The Christmas of Cultural Christianity
“Christmas is the high point of Cultural Christianity. It creates joy and confusion; joy to our culture and confusion to Christians.
Cultural Christianity is a reality that would be helpful for both Christians and non-Christians to accept if not embrace. It is seen in the famous atheist Richard Dawkins’ love of singing Christmas carols. …”
– Phillip Jensen observes the difference between Cultural Christianity and Christian Christianity.
That’s Christmas!
That's Christmas! from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.
We’ve linked to this video before – from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate. It’s well-worth a re-run, and features input from Dr. Paul Barnett.
The value of teaching Books more than once
The latest from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate:
“Why is it valuable to teach through Bible books more than once? What are some advantages of teaching books numerous times? Why do people often object to teaching books of the Bible more than once? Doesn’t St Helen’s just teach the same couple of books each year? How can we get better at repeating books in our regular Bible-teaching programmes?
In this month’s Preaching Matters, Charlie Skrine talks about his experiences of teaching books several times, and why it is important for the church.”
Reformation Themes: The Bible Alone and Faith Alone – from Paul Barnett
Bishop Paul Barnett has written two encouraging reflections on key Reformation themes. Read them at the links below.
Reformation Theme: The Bible Alone.
“2017 will be the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation. On 31st October 1517 an unknown monk in a small town nailed 95 debating points to a church door. It was a common academic practice to invite debate but these ‘theses’ went viral and Martin Luther became famous overnight. …”
Reformation Theme: Faith Alone.
“The young Martin Luder – that was the family name – had been a law student in the major university town, Erfurt. Against his father’s will he became an Augustinian monk.
But he was a poor tortured soul who felt himself under the wrath of God. He engaged in punishing fasts and endless confessionals. As a mendicant monk he begged his way 1000 miles from Erfurt to Rome as a pilgrimage.
But he was clever. The order appointed him Professor of Bible at the new university in the little, ‘nowhere place’, Wittenberg. In preparing his lectures on Romans and the Psalms he made a great discovery. …”
The Parish of Peakhurst / Lugarno – a snapshot from 1974
This 1974 newsreel about the Anglican Parish of Peakhurst – Lugarno will bring back memories for many of our readers.
Healthy churches around the world
The latest 9Marks Journal is out. Editor Jonathan Leeman writes,
“The Journal topic of healthy churches around the world was Dever’s idea. I was doubtful at first. But – goodness – was I wrong!
This might be one of my favourite Journals to date. It’s sort of like Tim Keesee’s wonderful book, Dispatches from the Front: Stories of Gospel Advance in the World’s Diffcult Places. The difference is, the authors provide frontline reports on the state of churches. How are churches doing in Brazil, Iran, Cameroon, Albania, China, Singapore?
Are they preaching the Bible? Proclaiming a biblical gospel or watered-down substitute? Pursuing corporate and individual holiness? Pursuing evangelism? Practicing church membership?
The planting and growing of healthy churches is how we will best fulfil the Great Commission”
– Download the current issue from 9Marks.
Risen — Articulate 4 from the ACR
The Australian Church Record is continuing to republish Archdeacon T. C. Hammond’s encouraging notes on The Thirty Nine Articles.
“A weary world gropes for security and struggles against insidious and often victorious evil. Remedial measures are entered upon with high hopes. Recurrent malignancy seems to mock our best endeavours. Jesus Christ is the answer to our heart yearnings. He conquered death and is coming again in judgment.”
– Read the full post, originally published in The Australian Church Record, April 28, 1955.
Related: The Thirty Nine Articles.
Holy Trinity Adelaide Christmas billboard
Here’s a clever and thought-provoking poster from Holy Trinity Adelaide.
The Well Good News of Christmas
Here’s a Christmas video for kids (and their parents), produced by The Bible Society in the UK.
How to Grow a Family Ministry
Pete Tong has been writing a three part series, at The Australian Church Record, on How to Grow a Family Ministry.
Part 1 – Passion and Vision.
Part 2 – Theological Convictions.
Part 3 – An integrated family ministry.
Where next on same-sex marriage?
Church Society has published online an article by Director, Lee Gatiss. It will be printed in the Winter 2017 edition of Crossway.
Entitled “Where next on same-sex marriage?”, it focusses on the situation in the Church of England, though with reference to the wider Anglican Communion
“So, we have completed more than two years of ‘facilitated’ or ‘shared conversations’ about sexuality issues in the Church of England. This was encouraged by the Pilling Report a few years ago, as the way forward on this issue. But what happens now that the conversations have ended? And what, if anything, should be done?
There are various potential options for the future of the Church on this subject. Some have listed only the different ways in which so-called ‘traditionalists’ might be hived off into a ‘safe space’, or leave the Church altogether once the liberal triumph is complete. But it is far from inevitable or desirable for that to be the outcome.
