Bible Time with Pre-schoolers
“I’m so thankful that my daughter is taught at pre-school by wonderfully experienced Christian teachers… so when a list of recommended Bible resources from one of those gifted and thoughtful teachers finds its way into your child’s book bag, it is something to be treasured!
I come back to this list every time I want to add to our library. Clearly, it’s far from exhaustive (there are so many good things out there) and seasoned pre-school teachers and parents will no doubt be familiar with a lot of these books, but I thought I’d share this treasured list here anyway, with a few of my own favourites added in along the way. …“
– Here’s some encouragement and practical help from Kirsten McKinlay at The Australian Church Record.
The Most Radical Thing I Do
“As I left our small church this morning the crowd sitting outside at the café opposite stared at me. I smiled back and waved. They had no idea of the fundamental treasons I’d been committing, of the revolution I participate in. …”
– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Mike Flynn has some counter-cultural encouragement.
What now after Canterbury’s leadership implosion – with Sydney Archbishop Kanishka Raffel
Just released from The Pastor’s Heart – while visiting Bunda Bible College in Tanzania, Dominic Steele speaks with Archbishop Kanishka Raffel.
“Sydney’s Archbishop Kanishka Raffel has responded to Gafcon’s Kigali Commitment which says the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s continued leadership of the Anglican Communion is entirely indefensible.
Leaders representing 85% of the Anglican Communion say they have no confidence in the Archbishop of Canterbury or the other instruments of the Anglican Communion.
In his first interview, since the release of Gafcon’s Kigali Communique, Archbishop Raffel sits down with Dominic Steele while on a tour of Anglican Aid projects in rural Tanzania.”
Also much encouraging news on the impact of Anglican Aid.
How the Original Languages can benefit the African Church
“It’s very important in our promotion of the original languages not to make people think that they cannot trust their translated versions. However, I have personally experienced the joy and value of reading the Bible in the original languages. This is something I wish for many more to experience for themselves. …”
Ikho Poswayo serves at George Whitefield College in Capetown.
Charles Simeon: a model for preachers
“Charles Simeon was the pastor of Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Cambridge from 1782 to his death in 1836 – a period of 54 years. It is difficult to find anyone before Charles Simeon who set about so systematically to teach people to preach.
By 1832 Simeon had published what he called a ‘skeleton’ or sermon outline on the entire bible – over 2,500 in all! They are quite detailed – a lot more flesh and blood than you might expect on a skeleton. But the skeletons were perhaps an outworking of his own experience as a preacher where for the first 7 years he said he ‘did not know the head from the tail of a sermon’.
JI Packer says that the genius of the skeletons was that they showed the preacher how to make sure that it was the text that did the talking throughout the sermon, rather than the preacher loading up the text with his own ideas. They also encouraged the preacher to find and stick to the one big idea of the text. …”
– Encouragement for preachers from Stuart Coulton at The Expository Preaching Trust.
Family, Being and Home
“Many people have expressed much care and concern for Elizabeth and myself knowing we have left many close family and friends on the other side of the country to come and live and serve in the North West. …”
– Recently-installed Bishop of North West Australia Darrell Parker writes of being ‘home’.
“The church world has changed because of GAFCON IV”
George Conger shares his experiences of GAFCON IV at Anglican Unscripted.
Spoiler: Very positive and encouraging.
The Kigali Commitment — the statement from GAFCON 4
“After a horrible few months in the Church of England, in which we feel that we have been punched in the stomach and kicked in the teeth by our own bishops, it’s really great to be here in Rwanda, where we experience the warm embrace of brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world. …
As Kanishka Raffel told us, ‘the GAFCON Primates and GAFCON branches have been attacked and ridiculed and criticized but they have stood up and stood alongside those who were defamed and isolated for the sake of holding to the truth of God’s word.’ But it is clear that we stand together in unity here. How good and pleasant that is! (Psalm 133)…”
– Read all of Lee Gatiss’ report from GAFCON IV at the Church Society website.
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.
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.
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.
Christian MP shares the gospel in Parliament
“A Christian MP has spoken in Parliament of his faith: Christ’s incarnation, sinless life, substitutionary death and resurrection.
In a debate in Westminster Hall on the importance of Christianity in society, the MP for Don Valley, Nick Fletcher, said the nation ‘should be proud of our Christian history and our Christian values’.
As well as explaining the message of the Gospel, he expounded the importance of Christian engagement in society, and how famous social reformers of the past were driven to act by their faith in Jesus. …”
– Christian Concern. The key section is from 8 minutes into the speech.
(Link via Anglican Mainstream.)
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.
“Go ahead and invite them”
“Research on community attitudes has revealed some encouraging statistics on people’s willingness to attend church during Holy week.
The statistics come from the National Church Life Survey’s Australian Community Survey, taken at the end of 2022.
Asked if they would go to church this Easter if a close friend or family member invited them, 42 per cent of Australians said yes. A further 19 per cent of those surveyed said they were unsure. …”
– Here’s some encouragement from Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Why it’s not enough to be a ‘Bible teaching Church’
“When my appointment to St Andrew’s Cathedral was announced about 18 months ago, a godly old Methodist minister wrote to me. He kindly thanked me for my ministry in Wollongong but added this note of caution: ‘Don’t let your boast be, “We are a Bible teaching church”. But rather, like St Paul… “We preach Christ, and him crucified”.’
Was my older Methodist colleague right? …”
– Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant writes at SydneyAnglicans.net.
(Also published in the current Southern Cross magazine.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…