Bus stop gospelling
“How many people are willing to talk? Well, I have not recorded the stats, but based on a rough estimate from my limited memory, I would say at least a third of the people who I approach are willing to talk …”
– Paul McDonald in Toronto shares an idea worth considering. (h/t Tim Challies.)
After B033, can English Evangelicals unite?
“It is a sad fact that throughout a period when Traditionalist Anglicans should have been united, they have been bitterly at loggerheads, sometimes over policies, but often, one suspects, over personalities. …”
– John Richardson writes about the English reaction to the TEC vote this week – at the Ugley Vicar.
The Americans know this will end in schism
“In the slow-moving train crash of international Anglicanism, a decision taken in California has finally brought a large coach off the rails altogether. The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States has voted decisively to allow in principle the appointment, to all orders of ministry, of persons in active same-sex relationships. This marks a clear break with the rest of the Anglican Communion. …”
– Bishop Tom Wright in The Times.
Canterbury must say ‘enough’!
Last weekend we learned that the House of Deputies (clergy and lay representatives of the convention) effectively recommended an end to the moratorium on the consecration of gay bishops, established by Resolution B033 in 2006 in response to a recommendation of the Windsor Report, calling upon Bishops and Standing Committees to ‘exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.’
This week we now learn that the House of Bishops followed that lead by a 2/3 majority (99 to 45 with 2 abstentions) by passing resolution D025 …
– Bishop Glenn Davies writes at SydneyAnglicans.net. (Photo: Russell Powell.)
Two Rival Religions?
“On November 3, 1921, J. Gresham Machen presented an address entitled, “Liberalism or Christianity?” In that famous address, later expanded into the book, Christianity & Liberalism, Machen argued that evangelical Christianity and its liberal rival were, in effect, two very different religions. ”
See also three talks, ‘Christianity and the Tolerance of Liberalism’ by Lee Gatiss.
(Image of J. Gresham Machen: The Theologian.)
Withering and the Word: John Calvin at 500
“Calvin’s confidence was in the Word of God, and that’s why his theology and vision of the world continues to capture the minds and hearts of people in the 21st century. That’s why five hundred years later we remember his birth. That’s why Calvin the preacher and expositor has millions more spiritual children than Erasmus the scholar and hermeneutical skeptic. Strive for relevance in your day, and you’ll may make a difference for a few years. Anchor yourself in what is eternal and you may influence the world for another five centuries. …”
– Kevin DeYoung, co-author of Why we’re not Emergent, writes about the legacy of John Calvin – and your legacy. (h/t Between two worlds)
The Chicago Consultation: read it and weep
“One of the things I’ve been reading recently is the Study Guide prepared for The Episcopal Church by the Chicago Consultation, titled Christian Holiness and Human Sexuality. …
… the document must presumably be regarded as the ‘best of’ arguments for changing the Church’s traditional teaching and practice on same-sex relationships.”
– John Richardson writes at The Ugley Vicar.
More on Calvin
Derek Thomas, Professor of Systematic and Practical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, has posted three brief interviews from Geneva on the significance of John Calvin – on the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson website. (h/t/ Reformation 21.)
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.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…