The World in which we now live – Dick Lucas
An address by Dick Lucas, Rector Emeritus at St Helen’s Bishopsgate, from Psalm 14.
He was speaking to the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship 2007 Annual Conference in London.
A great many in Sydney have benefitted from the ministry of Dick Lucas over the years. Hear his address (17MB mp3 file) from the LCF website.
Ecclesiastical Fascism Rearing its Head
“The fictional ‘abandonment of communion’ used by revisionist Episcopal bishops to deny and dump orthodox priests has now become a standard mantra by those who want to retain power and repress those who would uphold the faith, demanding that they accept the church’s new fangled theology, and bless same-sex marriages…”
This week’s commentary by US-based Kiwi David Virtue.
On Life and Ministry with J.I. Packer
In October 1999, Mark Dever spoke with Dr James Packer about life and ministry.
Well known to many as the author of Fundamentalism and the Word of God, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God and Knowing God, Dr. Packer is a member of St. John’s Shaughnessy which has recently voted to break ties with the Anglican Church of Canada.
This fascinating and informative interview sheds light on the recent history of evangelical Christianity and its continuing battle with liberalism.
The 64 minute audio (mp3) file is available here as a 29MB download.
(Photo: Martin Dee / Regent College, Vancouver.)
Paul, Peter and moderate Baptists
Former president Jimmy Carter convened a large assembly of moderate and liberal Baptists in Atlanta a few weeks ago, meeting under the banner of a “Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant”…
Tragically, however, these Baptists do not even agree on the Gospel. … while there was a call for unity around the Gospel and even appeals to spread the Good News, a breakout session demonstrated the lack of clarity, to be as charitable as possible, concerning the nature of Gospel.
– Opinion piece by James A. Smith on Baptist Press. (Any lessons for Anglicans here?)
(Photo of former President Clinton, who was also present, from the New Baptist Covenant.)
Relations with Rome
David Phillips, General Secretary of Church Society, has written a 3 page critique of ARCIC and IARCCUM.
“When was the last time you praised and blessed Mary as the handmaid of the Lord? According to the ARCIC report on Mary it is something Scripture leads us to do. …”
Published in Crossway earlier this year, it is now available on the Church Society website. (120kb PDF file.)
Fathers and Sons
Os Guinness seeks to set the record straight about Francis and Edith Schaeffer by critiquing Frank Schaeffer’s book ‘Crazy for God’ –
“I have never met anyone anywhere like Francis Schaeffer, who took God so passionately seriously, people so passionately seriously, and truth so passionately seriously. The combination was dynamite … The idea that such a man was ‘crazy for God,’ let alone a two-faced con man, is and will always be utterly anathema to me. I was there. I saw otherwise, and I and many of my friends have been marked for life. …”
The review is available in Books & Culture at ChristianityToday.com.
Thinking about what we do in church (ii)
‘Back to the Basics of Reformed Worship’
This article, by Jon Payne, was written to encourage Reformed churches to think about what they do in Sunday church.
While the historical background of Anglican Churches is a little different, there’s much to reflect on in this brief essay – from Reformation21.
Thinking about what we do in church (i)
In an age when many Anglican churches make little use of the Prayer Book, careful thinking about what should happen during a Sunday gathering is more important than ever.
In an interview on the Nine Marks website, Mark Dever (Capitol Hill Baptist Church) speaks on “the Use and Importance of Corporate Prayer”.
This interview provides food for thought for all involved in leading public worship.
Helpful resource: bethinking.org
The Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship’s apologetics website – bethinking.org – has a wide range of audio and text resources to help Christians give an account of their faith. Recommended.
“Arrogant Archbishop’s protest conference ignores own advice”
“Prelates such as Sydney’s Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen demonstrate considerable arrogance by holding their protest conference in Jerusalem against the wishes of its bishop, Suheil Dawani. …
Dawani is closely involved with efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East, to which he gives a higher priority than the theological squabble over homosexuality. …”
– An unsympathetic opinion-piece in The Sunday Canberra Times.
However see Archbishop Peter Jensen’s statement to the Standing Committee of Sydney Diocese about that “theological squabble”.
And in a report about the Diocese of Kentucky’s annual Convention, the whole debate is characterised as “a family argument”.
Tim Keller speaks about the Cross
Three talks given by Tim Keller (Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York) in January last year are very helpful in thinking about the implications of the cross.
How the Cross Converts Us
How the Cross Changes Us
How the Cross Unites Us
– mp3 downloads via Between Two Worlds.
The Cross
“I find no balm for a sore conscience, and a troubled heart, like the sight of Jesus dying for me on the accursed tree.
There I see that a full payment has been made for all my enormous debts. The curse of that law which I have broken has come down on One who there suffered in my stead. The demands of that law are all satisfied. Payment has been made for me, even to the uttermost farthing. It will not be required twice over.
Ah! I might sometimes imagine I was too bad to be forgiven. My own heart sometimes whispers that I am too wicked to be saved. But I know in my better moments this is all my foolish unbelief. I read an answer to my doubts in the blood shed on Calvary. I feel sure that there is a way to heaven for the very vilest of men, when I look at the cross.”
– J.C. Ryle, Old Paths . Courtesy First Importance.
Why GAFCON?: The Anglican Communion over the past year
“Criticisms have been directed against GAFCON, many of them by those considered to be conservatives. And these criticisms are not to be ignored. But for the Global South and their allies, no real alternative to GAFCON is evident, given two factors.
The first is the evasiveness of the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church (TEC) in responding to the communiqué of the Primates’ Meeting of February 2007.
The second, no less compelling, is Canterbury’s undercutting of the Primates’ Meeting and of the Primates themselves, apparently to avoid rejection of the HOB response. By way of giving grounds for this view, this article traces the sequence of events giving rise to GAFCON. …”
Read the rest of this analysis by the Rev. Theodore L. Lewis, Theologian in Residence at All Saints’ Church, Chevy Chase, Maryland, on VirtueOnline.
Can the Church reach out without selling out?
The Nashville Conference on the Church and Theology was held at the Nashville Community Bible Church February 10-12.
The topic?: Can the Church reach out without selling out? Speakers: Don Carson, Steve Lawson, Tim Challies.
The audio of the talks is now available at ReformationUnderway.
What does Gospel-centred ministry look like?
Tim Keller, from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, speaks on “What does Gospel-centred ministry look like?” at the first Gospel Coalition Conference last May.
Very helpful.
Video and audio downloads of the plenary session are available here.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…