October — November Prayer Notes from DNWA

Bishop of Northwest Australia, Gary Nelson, writes:

“Dear Praying Friends,

It is such a delight and encouragement to hear about the many who are praying for gospel work in the north-west. It’s certainly a matter for rejoicing in the Lord. I know it is very easy to get anxious about the ordinary things of life, let alone the responsibility of Christian service. So Paul’s words to his friends in Philippi are such a terrific reminder that when we’re anxious we need to be turning to our loving Father in prayer. …”

– Download the latest Prayer Notes & Bishop’s Letter here (PDF).

Speaking of Prayer, there’s a request to pray for “God to raise up someone to minister in the parish of Paraburdoo-Tom Price”.

Northwest Network, September 2012

Fuel for your prayers – Northwest Network (PDF) – from the Diocese of North West Australia.

ABC Q&A 10 Sept 2012 now online

If you missed (or would like to see again) last night’s Q&A programme on ABC TV, it’s now available to watch or download on their website. Don’t miss the last word. (Image: ABC TV.)

Prayers for Defence Chaplains and those in their care

This would be a good time to especially uphold in prayer the Defence Chaplains and those to whom they minister.

Tasmanian Anglicans urge rejection of Same-Sex Marriage bill

MEDIA RELEASE:
ANGLICANS URGE PARLIAMENT TO REJECT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILL

The Anglican Church in Tasmania has today urged Members of Parliament to reject the Premier’s same-sex marriage Bill, which was tabled in Parliament yesterday.

Assistant Bishop Ross Nicholson, said, “We are very disappointed that The Premier, Lara Giddings, has gone ahead with this legislation. It is a clear break of Labor’s promise made to Tasmanians before the 2010 election not to do this.”  Read more

Moore College Sunday — 19th August

Just a reminder to pray for Moore College (and not just this Sunday).

Resources here.

David Cook next Moderator-General of Presbyterian Church of Australia

via Gary Ware. (David is well known and loved by many Sydney Anglicans, having studied at Moore College, and spoken at many conferences and conventions. He is the former Principal of SMBC. David has been preaching at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London in recent months.)

New CMS Victoria State Director

“The Revd Dr Jonathan Wei-Han Kuan has been appointed the new State Director of the Church Missionary Society in Victoria, the Chair of the Victorian Branch Council of CMS, Pam Thyer, has announced.

Dr Kuan will take up his appointment on Monday 24 September…”

– CMS Victoria media release, via Anglican Media Melbourne.

Tasmanian Parliament urged to reject same-sex marriage legislation

“The Anglican Church in Tasmania has today urged Members of Parliament to reject the Premier’s proposed legislation to allow same-sex marriage in Tasmania.

The Church continues to hold the position that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman, voluntarily entered into for life. …” – Media release from the Diocese of Tasmania.

Bishop of Riverina to retire

“The Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Riverina, Doug Stevens, has announced his intention to retire from his present role on Sunday, November 11. …

‘Having recently turned 60, I feel that it is time to respond to what I perceive as God’s leading to return to parish ministry…”

– from page 3 of Anglican News – The Newspaper of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, August 2012. PDF file.

New Principal for SMBC

The Board of the Sydney Missionary and Bible College has announced that new Principal of the College will be the Rev Stuart Coulton.

Stuart studied at Moore College in the 1980s. He has served as Pastor of the Presbyterian churches in Burwood (1987-1991) and Blacktown (1991-2002) before teaching full time at SMBC from 2002. He has been Vice-Principal since 2004. Announcement here (PDF file).

Remembering a Pioneer

“On 13 July each year we remember Bishop Sydney Kirkby, a pioneer missionary for Rural Australia and the Bush Church Aid Society.”

– The Diocese of Perth website gives thanks.

Read more about Bishop Kirkby (1879–1935) at The Australian Dictionary of Biography.

 

Baptist statement reaffirms marriage

“[O]n Friday the President of the Baptist Association of NSW & ACT released the following statement to all our churches, affirming our understanding of the nature of marriage…”

– Baptist minister Rod Benson (who is also Public Affairs Director for the NSW Council of Churches) points out that NSW Baptists have not changed their position. He also comments on statements made to the media by a Sydney Baptist.

Related: Baptists overwhelmingly oppose gay marriage.

Archbishop Peter Jensen in the Sydney Morning Herald on same-sex marriage

The Sydney Morning Herald has published this opinion-piece by Archbishop Peter Jensen –

“We are in the midst of a sustained and brilliantly orchestrated campaign to radically alter the marriage laws of this country to allow same-sex marriage.

Three slogans carry the message: ‘marriage equality’, ‘marriage won’t change’, ‘it’s inevitable’. Of course, the difficulty with slogans is that they are not arguments and, so, are hard to refute, except by slogans in return…”

– Read it all here, ‘Stylish same-sex campaign glosses over real issues’. Worth reading and passing on.

‘Sexegesis’ book launch in Hobart

Bishop of Tasmania, John Harrower, reports –

“Today we launched Sexegesis – An Evangelical Response to Five Uneasy Pieces on Homosexuality at St David’s Cathedral, Hobart. I would like to express my thanks to the Revd Joel Kettleton and the Dean Richard Humphrey, for their work in putting together this event.

Here is the introduction which I gave at the book launch:

2012 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Anglican Church of Australia. At the recent Synod of our Diocese we gave thanks that our founding documents affirm that we are part of the apostolic and worldwide church, that we are biblically based and that we are Christ centered.

As Anglicans then as we deal with issues such as homosexuality we do so in this context.

We are part of a worldwide Anglican communion and need to listen to that body which has clearly stated in the Lambeth Resolutions (1.10 – Human Sexuality) that homosexual practice is incompatible with the Scriptures.

As that resolution makes clear and the constitution of our Church says we take the Scriptures “as being the ultimate and standard of faith given by inspiration of God.” The Church is not at liberty to “ordain anything contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another.” (Article XX of the Anglican Church’s 39 Articles of Religion).  We need to keep coming back to Scripture, to wrestle with it, understand and apply it, even when it corrects and challenges us and our culture. Read more

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