When the sermon could have been better
In the latest Preaching Matters video from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London, William Taylor speaks about what to do when your sermon wasn’t really up to scratch.
New Proc Trust website
The Proclamation Trust has an updated website with lost of resources.
Keeping up with General Synod
As General Synod meets in Adelaide, here are a few ways you can keep up, if you so desire –
- General Synod media releases
- General Synod program
- General Synod papers
- Sandy Grant atThe Briefing –
1. Drive away and promote,
2. Advice to evangelical Anglican churchmen.
3. Air bags on pokies. - David Ould’s blog –
1. Electing a Primate,
2. A Quest for Unity?
3. Getting Some Clarity?
4. Embracing the Marginalised?
5. General Synod Roundup – A Way Forward? - SydneyAnglicans.net –
1. Freier elected next Primate,
2. Baptism marriage rule to stay,
3. Synod calls for freedom not religious ‘gag’,
4. Governments and churches urged to take more asylum seekers,
5. Synod highlights ‘inactivity’ on gambling.
Biblical Theology and the Sexuality Crisis
“As the church responds [the current moral and sexual revolution], we must remember that current debates on sexuality present to the church a crisis that is irreducibly and inescapably theological.
This crisis is tantamount to the type of theological crisis that Gnosticism presented to the early church or that Pelagianism presented to the church in the time of Augustine. In other words, the crisis of sexuality challenges the church’s understanding of the gospel, sin, salvation, and sanctification.
Advocates of the new sexuality demand a complete rewriting of Scripture’s metanarrative, a complete reordering of theology, and a fundamental change to how we think about the church’s ministry.”
– Albert Mohler writes at the 9Marks blog.
Praying for Moore College
In the latest post at the Moore College ThinkTank, Principal Mark Thompson urges us to pray for the College.
And they’ve been trawling through College audio archives for classic sermons on Prayer. So far, two are online – Graeme Goldsworthy on Galatians 4:6, and John Woodhouse on The Lord’s Prayer. They plan to add another one each week.
Subscribe to the Moore College Classic Prayer podcast on iTunes.
Confident and Equipped: Facing Today’s Challenges in the Church of England
One of the passions of John Richardson, who departed this mortal life at the end of March, was to see the Church of England reclaimed for Christ.
A Thanksgiving Service was held for John at St. Peter’s, Harold Wood on June 11th (Order of Service, PDF file).
It’s fitting that the new book, Confident and Equipped: Facing Today’s Challenges in the Church of England, was available just in time for the service. It’s a volume of papers from the Junior Anglican Evangelical Conference 2013 (which John started).
Lee Gatiss has an outline of the contents – and the book is available in the UK from Church Society (£40.00 for 10, £22.00 for 5, £5.00 for one – contact them for international orders).
Photo: St. Peter’s Harold Wood.
Chaplains in Schools Song by Colin Buchanan
Yesterday’s “Thank God it’s Friday” with Richard Glover on ABC 702 Sydney had Colin Buchanan as one of the studio guests.
The outcry over a topic for the Festival of Dangerous Ideas at the Sydney Opera House and the High Court Challenge to School Chaplains came together in Colin’s song.
Identity
“Hello, my name is Bill, and I’m an alcoholic.”
– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen asks us to consider our identity.
Check out Introducing God 2.0
The new and updated version of Introducing God was launched in March.
The first version was widely used around Australia.
In this video, Tony Payne speaks with Introducing God 2.0 author Dominic Steele about what’s different and why this version might be just the thing for use in large groups, small groups, and one-to-one settings. Check it out.
And here are ten ways you could use the course.
Print edition of ‘Women, Sermons and the Bible’ on the way
Matthias Media advises that a print version of Women, Sermons and the Bible will soon be out. The eBook was published in May. (Table of contents here.)
Andrew Symes on the ACNA Assembly
“The Anglican Church in North America exists as a kairos response to a crisis in a mainline denomination.
The leadership of the official Anglican denomination in the USA and Canada became more and more liberal. Bishops regularly pronounced that Jesus is one of many possible Saviours , that the Bible contains some of the word of God, that Christian mission is to help fulfil the Millenium Development Goals of the United Nations. It became commonplace to have multifaith services where occult pagan practices would be celebrated in Cathedrals as part of Holy Communion Services, as ‘the Spirit’ can apparently be discerned in all faiths and none…”
– Anglican Mainstream’s Andrew Symes reflects on the just-concluded Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America.
Happy birthday to Samuel Marsden
Today marks the 249th birthday of Samuel Marsden, the second Chaplain to the Colony of New South Wales.
Marsden is reviled by some in Australia, but remembered with thanksgiving in New Zealand.
David Pettett wrote about him at Theological Theology a while back.
Why not ‘burn out for Jesus’?
Cornhill’s Christopher Ash spoke on ‘How to maintain pastoral zeal while avoiding pastoral burnout’ at a conference in the US last month.
Justin Taylor has the video and audio, as well as links to the books mentioned.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea for anyone in ministry (and anyone who supports them) to watch this. Runs for 52 minutes.
12 Questions to ask before you watch ‘Game of Thrones’
“The closer I get to death and meeting Jesus personally face to face and giving an account for my life and for the careless words that I have spoken (Matthew 12:36), the more sure I am of my resolve never intentionally to look at a television show or a movie or a website or a magazine where I know I will see photos or films of nudity. Never. That is my resolve. And the closer I get to death, the better I feel about that, and the more committed I become…”
– Perhaps ‘Game of Thrones’ isn’t your thing – but this is still good advice from John Piper.
Related: “Foxtel says about 500,000 Australians watch each episode via a paid subscription, while another half a million download it illegally…” – ABC News.
God made me this way
“The nature argument is expressed: ‘I was born this way.’ ‘This is how God made me.’ ‘I can’t help it; it’s not my fault; it’s in my DNA.’ …
The nurture argument is expressed: ‘I am free to do whatever I like, however I like to do it.’ ‘You mustn’t restrict me from, or require me to do, anything because of my race, sex, or biology.’…”
– Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column for the Cathedral newsletter.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…