Anglican Aid seeks help for three urgent causes
The Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid is seeking donations for three key causes:
1. Emergency Appeal for Anglicans in Peshawar
2. Helping Tanzanian Bishops and Leaders go to GAFCON2
3. Emergency Appeal for Syrian Refugees being cared for in Egypt
See the Anglican Aid website and donation page for more.
Reform Ireland statement on the appointment of the new Bishop of Meath
“The Church of Ireland, in common with the Anglican Communion worldwide, has always prized doing things ‘decently and in order’ (1Corinthians 14:40).
With the appointment of the first woman bishop in Britain and Ireland, it has furthered the disorder in God’s church that it originally initiated with the decision to appoint women as presbyters and bishops by an act of Synod in 1990. …”
– full statement here.
More details emerge from Peshawar attack
“More details on the deadly attack on a Pakistani church over the weekend – the worst attack on Christians in the country’s history – are surfacing today as Christians around the world mourn the tragedy.”
– News and prayer requests via Eternity Newspaper.
Barnabas Fund pledges to do what it can to help.
Suicide bombers kill dozens at Anglican church in Peshawar
“A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a 130-year-old Anglican church in Pakistan after the Sunday service, killing at least 78 people in the deadliest attack in recent history on Christians in the predominantly Muslim country. …”
Canada: Anglican Church faces falling membership, deeper divisions
“More than 15,000 packed Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. Crowds thronged the lobby of the Royal York Hotel. Two hundred reporters scrambled for news and The Globe and Mail splashed the story on its front page.
Not for the Beatles or Muhammad Ali, but a congress of the Anglican Church. It was late summer, 1963, and the Anglican Church, bastion of the old order, was at its demographic peak in Canada. …”
– The Globe and Mail in Toronto reports on the Back to the Anglican Future conference held last week.
Anglicans appoint first female bishop in UK and Ireland
“Anglicans have appointed the UK and Ireland’s first female bishop. The Rev Pat Storey, rector of St Augustine’s in Derry, has been elected by the Church of Ireland as the new bishop of Meath and Kildare. …”
– from The Guardian. Photo: Church of Ireland.
An Overview of the Anglican Communion Today – From Communion to Coalition
A presentation by Vinay Samuel, last Monday 16th September, at St. Mark’s Battersea Rise in London, to a pre-GAFCON 2 meeting –
“The Anglican Communion as it exists today is not a single communion – it is more a collection of coalitions.
The centre (Lambeth) has no meaning in defining the Communion. Archbishop Justin Welby has inherited a broken communion he cannot heal. The role of Lambeth has enormously diminished. The instruments of communion as the governing centre are irrelevant for dealing with communion matters. People will not accept a communion that promotes things that are heretical. Instead of Lambeth legitimation we need mutual legitimation. This leads to coalitions. …”
– Read it all at Anglican Mainstream. More on the meeting from Andrew Symes.
GAFCON prayer bulletins available
“A series of prayer bulletins is being issued in the weeks leading up to the October conference. This allows provinces, churches, organisations and individuals to read about the preparations and to uphold GAFCON in prayer.”
– Downloadable from the GAFCON website.
Kidnappers release Archbishop Kattey
“After spending about nine days in the kidnappers den, the Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of the Niger Delta, (Anglican Communion), Most Reverend Ignatius Kattey, was finally released by his captors on Saturday. Sources said Archbishop Kattey walked home alone after he regained his freedom from the unknown gunmen who abducted him last week Friday. …”
– Report from The Osun Defender, Nigeria.
Back to basics for Anglican Church
“A Hamilton vicar wants to take the Anglican Church back to basics and get leaders preaching from the same song sheet.
Vicar of West Hamilton Anglican Parish, the Rev Michael Hewat, is ‘concerned’ at the fact some church leaders say they do not believe in the resurrection and the virgin birth. …
‘The fact is that if the church is not preaching the Gospel then people are not going to come along,’ Mr Hewat said. He hopes to take the church back to basics today with a day-long seminar Restoring Confidence in the Gospel.”
– Report from the Waikato Times.
St. Aidan’s Windsor, Ontario loses appeal; request prayer
Canon Tom Carman, rector of St Aidan’s in Windsor, Ontario (an Anglican Network in Canada parish), reports:
“In its decision, the Court of Appeal, upheld the conclusions of the trial court judge, Justice Little, on both the matter of St Aidan’s property and the St Aidan’s bequeathment and finance fund. In addition, the Diocese of Huron was awarded partial costs in the amount of $100,000. …”
– More at Anglican Essentials Canada blog.
Bad news and Good news in the Church of England
“First, the bad news. There are more examples of heresy in the hierarchy…”
– Andrew Symes of Anglican Mainstream writes for the American Anglican Council’s International Update.
Canberra & Goulburn Synod 2013
The Synod of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn was held this weekend.
Nigerian Archbishop of Niger Delta Province kidnapped — report
“Most Rev Ignatius Ogboru Kattey, the Dean, ArchBishop and Bishop of Niger Delta North Anglican Communion of Nigeria, was last night kidnapped by yet to be identified gunmen in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State. …”
Auckland Synod says no to ‘gay marriage’
“Auckland Anglicans have said no to gay marriage – despite church heads being in favour of it. A motion to press the issue has failed at this weekend’s conference, despite both Auckland bishops and a majority of clergy being in favour.”
– Report from FarmingShow (yes, that’s right). Image: Diocese of Auckland.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…