World Environment Day – ‘Connect with nature’

“The message today for International Environment Day is ‘connect with nature’ and this is what Jesus constantly advised his followers to do. …

Take off your shoes to listen to the voice of God in nature, hear the cry of the earth…”

– Published by the Anglican Communion News Service. Mystical environmentalism has replaced the gospel and evangelism in far too many Anglican churches.

The Crisis of ’77

This month marks the 40th anniversary of ‘church union’ – the formation of the Uniting Church in Australia, by the amalgamation of the Methodist and Congregational Churches, as well as around two-thirds of the Presbyterians.

It also marks the 40th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church of Australia ‘continuing’ – with a number of ministers and parishes choosing not to join the UCA – many convinced that ‘Uniting’ would take them down a liberal path, and ultimately away from ‘the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3) .

In a 2004 speech in Melbourne, the Rev. Bob Thomas shared his personal reflections on the events of 1977.

(Bob Thomas was for many years the Editor of Australian Presbyterian Life, served as Moderator-General, and is currently Editor of New Life Christian newspaper. He is also the Minister of St. Kilda Presbyterian Church.)

Why did members walk out of the 1974 General Assembly of Australia, to a hall across the street, after it had voted to ‘go Uniting’? What was their experience? Who did they discover to be their friends? You may, or may not, be surprised.

At a time when believers in England, Scotland and elsewhere are thinking about what future they have in their increasingly liberal denominations, the Presbyterian experience is worth learning about.

Download The Crisis of ’77 as a 2.3MB PDF file, courtesy of The Rev. Bob Thomas.

Crest courtesy of the Presbyterian Church of Australia.

Related:

Burning Or Bushed? – The Presbyterian Church of Australia 40 Years On, about union and its aftermath, edited by Paul Cooper and David Burke, will be launched at the NSW Presbyterian General Assembly in July. (Click the link above to pre-order a copy.)

GAFCON Missionary Bishop for Scotland

Via Anglican Mainstream:

“On 8 June 2017, the Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) is scheduled to vote to finalise a change to their canons that would attempt to redefine marriage.  If this action is taken by the SEC it will further marginalise faithful Anglicans in Scotland who seek to uphold Jesus’ teaching on marriage.

This change comes in the context of a global reformation that is happening in the Anglican Communion.  While Anglican provinces such as The Episcopal Church (USA), Anglican Church of Canada, and Scottish Episcopal Church are rejecting the authority of the Bible, faithful Anglicans are uniting through Gafcon to proclaim and defend the unchanging truth in a changing world.

Recognising the pastoral need that arose following the initial SEC vote (in June 2016), in April of this year the Gafcon Primates authorised the consecration of a Missionary Bishop to care for those who seek to remain faithful to the scriptures and Jesus’ teaching on marriage.

On 8 June 2017 Gafcon will hold a press conference in Edinburgh, Scotland at 5pm. 

At this press conference the Missionary Bishop will be announced and introduced. He will be joined by a Gafcon Primate and representatives of those whose fellowship with the SEC will be broken by the Synod decision.”

Related: Remnant in Scotland find hope through Gafcon.

Forty-forty vision

“Thursday 22nd June marks forty years of a refocussed and refreshed church.

The Presbyterian Church of Australia (PCA) is almost unrecognisable from what it was in the 1960s. I suggest each congregation might pause during the week of 22 June … to pray for the PCA and thank the Lord for all the fruit of our renewal. We belong to a blessed church.

Four decades represents a significant milestone. We learn from the Scriptures that God required Moses to spend forty years in the wilderness country of Midian before engaging in his life’s mission. Moses needed to learn to be a faithful provider for his own family and to care for his father-in-law’s sheep prior to the trust of looking after God’s flock. It was a probationary period for Moses. Are we emerging from forty years probation?

If so, what has the Lord released us to do?…”

– John P Wilson, Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, gives thanks  – and asks some probing questions – as the Presbyterian Church of Australia marks forty years of ‘continuing’.

(The Uniting Church was formed on 22nd June 1977 by the amalgamation of the Methodist, Congregational and most Presbyterian churches in Australia. The continuing Presbyterian Church of Australia has largely returned to its Evangelical and Reformed roots.)

How God sustained two faithful churches through tough times

From GAFCON:

“This article looks back 10 years and examines two churches in the USA which faced ruin because they took a courageous stand for biblical truth. We consider the severe trials they faced, how they responded, how God acted and where they stand today.

The first story concerns the Anglican Church of The Good Shepherd, Binghamton, New York.…”

– Two stories of encouragement from the USA.

From our archives: Earlier posts mentioning The Church of the Good Shepherd in Binghamton. (Not all of the older links are still active.)

What can Rome learn from the Anglican Church?

Would it be “processes of synodal life”?

From a Vatican Radio report:

“‘Walking together on the way’ is the title of a new document to be published by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, whose members met this month in Erfurt, Germany.

