Archbishops seek asylum for refugees from northern Iraq
“Archbishop Philip Freier, has urged the Federal Government to accept as refugees some of the Christians facing unimaginable suffering in northern Iraq.
Dr Freier, who was inaugurated as Primate of Australia at a service at St Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday evening (August 13), praised the government for its “rapid response in providing aid to the displaced thousands in Iraq”.
He told a press conference that he had written to the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Abbott, and Immigration Minister, Mr Scott Morrison, asked them to emulate France in offering asylum to those facing forced conversion or death.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who gave the sermon at the inauguration service, told the conference that what was happening right now in northern Iraq at the hands of the ISIS jihadi fighters was “off the scale of human horror”.…”
– Story (and photo by Kit Haselden) from the Diocese of Melbourne.
Abp of Canterbury statement on N Iraq
“The horrific events in Iraq rightly call our attention and sorrow yet again. Christians and other religious minorities are being killed and face terrible suffering.
“What we are seeing in Iraq violates brutally people’s right to freedom of religion and belief, as set out under Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is extremely important that aid efforts are supported and that those who have been displaced are able to find safety. I believe that, like France, the United Kingdom’s doors should be open to refugees, as they have been throughout history.
“The international community must document human rights abuses being committed in northern Iraq so that future prosecutions can take place. It is important and necessary for the international community to challenge the culture of impunity which has allowed these atrocities to take place.
“With the world’s attention on the plight of those in Iraq, we must not forget that this is part of an evil pattern around the world where Christians and other minorities are being killed and persecuted for their faith. Only this week I received an email from a friend in Northern Nigeria about an appalling attack on a village, where Christians were killed because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Such horrific stories have become depressingly familiar in countries around the world, including Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
“We must continue to cry to God for peace and justice and security throughout the world. Those suffering such appalling treatment in Iraq are especially in my prayers at this time.”
– Re-posted from The Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.
Vicar of Baghdad: ‘Child I baptised cut in half by ISIS’
“The five-year-old son of a founding member of Baghdad’s Anglican church was cut in half during an attack by the Islamic State on the Christian town of Qaraqosh.
In an interview today, an emotional Canon Andrew White told ACNS that he christened the boy several years ago, and that the child’s parents had named the lad Andrew after him.
‘I’m almost in tears because I’ve just had somebody in my room whose little child was cut in half,’ he said. ‘I baptised his child in my church in Baghdad2. This little boy, they named him after me – he was called Andrew.‘…”
– Though very distressing, read the full report from The Anglican Communion News Service, and pray.
Bishops demand UK Government offer asylum to Iraqi Christians
“From Canon Andrew White, Vicar of Baghdad: ‘We have just had terrible news that Baghdad International Airport has been shut down because of security risks. Without it we cannot go North to do the relief work or even leave the country. Please pray that we can get out.’
As the Islamic State continues its programme of bloody executions and forced conversion, Canon White bears witness to the suffering…”
– Blogger “Cranmer” on the deterirotaing situation in Iraq. (h/t Anglican Mainstream.)
Related: Iraqi Christians ‘should be offered asylum in UK’ – bishop. – BBC News.
Welby hopes women bishops won’t prevent ‘full communion’ with Catholic Church
“In a letter sent to Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said he hopes the vote to allow the ordination of women bishops would not prove a stumbling block to future ’full communion’ between the Anglican and Catholic churches…”
– Report from The Catholic Herald.
(Photo: ACNS.)
Beware of scams
The Church of Nigeria warns of scams involving requests supposedly coming from Archbishop Nicholas Okoh –
“It has come to our knowledge that some unscrupulous persons fake the identity of the Primate of All Nigeria online and create impostor facebook accounts bearing his picture and his name. These same people also use these scam facebook accounts to defraud some unsuspecting members of the public by raising money online under a pretext to support some charity causes.”
– PDF file from The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).
Archbishop of Canterbury to visit Melbourne
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will attend the installation of Dr Philip Freier as the new Primate at a service of Choral Evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne on Wednesday August 13. Archbishop Welby will preach, after flying from the Solomon Islands the day prior, and before to a trip to New Zealand the next day.
Bishop Edwin Ngubane
“Many Sydney Anglicans are grieving the death of a very dear brother in Christ.
Rt Rev Edwin Ngubane, the Area Bishop for Johannesburg and Pretoria with REACH (Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa, formerly known as CESA) and Rector of Christ Church Hillbrow in the heart of Johannesburg’s red light district, died on Sunday 29th June. Edwin was 44. He succumbed to a series of strokes following many months of battling TB and pneumonia.”
– Very sad news via David Mansfield. It would be good to pray for Edwin’s wife, Genevieve, and family, and for the church at Hillbrow.
Tribute from Gorge Whitefield College Principal Mark Dickson.
Related: Rescued From Hell in Hillbrow. (Photo: REACH South Africa.)
Andrew Symes on the ACNA Assembly
“The Anglican Church in North America exists as a kairos response to a crisis in a mainline denomination.
