FCA Primates Council media release at start of Leaders Conference
April 23, 2012
“With great anticipation we greet the delegates to the first FCA Leaders Conference as they gather in London. Over two hundred leaders from thirty countries will hear God’s word and commit to one another for the preaching and defence of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in and through the Anglican Communion.”
Media Release
Leaders Conference, London
23 to 27 April 2012
The Primates Council of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans met over three days, April 19th- 21st in London.
With great anticipation we greet the delegates to the first FCA Leaders Conference as they gather in London.
Over two hundred leaders from thirty countries will hear God’s word and commit to one another for the preaching and defence of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in and through the Anglican Communion. From this meeting will emerge key networks and commission capable of strengthening the worldwide churches and delivering the Christian message to the world.
We pray for those responsible for the appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury that they will look for a godly leader of God’s people. We believe that in the future development of the Anglican Communion the chair of the Primates Meeting should be elected by the Primates themselves. We believe that the future of our Communion relies on adherence to Scriptural authority, faithful and Christ-centred preaching of this word, the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit, godly leadership and the spiritual commitment of God’s people. These spiritual realities and the reality of worldwide Anglicanism should be reflected in the structures of the Anglican Communion.
From the beginning the thrust of our FCA movement has been forward-looking. We have therefore confirmed the decision to call GAFCON II for May next year in a venue shortly to be announced. We believe that the joyful meeting of orthodox Anglicans from all over the world will be a dynamic force for restating the gospel of Jesus Christ in the face of revisionist attempts to change basic doctrines and turn Christianity merely into a movement for social betterment. It is the preaching of the Gospel of Christ crucified which saves men and women and transforms the world.
– available at the GAFCON website.
Converted Anglican church now Taoist temple
A new use for a former Diocese of New Westminster church building –
“After renovations by the Chinese Taoism Kuan-Kung Association in Canada, which purchased the property in the fall of 2010, the building has been transformed…”
– story and image from BC Local News. Another story from Burnaby Now.
(h/t Ed Hird.)
Survey on same-sex marriage bills closes April 20
There are just two days remaining for anyone interested to complete the online survey for a House of Representatives Committee inquiry into the two same-sex marriage bills before the House.
The survey closes on Friday, 20th April.
(Image: Australian Marriage Forum.)
Related: Responding to Australian same-sex marriage proposals – from the Social Issues Executive of the Diocese of Sydney, February 2011.
New Westminster considers plans for three ‘returned’ parishes
“Having won the court battle for the buildings of St. John’s Shaughnessy, St. Matthias and St. Luke, and St. Matthew’s Abbotsford, the Diocese of New Westminster must decide what to do with them…”
The Anglican Essentials Canada blog reports on New Westminster’s commitment to ‘Plant three new churches’ –
“It is the desire of DNW to have vital, viable self-sustaining parishes at each of these three locations in three to five years at a cost equivalent of planting one new church. The financial commitment for this ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity of DNW will be up to $4.5 million…”
Women Bishops in the Church of England
“We all know there are within the Church of England those who conscientiously object to the principle of consecrating women bishops. Those people, both lay and ordained, have been reassured on many occasions that they are loyal, faithful Anglicans. They have been reassured there is a place for them – on some occasions it has even been called an honoured place – within the church. They have been told that that place will remain. So far, so good, you may think…”
– Church Society Council member George Curry points out some of the implications of the Church of England’s current trajectory – in the latest issue of CrossWay (PDF file).
Archbishop of Canterbury’s Easter Sermon 2012
Rowan Williams has released the text of his last Easter sermon as Archbishop of Canterbury –
“It just might be the case that the high watermark of aggressive polemic against religious faith has been passed.
Recent years have seen so many high-profile assaults on the alleged evils of religion that we’ve almost become used to them; we sigh and pass on, wishing that we could have a bit more of a sensible debate and a bit less hysteria. But there are a few signs that the climate is shifting ever so slightly…”
– Read it all at his website.
Primate of Nigeria’s Easter message
“As we celebrate perhaps the most significant event in the Christian calendar, we remember the recent travails of Nigeria in the hands of a faceless yet well-coordinated mafia spreading terror, death and destruction in the land. …
we can only pray for Nigeria and Nigerians that the victory of Easter will usher in permanent peace and victory over these visible and invisible hawkers of death and destruction in the country.…”
– Read Archbishop Nicholas Okoh’s Easter message at the Church of Nigeria website.
First NSW female Anglican bishop consecrated
“The first female Anglican bishop to be appointed in New South Wales and the ACT has been consecrated in front of a packed congregation at St Saviour’s Cathedral in Goulburn…”
– report from ABC News. Also a report from NineMSN.
Having your say on the future of marriage
The Australian Christian Lobby is urging people to write a submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Greens’ Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2010. Submissions are due by Monday April 2. Details here.
Related: Responding to Australian same-sex marriage proposals – from the Social Issues Executive of the Diocese of Sydney, February 2011.
(Image: Australian Marriage Forum.)
Australian Bishops agree on sexuality protocol
From SydneyAnglicans.net –
“The annual meeting of Australian bishops has agreed to a set of protocols on human sexuality, which conforms to the landmark 1998 Lambeth resolutions.
Australian bishops, including all Sydney bishops, met in Melbourne this month, several weeks after it was revealed that the Bishop of Gippsland had appointed a male priest living with a partner of the same sex to a ministry position in that diocese. Read more
The Archbishop we don’t need (but will probably get)
“Central to the role of the next Archbishop of Canterbury will be his views on human sexuality, not because that is the most important thing about Christian theology (though it is quite important), but because the agenda of our society will make it so…”
– John Richardson calls for an Archbishop of Canterbury who will ‘uphold sound and wholesome doctrine, and … banish and drive away all erroneous and strange opinions’. At the Ugley Vicar.
FCA Leadership Conference to be held in London next month
GAFCON / FCA Media Release
Anglican leaders gather to work towards visionary future
More than 200 delegates from 30 Provinces of the Anglican Communion will gather in London in April to build on the work of the GAFCON conference in Jerusalem and in the words of the organisers to ‘help turn the present crisis moment into a visionary future’. Read more
New Director for Church Society
It’s been announced that Lee Gatiss will be the new Director of Church Society from the start of 2013.
Archbishop Peter Jensen’s Statement on the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury
March 19th, 2012
Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney – Media Statement
Statement on the resignation of Dr Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury
“The Archbishop of Canterbury is universally admired for his intellectual stature and his personal warmth. In his time as Archbishop, the Anglican Communion has been subjected to unprecedented stresses which have hastened an inevitable tendency to regional independence and decentralisation. With the majority of Anglicans now from theologically conservative churches of the Global South, the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the future will demand a deepening appreciation of their place in the Communion.
Dr Peter F Jensen,
Archbishop of Sydney.”
Newcastle Diocese parish seeking new Rector
The parish of Bulahdelah with Tea Gardens is in the Diocese of Newcastle, and over the years, a solid evangelical ministry has been established there. The parish is now vacant and church members are looking for an evangelical minister to lead them into the future.
Doubtless, they would appreciate your prayers – and if you would like to know more, here’s the parish website, and an excerpt (400kb PDF) from the Parish Profile.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…