Reckless Abandon by the Sea
“This week marks the 150th anniversary of Hudson Taylor’s Brighton Beach experience – one of the seminal events of the Gospel’s advance in China and in the history of missions…”
– Tim Keesee marks a significant anniversary – with the hope of stirring hearts today.
Update: Tim Keesee has a guest post at Challies.com –
“One of my favorite quotes from Hudson Taylor, the very quotable pioneer missionary to China is ‘There are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.’ Taylor knew about impossible…” – read it all here.
The Battle of Waterloo and Moore College??
“To mark the bicentenary of the famous Battle of Waterloo on 18 June, Peter Bolt, Head of Moore College Department of New Testament and Greek, has organised a free event ‘The Battle of Waterloo and Moore College’.”
– Read on to see the unexpected link.
The Huguenot Heart
Bishop Paul Barnett spoke at the Huguenot Heritage Church service for the Huguenot Society at Scots Church in Sydney yesterday and shares his notes from the event –
“I am not of Huguenot descent. But let me speak today about the Huguenot heart…”
The Dunkirk National Day of Prayer
“When Britain was close to defeat during the Second World War, and the entire British Army was trapped at Dunkirk, in desperation George VI called for a National Day of Prayer.
This was held on 26th May 1940. In a national broadcast he instructed the people of the UK to turn back to God in a spirit of repentance and plead for Divine help. Millions of people across the British Isles flocked into churches praying for deliverance…”
– at Church Society, John Willans remembers an extraordinary time of prayer – and extraordinary answers.
Charles Simeon and his enduring influence on Australia
This year’s Moore College Library Day looks at the influence of Charles Simeon. It’s on Saturday 23rd May. Read the details and register for the day.
Thank God for William Tyndale
Potted history from Adam Ford.
Thank God for William Tyndale.
Paul in Rome in the Sixties
“The book of Acts indicates that Paul was under ‘house arrest’ in Rome, most probably between 60-62.
Luke’s text suggests that Paul was then released, something First Timothy and Titus also imply.
Second Timothy, written from Rome, however indicates that Paul was soon to face execution. Presumably, this execution was at the decision of Nero Caesar following the Great Fire in 64.”
– Confused about the Apostle Paul’s final years in Rome? Read this fascinating new article by Bishop Paul Barnett to understand better what was going on.
Tip: You may want to first read his earlier piece, ‘Paul lived in Rome two whole years’. The Mysterious Ending of Luke-Acts.
Sydney at Gallipoli
“This month marks the centenary of the landing at Gallipoli by Australian and New Zealand troops as part of a larger allied invasion force in April 1915…
Historians have noted how the Australian involvement at Gallipoli gained Australia the right to be treated as an independent nation. Thus, Australia was allowed its own independent seat at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and was not simply part of the British Empire delegation.”
– This article by Dr Colin Bale (Head of Church History at Moore College) tells the story of two Sydney Anglicans in the Great War. It was published in the April edition of Southern Cross, and has also been posted online by SydneyAnglicans.net.
When to make a stand
“Three great ‘stands’ in the history of the church:
- the stand of Athanasius over the person of Christ;
- the stand of Martin Luther over the authority of Scripture and justification by faith alone;
- the stand of the GAFCON Primates over the priority of Christ and his mission, the authority of Scripture over denominational processes, revisionist theology, and ethical practice. …
Being prepared to make a stand has characterised genuine Christian leadership throughout the last two thousand years. But why? And when? And how?”
– Moore College Principal Dr Mark Thompson gave this talk at a seminar during the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Conference in Melbourne last week.
Very helpful. Download it here as a PDF file.
(Picture: Detail from ‘Luther at the Diet of Worms’, by Anton von Werner, 1877.)
Is there a Future for Confessional Anglicanism? — conference audio
On Saturday 21st March 2015, the Anglican Church League held the “Is there a Future for Confessional Anglicanism?” conference in the Chapter House of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney.
Those present considered our Anglican inheritance, our current challenges and our potential future under God.
Glenn Davies, Archbishop of Sydney; Ashley Null, authority on Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation; and Mark Thompson, Principal of Moore Theological College, were the speakers.
Listen to the talks via these links:
Archbishop Dr. Glenn Davies:
The State of Play in the Anglican Church of Australia.
27MB mp3 file and 100kb PDF file outline.
“The ACL’s role in Sydney is to keep the Diocese evangelical. That’s our role. Our role is to be ever vigilant … What one generation fights for, the next generation accepts and the third one forgets. … The stronger ACL is, the stronger the Diocese of Sydney is; the stronger the Diocese of Sydney is, the better the national church will be.”
Dr. Ashley Null:
Our Inheritance.
“The very heart of Cranmer’s understanding of the mission of the church is to proclaim the gospel … to renew the hearts and minds and lives of the English people.”
Dr. Mark D. Thompson:
Where next for confessional Anglicanism?
17MB mp3 file or 160kb PDF file.
“I am an Anglican – not just by historical accident but by conviction. I am convinced that here is a good – more than good, something that has proven to be powerfully effective over almost five hundred years — expression of gospel principles and gospel priorities … Yet to be true to that heritage I must be a gospel man first.”
Photo by Scott Blackwell.
