The Revolution eats one of its own Midwives
“I do not often find myself in sympathy with gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. Indeed, I still remember as a teenager being delighted and relieved at his defeat in the 1983 Bermondsey by-election. It symbolized so well how the new Left, with its preoccupation with gay rights, was of marginal interest to the poor and the working class. Still, it is hard not to have some sneaking admiration for a man who has tried to arrest Robert Mugabe not once but twice.
Yet this veteran human rights campaigner now finds himself on the receiving end of the latest campus malice and silliness …”
– At First Things, Dr Carl Trueman comments on one of last week’s big stories in the UK.
Archbishops’ response to LGBTI activist is a ‘missed opportunity’
“The Church of England has published a reply, dated 12 February, to a letter from Jayne Ozanne, Director of LGBTI campaign group Accepting Evangelicals, and co-signatories.
The letter, which was written by the Archbishop of York on behalf of himself and the Archbishop of Canterbury, responds to Ms Ozanne’s claim that the Church of England has failed its ‘duty of care’ to LGBTI members of the Anglican Church.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern and a member of the General Synod, has issued the following response …
‘This letter was another opportunity for the Archbishops to demonstrate appropriate leadership by reaffirming and promoting God’s clear vision for marriage. Instead the letter suggests that the fundamental issue is an ‘ongoing conversation’ as yet unresolved, implicitly suggesting that God has been unclear.
The role of the Archbishops is not to facilitate conversation but to teach the truth, refute error and discipline those who depart from God’s pattern in either teaching or lifestyle.’…”
– Read the full statement here. Read the Letter from the Archbishop of York here (450kb OCR PDF, originally from the Archbishop of York’s website).
Related: (Canadian) Primate listens to concerns of LGBTQ Anglicans
“‘All of us belong to God,’ said Canon Douglas Graydon to Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, at a gathering held to discuss same-sex marriage in the Canadian church. ‘The question is whether we belong to the church.’
It was a question many LGBTQ Anglicans brought forward in a question and answer session that took place after a talk Hiltz gave following the ‘queer Eucharist’ service hosted monthly at the Anglican Church of St. John’s West Toronto”
Protecting free speech in the Same Sex Marriage Plebiscite debate
“An article in the The Guardian today, ‘Override hate speech laws to allow marriage equality debate, urges Christian lobby’ reports that Lyle Shelton, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, has made proposals urging greater protection of free speech for those opposed to the introduction of same sex marriage in the forthcoming Australian plebiscite on the topic.
Of course, the reader will see that the Guardian headline and my summary of the proposals seem quite different. In its support for same sex marriage, the Guardian and those it quotes describe the ACL proposals as follows: the ACL wants to ‘permanently override anti-discrimination laws’ …
I think the Guardian has slanted the ACL views unfairly. (Even more unfairly, the Sydney Morning Herald report on the story features a cartoon of an ACL representative complaining that they can’t be expected to make their case ‘without expressing hatred and bigotry’.) Let me suggest reasons why the ACL proposal, so far as can be ascertained from these press reports, sounds limited, moderate and sensible. …”
– Neil Foster, Associate Professor on Law at Newcastle, adds some clarity to reporting on those opposed to the introduction of same-sex marriage in Australia.
Update: See Part 2 here.
Malcolm in the Middle
“On Friday 12 February, at the invitation of the Australian Christian Lobby, I joined a delegation to meet Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, in his Sydney office. It was agreed that we confine our remarks to the issue of the plebiscite regarding single gender marriage which will be held, in the event of a coalition victory, soon after the next Federal election. …
When the PM was asked about freedom of conscience for those in the marriage industry, florists, caterers, etc, he said that he was sure that common sense would prevail…”
– Presbyterian Moderator-General David Cook reports that he was ‘profoundly disappointed’ after a meeting with the Prime Minister last week. Read it all here.
Preaching Christ in the Old Testament — Kevin DeYoung at Preaching Matters
Kevin DeYoung has been preaching at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London, and took time out to address ‘Preaching Christ in the Old Testament’ for Preaching Matters.
Word-Filled Women’s Ministry
“I think the greatest strength of Word-filled Women’s Ministry is that it takes the word of God seriously, and it takes the importance of women understanding and sharing God’s word with others seriously…”
– Jane Tooher writes at Equal But Different about the new book Word-filled Women’s Ministry from The Gospel Coalition.
Rome Recreated (AD 320)
At With Meagre Powers, George Athas draws attention to “a stunning animation that recreates the city of Rome as it was in AD 320—the reign of Constantine”.
The Blood of the Martyrs is Seed
At the Bethlehem 2016 Conference for Pastors last month, Dr Tim Keesee spoke on “The Blood of the Martyrs is Seed”, with profound reflections from 2 Corinthians 4.
