New Bishop of Woolwich is ‘pastoral and joyful’ former Oak Hill student
“The college community is delighted to hear that Revd Prebendary Dr Woyin Karowei Dorgu is to be the new Bishop of Woolwich. Karwoei trained at Oak Hill from 1993-95…”
– News from Oak Hill College in London.
Australian Christian Lobby headquarters in Canberra rammed by burning van
“The headquarters of the Australian Christian Lobby… has been rammed by a burning van …
The ABC understands the van was carrying gas bottles and that the driver of the vehicle was taken to Canberra Hospital for treatment.”
– Report from ABC News,
Update: ‘Police rule out targeted attack‘ – SBS. Image via Lyle Shelton.
Christian in a Muslim Culture: The Intriguing Insights of an Egyptian Bishop
“Bishop Mouneer Anis, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Egypt, and Presiding Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, delivered the ninth annual ‘Moule Memorial Lecture’ on 8 June 2016 in Cambridge. …
The topic of Mouneer’s lecture was “My Experience of Christian and Muslim Relations in Egypt”. As the title suggests, the bishop drew on personal experiences to speak about living as a Christian minority in a Muslim culture.”
– At The Australian Church Record, Steve Tong shares some insights from the lecture.
A statement from the GAFCON UK Task Group — 8 Dec 2016
“We are grateful to God for the gracious, unsolicited affirmation of the recent activities of GAFCON UK given by Archbishop Okoh, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria and Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council.
Archbishop Okoh’s Pastoral Letter of 6th December 2016 makes clear that, despite attempts from some in the Church of England leadership both to obfuscate the real situation on the ground in the Church, and to undermine the significance of Lambeth Conference Resolution I.10, the GAFCON Primates are in no doubt either as to the breakdown of discipline in the Church of England or as to the standards for human sexuality that the majority of the Communion expect the Church of England to uphold…”
GAFCON Chairman’s Letter for Advent 2016
“I thank God that Archbishop Greg Venables will be re-joining the GAFCON Primates Council now that he has been elected to serve again as the Primate of the Anglican Province of South America in succession to our greatly esteemed colleague Presiding Bishop Tito Zavala. His ministry demonstrates that courage which is so central to the GAFCON story. In his previous term as Primate, despite much opposition, Archbishop Venables bravely supported orthodox Anglicans in North America and stood with the Diocese of Recife in Brazil after it had to withdraw from the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil.
We are now seeing similar courage in England as GAFCON UK, led by Canon Andy Lines, endures hostility simply for speaking the truth about the increasing breakdown of church discipline in the Church of England. There are now clergy and bishops who openly take pride in their rejection of biblical preaching and have even launched a website to encourage the violation of the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution I.10 on human sexuality.
But more disturbing is the response of the Church of England at its highest level. …”
– Read Archbishop Nicholas Okoh’s full pastoral letter here.
Three controversial Victorian bills defeated
From Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia:
“A brief update on the status of some proposed Victorian legislation I have previously mentioned as being a bad idea. It is good to see that all three bills have been defeated in the Victorian Parliament.
Two of them would have interfered with the running of religious schools, as well as other religious organisations. The third would have created a range of problems in its interaction with Federal marriage law.”
Related: Freedom of association: sanity succeeds on Spring Street – Spectator.
Uniting Church rejects Daily Telegraph criticism
“Today’s Daily Telegraph has run a series of inaccurate and vexatious news items about the Uniting Church and our Uniting community services agency in NSW and the ACT. The accusation on the front page of the newspaper that the Church is removing Christ and religious symbols is totally incorrect. …”
– Statement from Stuart McMillan President of the Uniting Church in Australia.
Related: Why parts of the Uniting Church are abandoning its logo. – news.com.au
“According to the Daily Telegraph, the church’s services and advocacy arm, Uniting, had decided to do away with “overt” faith-based language and images of the cross in its logo.…”
Peter Jensen — Against the charge of Homophobia
“It’s a pretty heavy thing to be accused of homophobia. The word is not an intellectual judgement but a more damning moral one.
There have always been examples of unkind attitudes, bullying and discrimination towards people who appear to be, or who identify as, homosexual, just as there has always been racism, snobbery and other ugly traits. Sadly, Christians have sometimes been guilty of this, and in doing so we are failing to follow the way of Christ.
However, in recent years the accusation of ‘homophobia’ has been levelled not just at these unkind attitudes towards gay people, but also reasoned biblical convictions about problems associated with homosexual practice, and any expression of concern about the power and intolerance of pressure groups.…”
– GAFCON General Secretary, Peter Jensen, writes to encourage Christian people to speak the truth in love.
Related:
- Statement from the Global South Primates and GAFCON Primates Council Concerning Same-sex Unions.
- Sam Allberry talks about homosexuality, the Bible and GAFCON.