Professor Edwin Judge — Engaging Rome and Jerusalem — book launch
On March 11th 2015, Bishop Paul Barnett gave this address at the launch of a collection of essays by Professor Edwin Judge. Very encouraging:
(Update: See also Assoc. Prof. Stuart Piggin’s remarks, and ordering details for the book.)
Book Launch – Text of Bishop Paul Barnett’s remarks:
E.A. Judge, Engaging Rome and Jerusalem,
(ed. S. Piggin; North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2014).
In 1966 E.A. Judge, Reader in History at the University of Sydney had a small third year Roman History class of which I was a member, along with a younger Tom Hillard.
Tom has gone on to great things as a Roman historian and I have pursued the study of Christian origins within the canon of Jewish, Roman and early Christian texts. Another in the class, Judith Nicholls, now a senior mature age student, is researching her PhD on Jerome.
Edwin Judge’s office is lined with the higher degree theses of his dozens of supervised students. These volumes are silent tribute to a master teacher’s scholarship but equally to his generosity. Read more
Australia’s Christian Heritage
Weekend reading, new in our Resources section:
Associate Professor Stuart Piggin gave this address at a gathering on 3rd February 2015 to commemorate the First Christian Service in Australia.
Held in Richard Johnson Square, Sydney, the gathering was close to the site of the first service, conducted by the Rev. Richard Johnson, Chaplain to the Colony, on 3rd February 1788.
“We are at the site of:
• the First Christian service on Australian soil,
• the first sermon preached,
• the first church and
• the first schoolhouse
The preacher at that service, held under a ‘great tree’, beginning at 10 o’clock on 3 February 1788, a hot midsummer’s day, was the Rev Richard Johnson, Australia’s
• first minister,
• first educator,
• first carer for orphans,
• first carer for aboriginal children …”
Click here to open the PDF file of Dr. Piggin’s address in a new window.
Photos: Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos.
Uganda urged to remember Janani Luwum
“More than 20,000 people gathered in Mucwini, Kitgum, today to honour and celebrate the life, ministry, and martyrdom of Archbishop Janani Luwum, the Church of Uganda’s 2nd Ugandan Archbishop.
After arresting him on false charges, former President Idi Amin Dada assassinated him on 16th February 1977…”
– from The Church of Uganda.
Many readers will remember Bishop Festo Kivengere visiting Sydney after the assassination – and his powerful evangelistic talks and book “I love Idi Amin”.
Related: Moore College’s audio files of Bishop Festo Kivengere.
Richard Johnson — the background
“In the summer of 1784, the Newtons took their orphaned niece Eliza to bathe at the seaside for her health.
John Thornton had invited Newton to accompany him to Lymington and the Isle of Wight. A stranger, Charles Etty, invited Newton to stay at his home near Lymington en route.
In December 1783, Richard Johnson had been licenced as curate to St John’s, Boldre, a village in the New Forest only 3 miles from Etty’s home.
It is conceivable that Newton and Johnson may have met there in the late summer of 1784. Certainly they subsequently knew the same group of friends in the Lymington area.
And it was only a few months later, on 25 March 1785, that Newton reported to William Bull:
“Yesterday I put Mr. Johnson in my pulpit,
(who I think gives us an earnest of a judicious good preacher).’…”
– Marylynn Rouse at The John Newton Project has been researching how John Newton came to know Richard Johnson and came to recommend him to be Chaplain on the First Fleet.
It’s a fascinating work-in-progress with more to come – read it here.
Related: St John’s Boldre is having “Australia Day Matins” on Sunday 1st February.
Photo courtesy Google Maps.
‘Go, bear the Saviour’s name to lands unknown’
This Australia Day long weekend, it’s a good time to bring the people of Australia before our heavenly Father in prayer.
Even before European settlement, the inhabitants of “lands unknown” were in the prayers of men and women like John Newton.
On 8th July 1777, Newton wrote this in his diary –
“My leisure time and rather more than I can well spare taken up with reading the accounts of the late voyage of Capt. Cook in the Southern Ocean and round the Globe.
Teach me to see thy hand and read thy name in these relations. Thy providence and goodness are displayed in every clime. May I be suitably affected with the case of the countless thousands of my fellow creatures, who know thee not, nor have opportunities of knowing thee.
Alas that those who are called Christians, and who venture through the greatest dangers to explore unknown regions, should only impart to the inhabitants examples of sin and occasions of mischief, and communicate nothing of thy Gospel to them. Lord hast thou not a time for these poor benighted souls, when thou wilt arise and shine upon them?”
(Special thanks to Marylynn Rouse of The John Newton Project, who transcribed this entry from Newton’s diary.)
Part of the answer to John Newton’s prayer was the Rev Richard Johnson (pictured), who sailed, in May 1787, on the First Fleet as the first Chaplain to the Colony to be established at Botany Bay.
Newton wrote to Johnson –
“Go, bear the Saviour’s name to lands unknown,
Tell to the southern world his wondrous grace;
And energy Divine thy words shall own
And draw their untaught hearts to seek his face.”
So let’s give thanks for Richard and Mary Johnson, and for those who sent them – and be committed afresh to “bearing the Saviour’s name” to all in our land.
Related: Richard Johnson’s An Address To The Inhabitants Of The Colonies Established in New South Wales And Norfolk Island (pdf).
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…