Tim is, of course, the man behind the Dispatches from the Front videos and book.
“You can’t save your own life. You can only spend it. Spend it well.”
Sobering, mightily encouraging, and very much worth watching.
George Whitefield on the Homilies
“If I may be suffered to give my opinion, the dreadful ignorance as to the fundamentals of our holy religion, that almost everywhere abounds amongst the members of our established church, is chiefly owing to our neglect of preaching and putting into their hands the grand doctrines of the Reformation, contained in these Homilies and our other doctrinal articles.”
– Quoting George Whitefield, at the beginning of Lent Church Society introduces a series of daily extracts from The Homilies. Should be worth following.
Update: Here’s the first post – Edward VI’s preface to the “Book of Homilies”.
The Book of Numbers explained with illustrations
Here’s the latest from The Bible Project.
Very well done. (h/t Tim Challies.)
Churches offering sanctuary to asylum seekers — some context
“In a high-profile decision of the High Court of Australia yesterday, Plaintiff M68-2015 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2016] HCA 1 (3 February 2016), a 6-1 majority ruled that the Australian government is entitled to continue its policy of detaining certain asylum seekers off-shore in the Pacific nation of Nauru. …
Today a number of Christian churches went public with an offer of ‘sanctuary’ for those who are supposed to be returned.”
– What is ‘sanctuary’, and does it still apply in Australia today? Here’s some legal context from Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia.
Related:
“The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, says Anglicans and other Christians in Sydney are concerned by the prospect of 91 asylum seeker children being returned to Nauru following the recent High Court ruling…” – SydneyAnglicans.net
Armidale’s Anglican Bishop urges caution on calls to defy the law to safeguard refugees – ABC News 05 February 2016.
Facing a Task Unfinished
“Getty Music is inviting thousands of churches around the globe to sing the new hymn Facing a Task Unfinished together on Sunday, February 21st, 2016!
We will provide you with the sheet music and demonstration, all you need to do is register! …
First penned by China Inland Mission worker, Frank Houghton, at a time when persecution in China was at its height, ‘Facing a Task Unfinished’ has been a rally cry for missions in the Pacific Rim for many years.
In 1929, the Lord laid a vision on the heart of CIM leaders to see 200 new workers plunge into the darkness and share the light of Christ, knowing that it could well cost them their lives.
As he reflected on Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:14 to bear the torch of the Gospel to all the nations, his heart was broken for the people of China, and he wrote:
Facing a task unfinished, that drives us to our knees.
A need that, undiminished, rebukes our slothful ease.
We, who rejoice to know Thee, renew before Thy throne,
the solemn pledge we owe Thee to go and make Thee known.
By 1932, the last of the 200 missionaries had set sail for China to spread the good news of the Gospel. Since that time, the church of China has grown from an estimated 100,000 who claim Christ as their Lord to millions, and the Lord continues to work in great ways because of the faithfulness of those that gave their lives proclaiming that Jesus died and rose.
We are delighted to introduce this missions hymn to a new generation with the prayer it will be an anthem for rising up to face the unfinished task and going to all the world to proclaim salvation in Jesus’ name.”
– Read more here. h/t David Ould.
Secularisation and the Sexual Revolution: Evangelical Theology and the Cultural Crisis
“In the face of the sexual revolution the Christian church in the West now faces a set of challenges that exceeds anything it has experienced, of a similar magnitude, in the past. This is a revolution of ideas—one that is transforming the entire moral structure of meaning and life…”
– In the first of a four-part series, Albert Mohler argues that the foundations of the sexual revolution were laid almost a century ago.
True Anglicanism: Gospel proclamation, compassionate care, cultural leadership
“Here is the main argument put forward by revisionists for the Church of England to change the historic doctrine of sexuality and marriage: ‘the majority of people believe this, so the church leadership should follow’. Leaving aside the interpretation of statistics, and the question of whether this societal change has happened by chance or as a result of sustained cultural re-education by a secular elite, we need to ask: should the Church accommodate itself to the culture as the revisionists demand, or should it be providing a lead in developing a counter-culture which influences and transforms the values of society?
Or perhaps the church should ignore the surrounding culture and be concerned only with the beliefs and actions of its own members and the small fringe of contacts which it hopes to draw in? This approach may have the strength of an authentically biblical foundation, but is it Anglican?…”
– At Anglican Mainstream, Andrew Symes looks at the way forward for the Church of England.
New devotional book on the Letters of John
David Mulready’s new series of devotions for Lent is available from CEP. It’s on 1, 2 and 3 John. (Lent begins in 2016 on February 10th.)
See a sample here.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…