Frozen my way
“In 1624 a cathedral Dean wrote: ‘No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.’ which ends with the famous lines ‘And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.’
The relationship of the individual with the community is one of the ongoing tensions of life. To what extent is the individual sovereign and how much is the community sovereign?…”
– Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column for the Cathedral.
An appreciation of Gerald Bray
“Three decades ago, in January 1984, the Church Society’s theological journal, Churchman, was relaunched under new leadership. At a moment of crisis within the Anglican movement, when confusion reigned about the authority and interpretation of Scripture, some were beginning to ask: ‘When does neo-evangelicalism become simply a new form of the old liberalism?’ (CEN, 6 May 1983). The Church Society council turned to a young tutor at Oak Hill College, Gerald Lewis Bray, to take a lead as Churchman’s new editor…”
– Andrew Atherstone commemorates 30 years of editorial oversight of Churchman by Gerald Bray in this appreciation. (PDF file.)
Walking with God through Pain and Suffering
Of Tim Keller’s book “Walking with God through Pain and Suffering”, Andy Naselli writes,
“It’s probably the best overall book on suffering because it shrewdly addresses the issue from three angles: cultural, biblical-theological, practical.
As with Keller’s other books, this brims with wisdom from decades of fruitful pastoral ministry.”
– Read more here. (Tim Keller is coming to Sydney later this month.)
Steve Chalke or the repentant Rosaria? Whose religious experience?
“Who’s the most unlikely convert you have ever met? Of course, given the ravages of sin in our hearts and minds any convert is nothing short of a miracle, a new creation that only the original creator can bring about. All the same, there are some whose place in life seems to make it especially hard to hear the gospel, and when someone in that position does become a Christian, one stands amazed at the power of God’s grace in encountering them and bringing them home to himself.”
– Mike Ovey at Oak Hill College asks whose religious experience counts.
New Moore Distance Courses
Moore College is offering new Distance courses. Here are three videos giving some background –
1. An introduction to new courses with Dr. Mark Thompson, College Principal.
2. New Distance offerings explained.
3. ITS, Moore College’s newest distance course.
Archbishop Davies endorses new PTC course
In a new video from Moore College, Archbishop Dr Glenn Davies endorses the PTC correspondence course and its value to the life of believers everywhere.
See also the PTC course website.
Phillip Jensen on ‘Singleness, Marriage, Divorce, & Remarriage in Ministry’
Video files of Phillip Jensen’s talks from the recent Priscilla & Aquila Centre conference at Moore College are now available, courtesy of Audio Advice:
John Piper’s pleas to Pastors about money
Excellent advice from John Piper about the danger of loving money.
An Atheist becomes an evangelist… sort of
“Last week, sitting in a little pub in Dorset and about to sip my pint of Doombar, I was approached by the local vicar. He’d officiated at my daughter’s wedding last year and knew I was a Green, although he probably doesn’t know I’m an atheist.
He asked me if I had heard of the Diocese of Salisbury’s initiative called ‘Carbon Fast’…
I’ve never thought of myself as an evangelist, but now it suddenly makes sense.”
– Jenny Jones writes in The Telegraph.
More on the Carbon Fast here. And some thoughts from the Apostle Paul here and here.
Kevin DeYoung on expository preaching
Kevin DeYoung shares his thoughts on expository preaching in the latest edition of Preaching Matters from St Helen’s Bishopsgate.
Worth a look.
31 Days of Purity
Tim Challies challenges (first of all) the thousands of Christian men who read his blog –
“This is for all of us—for those who are young and those who are old, for those who are married and those who are single, for those who struggle mightily in the area of sexual sin and for those who may barely struggle at all. I would love it if you would commit with me to 31 Days of Purity—thirty-one days of considering what God’s Word says about sexual purity and thirty-one days of praying that God would help us fight sin and pursue holiness in this area. Will you join me?”
The 31 days has started, but it’s not too late to join in. Day 1. Day 2.
‘Introducing God’ 2.0
Introducing God is back – in version 2.0. The updated series was launched at Village Church Annandale on Friday night.
Learn about the course here (just in time for Jesus Brings). And John Sandeman has a story at Eternity Newspaper.
An Unspiritual Church
“‘Spirituality’ is a term of great confusion today. Both inside and outside Christianity, people use the word in ways quite different to the Bible. This not only confuses Christians in what to expect from the Spirit of God but also confuses non-Christians about the work of God’s Spirit and the teaching of Christianity. For when Christians, in our confusion, misrepresent God’s word it is no surprise that non-Christians do not understand our message.”
– In his weekly column for the Cathedral, Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen looks at what makes a church ‘Spirit filled’ – and what doesn’t.
Challenges Gospel Ministers can expect
“What challenges lie ahead? The race this new generation is called to run will include several unavoidable challenges that will demand the highest level of biblical fidelity and theological courage, matched to keen cultural sensitivity and a deep love for human beings caught in the maelstrom of late modernity. …”
– Albert Mohler identifies several key challenges for all who are called to preach Christ.
I’d like an argument please
“Mortimer Adler, How to Read a Book:
You must be able to say, with reasonable certainty,
‘I understand,’
before you can say any one of the following things:
‘I agree,’ or
‘I disagree,’ or
‘I suspend judgment.’
For those who don’t do this, he says:
There is actually no point in answering critics of this sort. The only polite thing to do is to ask them to state your position for you, the position they claim to be challenging.…”
– Read the full (but brief) post by Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…