May 2011 Australian Church Record

The latest issue of The Australian Church Record has been released on their website.

It’s available as an 820kb PDF file.

Foundations journal now online

Foundations is the journal of evangelical theology published twice a year by Affinity (formerly The British Evangelical Council).

It has now become an online journal, and the first digital issue (1.4MB PDF file) is online with articles by Carl Trueman Greg Beale and others. (h/t Reformation21)

‘The key to Postmodern Evangelism’

“The key to evangelizing our postmodern generation is forming relationships and faithfully proclaiming the gospel. We can not wait for people to come to us; we must take the gospel out to them.

The course called Christianity Explored began when Chris Hobbs, former curate at All Souls Church in London, England, brought Michael Bennett’s Christianity Explained course to England in 1990. …”

– Rico Tice introduces Christianity Explored to the (mainly American) readers of the White Horse Inn’s Modern Reformation magazine.

And Michael Horton at the White Horse blog is enthusiastic about the updated version of Christianity Explored –

“‘Christianity Explored” – especially with this newly revised edition – is exactly what we’ve needed for a long time. My prayer is that churches faithful to getting the gospel right will become just as known for getting the gospel out. And ‘Christianity Explored’ is the best supporting resource I know of for helping us to do that.”

(The Christianity Explored course materials are available in Australia via The Good Book Company.)

The Father-in-law I never knew: Alec Simpson

“His epitaph could have been, ‘his deeds follow him ’ (Rev 14:13). Fifty-five years later Alexander Simpson’s deeds do follow him, ‘embodied’ in the older Brazilian believers converted through him and the younger ones converted through them.

Alec was forty when he died 1950 in Uberaba in the interior of Brazil having come there as a missionary from Scotland with his wife Janet in the late thirties. …”

– Bishop Paul Barnett shares this story about a life not wasted.

The story of Harold Camping

Robert Godfrey, President of Westminster Seminary California writes:

“If you were to drive the freeways of southern California, you would see from time to time billboards proclaiming the Judgment Day on May 21, 2011 and declaring that the Bible guarantees it. To understand these signs we must know something of the history as well as the theology of Harold Camping.

I am in a somewhat distinctive position to write on this subject since I first met Camping in the late 1950s. I learned a great deal from him then, and so I find what follows a very sad story. I pray for him that the Lord will deliver him from the serious errors into which he has fallen.…”

He sketches out Harold Camping’s drift from orthodox Christianity in a series of five articles on the Westminster Seminary California website. (Reflection on this background may prove useful in conversations this week.)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5. (h/t Todd Pruitt at 1517.)

Five thoughts on worship

“There is no shortage of good books (and bad!) on the theology of worship. The best is David Peterson’s Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship (IVP, 1992). Peterson’s book is not a practical how-to on worship planning, but rather an in-depth, exegetical look at the biblical understanding of worship.

Worship, according to Peterson, is first of all a whole life lived to the glory of God…”

– so writes Kevin DeYoung at the Gospel Coalition blog.

Engaging with God is available from Moore Books (who currently have a stock reduction sale).

‘Judgment day’ coming for TEC Rectors

In his weekly column, Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council, outlines likely consequences of a far-reaching change to the Episcopal Church’s disciplinary canon.

“In July of this year, less than six weeks from now, the changes to the disciplinary canon (Title IV) go into full force and effect, and revisionist bishops will be able to remove parish leaders on the flimsiest of charges. Likewise, if a bishop doesn’t fully go along with Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori’s agenda, she will be able to remove the bishop on the flimsiest of charges. It no longer is required that someone has done something to damage “the church,” only that they intend to do so, or that they might do so, as determined by the Presiding Bishop.”

Read more

The End is near?

High profile American preacher Harold Camping is predicting Judgment Day will begin this weekend. There’s bound to coverage in Australian media.

Earlier this week, Albert Mohler posted this reminder of what Jesus teaches about such predictions.

Unveiling Grace: Wonderful news for Mormons

“Eight individuals… devoted, faithful Mormons, with unshakable testimonies and a sincere love for the LDS Church… now say that they have found something greater. … What could possibly cause them to abandon what they had always held near and dear?”

