Sunday morning encouragement

With thanks to Emu Music.

Illustrations: harlotry, professionalism, or audience engagement?

“Preachers are communicators.

We need to give attention to engaging the congregation; truth won’t do a person good if they are not awake to hear it. That is why introductions are so important. I try to engage people from my first words.

However, an interesting introduction will not sustain engagement for 20 minutes. …”

– David Cook, former Principal of SMBC, continues to encourage preachers in their calling.

At The Expository Preaching Trust.

God’s heart for all humanity

“Tensions are very high in our community at the moment. Take the illegal anti-lockdown protest on 23 July 2021 in Sydney. The protesters were expressing a fear and anger that’s clearly present amongst many. They were wrong to express it in this way. But you can feel it, can’t you? I know right now many of us are feeling the frustration. Some of us are in almost impossible situations: climbing the walls! And it’s hard. …”

– Lionel Windsor preached from 1 Timothy 2:1-7 at Moore College Men’s Chapel yesterday, 4th August, 2021.

A much-needed refocussing in these difficult days.

Southern Cross for August 2021

Once more, it’s not possible to distribute printed copies of Southern Cross magazine (in fact, it wasn’t printed this month) – but Anglican Media Sydney has posted the full issue online.

From Archbishop Kanishka Raffel’s column (Sickness, COVID and the hope to come, page 15):

“John’s Gospel records an episode in the life of Jesus that is both deeply personal and powerfully universal.

As far as Scripture records, Jesus never experienced illness himself. He did, however, experience hunger, thirst, the barbarous physical cruelty of flogging and crucifixion. And of course, Jesus experienced death.

Jesus is famously recorded on numerous occasions being swamped by people who were ill or suffering from some mental, physical or demonic affliction. His reputation as a healer was documented even by non-Christian ancient sources.

In John chapter 11 we are given a window into how Jesus was affected by the sickness of others. …”

Thanks to Jane Tooher, there’s also a profile of “A woman who did not give in to fear” – Dorothy Mowll. (page 16).

 

Read online (or download the PDF file) at magazine.sydneyanglicans.net.

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel’s message for churches for Sunday 1st August 2021.

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel has recorded this message for churches for their online gatherings on Sunday, 01 August, 2021.

We’re sure you’ll find it an encouragement.

Russell Powell has more at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Sunday morning encouragement

With thanks to Rob Smith and St. Andrew’s Cathedral.

The Importance of Children’s and Youth Ministry

“It is no surprise to ACR readers that Australia is radically and rapidly changing as a nation.

Whether or not it is accurate to describe the initial colonies or federated states as a “Christian” nation, it is abundantly clear that as we enter the third decade of the 21st Century, Australia is increasingly a post–Christian and post–church society.

In 2017 45% of Australians identified as Christian and 25% of Australians were de­scribed as ‘cold’ towards Christianity. Only 15% stated that they attend church monthly or more.

As confessional Anglicans, we are not specifically concerned with Australia being a culturally Christian nation. However, we are passionate about Christ and his Kingdom. We are passionate about making disciples of all nations by evan­gelising the lost and discipling the saints …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Tim Beilharz writes to encourage clarity on Children’s and Youth Ministry.

Sunday morning encouragement

With thanks to Emu Music.

A regular diet of Scripture

“Although it shouldn’t surprise us, hearing the word of God regularly can be surprisingly helpful as we navigate life, mid-2021 included. The frustration of another lockdown, separation from loved ones, the monotonous grind of working life, the fracturing of relationships, the sluggishness and mediocrity we feel as we struggle through online work, online school and online church – there is so much in life that can bring us down and take us away from the wonder, awe and majesty of knowing our great God and Saviour. …”

– Here’s some encouragement from Ben George at The Australian Church Record.

Sunday morning encouragement

With thanks to Emu Music.

Faith vs Reason

“A lot of people assume that faith and reason are irrevocably opposed. Reason is seen as the ability to think, understand and form conclusions logically. Faith is seen as belief in things based on conviction rather than proof. So, we find people very nervous of the merits of either faith or reason. …”

– In the latest (July 2021) Ministry Matters from the Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa New Zealand, Bishop Jay Behan writes about the relationship between Faith and Reason.

