Anglican Aid launches Cyclone Debbie appeal

“Anglican Aid is launching an appeal for those who have lost their livelihoods in Cyclone Debbie. We are asking Christians in Sydney to stand in fellowship with our brothers and sisters in northern Queensland who have been affected by the cyclone.”

– Details from Anglican Aid. (Image: NASA DSCOVR / EPIC Team.)

Calls for Macquarie University to distance themselves from Christian Academic

“In the latest case in a growing line of stories, Dr Steve Chavura, a Senior Research Associate at Macquarie University, has been the subject of calls for his dismissal from the university. …

It should be noted that Dr Chavura is not the first LMI board member to receive attention in recent days, indeed these stories a fast becoming common place around the country. For example: …”

– Murray Campbell looks at the latest ‘take no captives’ approach in the culture wars.

(Interestingly, Dr. Chavura’s “research interests include … philosophical issues relating to freedom of speech”.)

Christian leaders slam ‘appalling and unAustralian’ gay activists

“The nation’s most senior Christian leaders have described as ‘appalling’ and ‘unAustralian’ attacks from gay activists that have driven two Christian charities to request board secrecy.

And the Sydney Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies has slammed the multinational corporates who surrender to those ­attacks as ‘weak-kneed’.”

– Story from The Australian. (paywalled). File photo of Abp Davies: Moore College.

Related: Another Christian persecuted by Gay Left – Herald Sun.

Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!

“Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!”

These, of course, were the last reported words of William Tyndale who was strangled and then burnt in 1536.

His crime? Translating the Bible into English.

His prayer? That King Henry VIII would allow the distribution of the English Bible.

– GAFCON General Secretary Archbishop Peter Jensen reflects on the life and work of William Tyndale, whose belief in the clarity of scripture led him to translate the Bible into English.

Diocese of Niagara parish offers Islamic prayer

“In the wake of the Quebec mosque shooting, St. Simon’s in Oakville decided to support Muslims by praying to Allah during its monthly labyrinth walk.…”

– News from David Jenkins at Anglican Samizdat.

Abortion, Obscenity and Free Speech

“Sometimes a powerful visual image is what is needed to shock us into action. But can an image be so powerful and horrifying that it becomes “obscene” and hence unlawful to use in public?

That, it seems, is now the view being taken in Victoria of a particular type of image: pictures of unborn babies who have been killed. While the decision of a Victorian court, it may be followed elsewhere in Australia. …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster (Associate Professor in Law at Newcastle) discusses the decision in Victoria, and implications for free speech.

Image: Australian Christian Lobby.

Anglican renewal in Brazil

“Most Christians in the UK probably have only the haziest idea of what Anglicanism looks like in South America.

The Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910 inhibited Protestant and Anglican missionary work in the continent at a time when the English language was (and still is) marginal. This is unlike most other areas of the Anglican Communion where the British influence was much stronger.

And yet, out of the continuing crisis in the world wide Anglican Communion, and in spite of official persecution in the area, a reinvigorated and missionary church is emerging in South America.

In fact, the pattern of North America is being repeated – just as a new GAFCON recognised Province, the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), arose out of the aggressive and assertive revisionism of the American Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada, so in South America a new orthodox Province is coming into being as the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (IEAB) and various TEC satellite provinces in central and northern South America follow the lead of their North American counterparts.

This new emerging Province is based on the Anglican Diocese of Recife …”

– Charles Raven with more encouraging news about GAFCON.

Photo, left to right:

Canon Charles Raven, GAFCON Membership Development Secretary;
Canon Dan Alger, ACNA;
Bishop Flavio Adair Torres Soares, Anglican Diocese of Recife;
Canon Alan Hawkins, ACNA
— meeting in Sheffield in January 2017.

The GAFCON vision in action

“The Anglican Communion worldwide is a most amazing gift of God, but it is being squandered by false teachers determined to substitute their own ideas for God’s revealed will in Scripture. They do this without rebuke from the Communion’s traditional leadership.

Gafcon is the future. Through Gafcon the true gospel is being proclaimed and the Bible guarded. We hope this snapshot will demonstrate that the faithful of the Anglican Communion have risen and have begun to reclaim the Communion for a confident and clear witness to Jesus Christ. …”

– GAFCON has produced this overview of what they do, with the hope of gaining your support.

How showing a picture of a dead foetus has become a crime

“Showing a picture of a dead foetus in public is now a crime following a ruling in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Tuesday which will strengthen the hand of the abortion industry lobby across Australia, warns the Australian Christian Lobby.’…”

– from The Australian Christian Lobby.

On Leaving the Church of England — Gavin Ashenden

The Rev. Gavin Ashenden gives his reasons for leaving the Church of England in this video released overnight.

While our readers might hold to a somewhat different theological perspective (Gavin speaks from an Anglo-Catholic position), he raises concerns which many would share. The video runs for 27 minutes.

Related:

Princeton Seminary cancels award to Tim Keller after LGBT complaint – Christian Post.

Princeton Seminary reforms its views on honoring Tim Keller – Christianity Today.

Christianity in Iraq is finished, says Canon Andrew White, ‘Vicar of Baghdad’

“He is one of the world’s most prominent priests, but Canon Andrew White – known as the ‘Vicar of Baghdad’ – has reached a painstaking conclusion: Christianity is all but over in the land where it all began.

‘The time has come where it is over, no Christians will be left. Some stay Christians should stay to maintain the historical presence, but it has become very difficult. The future for the community is very limited,’ White told Fox News this week.”

– From Fox News. (via Anglican Mainstream.)

Church Society pays tribute to former Director

“Members of Church Society will be saddened to hear of the recent death of the Revd David Streater who was Director of the Society 1991 – 1998.”

– Michael Walters pays tribute at the Church Society blog.

(On this anniversary of the death of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, it might be appropriate to read this article by David Streater on another Anglican Reformer who died for the gospel, Bishop Hugh Latimer. – PDF.)

Beer, Bibles and free speech in Australia

“The Bible Society of Australia has recently celebrated its 200th birthday – a significant milestone in a country whose European settlement only took place about 230 years ago. It decided to celebrate the event by way of connecting with popular Australian culture – and in a fairly secular country, a key aspect of that culture is beer!

So in a creative move, the Society formed a partnership with Coopers, a long-established but slightly “niche” brewery, to arrange the release of cans of “Coopers Light”, a low-alcohol beer, with Bible verses on the cans. (The link was all the more appropriate because the motto of the Society was “Live Light”. Coopers also claims to be “Australia’s longest living family brewery”, having been established in 1862.)

So far, so good …”

– At MercatorNet, Neil Foster recounts the disturbing tale of the “Keeping it Light” video.

Former Queen’s Chaplain ‘resigning’ from Church of England

“A former Queen’s chaplain has quit as a Church of England priest after a long-running objection to what he saw as the liberalising trend of the CofE.

Canon Gavin Ashenden made the unusual move of resigning his orders on Friday, Christian Today can reveal, leaving more than 35 years of ordained ministry. … 

An ardent conservative on both sexuality and women priests, Rev Ashenden confirmed to Christian Today he had signed the ‘deed of relinquishment’ under the Clerical Disabilities Act 1870. This starts a six-month interim period before he officially leaves the Church.

He declined to comment on the move until his six-month waiting time is up.”

– Report from Christian Today. Photo from ashenden.org.

Coopers outrage ‘over the top’, Liberal MPs say

“The two Liberal MPs involved in a video which sparked outrage over Coopers Brewery’s links with The Bible Society have hit back, calling the public response ‘over the top’ and the brewer’s backdown ‘spineless’. …”

– ABC News report. Image: ABC.

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