NSW Liberal and Labor leaders speak at pre-election event
Over at Bible Society Australia, John Sandeman summarises answers to questions put to NSW Premier Mike Baird and Opposition Leader Luke Foley at an event organised by the Australian Christian Lobby.
Phillip Jensen on Anglican Evangelicalism
In the latest Preaching Matters video from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, Phillip Jensen speaks about what it is to be an Evangelical Anglican.
In doing so, he explores the difference between ‘followers of Calvin’ and ‘followers of Calvinism’. (Mike Ovey responds here.)
GAFCON Lent Pastoral Letter
“A Church that is no longer able to say ‘it is written’ has placed itself in great spiritual danger, but that is where the Anglican Communion could be led according to a review just released of ‘Living Reconciliation’, a book written to promote the ‘Continuing Indaba’ project…”
– Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council, writes in his Lent Pastoral Letter.
Australia’s Christian Heritage
Weekend reading, new in our Resources section:
Associate Professor Stuart Piggin gave this address at a gathering on 3rd February 2015 to commemorate the First Christian Service in Australia.
Held in Richard Johnson Square, Sydney, the gathering was close to the site of the first service, conducted by the Rev. Richard Johnson, Chaplain to the Colony, on 3rd February 1788.
“We are at the site of:
• the First Christian service on Australian soil,
• the first sermon preached,
• the first church and
• the first schoolhouse
The preacher at that service, held under a ‘great tree’, beginning at 10 o’clock on 3 February 1788, a hot midsummer’s day, was the Rev Richard Johnson, Australia’s
• first minister,
• first educator,
• first carer for orphans,
• first carer for aboriginal children …”
Click here to open the PDF file of Dr. Piggin’s address in a new window.
Photos: Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos.
‘Whole church’ movement gathers momentum
“The Australian branch of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GFCA), a worldwide movement promoting reform of the Anglican Church around the biblical gospel, is set to be launched.
The GFCA was created at the landmark Global Anglican Future Conference, or GAFCON, in Jerusalem in 2008. Now the Australian body is being launched at the Anglican Future Conference in Melbourne on March 26…”
– Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net previews the Anglican Future Conference 2015 to be held in Melbourne 25 – 27 March. The ACL is one of the sponsors.
See also the ACL’s related day conference in Sydney on Saturday 21 March.
TV code of practice poses danger to children
“The President of the NSW Council of Churches has voiced concern that proposed changes to the free-to-air TV code of practice would be harmful to children and would most likely lead to a significant increase in alcohol and gambling advertising during prime time family viewing.
Council President, the Reverend Dr Ross Clifford, said the changes to the code of practice would mean that violence, sexual content, and advertisements for alcohol, gambling and M-rated movies and DVDs would be screened during popular programs that children watched. …
The closing date for public comment is Friday 3 April 2015. To read the revised code in full and make a submission, go to http://www.freetv.com.au/content_common/pg-code-of-practice.seo.”
– Read the full media release here.
Annual Litigation Survey for the Episcopal Church 2015
“It is a fact well known to certain Episcopalians — both those who have left the Episcopal Church (USA) and those who have remained — that ECUSA and its dioceses have followed a pattern of suing any church that chooses to leave for another Anglican jurisdiction. But the full extent of the litigation that has ensued is not well known at all, either in the wider Church, or among the provinces of the Anglican Communion. …
Your Curmudgeon proposes to do what he can to rectify this situation…”
– AS Haley (The Anglican Curmudgeon) provides an up-to-date list of litigation. It’s a long list.
Uganda urged to remember Janani Luwum
“More than 20,000 people gathered in Mucwini, Kitgum, today to honour and celebrate the life, ministry, and martyrdom of Archbishop Janani Luwum, the Church of Uganda’s 2nd Ugandan Archbishop.
After arresting him on false charges, former President Idi Amin Dada assassinated him on 16th February 1977…”
– from The Church of Uganda.
Many readers will remember Bishop Festo Kivengere visiting Sydney after the assassination – and his powerful evangelistic talks and book “I love Idi Amin”.
Related: Moore College’s audio files of Bishop Festo Kivengere.
Living Reconciliation ‘Deeply Problematic’
“Dr Martin Davie, a widely respected Church of England theologian, has exposed serious flaws in ‘Living Reconciliation’, a book published recently by the Anglican Communion Office to champion its ‘Continuing Indaba’ project…”
– from GAFCON. And the book in question.
Google reveals Australians want to know who Jesus is
At Communicate Jesus, Steve Kryger has spotted something very interesting in the Google searches made by Australians in 2014.
How can your church use this information?
‘South Carolina Decision a full vindication for victims of ECUSA’s Oppression’
“Circuit Judge Diane S. Goodstein’s carefully crafted 46-page decision in the case brought by Bishop Mark Lawrence’s Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina (along with 35 of its parishes, plus St. Andrew’s, Mt. Pleasant) against the Episcopal Church (USA) and its rump group (ECSC, or “Episcopal Church in South Carolina”) is a complete vindication of the positions taken and arguments advanced for so long, by so many, inside and outside the Church. It is a vindication first, for the Right Reverend Mark Lawrence…”
– Christian lawyer A.S. Haley sums up the South Carolina decision.
See also this report from the Diocese of South Carolina. (Photo: Bishop Mark Lawrence.)
Challenging the C of E to believe that ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’
“It’s not often that there’s a good Christian article in the otherwise secular press. But today’s Thunderer in The Times is an exception to the rule.”
– Adrian Reynolds writes at the Proclamation Trust.
Jesus Seminar’s Marcus Borg dies
“Marcus J. Borg, a New Testament scholar, theologian and author who was associated for years with the search for the historical Jesus and who sought to put the New Testament in what he believed was its proper context, died Jan. 21. …
There will be a memorial service honoring Borg’s life at [Portland] cathedral on March 22. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will officiate.”
– Report from The Episcopal News Service. Photo: www.marcusjborg.com
‘Don’t scratch NSW lottery moratorium’ — NSW Council of Churches
“The NSW Council of Churches has urged state politicians to extend a moratorium restricting the sale of lottery tickets to newsagents and convenience stores …”
A Media Release from the NSW Council of Churches.
GAFCON Chairman’s Pastoral Letter — January 2015
“My dear brothers and sisters,
As I send this first pastoral letter of 2015, receive greetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever! …
One of the great challenges for African Christianity is for the many who identify as ‘born again’ to become mature disciples of Christ. This is especially necessary given the challenge of what Pope Francis last week described as ‘ideological colonisation’, which is the practice of tying aid and development resources to the promotion of alien understandings of gender, the family and sexual behaviour.
Money is a very powerful tool and manipulation can happen with varying degrees of subtlety.”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…