Don’t take CMS Summer School for granted!
“I reflect on the 2023 CMS Summer School as someone who could only make it for one day.
I wish I could have attended more, but I was overseas. Yet, having landed in Sydney on the Monday of Summer School, I drove up to the Blue Mountains on Tuesday to attend for the day. It was definitely an experience; a combination of jet lag and the increased heart rate from walking up and down that hill – twice – after ten days of overeating over the holidays! And yet it was also an experience of being profoundly joyful and energised amongst fellow Christians.
As I drove back home late on Tuesday night, I remember thinking multiple times that we just can’t take CMS Summer School for granted. …”
– Ben George writes with encouragement at The Australian Church Record.
This present darkness and the crisis of contemporary Anglicanism: Thesis 1
“The world of the 21st century is dominated by principalities and powers opposed to God and the biblical faith.
In much of the non-Western world, enmity and persecution has come from militant religions and totalitarian regimes.
In the West, postmodern ideologues have sought to overturn the biblical worldview of God as the Creator and Lord of life and death and of sexuality and marriage as His blessing for mankind and the sign of His love for the Church. In this quest, they have enjoyed apparent success (but cf. Psalm 2).
Many Anglican churches and their leaders in North America and the UK have succumbed to this false ideology and are promoting its agenda. …”
– Dr Stephen Noll publishes the first of fourteen theses toward reviving, reforming and reordering the Anglican Communion.
Photo: GAFCON.
An Eton Mess: The Failure of English Bishops
“The Church of England has finally announced its proposals to their General Synod to deal with the vexed question of how to respond to same-sex marriage. The presentation was led by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Eton-educated Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell, who together are seeking to lead the Church of England through these difficult times.
For the last six years the Church of England has been going through a process of discussion called “Living in Love and Faith” in order to get to this moment.
In a press release issued while Australia slept, the House of Bishops outlined the legislation they will propose to the upcoming General Synod.
So what are the plans, what do they mean, and what effect will they have on the wider Anglican Communion—especially here in Australia?…”
– David Ould writes at The Gospel Coalition Australia.
What’s an Eton mess?
“It’s a bowl full of broken bits of meringue, fruit and topped off with cream. If at this point you’re thinking that sounds awfully like what you did with your pavlova last year when you dropped it on the floor and rescued those bits not red-carded by the five second rule, then you would be absolutely correct. Eton Mess is, at it’s heart, a failed Pavlova dressed up in a fancy bowl and passed off as something worthy. It is the next generation of that other famous Anglican sweet; the fudge.”
What else is the Church of England on about these days?
Archbishop of Canterbury FC lace up for green campaign alongside Premier League stars
“The Archbishop of Canterbury’s football team will host a ‘green’ football match as part of a national campaign to raise awareness of the Climate Crisis with football the focus for practical steps to reduce carbon.”
Dean of Sydney: ALP ‘can do better’ on Pokies
A media release from earlier this week:
“The Dean of Sydney, Sandy Grant, a long-time campaigner for poker machine reform in NSW, has responded to the NSW ALP’s launch of its gambling reform policy today.
He said:
Although I am pleased to see some helpful steps in the ALP’s proposals that will be helpful, the ALP can do better by committing to the principal of introducing a cashless gaming card, with mandatory pre-commitment, for poker machine use right across NSW.
With NSW losses on poker machines approaching $8 billion per annum – that’s over $20 million/day! – we urgently need ‘Airbags on Pokies’.…”
Before you watch Harry & Meghan
“The age of the internet accelerates the pace of rumour spreading from the old school gossip magazines and water coolers. Twitter and Netflix are the latest machines for globalising gossip. My secret today can be the topic of public scrutiny tomorrow.
The thing is, by watching and reading and gossiping, we’re leaping into a carefully managed trap. We’re suckers for a good juicy story about a family imploding. And what’s bigger than that family being our King and Princes? …”
– Murray Campbell has some thoughts on the story almost everyone is discussing.
Why Religion will Return to the West
David Robertson writes:
This is an important article by Greg Sheridan – which we republish with permission. Please do read the whole article – but this quote stuck out for me –
“Christianity was just as weird to the sophisticated first-century Graeco-Roman civilisation of the Mediterranean as it is to the most disillusioned sophisticate of today.Happily for contemporary Christians, they have a readily accessible account of how the first Christians spread the gospel in a hostile, alien and comprehensively pagan culture. It’s a primary source, uniquely immediate and reliable, and still in print.It is found in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament, and in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. It’s worth reading these two short books – only 50 pages between them – straight through, as they offer a gripping, vivid picture of the first Christians. …”
Photo: Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor, The Australian.
King Charles’ Christmas Message Reflects a Post-Christian United Kingdom
“The New Testament commands us to pray for kings and all those in authority, so that we will be free to live quiet lives of godliness and to share the good news of the Savior who is the one mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:1–3). We can be thankful that in this regard our prayers are being answered.
British Christians should continue to pray for King Charles and his government that our long-established constitutional rights to freedom of worship will be upheld.
