Faithfulness to Christ against the odds: the Anglican Communion and the global sexual revolution

“Global Anglican leaders will gather to meet in Canterbury in early October for a summit meeting. Most of them come from contexts where the Anglican church is continuing to teach and promote the biblical Gospel of repentance and faith in Christ for salvation, and the historic Christian understanding of sexuality and marriage. A few Provinces, with most of the wealth and power, are dominated by a leadership wanting to promote a different form of Christianity that is more acceptable to the secular West.

The last Primates meeting, in Canterbury January 2016, only made these divisions clearer. The majority of Primates resolved then to work together to continue the important work of the Anglican Communion, but required TEC to withdraw from full involvement, as they had violated the ‘bonds of affection’ by continuing to pursue their revisionist agenda, of which acceptance of same sex marriage was the latest example. But the TEC leadership, along with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion Office, interpreted things very differently. …

Primates from the Global South and their advisors due to attend the meeting in Canterbury should not be in any doubt that the ground has shifted since the fruitless efforts of years gone by to discipline TEC for their revisionist actions which have torn the fabric of the Communion. …”

— The Rev. Andrew Symes at Anglican Mainstream makes clear what next week’s Primates gathering in Canterbury is about.

Please do pray for the Primates, especially that they will be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.

(Photo: The 2016 Primates meeting.)

‘No need to speculate’

Freedom for Faith, have published this video featuring Professor Iain Benson, an expert in religious freedom.

He speaks about the Canadian experience.

Other videos are being posted on the Freedom for Faith website.

Humanity’s value and dignity

“Have you ever thought about one of the underlying assumptions behind almost every Hollywood thriller?

It is the value of human life.

Basically, because we value human life, the hero will bend over backwards to ensure that the nerve gas isn’t released into the city’s gas supply or stop the nuclear warhead from being detonated.

These movies would be pretty short if the hero simply did a cost-benefit analysis and concluded that it would be simply too expensive to save the city. No, the underlying assumption is that human life is precious. …”

— Moore College’s Dr Peter Orr reminds us why human life is valuable, when so many around us think otherwise. At SydneyAnglicans.net.

Moore College Open Day on Saturday October 28

The next Moore College Open Day is set for Saturday October 28.

“The day includes a sample lecture from one of our faculty, a campus tour and plenty of opportunities for questions. You are welcome to drop in at any point during the day, lunch is provided at 12 noon.”

– Details from Moore College.

Have we domesticated service?

“A few times every year in our church we have ‘welcome suppers’ for people who are new to our church.  During those times we talk about the things that define us and invite people to come on board.  On each occasion we open up various passages of Scripture to talk about different aspects of church life and one passage we always look at is Mark 10:42-45 …”

– Phil Colgan, Rector of St. George North, wants us to truly understand the gospel of grace. At The Australian Church Record.

The Purpose of Humanity

“When we know our purpose it has far reaching implications for all that we do and give ourselves to.

Purpose doesn’t determine what I can or can’t do, but it will tell me what I ought to be doing. For instance, a scalpel can have very great or terrible uses depending on whether it is acting in line with its purpose. Similarly, an athlete can forgo all kinds of luxuries, not because they are ‘wrong’ but because they do not fit with their purpose.

So then when it comes to the actions and plans of humanity, discerning the ‘purpose statement’ is of infinite importance. …”

– Sam Manchester, Head of Communications at St Helen’s Bishopsgate, addresses a question few people ask, and to which fewer heed God’s answer. At The Australian Church Record.

Hypocrisy

“Hypocrisy just makes us mad doesn’t it?

Politicians speaking of tightened belts, while endorsing payments for themselves. There is the hypocrisy of some media figures speaking of truth and objectivity, while at the same time advancing a personal or political agenda with inaccurate or selective reporting.

There is the hypocrisy of some doctors supposedly committed to the Hippocratic Oath, while at the same time advocating killing. It makes us mad when we see examples of Police who are supposed to be guardians, caught in corruption or carelessness… and then there are examples of hypocritical clergy, preaching and standing for morality while living out the worst kinds of immorality.

