A tale of two bishops: What happens when apostasy reigns?

“Go back half a century and the most established church of the Protestant establishment was, without question, the Episcopal Church. Never massive in numbers, that historic denomination sat atop the so-called ‘seven sisters’ of the old Protestant mainline (Episcopalians, Congregationalists [now United Church of Christ, UCC], Presbyterians [PCUSA], United Methodists, the Disciples of Christ, northern Baptists, and Lutherans [ELCA]). Those historic churches had outsize importance in shaping the culture. The word ‘mainline’ was not used inaccurately.

Fast forward to the present and all those denominations have been in precipitous decline for decades. The culture has been secularizing and those churches basically decided to secularize with it. …”

– In his latest article, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Dr Albert Mohler looks at the legacy of Bishop Frank Griswold and Bishop Gene Robinson.

Moore Theological College – then and now

Back in 1954 or 1955, this 26-minute film was made to promote Moore Theological College.

It’s a fascinating glimpse into College life in a more formal time.

The film features Bruce Smith as – er- John Smith – a student arriving on his first day at the college, and follows him through to graduation.

Many of Bruce’s contemporary students are seen in the film, as are the Principal, the Rev. Canon M. L. Loane, and the Vice Principal, the Rev. Dr. D. B. Knox. The film is narrated by college student Ron Herbert.

The film is available at both YouTube and Vimeo with thanks to Moore College’s Donald Robinson Library.

Since that film was made, Australian society has changed greatly, but the aim of Moore College – to train people to rightly handle the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15) – remains at the centre.

In 2023, Moore College’s May Open Week is a great way to get a taste of college life.

“Visit our Newtown campus during May Open Week to experience a lecture, meet faculty and students, and get a campus tour from a student. Join us for a day or part of a day, and enjoy morning tea and lunch.

To register, please fill out the form [at the link] below …”

‘Vatican sends relic of true cross to Britain’s King Charles’

“As Britain’s King Charles III walks into Westminster Abbey for his coronation, he will walk behind a processional cross containing a relic of Christ’s cross given to the king by Pope Francis. …

Anglican Archbishop Andrew John of Wales blessed the cross during a service April 19.”

– Story from The National Catholic Reporter. Martin Luther

Possibly related:

Abandon the Reformation, Abandon the Gospel – Matthew Barrett at The Gospel Coalition:

“There they sat. Relics. Lots of them. There was a cut of fabric from the swaddling cloth of baby Jesus, 13 pieces from his crib, a strand of straw from the manger, a piece of gold from a Wise Man, three pieces of myrrh, a morsel of bread from the Last Supper, a thorn from the crown Jesus wore when crucified, and, to top it all off, a genuine piece of stone that Jesus stood on to ascend to the Father’s right hand. And in good Catholic fashion, the blessed Mary was not left out. There sat three pieces of cloth from her cloak, four from her girdle, four hairs from her head, and better yet, seven pieces from the veil that was sprinkled with the blood of Christ. These relics and countless others (19,000 bones from the saints!) stood ready to be viewed by pious pilgrims. These relics were the proud collection of Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony, Martin Luther’s prince. And they sat in the Castle Church at Wittenberg, prepared and ready for showing on All Saints Day, November 1, 1517. …”

Also, Article XXII of The Thirty Nine Articles.

60 Days of Prayer for the Church

Church Society in the UK has been promoting “Sixty Days of Prayer for the Church“.

“Church Society is calling us to 60 days of prayer for the Church of England and the global Anglican Communion. The Church of England is teetering on the precipice of grave doctrinal error and pastoral disaster. The potential implications will be felt across the Anglican Communion, with many provinces having already made it clear that they cannot continue in fellowship with the Church of England. The situation is extremely serious, and what we most need is to call on the Lord.

For several years, at Church Society, we have made weekday posts throughout Lent on a number of theological, biblical and pastoral themes.

This year, however, it seemed appropriate to use this time to call the church to prayer. The collects of the Anglican church are intended to gather up the thoughts of the people into short, clear prayers, and so we will be using these as the basis for our prayers.

Each day we will be posting a selected collect along with some thoughts about its significance for the contemporary church, and we hope that these will prompt your own prayers.

The sixty days begin on Ash Wednesday, February 22nd, and finish at the end of the GAFCON meeting in Kigali, on April 21st.

Please join us for this important season of prayer.”

It’s not too late to join in prayer. You can see each of the daily posts at the Church Society website.

Today’s post: Withstand the world, the flesh and the devil, by Sandy Grant, is a reflection on the collect for the eighteenth Sunday after Trinity –

“Almighty God,
grant your people grace
to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil,
and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.”

and Stephen Tong wrote this post on the collect for the fifteenth Sunday after Trinity.