Open letter to the Secretary General of the Archbishops’ Council
David Holloway, Vicar of Jesmond Parish Church, Newcastle upon Tyne, has responded to last week’s letter from William Nye, Secretary General of the Church of England Archbishops’ Council:
“I write this open letter to you following your open letter to Revd Canon Andrew Lines, the chairman of the GAFCON UK Task Force. Your letter alleged that a GAFCON briefing paper is ‘significantly misleading’.
The briefing was regarding irregular homosexual activities in the Church of England. In support of its criticism of named Church of England bishops and clergy, the briefing referred to a resolution of a former Lambeth Conference. You wrote to ‘correct some of the erroneous assertions’ in the paper. However, the supposed correction included the following statement …”
– Read it all at GAFCON UK.
Letter from Secretary-General of the CofE Archbishops’ Council shows why GAFCON UK is needed
“The open letter to Canon Andy Lines of GAFCON UK from the Secretary-General of the Archbishops’ Council is very significant. It can be taken as the official position of the C of E leadership. Helpfully, the letter moves away from matters of tone and motive which tend to dominate discussion and gets to the real issue, namely, what is, or should be, the teaching of the worldwide Church on sexual ethics, and how do we apply this in the Church of England?
Underlying the letter is an institutional mentality which does not locate ecclesial authority with the unchanging Scriptural principles of apostolic Christianity, as affirmed by the global Church. Rather it puts confidence in legal process, with the effect that what is not ‘legally binding’ can be disregarded or relegated to the respected status of a historical curiosity. More than ever, GAFCON UK with its clear confessional grounding in the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration has a vital role to play in our current context. …”
– Read it all at the GAFCON UK website.
The perversion of Lambeth 1.10
“The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt. Rev. Rachel Treweek, will preside at an ‘LGBTI Eucharist’ on 15 Jan 2017, the diocesan chapter of Inclusive Church reports. …
Will this be a violation of Lambeth 1.10? A plain reading of the document coupled with the original intention of the authors would say ‘yes’.
The presence of the Bishop of Chichester at a Brighton Gay Pride march and the Bishop of Salisbury at a similar affair, was raised in GAFCON-UK’s paper, ‘The Church of England and Lambeth 1.10’, released last week. They were cited as examples of the problematic stance of the church hierarchy on issues surrounding human sexuality — and as a violation of Lambeth 1.10.
The Bishop of Salisbury denounced GAFCON-UK’s criticism as “outrageous” and a perversion of the spirit of Lambeth 1.10. In a letter to the Church Times the Rt. Rev. Nicholas Holtam said he too had offered prayers at a Gay Pride parade, explaining: ‘The blessing of Gay Pride in Salisbury was a joyful celebration of a people who are part of our community and among the rich diversity of all God’s children. This is in keeping with Lambeth I.10, which calls us ‘to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals’…”
– At Anglican Ink, George Conger provides some personal perspective on Lambeth 1.10. It’s clear that Lambeth 1.10 can’t mean whatever you want it to mean.
Photo: Bishop Rachel Treweek, Diocese of Gloucester.
The Lambeth I:10 Briefing: Process and Motive, Truth and Love
“We have received inquiries about the way the Lambeth I.10 briefing was developed, the reasons behind why it was created, and its accuracy. Below is some more information about each topic …”
– Earlier this month, GAFCON UK released a briefing paper for GAFCON Primates. Its release has been criticised in some quarters. Here’s the GAFCON UK response.
Theology does matter
“Although recent attendance figures from the Church of England seem to indicate relentless decline, new research from a team of Canadian secular social scientists could offer hope if we recognise a truth that is all-too-often avoided. As George Orwell once observed, to see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.
Respected new research published this week from Wilfrid Laurier University claims to have discovered that the ‘secret ingredient’ for church growth is clergy and congregations committed to the historic truths of the Christian faith as a revealed religion, while a liberal approach to belief is consistently a predictor of decline. …”
– Rod Thomas, Bishop of Maidstone (and former Chairman of Reform) responds to some recent research. Via GAFCON (Originally here – PDF file.)
GAFCON Jerusalem 2018 dates announced
GAFCON has announced that the Jerusalem 2018 Conference will be held 17th – 22nd June 2018.
Read the prayer bulletin here.
The Church of England and Lambeth 1:10
“This paper was recently presented as a briefing to the GAFCON Primates on the situation in the Church of England regarding attitudes, teaching and practice on sexual ethics, official and unofficial.
It argues that the Church of England has already ‘crossed the line’ by allowing a culture to develop where violations of Lambeth Resolution 1:10 are increasingly prevalent. It is published with permission…”
The topics covered are:
What is Lambeth 1.10?
The History of Lambeth 1.10 in the West
The Situation in England
- Clergy have officiated over same-sex unions and marriages and remained in office
- Clergy have entered into same-sex marriages and remained in office
- The Blessing of Gay Pride Parades
– from GAFCON UK.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…