Hypocrisy rightly makes us angry. We hate hypocrites. Hypocrisy makes us cynical. Hypocrisy makes us distrustful. I hate the hypocrisy that I see in those others around me, and the damage that it does… but there is a kind that I hate even more. …”

– Dean of Armidale, Chris Brennan, offers hope for hypocrites.
(Earlier, we incorrectly attributed this to the Bishop. Our apologies.)

My self-help Bible?

“The self-help industry is flourishing. Isn’t that ironic?

The industry is built on the premise that all you need for happiness, success, and contentment is within you, yet it peddles self-improvement programs as the key to becoming a better you. The endless supply and demand for the latest life changing-book betrays the fact they never actually deliver the transformation we long for.

The question is, have we taken on a self-help approach to reading the Bible? …”

– Ruth Schroeter, Associate Minister at St Andrew’s Cathedral, writes in The Australian Church Record. (Photo courtesy St. Andrew’s Cathedral.)

Just who is raising objections?

“Five bishops in the Anglican Church of Australia have asked their church lawyers whether bishops can take part in consecrating another bishop of a church which is not formally part of the Anglican Communion.

Meanwhile bishops from Uganda and Sudan have been taking steps to support a movement in South Africa to maintain biblically faithful Anglican witness. The Southern Africa Mission held an ordination service of the Church of Uganda in Trinity Anglican Church Franchhoek near Cape Town on 10 September. …”

– Anglican Mainstream reprints an article written by Chris Sugden for Evangelicals Now.

Videos: Moore College School of Theology 2017: Celebrating the Reformation

Moore College has posted the videos from their 2017 School of Theology.

The theme was “Celebrating the Reformation”.

A wonderful resource.

Evangelistic opposition: Are we up for it?

“I am all for avoiding unhelpful gender-sex-role stereotyping, but one fact that continues to amaze me is the almost universal incapacity of men to see stationary objects in the refrigerator. We can spot moving objects with great skill—for example, a flying football, or a fish near the surface of the water far up-stream—but faced with the challenge of locating the margarine we stare blindly before in desperation seeking the assistance of the most proximate female, who simply glances inside the fridge and hands it over.

I have read the book of Acts a lot over the years, and love it—the outreach, the growth of the church, the missionary journeys. I have even done a PhD on it. But recently, perhaps because of my familiarity with it, I had stopped seeing (at least, stopped properly appreciating) something that had been staring me in the face, and which I was very much aware of in days gone by.

The truth that I have re-noticed is the fact that gospel proclamation, no matter how it is carried out, will result in opposition! …”

– At GoThereFor.com, Stephen Liggins points out the obvious. But have you missed it too?

Legalising assisted dying would be a failure of collective human memory and imagination

“Dying and death is not a new phenomenon: we have always become ill, suffered, were going to die and someone else could have killed us.

So why now, at the beginning of the 21st century, after prohibiting euthanasia for thousands of years and when we can do so much more to relieve suffering than in the past, do we suddenly think that legalising it is a good idea? I propose a major cause is a catastrophic failure of collective human memory and collective human imagination.

Let‘s look at the approaches taken on each side of the debate. …“

– An important article by Margaret Somerville, Professor of Bioethics in the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame Australia, in The Guardian.

Photo courtesy University of Notre Dame Australia. (h/t SydneyAnglicans.)

Why we should vote ‘No’ in the survey on same sex ‘marriage’

“Australia is in the midst of a critical decision about one of the major building blocks of community life: marriage and the family.

A great deal of money (including public money) and effort is being expended on the case for a change to allow people of the same sex to marry. To many it seems that the case for change is unassailable, in some measure because its advocates have been able to link their proposal to treasured notions of ‘love’ and ‘equality’. …”

– Moore College Principal Dr Mark Thompson shares his reasons at Theological Theology.

What is at the centre of God’s mission for the church?


The latest Preaching Matters from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate –

“What activities distract us from the central priority for which God sent His Son into the world? Denesh Divyanathan talks to Sam Manchester about these issues in this month’s Preaching Matters.”

– Most encouraging and timely.

Flowchart: Christians and same sex marriage

“This flowchart aims to show pathways people may take on this issue. … The diagram aims to tease out points of distinction, but is unable to display the breadth and complexity of this issue. Please prayerfully consider this topic, seeking advice from godly and wise Christians.”

– The team at St. Thomas’ North Sydney have published this flowchart as a “springboard for productive conversations”. See if you find it helpful.

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