Stay in Noah’s Ark — or get into the lifeboat?
“I’ve just completed four years of training for ministry in the Church of England, and, God willing, have ahead of me many years of gospel ministry in the Anglican Church.
However, there seems to me to be more pressure than ever to doubt the integrity of that position. How can an evangelical who takes seriously his stewardship of revealed truth, ever with a good conscience take office in the Church of England? …”
– At The Church Society, Oak Hill graduate Matt Graham asks if it’s worth sticking with the Church of England. (PDF file.)
Related: Audio files of talks from the Junior Anglican Evangelical Conference.
Your spiritual appetite
“This day was the best that I have seen since I came to England.… After Dr. Twisse had begun with a brief prayer, Mr. Marshall prayed largely two hours, most divinely, confessing the sins of the members of the Assembly, in a wonderful, passionate, and prudent way. Afterwards, Mr. Arrowsmith preached an hour, then a psalm … Dr. Twisse closed with a short prayer and blessing.”
‘So wrote Robert Baillie, one of the Scots commissioners at the Westminster Assembly, about one of the best days he had in England.’
– Food for thought. Read the whole post by Jeremy Walker at Reformation21 for a challenge, and then, over at the Proc Trust, see Adrian Reynolds brief words.
(Image: University of Glasgow.)
Render unto Caesar or unto God? Government funding and the crisis of Conscience
“There is truth in the claim that Sunrise Children’s Services, along with thousands of similar organizations and institutions, will have to face a hard choice: serve Caesar or serve God. This becomes inevitable once an entity becomes dependent on financial support from the government …”
– Albert Mohler writes about a local (to him) example of the crisis coming to many Christian organisations.
Blessing same-sex relationships in the Church of England?
“I have now confirmed from a number of sources what the Pilling Report is going to recommend. The final draft is ready and it will propose that the Church of England introduce some form of liturgy that will bless same-sex relationships. There is absolutely no doubt that this is what the outcome of the committee’s deliberations will be…
Once that happens we will have formally declared same-sex unions to be holy. In the Church of England our liturgy is our doctrine and the moment we have a rite that in any way affirms same-sex relationships then we will have fundamentally changed what we believe. …
The entire College of Bishops, not just Diocesans but every Suffragan as well, will meet on 27 January 2014 to discuss the report. This is likely to be an emotional event but it will be the first collective opportunity for Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic Bishops to clearly, gently but firmly say that they will have no part in this.”
– The Rev. Peter Ould in the UK sounds an ominous warning.
Background:
“05 January 2012. The membership of a group to advise the House of Bishops on the Church of England’s approach to human sexuality has been announced. The Group will be chaired by Sir Joseph Pilling…” – The Church of England website.
Don’t make The Reformation History
“…The Reformation did more than reform the abuses of organised religion.
It was a recovery of the gospel that transformed the very nature of the church. Thus it became the foundation for our Protestant pattern of church life.
We cannot truly understand ourselves without a proper grasp of the events of the Reformation.”
– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen writes on the crucial need to understand the Reformation today.
Catching Eggs
“When my father-in-law fell on an escalator in a shopping mall, he was proud of his ability to catch his carton of eggs. “Not one of them broke”, he told me from his hospital bed. A true son of the Depression, breaking eggs was more significant than a damaged back.
But as he stayed in hospital, two competing attitudes were expressed by staff and visitors. …”
– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen, writes in his weekly column.
Falling on deaf ears? — Why so many churches hear so little of the Bible
“It is well and good for the preacher to base his sermon on the Bible, but he better get to something relevant pretty quickly, or we start mentally to check out.” That stunningly clear sentence reflects one of the most amazing, tragic, and lamentable characteristics of contemporary Christianity — an impatience with the Word of God.
– Albert Mohler on a malady which too easily affects churches on this side of the Pacific as well.
The Religion of the Self
At Jesmond Parish Church in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne, the Rev. David Holloway explains why the church-sponsored brownie and guide units are refusing to make the new Girl Guide promise.
