News this week from the UK
“The state of things in the UK is primarily then, a theological problem and only the theological antibiotic of the gospel can provide the solution…”
– David Cook, former SMBC Principal and now Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, sends a report from the UK. (Posted 8 April 2014.)
“Church of the Triune God” — a review
“…I’m thankful for the recent Church of the Triune God: a book in celebration of the teaching and passion of Robert Doyle, a lecturer from Moore Theological College. Edited by Michael Jensen, it’s a collection of excellent essays on the themes he was so captivated by throughout his teaching career: the Trinity and the church.”
– At The Briefing, Sam Freney reviews Church of the Triune God, published by Aquila Press.
(Authors include Mark Baddeley, Mark D Thompson, John McClean, Ashley Null, Peter G Bolt, Benjamin Dean, Rory Shiner, Andrew JB Cameron, Kanishka Raffel, Chew-Chern Morgan and Greg Anderson.)
Around the web — 6th April 2014
Here are a few items you may have missed this week –
- Inclusive, Safe, and Welcoming to All? – Stand to Reason on the termination of Mozilla’s CEO for supporting traditional marriage.
- Couple sentenced to death for ‘blasphemous’ text message in Pakistan – ABC News.
- Sympathy for the Devil – ‘Noah’ is no adaptation of Genesis.
- David Powlison, Director of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, visited Oak Hill College where he was interviewed about biblical counselling.
- Abp Welby: Anglican Communion sexuality decisions can mean African Christians suffer – ACNS.
Formulary Friday: Collecting our prayers
“The Prayer Book Collects are like precious, highly-polished jewels adorning a crown. They are the short prayers which ‘collect’ together particular concerns and themes expressed in the liturgy – and invariably combine clear and easily-memorable phrasing with a highly concentrated shot of sound doctrine.
…the Prayer Book Collects give us a very helpful model for composing our own prayers – whether in our personal prayer times, or in public worship.”
– for Formulary Friday at Church Society’s blog, Mark Smith looks at The Collects.
Sin in the life of a Believer
“Sin in the Life of a Believer is one of the issues that the Jesus Brings… programme brings to the forefront. If Jesus Brings forgiveness, rebirth, holiness and transformation, why do Christians continue to sin? Why do I have such a struggle with sin? Why is the world not becoming a better place as the gospel message continues to grow around the globe?…”
– Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, writes his weekly article for the Cathedral newsletter.
The real story of Noah
“The premiere of Darren Aronofsky’s Noah has sent some folk back to their Bibles to see if there was a whole bunch of details that they’d forgotten.
Apparently not. Where the Bible’s story has left some gaps, Mr Aronofsky has provided plenty of creative and speculative details. Rock monsters, stowaways and much, much more.
Do those additions help us understand the story more clearly? Well, if the original author thought that the point of the story could be made with the details provided, it would seem not.”
– Gary Ware (Mount Gambier Presbyterian) has written this piece for his local paper. Some good ideas you might be able to use this Easter.
Related: Noah: A No Holds Barred Review (h/t Tim Challies).
“The character of Noah in this movie is so far removed from his biblical counterpart that he’s absolutely unrecognizable. He’s a maniac who is an idolater, a warlock, a murdering psycho, and in reality has absolutely no idea what’s happening with the flood… Noah doesn’t preach righteousness and repentance for 100+ years (2 Peter 2:5), and the Noah in this movie is a violent butcher of a man, completely the opposite of how Genesis 6:8-13 portrays him.”
GWC’s Mark Dickson on Moore College
Mark Dickson, Principal of George Whitefield College, speaks about the significance of Moore College for the church in Africa and elsewhere.
Watch the 5 minute video. A cause for thanksgiving to God and a strong prompt for prayer for Moore College.
The weekend when Britain changed
“Saturday 29th March will go down in history as the day when same sex couples exchanged marriage vows on live TV and radio, and when a large proportion of the debate was taken up by what Christians believe. The official voice of the Church of England, and the establishment-leaning voice of evangelical and catholic orthodoxy were virtually silent on the weekend itself and in the days leading up to it. …
My own article of two weeks ago, suggesting that Christians disturbed by current developments at this time could turn to prayer, was picked up by veteran Guardian religion correspondent Andrew Brown as an example of swivel-eyed loony reactionary opposition to the march of progress and civilization. I was grilled about my article on Premier Christian Radio, formerly a strong voice for evangelical Christianity but now sadly increasingly a mouthpiece for the views of Steve Chalke and Brian Maclaren. …”
– The Rev. Andrew Symes writes at Anglican Mainstream.
