Mother’s Union Sydney Annual Seminar 2024
Mothers Union Sydney’s Annual Seminar for 2024 is coming up on Friday 23rd February at St. Andrew’s Cathedral and on livestream.
It’s a free event. Topics:
Lovebound: the beauty of church – Tim Clemens
Being church: life in the family of God – Dani Treweek
Raising children: the church as your village – Jocelyn Loane.
How TikTok changes everything for social media and churches – with Hannah Thiem and Liz Fong
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“Social media is changing again. In an increasingly digital age, our collective consciousness is captured by infinite scrolling, short-form videos, and internet personalities. A church’s social media presence has gone from an optional nicety to a key lever for engaging newcomers to church. …”
– Food for thought with Hannah Thiem and Liz Fong. And Dominic Steele confesses he deleted his Tik Tok account.
Truth Be Told: Sample chapter and pre-order
From Rachel at Matthias Media:
“The book on truth they tried to censor
It became painfully clear during the production of Truth be Told, Lionel Windsor’s new book encouraging Christians to stand out in the world because of their honesty and integrity, just how much it was needed. …”
– Read a sample chapter and pre-order the book.
Lionel Windsor spoke about his book late last year.
2024 Prayer Cycle for the Diocese of the Northern Territory
The 2024 Prayer Cycle for the Diocese of the Northern Territory has been released and can be downloaded from their website.
A great resource to help us pray for gospel ministry in the north of Australia.
The word evangelism
“Many people respond to the word evangelism like they respond to ‘begin fitness regime’. It is important, does good, and we want it, but getting going has so many hurdles.
Conversion is God’s great work, and He continues to be active in it. Look around church – where every week we are blessed by being surrounded by those He has saved. Every church in our Diocese desires to see people saved. At Moore College, our students voluntarily gather in groups to explore how to reach different pockets of society, and students, faculty, and staff regularly request prayer for people they are evangelising. Yet evangelism still seems so fraught with difficulties.
To think through how we might enhance our evangelistic efforts Phil Wheeler, director of Evangelism & New Churches, Elliot Temple, mission director at Christ Church St. Ives for the last nine years, and I discussed lessons we have learnt on evangelism. …”
– Archie Poulos writes at the Moore College website.
Picture courtesy of The Pastor’s Heart.
Better relationships between senior pastors and female ministry team members – with Clare Deeves
This week on The Pastor’s Heart:
“How can male senior pastors have better relationships with the women on their ministry teams, where everyone shares complementarian convictions?
In those contexts – there are stories around that suggesting that relationships between some senior pastors and the women on the teams have been strained and have sometimes broken down completely.
There’s been massive cost to the individual, the team, the churches and to gospel work.
Clare Deeves has just completed her PhD, studying working relationships between women employed in complementarian ministry teams and the senior pastor who they work with.
Clare serves as an Assistant minister at Kallaroo Anglican Church in Perth. And lectures in church history at Trinity Theological College Perth.”
Church Matters from 9Marks: Vol 4, Evangelism
The latest issue of Church Matters from 9Marks focusses on the question of evangelism –
What is a biblical understanding of evangelism?
Is every Christian expected to evangelise?
Does expository preaching speak to unbelievers as well as believers?
This and much more in the latest edition, available from 9Marks.
The place to start with Catholics
“What can you say when a Catholic in your life talks about same-sex blessings?
‘It’s all OK now dear’. Those were the words of my fiercely Catholic mother when the Pope proclaimed that it was now acceptable for Catholic priests to bless same-sex intimate relationships. …”
– This new article at The Australian Church Record encourages us to love our Roman Catholic friends and family – and has a link to a new resource.
Praying for King Charles
1 Timothy 2:1-4
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” – ESV.
When using the Prayer Book, Anglican Christians used to pray regularly for the Royal family. Maybe we don’t do that much any more. Yet, whatever one’s view of the monarchy, it would be good to pray for King Charles, especially with his cancer diagnosis, that he will know the Lord Jesus Christ and rest in him.
