A Thin Gruel For The Soul

“The great Christian philosopher and theologian, Dallas Willard, once wrote that every compelling and coherent worldview must address four questions:

What is reality?
What is the good life?
What is a good person?
How does one become a good person?

Christianity, including the Anglican way of following Jesus, has answers to these questions. Reality is the unshakeable Kingdom of God (Hebrews 12:18-29). The good life is not about consumption, but rather righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). The one who is blessed by Jesus (in every counter-intuitive and counter-cultural way he names in Matthew 5:1-12) is the good person. And one becomes such a person, a “disciple” according to Jesus, by denying oneself, taking up one’s cross, and following Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:24).

Sadly, you will find no answers to these questions in What do Anglicans Believe: A Study Guide to Christian Doctrine from Anglican and Ecumenical Statements, published by the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) last week …”

– The American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey points to a better way than a new book which has just been published.

A Prayer for VP Day

A prayer for the 75th Anniversary of Victory in the Pacific – by the Rev Mark Charleston.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said:

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Almighty God and Heavenly Father,

Whose kingdom rules over all and in whom there is perfect freedom. We give thanks this weekend for all who served in the defence of this country during the Second World War.

As we remember those men and women who served – in the ranks of our Navy, Army, Air Force and Merchant Navy – we thank you for their sacrifices, in conflict and in captivity, for the cause of peace and freedom.

We pray today for peace in our world.

Have mercy on our broken and divided world and banish the spirit that makes for war. We ask that leaders of nations and governments will pursue freedom, justice and the welfare of all peoples.

In an uncertain world, marked by senseless violence and selfishness, we pray for ourselves. Fill us with courage and love to share the good news of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Have mercy upon all who do not know life through faith in Him. By your Holy Spirit, turn the hearts of nations to our risen Lord Jesus – and to the peace with you that passes all understanding.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

– Source: SydneyAnglicans.net.

ACR Winter 2020 Journal

The Australian Church Record’s Winter 2020 Journal is now up on their website.

Grab your copy for plenty of stimulating reading. And pass on the link to others!

The doctrine of God in Ephesians

Recently, Lionel Windsor at Moore College, posted the key reflections on the topic of The doctrine of God in Ephesians in his series Lift Your Eyes: Reflections on Ephesians.

See them here.

 

The benefits of a long-term ministry

“I was ordained in 1971 and retired in 2012, and I spent 33 of those years as the vicar of St John’s Felbridge, a small Surrey village which is effectively part of East Grinstead, a town in West Sussex. It is a long time to spend in one place, and in my retirement I have been reflecting on the positive and negative aspects of ministry of that sort of length. …

Staying in one parish for 33 years would be disaster without a commitment to expository preaching. Over the years I have benefited enormously from the ministry of the Proclamation Trust, which encouraged me to keep working at opening up the Scriptures.”

– In this article from Church Society’s Crossway archives, Stephen Bowen looks at the challenges and advantages of staying in one church long term.

Ministering from a distance: Paul’s ministry from prison

“Paul wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon from prison. He would doubtless have preferred to be with them in person (Phil 1:8), but as he was kept apart from them he ministered from where God had placed him as best as he could.

We don’t get any sense that Paul felt his life was on hold: he continues to make the most of his daily circumstances (Col 4:3ff), preaching to the palace guards and all those around him (Eph 6:19; Phil 1:13), and sending out messengers with hand-written letters to the churches to encourage them and receive news for his own prayers and encouragement (Eph 6:22; Phil 2:18; Col 4:7-9). And we see clearly that although his relationships with these churches were different, his priorities – for clear gospel teaching and for the church to be built up in maturity in his absence – remained the same. …”

– A very relevant article by Caroline Clark at The Australian Church Record.

Matters of moment from Luke 15 — Dick Lucas

St. Helen’s Bishopsgate is continuing to post helpful resources for preachers from Dick Lucas.

In the latest release, he wants to help preachers “dig for treasure” in Luke 15.

