Jesus on prayer
St. Helen’s Bishopsgate has published the latest talk from Dick Lucas – Jesus on Prayer:
“Why bother with prayer? And how should it be done?
Jesus’ instruction is concise yet all-encompassing, embracing the eternal purposes of God, the daily needs of his wayward children and the reality of evil. It is an invitation to intimacy between the perfect father and the imperfect, but forgiven, child.”
– Listen here.
Old Testament case law today
“Friends in Christ, following historic Anglican patterns, at the Cathedral, we are committed to the public reading of Scripture, from both Old and New Testaments.
Our preaching generally seeks to expound (i.e. explain and apply) our systematic readings through one book of the Bible.
The other reading comes from the other Testament. This other reading is not generally selected to complement the sermon passage, but simply to expose us to another part of God’s inspired Word, the Bible.
After all, when Paul wrote that ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness’ (2 Timothy 3:16), he was speaking with special regard to what we now call the Old Testament (since the New Testament was still being completed). Timothy had known these ‘Holy Scriptures from infancy’, and Paul said they were ‘able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus’ (2 Timothy 3:15).
But often parts of the Old Testament strike the modern person as far removed from our current culture and expectations. …”
– Sandy Grant, Dean of St. Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney, writes to the cathedral congregation about the key place of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Creating a future proofed church – with Stephen McAlpine
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“Stephen McAlpine says the real question is ‘Does the future have a church?’
The statistics are not our friend.
We have been talking on The Pastor’s Heart about dropping church attendance. Stephen McAlpine is writing about the more widespread phenomenon. …
In Australia the proportion of people self identifying as Christians has shrunk to 51% down from 67% just ten years ago.”
– Watch or listen here. Also on YouTube.
The Distorting Power of the Prosperity Gospel
“No one wants to suffer. In my culture, and in most African cultures, suffering is seen as a sign of bad luck; or proof that you did something wrong. Interestingly that was exactly the same thinking as Job’s friends. For example, Eliphaz says this about Job’s situation: “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?” (Job 4:7-8). His point? The innocent don’t suffer.
Everyone wants their best life now. And most would simply settle for a materially better life too.
This view of suffering explains the success of the prosperity gospel across Africa. …”
– At The Gospel Coalition Africa, Thomas Endjala at Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary, outlines how the “prosperity gospel” ruins faith.
(Link via Tim Challies.)
Never Again
“Friends in Christ, last Monday evening, together with Bishop Michael Stead and a number of other church leaders, I attended a meeting hosted at the Great Synagogue, but convened by a group of Christians called ‘Never Again is Now’. They are concerned about antisemitism in Australia.
Antisemitism is the expression of hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people. It’s a form of racism, one that is particularly abhorrent, when we remember the impact of the Holocaust under Nazism in Germany before and during World War Two. …”
– In a recent Cathedral newsletter (and published on the Cathedral website), Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant explains why will he attend the Never Again rally 3-4pm on Sunday 18th February.
He also provides a link to the Never Again is Now website.
He Gets (Some Of) Us
“Hello dear reader, been a while but here I am now all agitated about the recent ‘HeGetsUs’ advert that aired during this week’s SuperBowl. It’s already generated considerable discussion in evangelicaldom.
Not sure what I’m talking about? Well watch this…”
– David Ould comments on a Super Bowl ad – and then shares an alternative.
Thursday Forums 2024 — at Moore College
From Two Ways Ministries:
“Thursday Forum is the backbone of what we do – hear Phillip Jensen teach the Bible, ask your questions, discuss the implications in small groups with others in the 18-30 age group and pray together. This year we will be digging deep into the book of Romans – so bring your brains, Bibles, questions, and friends!
Location: Marcus Loane Hall, Moore College, Newtown
Time: Thursdays 7-9pm (BYO dinner to eat together from 6pm) …”
– Details here.
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.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…