Bible more seriously here in Melbourne.”

– That’s the theme of his latest ‘Tomorrow’s Melbourne’ video.

Anglican Communion (Nigeria) restricts political activities in Churches

“The Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, has banned politicians from using its lectern for campaign matters.

At the just concluded episcopal consultation at Nike Diocese in Enugu, the Anglicans set guidelines for the reception of politicians and government officials in Church services/programmes across all its Churches. …”

– Report from The Source Magazine Nigeria.

Has Living in Love and Faith come to an end? An open letter to the Archbishop of York

At Psephizo, Ian Paul writes to the Archbishop of York:

“Dear Stephen

I read with interest your address to York Diocesan Synod on 5th July, and one word leapt out for me: ‘final’. Near the end of your address, you comment:

The Living in Love and Faith process is not yet complete. Some final proposals will be brought to the February 2026 meeting of the General Synod.

If that is the case, I am and countless others (on all sides of this debate) will be delighted. This has been a disastrous and divisive process since 2017; I wonder whether you realise how damaging it has been, and whether you will ever publicly acknowledge that. It sprang out of Justin’s spontaneous and ill-conceived phrase ‘radical new Christian inclusion rooted in scripture and Christian theology’ which was both incoherent (how can this be new if it’s rooted in existing theology?) and immediately open to misinterpretation …”

– Read it here.

Image: Ian Paul speaks at last year’s Church of England General Synod.

Living and Leading in the Way of the Cross — Don Carson

From The Gospel Coalition’s Carson Center Podcast –

“In this lecture [from 1 Corinthians chapter 4], Don Carson emphasises the role of Christian leaders as servants of Christ and the importance of faithfulness, humility, and integrity in their leadership.

Carson urges Christian leaders to avoid pride, remain accountable to God, and uphold the way of the cross in their lives.

Carson stresses the importance of discipline and the need for leaders to serve as models of Christlikeness within the church and community.

He teaches the following:

– Listen here.

Photo: Don Carson at the Next Level Conference in 2016.

Church Society Podcast: George Whitefield

The latest Church Society podcast:

“Ros Clarke and Lee Gatiss talk about the controversial and brilliant George Whitefield.”

– Listen here.

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