The life and ministry of Deaconess Mary Andrews
The life and ministry of Deaconess Mary Andrews is the focus of this year’s Moore College Library Day – Saturday, May 10th 2014. Details from the College.
Drowning in Distortion
“Aronofsky and his co-writer Ari Handel started with the Old Testament narrative about Noah, just about 2,400 words in English translation, and exploded it into a huge Hollywood production. What could possibly go wrong? …”
– Albert Mohler takes a look at the latest ‘Biblical’ movie to hit the theatres, “Noah”.
Dimming the Gospel Light: 1. Can we still be Protestant 500 years on from Luther?
“Today I watched a good friend — of more than twenty years standing — consecrated as a bishop in the church of God. It was a magnificent occasion in which we were able to celebrate God’s continued goodness to his people by his provision of godly, faithful and courageous Christian leadership. The sermon was one of the most inspiring challenges I have heard to put first things first and not to flinch when the pressure is on to do what others would be pleased to see us do. Taking his cue from Acts 6, the preacher (Simon Manchester) reminded us of the apostolic commitment to prayer and the ministry of the word.
And then there were the promises my friend made:
Will you instruct the people committed to your care from the Scriptures, and teach nothing (as required of necessity for eternal salvation) except what you are convinced may be proved by the Scriptures?
Are you ready to drive away all false and strange doctrine which is contrary to God’s word; and privately and publicly to call upon and encourage others to do likewise?
Add to these the hymns that were sung. …
The final element making this such a grand occasion was the presence in the congregation of many of the old saints who had served Christians in this city (and much further afield) so very well over such a long period of time …
All of this made me ponder anew on a more general dimming of the gospel light in many churches and church organisations around the world. In some places there seems to have been a discernible neutering of genuine evangelical ministry at a time when it is needed more than ever. So I’ve decided over the next few months or more to prepare a series of posts on questions for which we need a clear, unambiguous, courageous and truthful answer. …”
– Read Dr. Mark Thompson’s whole article at Theological Theology.
New Church Society website and blog
Church Society in the UK have just re-launched their website.
“Over the past few months, Church Society has been through a process of rebranding which has gone to the heart of who we are and what we do.”
As well as a new look, there’s now a blog with weekly features – the first one is Formulary Friday (“Every Friday, we consider an aspect of the formularies of the Church of England: that is, the 39 Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal.”).
As Church Society Director Lee Gatiss says, the need for theological clarity in the Church of England has never been greater.
– See it all here, and you can also subscribe to their RSS feed.
David Cook’s encouraging report from the UK
“We have been in the U.K. now since 13th February, long enough to have some reflections:
In Australia we may think that the Church we see in the Royal weddings or funerals is typical of the church here – formal and lifeless. That is contrary to our experience. We have found the Church to be faithful, creative, lively and very well led.
We are here as part of the 4 yearly Passion For Life and my role has been to either preach evangelistically or to encourage others to do that…”
– Presbyterian Church of Australia Moderator General (and former SMBC Principal) David Cook is in the United Kingdom, where he’s spoken at various places including St. Helen’s Bishopsgate and The Tron in Glasgow. Read his reflections here (you may need to scroll down to 27 March 2014).
‘815 in Transparent move to punish Fort Worth’
“Episcopalians in non-litigating parishes and dioceses should be asking: Why the silence? Why is 815 being allowed to run amok with the Church’s precious resources? Who is really in charge? Where are those who helped put the Presiding Bishop into power, and who will act now to curb her irrationality and her grasping at straws?”
– A S Haley, the Anglican Curmudgeon (and lawyer), takes a look at the latest Episcopal Church legal manoeuvrings.
A Loss of Vision
“It is unsurprising that this statement has convinced no one. The suggestion that they are just following the theological lead of the churches and denominations is a massive failure of judgment. After all, the defection from biblical teaching by large tracks of the American church is well documented and grieved over by churches around the world and by those faithful Christians and congregations that remain in the US.
What’s more, our collective responsibility to live obediently under the word of God is not something that can be put to one side or delegated to someone else in the way that Mr Stearns seems to think it can be. If our operations are not driven by our theology then there is something massively wrong. For Christians seeking to humbly and intelligently live as disciples of Christ in today’s world, there is no ‘theology-free zone’…”
– At Theological Theology, Dr. Mark Thompson comments on the World Vision USA decision.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…