“There was a problem at the beginning of last month. On 1 September 2013 the Girl Guide promise, “the beating heart of guiding” according to the Chief Guide, was to change. The promise that was being discarded was as follows:
I promise that I will do my best
To love my God
To serve the Queen and my country
To help other people
And to keep the Brownie/Guide Law
Instead it was mandated from Girlguiding’s central authority that from the 1 September every girl and leader must say these words:
I promise that I will do my best
To be true to myself and develop my beliefs
To serve the Queen and my community
To help other people
And to keep the Brownie/Guide Law …”
Read it all at the JPC website.
How Pornography works
“We are fast becoming the pornographic society. Over the course of the last decade, explicitly sexual images have crept into advertising, marketing, and virtually every niche of American life. This ambient pornography is now almost everywhere, from the local shopping mall to prime-time television.
By some estimations, the production and sale of explicit pornography now represents the seventh-largest industry in America. …”
– Albert Mohler looks at understanding how pornography works in the male brain – and how that knowledge can be used in the battle against sin.
Related: The Porn-free family – Tim Challies.
Australian Church Record — October 2013
The latest issue of The Australian Church Record is now out.
“Every now and again ancient institutions can be forgiven for indulging in a little public self-reflection.
On January 1st, 1914, the first issue of ‘The Church Record: A Church Paper for the Commonwealth, Catholic, Apostolic, Protestant, and Reformed’ appeared, sixteen months after a Sydney group first met to float a company to run a federal paper.
As the centenary of this issue draws nigh, it seems fitting to reflect a little on the Australian Church Record as it is poised on the edge of its next one hundred years.”
– as well, there are articles on the General Synod, GAFCON, Archbishop Welby, and there’s a tribute to Bishop Dudley Foord. Downloadable from their website.
And in a reprint of an article from 1972, Bishop Donald Robinson looks at the names behind The Record in the early days.
The Method is the Message
“It was in the early 1970’s and I wore my clerical collar as I approached her front door. The next-door neighbour had asked me to visit. I did not know the widow but the neighbour told me “She is dying and wanting to talk about it, but is afraid to ask for help”.
When she opened the door she panicked. It was not the World War I panic of seeing the minister with the telegram. But it was still panic. Before I spoke she launched into an apology, talking over her shoulder as she scurried back into the house, leaving me on the doorstep. …”
– Phillip Jensen writes about the legacy of the Wells organization’s Every Member Canvass.
‘Pastor of Pastors’
“That phrase is well understood in Church denominations that have episcopal government, and has in the last several generations become a standard description of the nature and role of episcopacy among Anglicans.
But what may it mean in our more immediate context? Below is a sketch of what the concept ‘pastor of pastors’ signifies historically and in much of contemporary Anglicanism, and of what it could mean for us. …”
– Dr Robert Doyle explores the meaning of an oft-used term, at The Australian Church Record.
A future for Anglicans?
“In October 2013 GAFCON II will meet in Nairobi. GAFCON (Global Anglican Futures Conference) might be described as the illegitimate brainchild of Rowan Williams when he was archbishop of Canterbury and it may yet turn out to be his most enduring legacy…”
– In his editorial in the Autumn 2013 issue of Churchman, Gerald Bray gives his take (PDF file) on GAFCON II and the future of the Anglican Communion.
When a private act sends a public message
“Former President George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara attended a wedding a few days ago, and it made national news. …
The news coverage of the Bushes’ attendance at the same-sex wedding points to a reality that must be understood — and fast. Attendance at a wedding is not a neutral act. The history and context of the wedding ceremony identify all those present as agreeing to the rightness of the marriage and acting as witnesses to the exchange of vows. …
Declining to attend will come with undeniable relational consequences, but so would attending.”
– Albert Mohler on an issue many will face in one form or another soon.
The Greatest Entertainment Launch in History
“GTA V is significant in that movies allow us to watch violence and sexuality, but games allow us to experience and participate in these acts. We do not passively consume games, but interact with them and make choices that carry us through them.”
– Tom Challies writes about the hugely successful Grand Theft Auto V video game.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…