The leadership of the official Anglican denomination in the USA and Canada became more and more liberal. Bishops regularly pronounced that Jesus is one of many possible Saviours , that the Bible contains some of the word of God, that Christian mission is to help fulfil the Millenium Development Goals of the United Nations. It became commonplace to have multifaith services where occult pagan practices would be celebrated in Cathedrals as part of Holy Communion Services, as ‘the Spirit’ can apparently be discerned in all faiths and none…”
– Anglican Mainstream’s Andrew Symes reflects on the just-concluded Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America.
Anglican Church in North America elects new Archbishop
“The College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America elected today the Rt. Rev. Dr. Foley Beach of the Diocese of the South. Bishop Foley Beach will succeed the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, the first archbishop for the Anglican Church in North America…”
– from The Anglican Church in North America.
And a response from Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Glenn Davies:
“Bishop Foley will be a strong conservative voice within this newly formed province, among the GAFCON Primates and throughout the Anglican Communion. He is a man who has stood firm for the gospel in difficult circumstances, and has not been afraid to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.”
Credo: Shadow and Substance in Contemporary Anglicanism
The Rev. Charles Raven gave three lectures last month at George Whitefield College in Capetown. His topic: “Credo: Shadow and Substance in Contemporary Anglicanism.”
Charles is well qualified to speak about the key issues facing the Anglican Communion.
“My personal story has been closely bound up with these momentous events. What you will hear from me is not just the product of academic study.
The church of which I was incumbent in England was the first after the Lambeth 1998 Conference to act on the biblical principle that fellowship cannot be continued with leaders who persistently and publicly contradict core truths of Christian doctrine and morality.
In February 1999, my diocesan bishop likened the Lambeth Conference to a Nazi Nuremburg rally and claimed that those bishops who had affirmed the historic biblical understanding of sexuality were a manifestation of the demonic powers and principalities of Ephesians 6:12.
After a period of prayer and reflection, my Church Council declared that it could not receive the ministry of the bishop. The result was that after some two years, I lost the parish church, the vicarage and my stipend. I did not however lose the congregation.”
You can read the text of his lectures at the GAFCON website. Summaries (from the GAFCON website) here –
Since the Lambeth Conference of 1998, there have been two basic reactions to radical revisionism in the West. The theological response, focused by GAFCON, is recovering the confessing Anglicanism of our Reformation title deeds, whereas the Lambeth based ‘Instruments of Unity’ have succumbed to the pragmatic attraction of an illusory middle ground where biblical truth is relativized to culture.
Whereas in Thomas Cranmer we find hermeneutic confidence and ecclesiological pessimism, in Rowan Williams we find the reverse – hermeneutic pessimism and ecclesiological optimism. While the former, as developed by his successors such as Jewel and Hooker, offers a stable paradigm of what it is to be both Catholic and Reformed, the latter is neither Catholic nor Reformed and is irretrievably unstable.
The great sign of hope among the chaos is that there is a consciousness within the Communion that it must define itself by the history of God as revealed in Holy Scripture rather than the history of England. Paradoxically, it seems that what I believe to be my country’s greatest contribution to the world, the English Reformation, will only come to its full fruition in the Anglican Communion when England is no longer at its centre.
Charles is also the author of Shadow Gospel: Rowan Williams and the Anglican Communion Crisis.
Latimer Fellowship engages with ‘Ma Whea?’
NZ General Synod members will gather in the Bay of Islands for the General Synod of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, May 10–15.
The recently-published report of the ‘Ma Whea?’ [Where to?] Commission on Same-Gender Relationships, Ordination and Blessing will be a topic for discussion.
The Latimer Fellowship has published some brief reflections to help Synod members think through the issues raised in the report.
“To aid General Synod representatives, and to encourage evangelical thinking and engagement with the Report and the issues contained within it, various members of the Fellowship have written short reflections on it. Our prayer is that these pieces might strengthen confidence in God’s word revealed in Scripture, and be widely disseminated.”
Communiqué from the GAFCON Primates Council, April 27 2014
The GAFCON Primates Council has been meeting in London, and at the conclusion of the gathering released a Communiqué, which addresses current issues in the Anglican Communion.
On The Church of England:
“We are particularly concerned about the state of lay and clerical discipline. The House of Bishops’ guidance that those in same sex marriages should be admitted to the full sacramental life of the church is an abandonment of pastoral discipline. While we welcome their clear statement that clergy must not enter same sex marriage, it is very concerning that this discipline is, apparently, being openly disregarded.”
Read the full Communiqué here.
GAFCON Easter Message 2014
“What a wonderful truth we celebrate at Easter! The bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead assures us that our sins are atoned for and death is defeated. This is the reason we can be confident that despite failure, frustration and the things that perplex us, God’s saving purposes will certainly be fulfilled…”
– Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council, with the GAFCON Easter Message 2014.
Anglican Network in Canada Easter Message
“Imagine someone announcing that:
- The problem of death has been dealt with completely.
- The power of sin has also been broken so that complete forgiveness is available to all and so that guilt is gone and the power to live a new and worthy life is now possible.
- Satan and all his demonic realm – who have long ruled this dark world wreaking evil havoc, cruelty, violence, all sorts of injustice and abuse, filling the world with lies – has received a death blow that guarantees his and their condemnation.
This, of course, is exactly the message we bring and would remind you of …”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…