Others have seen the options as merely extremes: adopt gay marriage or stay as we are; with a third way (’pastoral accommodation’ of prayers for same-sex couples, but no change in doctrine) seen as a nice compromise in the middle. But this is tendentious: there are far more options than merely these three, and no-one is happy with the status quo.
In the article linked to below, from the forthcoming issue off our magazine Crossway, I explore in more detail 6 possible ways forward. So explore with me what those might be …”
Sexual Revolution, Same Old Revolution
“The sexual revolution here in the twenty-first century is not a new revolution, but a continuation of the one that has dominated humanity since our earliest days.
This revolution began when a man made a choice to declare independence from God. He wanted to be autonomous, he wanted to make his own way in the world, to answer only to himself, to shake himself free from the oversight and accountability of his Creator.
But more than that, he wanted to destroy that Creator, to escape his watchful eye, to stamp out the imprint of himself this Creator left on every human soul. For man knows he is guilty before this Creator. He can doubt it or deny it, but he can never fully shake it. To get out from under his guilt he must get out from under his Creator. To kill his guilt he must kill his Creator.”
– Read the full post from Tim Challies. (Image: Tim Challies.)
Also see:
Seven Reasons You Should Not Indulge in Pornography – Andy Naselli.
Pornography: still an issue? – Meagan Bartlett, Australian Church Record.
New Advanced Diploma of Bible, Mission and Ministry from Moore College
“For many years Moore College has offered both a Diploma of Bible and Missions and a Diploma of Bible and Ministry alongside its degree programs.
Now these courses have been improved, upgraded into an advanced diploma and combined in the new Diploma of Bible, Mission and Ministry, commencing in Semester 1, 2017. …”
– News from Moore College.
Advent is for Adoring Jesus
Desiring God has posted a page of resources to help you focus on the Lord Jesus Christ this Advent.
Among them are the previously published Advent devotionals from John Piper, Good News of Great Joy, and also The Dawning of Indestructible Joy.
Scroll down on this page.
Update:
If you use the PrayerMate app, you can subscribe to John Piper’s Good News of Great Joy so it appears in your app each day of Advent.
Inside Sydney: An Insider’s view of the changes and politics in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, 1966-2013
The Rev Canon Dr Bruce Ballantine-Jones OAM, former President, and now Emeritus Vice-President, of the Anglican Church League, has published a significant history of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney.
Inside Sydney: An Insider’s view of the changes and politics in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, 1966-2013 is available from The Wandering Bookseller. Click on the image for ordering details.
Here are some Endorsements of the book:
Inside Sydney is an insider’s personal perspective on one of Australia’s truly representative democracies, the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. Every democracy has a political dimension and Canon Bruce Ballantine-Jones participated in that democracy at every level for half-a-century. Here are the mature reflections on his experience, an analysis of how the Diocese works and why it does not and cannot work.
A lifelong lover and player of the political game, he must have been tempted, like professional politicians who write their memoirs, to engage in self-justification. But this account transcends that genre. It explains very complex machinery with exceptional clarity and never loses sight of its purpose: to support the proclamation of the gospel and to bring the people of Sydney to the new life in Christ which is the hallmark of his own life and ministry. It is essential reading for all who love the Diocese and also for those who do not love it, but need to understand it.
– Associate Professor Stuart Piggin, Centre for the History of Christian Thought and Experience, Macquarie University.
This is an important book that should be widely read and discussed among those with an interest in the Diocese of Sydney and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Inside Sydney is a substantial study of an important question: How should the considerable resources of the large and complex organisation known as the Anglican Diocese of Sydney be harnessed to serve the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is not the last word on its subject, nor is it indisputable in its conclusions, but it does offer an ‘insider’s’ account of events from 1966 to 2013, through which the author draws his conclusions, both critical and constructive.
Those who know BBJ will not be surprised to find the book honest (at times frankly so), very well informed (the author was directly involved in much of this story), generous (where critical judgements are made there is also a warm recognition of positive qualities and contributions) and engaging. I highly recommend this book.
– Dr John Woodhouse, Former Principal Moore Theological College, Sydney.
Few developments in the Anglican world have been more significant and yet less widely understood than the remarkable growth and expansion of the Sydney diocese over the past half-century. This book offers us an eye-witness account of what has happened and an assessment of what it might mean for the future of the Anglican Church in Australia and in the wider world.
It is to be hoped that the publication of these memoirs will encourage others to share their insights as well, so that friends and observers of the Sydney scene will have a deeper understanding of the many forces at work that have produced this remarkable turn of events.
– Gerald Bray, Director of Research, Latimer Trust, London.
Available from The Wandering Bookseller: Inside Sydney: An Insider’s view of the changes and politics in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, 1966-2013.
See also this interview with Bruce Ballantine-Jones, “Gospel Ministry and Church Politics: What’s the Connection?”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…