CMD Media Training for churches

“We at CMD are very conscious of the enormous challenge it has been for many churches to conduct their services online since late March and now the challenge continues in another form.

Many church leaders need to consider how to continue providing church online whilst beginning to conduct live services on site with reduced numbers.

For many this will mean that pre-recording services is not realistic and therefore they are considering running a ‘hybrid model’ or church services whereby the live service is streamed live to those at home. …”

– The Centre for Ministry Development at Moore College is looking at how they might support churches with all these changes.

Evaluating Evangelistic Courses

“Pastors regularly ask for a recommendation on evangelistic courses. What works best? What do you think of X or Y course? Do you have something that suits English second language contexts or a less literate demographic?

Recently, that question has been sharpened around the course best suited for an online ‘digital’ presentation of the gospel (as COVID 19 has revealed more engagement than expected through digital platforms/social media). …”

— Phil Wheeler, Director of Evangelism and New Churches in Sydney, wants us to ask key questions in looking at various evangelistic courses.

What is your heart’s desire?

“We all have them. They may be wishes on a wish list. Or we call them dreams and talk about ‘my dream holiday’ or ‘our dream home’. The poet Longfellow wrote of ‘longings wild and vain’. The Bible speaks in Psalm 37 about ‘the desires of our hearts’.

Some people have clearly defined ambitions. CS Lewis splendidly described the ambition to get inside what he called ‘The Inner Ring’, to be accepted into a particular group, an outsider no longer.

Can you identify your heart’s desires – the things that rank as priorities in your life? …”

– Encouragement from Allan Blanch at The Australian Church Record.

Care for Beirut

Anglican Aid has launched an appeal –

“Anglican Aid is working closely with Christian partners in the Middle East to care for people affected by yesterday’s explosion in Beirut, Lebanon.

We are providing relief and aid funds through the Baptist Association of Lebanon, to enable them to support their neighbours and be a light in the darkness at this critical time.”

Update:

“Our brothers and sisters in Lebanon were already battling a health and economic crisis due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This tragic explosion has compounded their suffering,” said Canon Tim Swan, the CEO of Anglican Aid. “We ask our supporters to pray for Beirut, and to show the love of Christ for them by giving to this appeal.” – SydneyAnglicans.net.

Leading for endurance not recovery!

“Australian church leaders need to make a philosophical shift in every aspect of our ministry, away from leading for recovery and towards planning to lead for endurance.

We need to start using the catchcry, ‘Not Recovery, But endurance, ’ in order to set our people’s expectations right.”

– At this morning’s EFAC/Peter Corney Institute online conference, Dominic Steele contributed these thoughts about endurance.

‘Come, let us sing!’ with Rob Smith

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“Rob Smith has been a global leader in evangelical music for three decades. He has a new book out ‘Come, Let us Sing!’ just as singing has been restricted in many churches due to COVID-19.

Rob joins us to talk about some of the principles he’s discovered in a lifetime’s work in Evangelical Music, plus how the current pandemic has caused course corrections. …”

Helpful and encouraging.

– Watch or listen at The Pastor’s Heart.

(Image: Rob Smith at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, courtesy Anglican Media Sydney.)

Masks

“I don’t understand why people would have a problem being asked to wear a mask. It might not be popular to say it out loud, but we all put on masks.

So what’s the problem? Long before COVID came along we were masked and long after it will disappear we will continue to be masked. So what’s the problem?…”

– A gospel slant on masks from the Bishop of Armidale, Rick Lewers.

“We must do better” — Simon Manchester to Sydney Anglicans

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy,” says Proverbs 27:6 – or to put it another way, we often benefit more from being rebuked than praised.

The Rev Canon Simon Manchester has delivered a firm rebuke in this month’s Southern Cross and, although he risks upsetting some, he observes that “the stakes couldn’t be bigger”. …

– Sometimes being blunt is very helpful if we are to desire ‘The things that are excellent” (Philippians 1:10). Along with the loving rebuke, there is much that is encouraging in the linked video as well as the article in Southern Cross (page 33).

Photo: EMA, 2016.

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