– Take the time to watch this 54 minute video. It’s available online and on DVD from Sacred Groves. (h/t David Ould.)

Dr Garry Williams on William Tyndale

Dr Garry Williams, Director of the John Owen Centre at London Theological Seminary, recently spoke at Ballymoney Baptist Church in Northern Ireland. His topic: “The Life and Death of William Tyndale: Loving God’s Word”.

The 49 minute (14MB mp3 file) talk gives an excellent insight into Tyndale’s passion to see God’s Word translated into English. Most encouraging. (via Colin Adams at Unashamed Workman.)

United Church of Canada: ‘celebrating post-theism’

“The United Church of Canada, which was formed 86 years ago with the grand vision to bring Protestants together “in one glorious national church,” is undergoing one of the most precipitous slides in modern religious history.

In the midst of a breathtaking erosion in its membership, the church is undertaking what some call a great experiment to redefine itself through an intense engagement with the surrounding secular world; whether it be through advocating for the environment, fighting for the rights of homosexuals to marry or taking on the cause of the Palestinians, the church has attempted to blur the boundaries between religion and the broader society.…”

– Opinion-piece by Charles Lewis in the National Post of Canada.

(As the Anglican Essentials Canada blog points out, it makes the Anglican Church of Canada “look like a bastion of orthodoxy”. Example. Photo: UCC Moderator Mardi Tindal from her Easter message.)

Anglicare promo video

Anglicare Sydney has releases a 4 minute promo video highlighting a range of ministries and the foundation for their work. See it at YouTube.

Scripture — God Speaks

The audio files of this year’s Clarus Conference, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have been made available by the organisers at Desert Springs Church.

G. K. Beale and Carl Trueman — both from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia — spoke on Scripture. (h/t Justin Taylor.)

Shadow Gospel: an uncertain faith

We’ve noted Charles Raven’s book – published in September 2010 – before, but it’s worth drawing attention to it again.

This week’s GAFCON Primates’ Statement from Nairobi includes these words:

“We continue to be troubled by the promotion of a shadow gospel that appears to replace a traditional reading of Holy Scriptures and a robust theology of the church with an uncertain faith and a never ending listening process. This faith masquerades as a religion of tolerance and generosity and yet it is decidedly intolerant to those who hold to the ‘faith once and for all delivered to the saints’.”

Charles Raven’s book, Shadow Gospel: Rowan Williams and the Anglican Communion Crisis, is important reading for all who want to understand the theology of the Archbishop of Canterbury and how it is informing his leading of the Anglican Communion. He writes in his introduction:

“Although I seek to show that Rowan Williams’ theological vision is so problematic that a biblically faithful future for the Anglican Communion will have to come from elsewhere, I have not set out to portray him as an Antichrist or even to suggest that the current crisis is simply ‘his fault.’ He is interesting as much for what he illustrates about the Anglican Communion and its governance structures as for what he generates, being deeply shaped by the same theological and social trends which were straining the Communion well before he came to Canterbury.”

The book is published by The Latimer Trust in the UK, and can be ordered from them, however Australian readers might find this link useful.

Naviget: GAFCON Unfurls its Sails

“I sense that the GAFCON Primates’ Nairobi Communiqué issued this week has about it this quality of divine summons; it is an expression of obedience to the call of the gospel. The GAFCON Primates who met in Nairobi last month have plenty to occupy them in their own backyards. They have growing vibrant churches which need vigilant oversight, many have to grapple with pressing issues of poverty, some of their Provinces are on the frontline of militant Islam and in an African context they are also often called to act as statesmen too.

The temptation to focus on their own immediate challenges and disengage from a Communion which is in a crisis not of their making must be very powerful. But it has been determined that GAFCON must unfurl its sails for the sake of the gospel and I see the Nairobi Communiqué unfolding the vision established at Jerusalem in 2008 in two areas which are vital to the re-evangelisation of the West.…”

– Charles Raven comments on the latest developments from GAFCON.

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