Happy birthday to John Calvin
Today is the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin.
In the UK, The Theologian has released a ‘birthday edition’ with 6 articles and talks examining different aspects of his ministry and theology – including ‘Calvin and the Gospel’ from Martin Foord and ‘Calvin and Preaching’ from Peter Adam.
John Dickson pays tribute to Martin Hengel
“As the music world farewells Michael Jackson, the king of pop, academia mourns the loss of a don of truly biblical proportions. Martin Hengel was Professor of New Testament and Early Judaism at Germany’s prestigious University of Tübingen from 1972 until (as Professor Emeritus) his death last Thursday (July 2). …”
– John Dickson pays tribute to Professor Martin Hengel – at Sydney Anglicans.net
Mobilising the hidden army
We’re glad to share this news from MTS Training Director Col Marshall –
“On Sunday do you look out over the pews and see an audience or an army? The answer to that question will determine your priorities, your effectiveness, even your health. An audience needs constant performance and is full of individuals making demands of you. Read more
Peter Jensen: The Jerusalem Declaration – why it matters
An address to the FCA UK launch by Archbishop Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney.
“Many are still angry that the Jerusalem GAFCON was held. Some of the most angry are those who agree with the theology of the GAFCON movement but cannot accept that a moment for decisive action had arrived. To such persons I say, I admire you and honour you as brothers and sisters in the Lord. But it seems to me that every day that has passed since the GAFCON has only vindicated the decision to hold it.”
Jim Packer is one of the giants of the real world-Anglicanism. Amongst the wise of this world he is disdained, but his praises are sung in all the churches. Astonishingly, in the eyes of his institutional church he is no longer one of us. He has chosen to separate himself from what he has called the sanctification of sin.Is he still an Anglican?
When we can seriously ask that question, something is deeply wrong. We are at a watershed, at a parting of the ways. Decisions have to be made. Read more
Welcome the FCA
“Andrew Goddard, perhaps the best-informed and most thoughtful critic of FCA, argues: ‘There is, at present, no widespread sense that this new initiative is a necessity for Anglicans to be faithful and maintain fellowship within the Church of England and with the churches of the Communion.’
… So why should anyone support FCA and why should it be launched now?”
– Andrew Carey gives some good reasons why the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans is needed now.
Ichabod — the glory departing from Scotland
“The Church of Scotland has declared that the Bible is not the Word of God, that active homosexuality is no bar to the ministry, that a magisterium is to be set up to determine what the Word of God is, and crowns it all by an unchecked stomach-churning display of mockery and faux repentance. A Rubicon has been crossed and there is no turning back. …”
– The Minister of St. Peter’s Free Church in Dundee, David Robertson, writes about the new territory in which the Chirch of Scotland is now travelling. (h/t Reformation21)
On Being Moderately Faithful
“Although the GAFCON movement is firmly rooted in the apostolic faith and the historic reformation formularies of the Church of England, this very clarity has been very unsettling for those whose instincts are first and foremost to preserve the Church as an institution and the whole system of power and patronage which goes with it, formal and informal. The most unsettled are evangelicals who want to preserve the status quo…”
– At SPREAD, Charles Raven answers critics of next week’s launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in the UK.
100 Recommended Reads
Colin Adams at Unashamed Workman has listed 100 books he recommends to his congregation in Northern Ireland –
“It does reflect the fact that I am Reformed, Baptist, cessationist and complementarian! – but hopefully it will still be helpful to an even wider audience.”
– See it here.
Smart Planting, Right Planting
“It wasn’t so much that anyone called us to prayer, but that the day reminded us all of the way that God is sovereignly growing his church, in all sorts of unexpected places and amongst the least likely of people. God’s word is powerful and his mighty Spirit is transforming lives. …”
– At The Sola Panel, Paul Grimmond reflects on last week’s church planting conference at Moore College.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
“When Baxter lay a dying, and his friends came to see him, almost the last word he said was in answer to the question, ‘Dear Mr. Baxter, how are you?’
‘Almost well,’ said he, and so it is. …”
– C H Spurgeon puts death in perspective for all who belong to Christ. At Pyromaniacs.
Why I don’t have a television and rarely go to movies
“But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshipping Christ. …”
– John Piper challenges Christians to consider the influence of what they watch – at Desiring God.
A Tortured Existence
“We want our celebrities to start strong and finish weak, to begin with a bang and then fizzle, pop and sputter, all for our enjoyment and entertainment… Jackson gave us so much to talk about, so much to enjoy. More than any other celebrity he embodied the ‘vanities’ of Ecclesiastes. …”
– Tim Challies reflects. (Image: Google News.)
ACNA is the elephant in the tent
“The formation of ACNA is a direct challenge to the legitimacy of The Episcopal Church (TEC). Four dioceses have left TEC: San Joaquin in California, Quincy in Illinois; Fort Worth in Texas and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. The new Province includes 11 Northern Virginia parishes, some of which pre-date the American War of Independence. It is no surprise then that TEC is litigating over millions of dollars worth of property. …”
– ACL Chairman Robert Tong writes at SydneyAnglicans.net
Nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
– The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 2:1–5. (ESV)
Don’t take your iPod to church!
“Reading the Bible in electronic format makes it easy to chase down cross-references, to read notes related to the content, to find word definitions and so on. But all of this is at the cost of the natural, God-given flow of the text. As we use our iPods in place of our Bibles, we begin to understand Scripture as we do Wikipedia, a text suited more to browsing than deep study.…”
– Food for thought as Tim Challies reflects on how the medium affects how we read the message. Part 1, part 1.5, part 2.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…