ACR Journal Autumn 2023 now available

There’s much worthwhile reading in the just-released copy of the Autumn 2023 ACR Journal –

Editorial: Taste and see that the Lord is good – Mike Leite

The law of the Lord is perfect – Andrew Leslie

Created male and female: Reflections on Genesis 1-3 – Gav Perkins

God’s goodness in 1 Timothy – Lionel Windsor

Interview: William Taylor – Micky Mantle

How to preach truth yet teach falsely – Mike Leite

A God worth trembling before: Isaiah 66 – Craig Schafer

Preaching a good and powerful word – Paul Grimmond

Will we be teachers who tremble at His Word? – Phil Colgan

Reflections: An interview with Phillip Jensen – Ben George

Displaying God’s love daily: School chaplain interviews – Stephen Tong

This is the Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God – Mark Earngey

You are enough, and other lies we like to swallow – Jocelyn Loane

Richard Johnson: Chaplain under fire – Stephen Tong

From the vault: The evangelical heritage – Archbishop Howard Mowll

From the vault: The cross and the resurrection – John Stott

Book review: Eager to serve by Ray Galea – Ben Pfahlert

Book review: The Doctrine of Scripture: An Introduction by Mark Thompson – Andrew Leslie

Book review: The Life of Faith: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine by Peter Jensen – Sandy Grant

Book review: Biblical critical theory by Christopher Watkin – Rory Shiner.

Download your copy from The Australian Church Record.

Where did all this Expository Preaching come from?

“There’s no doubt that, at least within Reformed churches, this is an age of expository preaching – of preaching sequentially through books of the Bible while always ensuring that the point of the text is the point of the sermon.

Yet you do not need to look far into history to find that it was not always so and that in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries such preaching was rare.

I was intrigued by Bob Fyall’s explanation of how expository preaching became not only accepted but expected. …”

– Tim Challies writes of key figures who promoted expository preaching in England and Scotland. Let us never take such preaching for granted.

Related: Sydney Church History – David Cook.

THAT’S EASTER — Life to Death – and Death to Life

Back in 2010, St. Helen’s Bishopsgate released this video.

Good to share (again).

Do you know death?

“Over the past three years, it’s been sobering as the world confronts its mortality. Covid’s death toll overwhelmed hospitals, filled the morgues, converted paddocks into mass graves. The words of Hamilton have felt prophetic: ‘Death doesn’t discriminate between the sinner and the saint, it takes, and it takes, and it takes…’

In the wake of Covid, we awoke to the reality of death. Suddenly, the false hopes of medicine, exercise, healthy diets to fix everything were exposed as fake, phonies, flimsy bandaids that offered only temporary solutions. And suddenly the desire for pretty things, faster internet, on-trend fashion, tastier coffee faded in comparison to the desire for life and love and longevity.

But death shouldn’t surprise us. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Jeanette Chin shares something of her story, our story, and the sure hope we have in Jesus.

Book launch – Peter Jensen’s The Life of Faith: An Introduction to Christian doctrine

Moore College has now uploaded the video of the launch of Peter Jensen’s new book, The Life of Faith: An Introduction to Christian doctrine.

Do watch the full video – Peter speaks about his purpose in the book, and explains his use in the lecture room of some of the books he brought along. Very encouraging.

Get your copy of The Life of Faith: An Introduction to Christian doctrine from Matthias Media.

Correlations between leadership behaviours and ministry burnout

This week from The Pastor’s Heart:

“What is the relationship between clergy leadership behaviors and burnout?

How does destructive leadership behaviour relate to burnout?

What about conflict at church? How does a minister being the target of personal violence correlate to thoughts of quitting? “

Valerie Ling leads the Sydney’s Center for Effective Living and Center for Effective Serving.”

– Watch or listen here.

Seize the Day — Mothers Union Sydney seminar 2023

Mothers Union Sydney’s Annual Seminar for 2023 was held at St. Andrew’s Cathedral on Friday 24th February.

The theme was “Seize the Day – Work and Rest in the light of Eternity”.

A recording of the full livestream is now available on the Mothers Union website.

Speakers and topics on the day were:

The God of All Our Days – Ruth Schroeter
Days Well Spent – Paul and Cathy Grimmond
Parenting for the Days to Come – Ruth Baker

The accompanying booklet is available at this link.

2023 Moore College Graduation – Occasional Address

The 2023 Moore College Graduation service was held on March 20.

The College has now published video of the occasional address given by the Rev Don West, Principal of Trinity Theological College in Perth.

Don speaks from 2 Corinthians 4:1-18.

– Watch and be encouraged.

Elon Musk, Apple co-founder, other tech experts call for pause on ‘giant AI experiments’

“Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and a host of other tech leaders and artificial intelligence experts are urging AI labs to pause development of powerful new AI systems in an open letter citing potential risks to society.

The letter asks AI developers to ‘immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.’…”

– Report from Fox News.

John Anderson speaks with Professor John Lennox on Artificial Intelligence.

“In 2020, Lennox published 2084 – Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity, which covers key developments in technological enhancement, bioengineering and AI. In the book, he discusses the current state of AI – its benefits, dangers and future implications. …”

“This is not futuristic speculation – this is already happening.”

The King?

“On that first Palm Sunday there were joy, acclamation, and tears. Yet, five days later the unthinkable occurred: Jesus was put to death by crucifixion. The contrast between the first Palm Sunday when crowds acclaimed Jesus as king and the day he was strung up on a cross, could not have been more stark. …”