Also in this edition, there’s encouraging news from South Auckland, “Gifts from God – the Formation of South Auckland Anglican Mission”, and “The Call to New Zealand” from Mike & Maddy Turner waiting to go to West Hamilton Community Church.

Fuel for your prayers.

GAFCON Chairman’s Pastoral Letter July 2021

“Every day we are challenged with troubling news from around the world. Of late, there is a further complication from the global pandemic. There is a mutation to COVID-19 called “Variation D.” In addition, some regions are having a much higher mortality rate than others.

Archbishop Laurent Mbanda has shared that a rise in cases has led to a new lockdown in Rwanda. Western Kenya and parts of Uganda are also being hit very hard. Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba reports that Uganda is in the midst of a 42-day total lockdown. …”

– GAFCON Primates Council Chairman Archbishop Foley Beach shares his pastoral letter to members of the GAFCON family for July 2021.

Encouragement from the Archbishop

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel has recorded this message of encouragement for churches.

via SydneyAnglicans.net

Engaging with the Media — A worthwhile endeavour

Recently I decided to enter the fray of letter writing.

It was in response to a piece written by Nikki Gemmell, published in The Weekend Australian, “Why the Anglican church must evolve or die”. (Sorry – link is via subscription)

The thrust of her article was aimed at the Anglican Archbishop of the Sydney Diocese of the time, Glenn Davies (and Anglicans like him), who believe what the Bible and the Lord Jesus teaches about marriage – that it is between a man and a woman. However, according to Gemmell, the church needs to become like the world if it wants to survive and thrive; specifically, it needs to get on board with the pansexual zeitgeist of the modern western age.

Gemmell writes:

“the majority of Australians do support same-sex marriage. It feels like the archbishop is damaging his church and Jesus’s teachings of tolerance, gentleness and inclusivity.”

“The church has been on the wrong side of public opinion recently on abortion as well as same-sex marriage. It’s slowly killing itself by refusing to open its heart to others.”

So in response to her article, I wrote the following:

Ms Gemmell in her article “Archbishop You have Lost me”, writes, “the Bible as we know is open to interpretation – pick and choose at your will”.

To read the Bible in this way is to make the reader the author. There is a significant difference between interpreting the Bible and understanding the Bible.

Understanding the Bible requires a person to listen to what God has said and submit to His authority. When we seek to understand, understanding submits our reason, tradition and contemporary circumstances to God’s Word. When we seek to interpret, interpreting submits God’s word to our reason, traditions and contemporary circumstances. Archbishop Davies is simply issuing a clarion call to fellow Anglican Bishops to do the former instead of the latter, which is what they promised at their ordination.  

It does not matter if the church is on the wrong side of public opinion. If there had been opinion polls in Jesus’ day, the results would have been disastrous. People wanted him dead the moment he was born, he was accused of being a blasphemer, demonic, promoting sin, a law-breaker. Jesus said things that made people hate him, made people want to kill him, made followers leave him, and compelled close friends to deny and betray him, and he was crucified on a Roman Cross.

The Lord Jesus also said that to his followers

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19)

The message of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will never be cool or popular to our world, the Lord Jesus was none of those things.  If the church did what Ms Gemmell suggested, and mirrored the world, the church would be indistinguishable from the world and in essence have nothing to offer.

Although only what is underlined above made it to print, it made it to print.

Thus to have the Christian world view published in a culture that increasingly cares nothing for such a world-view I hope serves as encouragement to more of God’s people that engaging with the secular media is still a worthwhile endeavour.

– Joshua Bovis is the Vicar of St John The Evangelist in Tamworth.

Rico Tice on Luke 19:1-10

Rico Tice at All Soul’s Langham Place preached on Jesus and Zacchaeus from Luke 19:1-10 on the first day of the Evangelical Ministry Assembly 2021 in London.

Watch here. A great encouragement in so many ways, and well worth sharing.

(Link updated to reflect the edited video uploaded.)

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