Despite some ‘difficult conversations’ and ‘hard questions’ over the past year, the Anglican and Catholic theologians who make up ARCIC III managed, at the May 14th to 20th meeting, to conclude the first part of their mandate, finding agreement on ways in which the two Churches are structured at local, regional and universal levels. …”

The Secularisation of the Church of Scotland

“Much to no-one’s surprise, the Church of Scotland General Assembly has just voted to accept the Theological Forum’s report which changes the Churches definition of marriage to include same sex marriages and to apologise to gay people for their previous understanding.

I know there are various caveats and nuances but that is the reality of what has just happened – and although some will say ‘its not over’ – in the eyes of the Kirk, it’s a done deal.

One of the devil’s greatest tricks is that he loves to sow confusion and doubt, and thereby cause division. Yesterday was a great example of that. …”

– At The Wee Flea, David Robertson in Dundee looks what the Church of Scotland General Assembly’s decisions really mean.

Church of Scotland Assembly agrees on apology to gay people

“The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has approved an apology to gay people for the history of discrimination they have faced in the Church.

Commissioners also approved a report which could pave the way to allow some ministers to conduct same sex marriages in the future. …

Professor Torrance told commissioners that the Church’s journey on the issue had parallels with the one it has taken on the ordination of women in the 1960s.”

– Report from The Church of Scotland. Photo credit: Church of Scotland.

Margaret Court Arena name change called for after star’s Qantas boycott over gay marriage support

“Martina Navratilova has joined calls for Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne to be renamed after the tennis champion said she would no longer fly with Qantas because of the airline’s stance on same-sex marriage.

Margaret Court, who is now a pastor at Victory Life Church in Perth, wrote an open letter to Qantas in yesterday’s West Australian saying she was disappointed that Qantas chief Alan Joyce had become an active campaigner for same-sex marriage. …”

– Contrary views no longer permitted. Story from ABC News.

Jerusalem 2018

GAFCON has announced that the next GAFCON Conference will held in Jerusalem from Sunday 17 to Friday 22nd June 2018.

Anglican Voices episode 1

Kevin Kallsen at Anglican TV has begun a new project – Anglican Voices.

His first interview is with Church Society’s Director, Dr. Lee Gatiss.

Pushback: Appeal to Bishops of British Columbia and Yukon

“Dear Archbishop Privett, Bishops Andrews, McMenamie, Robertson and Skelton, Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

As the chief Ministers of Reconciliation and Apostles of Grace, I implore you to reverse your decision of objection to the episcopal election of the Rev. Jacob Worley in the Diocese of Caledonia.

The Diocese Of Caledonia prayerfully gathered at their electoral Synod. They elected the Rev. Jacob Worley to be their bishop. Your opposition is ungracious and calls our church’s credibility into question. …”

– “Diocese of the Arctic responds to the barring of bishop-elect Rev Jacob Worley.” from Anglican Samizdat.

Though unsourced, letters from the Bishop of The Arctic, David W Parsons, to the Bishops of British Columbia and Yukon, appear to reveal some of the confusion and unhappiness caused by that Province’s decision to overturn the election of a new Bishop of Caledonia.

Earlier post.

Update: Retired Bishop of Caledonia responds to the barring of bishop-elect Rev Jacob Worley. – also via Anglican Samizdat.

“This is a terrible development and should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that the much lauded promise of a conscience clause in the proposed new marriage canon is completely worthless.”

Photo of Bishop Parsons from the Diocese of The Arctic.

Letter to the Archbishop of York: Please consecrate a second Reformed Anglican Bishop

“Your Grace, It would be quite understandable for you to be less than enthusiastic about receiving a missive from a ‘conservative evangelical’ in the light of the recent consecration of the episcopally licensed Curate of Jesmond Parish Church as a missionary bishop by the Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church in South Africa. But I am writing if I may to set forth the case for a second conservative evangelical bishop, in addition to the southern-based Bishop of Maidstone, to serve as senior pastor to churches and ministers in the north of England who desire his episcopal care. …”

– Julian Mann, Vicar of The Parish Church of the Ascension, Oughtibridge, in South Yorkshire, writes an open letter to the Archbishop of York.

He also responds to comments made in the last week by Church Society’s Lee Gatiss and by Gavin Ashenden.

(Photo: Julian Mann with Bishop Dr. Ben Kwashi.)

Encouragement from Edinburgh to support GAFCON

The Rev. David McCarthy, Rector of St. Thomas’ Church, Edinburgh, urges support of GAFCON in the midst of uncertain times – and asks for your prayers.

Objections to the election of the Rev. Jacob Worley as Bishop of Caledonia

“Rev. Jacob Worley has been elected bishop of the Diocese of Caledonia. He was to replace Bishop William Anderson, one of the few remaining conservative bishops in the Anglican Church of Canada and is probably a good fit for the position.

Provided the wolves don’t eat him first. …”

– Canadian blogger Anglican Samizdat comments on the overturning, by the Provincial House of Bishops of BC & Yukon, of the election of a new Bishop of Caledonia. (Photo via Anglican Journal.)

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