At the same time, the lack of gospel clarity and comprehension in his message will cause us to pray even more fervently, in the words of our national anthem, ‘God save the King!’…”
– John Stevens, National Director of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches in the UK, reacts to King Charles’ Christmas message. At The Gospel Coalition.
If you haven’t seen it, watch the message here.
Resistance and fidelity – Munro’s choice
“As the new conservative evangelical ‘flying’ Bishop of Ebbsfleet launches off, the Bishop of Rochester’s written answer to a question from a General Synod member shines a light on the Church of England’s direction of travel. …”
– At Anglican Ink, Julian Mann points out the difficulties facing an evangelical bishop in the Church of England. Also a good reminder to pray for wisdom for those in such positions.
(Photo: Church Society.)
Pastor, Don’t get cute this Christmas
“I know the feeling.
Christmas comes around every year. The same songs. The same texts. The same story. Most of the time I love the familiar rhythm of Advent and the comforting routine of tradition.
But as a pastor, I also know that sense of desperation: “How many more Christmas sermons and holiday homilies can I possibly come up with?” And I rarely do a full four-week Advent series. The poor brother who does an Advent series every year for 40 years is going to preach at least 160 sermons on Christmas. I sympathize with the temptation to novelty.
But don’t do it, pastor. …”
– At The Gospel Coalition, Kevin DeYoung has wise advice.
Time to Rethink your Church Website?
“Our website is our most easily accessed 24/7 communication face to the world. Are we being wise in our use of it?…”
– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Peter Adam has some thoughts on the plusses and minuses of church websites. Worth pondering.
Totalitarianism vs. Human Dignity
In his The Briefing for Thursday 1st December 2022, Dr Albert Mohler looks at current examples of Totalitarianism. What do they have in common?
And he explores what makes modern totalitarian states more totalitarian than their predecessors.
Are We Really A Communion?
“Over the decades, and on many occasions, we Anglicans gave thanks to God for the ‘gift of the Anglican Communion’. Yes, we saw the Communion as ‘a gift’ because we enjoyed being a family of churches. A global family of Anglican churches of diverse nations, living in different countries, speaking a variety of languages and yet we are in full communion with each other.
…
I am deeply saddened to say that the Anglican Communion we have loved, though it has kept its name, yet has lost its heart; which is the interdependence. Provinces taking unilateral decisions without consideration ‘how it might harm the mission of other Provinces’, or how it might cause divisions, or disruption of fraternal relations with other provinces.
None of us forget the appeal made by the Anglican Primates during their meeting in 2003 in regard to the consecration of Gene Robinson in The Episcopal Church USA (TEC) [5]:
“If his consecration proceeds, we recognise that we have reached a crucial and critical point in the life of the Anglican Communion and we have had to conclude that the future of the Communion itself will be put in jeopardy. …. This will tear the fabric of our Communion at its deepest level and may lead to further division ….”
When TEC ignored that appeal and went ahead with its unilateral decision to consecrate the practicing gay Gene Robinson as bishop, our mission here in Egypt within the Islamic world was badly affected in the following way …”
– The Global South Fellowship Of Anglican Churches has released this message from the Archbishop Emeritus Dr Mouneer Anis.
When Mother loses her mind
“Over the last two weeks, several bishops in the Church of England have publicly endorsed the Bishop of Oxford’s booklet, Together in Love and Faith, which he sets out his thinking about same-sex relationships. He proposes that the Church of England should provide public services for the blessing of same-sex civil partnerships and marriages but allow a conscience clause for those who dissent. Barbara Gauthier has done a superb job chronicling all of the statements and rebuttals by Vaughan Roberts, and others.
As one of the senior Bishops in the Church of England, Steven Croft (the Bishop of Oxford) has proposed nothing less than a sea-change in the teaching of the Church of England. It will divide the Church of England and further harden the divisions within the Anglican Communion. …”
– At The American Anglican Council, Canon Phil Ashey asks, “When Mother loses her mind, what can we do?”
Anglican Church Comes to Crossroads Over Teaching on Homosexuality — Will It Compromise in the Name of Unity?
In his The Briefing for Thursday 27 October 2022, Albert Mohler comments on what’s happening in the Anglican world. He responds to an article originating from New Zealand –
“…this takes us back to an article that also ran in the Times just a matter of a few weeks ago, and the headline tells you a lot about how the mainstream media messaged this kind of story.
The headline in the article by Pete McKenzie is this, ‘Anglican Church Delivers A Kick In The Guts To Gay Parishioners.’
… Pete McKenzie in this article, which was date-lined from Wellington in New Zealand basically is unabashed in arguing that it’s the conservative Anglicans who are holding the church back, and they are doing great harm.”
– Listen or read at AlbertMohler.com.
John Howard condemns ‘disgraceful’ treatment of Andrew Thorburn
“Former prime minister John Howard has argued the treatment of Andrew Thorburn over his affiliation with the church group City on a Hill went against the ‘spirit of this country’. …”
– Interviewed on Sky News Australia, from about 10:00 into the video clip.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…