A lament for Scotland
In his latest podcast, David Robertson laments – and asks you to pray – for the land of his birth:
“In this week’s episode we look at the history, culture, and politics of Scotland. I have taken over a year to do this. It is possibly the hardest thing I have ever had to do because it is so hard for me to be objective.
This is deeply personal. And there is so much to say. It was difficult to decide what to leave out – I literally had hundreds of hours of material … I hope what has remained in will be helpful in understanding modern Scotland – and indeed the modern world. …
There are lessons for all of us in seeing how Scotland has changed, been blessed and declined. …”
And a strong reminder to pray for the nation and people of Scotland.
The 39 Articles Are A Beautiful Guide To Orthodoxy — If Only The Bishops Agreed
“I’ve recently been in correspondence with a bishop who is quite influential in the process surrounding the Prayers of Love and Faith. It has led to a revealing conversation around Article 26 of the 39 Articles of Faith.
The 39 Articles are a brief and condensed statement of what Anglican Christians believe and teach. The English Reformers compiled these carefully summarised statements of biblical theology to guide and guard our identity in Christ.
Adopted by the Church of England in 1571, the 39 Articles assist believers in thinking, discussing, applying, and sharing “the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3). These theological principles remain relevant for our spiritual health and maturity as we follow Jesus Christ today.
The discussion arose because a parish passed a resolution …”
– This opinion piece at Anglican Futures by “a member of the clergy in the Church of England” is a reminder of the importance of the Articles of Faith, and reading them in context.
See also:
Southern Cross magazine February-March 2024
The latest issue of Southern Cross magazine from the Diocese of Sydney is now available – in printed form at churches – and electronically at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Mr Facing Both Ways
“In his book The Pilgrim’s Progress John Bunyan refers to a character called ‘Mr Facing Both Ways.’
As I reflected on the events of the past year and where they have left the Church of England it struck me that Bunyan’s name for this character is also an apt description of the current position of the Church of England.
On the one hand, the Church of England officially continues to adhere to (a) the traditional Christian doctrine of marriage and sexual ethics, and (b) the traditional Christian doctrine that visible holiness of life should be required of Christian ministers.
On the other hand, since 17 December last year it has contradicted (a) in terms of its liturgical practice. Furthermore, it seems certain that action by the House of Bishops will mean that in the coming year the Church of England will contradict traditional Christian doctrine further in area (a) and will also contradict it in area (b) as well. …”
– Martin Davie looks at the current situation in the Church of England and suggests how orthodox Evangelicals should respond.
Living in Love, Faith and Reconciliation: an exercise in bait and switch
“Last week, the lead bishops for Living in Love and Faith process, Rt Revd Helen-Ann Hartley and Rt Revd Martyn Snow set out some of their thinking in a comment piece for the Church Times – Living in Love, Faith and Reconciliation.
‘We are at a crossroads: either we have reached the point of separation, accepting that different views cannot co-exist within the same Church, or we must shift the debate to the question how we live well with difference. We believe firmly in the latter approach, and, therefore, we are issuing a call for reconciliation and bridge-building.’
Their attempt to ‘reset’ the debate will rest on a number of commitments, which will be brought to General Synod for discussion in February. They have yet to be published – but for once the devil will not be in the detail – but in their purpose and underlying premise …”
– This opinion piece at Anglican Futures looks at where ‘reconciliation and bridge-building’ is likely to lead.
And it is yet another reminder to pray for wisdom for faithful believers in the Church of England.
Representing Jesus to our grandkids
“For many people today, there is a lot of life left after retirement. Many years ago, when I began work, the union representative told me that our superannuation scheme for men was based on retirement at 65 and death at 67½! Now, the life expectancy for men is 81 and 85 for women. …”
– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Paul Whiting introduces us to an important book – one especially important for grandparents.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…