Global South Bishops ‘aggrieved’ by appointment of new Dean of Canterbury

“The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GFSA) has expressed disappointment that the new Dean of Canterbury, the Very Rev Dr David Monteith, is in a same-sex civil partnership.

Rev David was appointed on 10th October. He currently chairs the College of Deans for the Church of England and is the former Dean of Leicester.

In a statement, the Archbishop of Canterbury praised Rev David’s service in the Church of England thus far.  ‘We will benefit greatly from David’s experience and perspective, not least from his work in helping diverse faiths and cultural communities to live well together,’ he said.”

– Report from Premier Christian News.

See also:

Statement from Global South Anglicans – via Anglican.Ink.

“We are deeply saddened, but not totally surprised.

The present ABC’s action is part of the direction he had set in the recently concluded Lambeth Conference. There, he indicated that he is not willing for the office of ABC to be used to discipline member provinces in keeping to the Church’s teaching.

He also indicated that he felt that the Communion should allow for ‘a plurality of views’ on what the Holy Scriptures teach.

Archbishop Welby’s first position is lamentable; his second is repugnant to our understanding of the authority and clarity of Holy Scripture. The notion of ‘pluriform’ truth is contrary to the Anglican Ordinal which binds duly consecrated bishops to be responsible for the guarding, teaching and imparting of divine truth in Holy Scripture.”

Photo: Canterbury Cathedral.

Gafcon Primates’ Council meets in Kigali

Prayer point from GAFCON:

“The Gafcon Primates’ Council meets in Kigali Rwanda today for three days.

Pray for warm fellowship, encouragement in gospel partnership, and for the Lord’s help as they work through a busy agenda.”

Learning from Elsewhere — voices from around the Anglican Communion

The Church of England Evangelical Council asked Anglicans around the world share what happened when Scripture’s teaching on sexuality was compromised.

See the latest film (Film 5) and the previously-released resources here.

The Pastor, the CEO and the Victorian Premier — The Pastors Heart

From The Pastor’s Heart –

“Four Victorian Christian leaders on the controversy that has erupted in Australian National Politics – around the chair of the Victorian based City on a Hill church movement Andrew Thorburn, over his appointment as CEO of the Essendon Football Club and then almost immediate resignation.

When faced with an ultimatum to choose between his church and his new position at Essendon, Thorburn chose his church.

Melbourne’s Herald Sun started the controversy by publishing quotes from two ten year old sermons from City on a Hill on abortion and homosexuality.

Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews described City on a Hill’s mainstream Christian views as appalling, intolerant, bigoted, hatred and wrong.

Our guests:

– Watch or listen here. Well worth watching.

New bishops for the Anglican Network in Europe

Here’s an announcement from GAFCON (via e-mail):

It is with great joy that we announce the appointment of two new bishops for the Anglican Convocation in Europe. Ian Ferguson and Stuart Bell will serve as Assistant Bishops under the leadership of Bishop Andy Lines.

Bishop Andy’s appointments were affirmed by the ACE Synod on 4th October after a thorough process of references, conversations and interviews.

Together with Bishop Andy, Ian and Stuart will seek to provide support and encouragement, oversight and accountability to the ACE ministers and congregations, enabling and assisting them to ‘proclaim Christ faithfully to the nations’ of Europe.

Bishop Andy writes: “I am passionate to see the peoples of this great continent have the opportunity to hear of the biblical Christ and to see lives transformed by him. Ian and Stuart share this concern and have already been demonstrably used by the Lord to this end. I look forward to seeing what more the Lord will do with and through them.”

Ian Ferguson was converted through the ministry of St Silas’ Glasgow. Married to Heather, he trained for ordination at Oak Hill Theological College under Maurice Wood and his ministry in Scotland involved pioneering and leading a new church plant in Westhill, Aberdeen for over 30 years which has, in God’s goodness, enjoyed significant growth. Despite the ‘success’ of Westhill, Ian has faced many difficulties along the way. This has particularly equipped him to empathise with and help those who are struggling in ministry.

Bishop Andy writes: “I am excited that Ian has agreed to serve in this way. His and Heather’s knowledge of Scotland and the Scottish Anglican scene will help me care for the Scottish Anglicans who look to me but I expect his long experience and wisdom to help me far more broadly than that geographical dimension. Indeed Ian has already been helping others struggling a long way from Scotland.”

Ian will be consecrated on Friday 21 October in Hull, along with 2 new assistant Bishops for the Anglican Mission in England, Lee McMunn & Tim Davies.

Stuart Bell is originally from Devon, but along with his wife Pru, was called to serve the gospel in Wales. Under his leadership St Michael’s Aberystwyth became the largest Anglican church in the principality and from where over 50 people have gone on to ordained Anglican ministry.

Now leading Fellowship 345, Stuart says, “For more than half a century I have been concerned to bring Christ to the people of Wales and the people of Wales to Christ. I am primarily a preacher / teacher with a strong evangelistic focus. My eyes are constantly searching for the people in the congregation who have not yet embraced the Gospel in its fullness. This is true of my relationships pastorally with members of our church as well as those which have been established in our local neighbourhood.”

Bishop Andy writes: “I am delighted that Stuart, with his wife Pru, have agreed to help me care for Anglican churches in Wales. Their long and distinguished service and their recognised knowledge of Welsh culture and language will be invaluable as I seek to serve the orthodox Anglican witness in the country. Stuart’s evangelistic focus is an added gift, as is the wisdom the Lord has given him in both difficult and good times.”

Stuart’s previous commitment to serving at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem this autumn means his consecration will be delayed until sometime in 2023.

Photo: Ian Ferguson (left) and Stuart Bell.

GAFCON UK on the Church of England teaching on sexuality, relationships and marriage

“Two new reports have been released in September as a follow-on to the Living in Love and Faith process. …

This process appears to be leading in the same direction as the Lambeth Conference’s ‘Call to Human Dignity‘. The conference leaders attempted to affirm two mutually contradictory views on sexuality and more broadly, on how the bible functions in the life of the church. Scottish and Welsh Bishops have followed this path – will English bishops do the same? Much prayer is needed!”

– GAFCON GB & Europe has brief news items on LLF, the just concluded ReNew Conference, and planning for GAFCON 4 in Kigali.

Essendon — Thorburn resignation: Press Release from Presbyterian Church Leaders

PRESS RELEASE

ESSENDON – THORBURN RESIGNATION

STATEMENT FROM PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH LEADERS

7th October, 2022

The Presbyterian Church of Australia is deeply concerned at recent events surrounding the resignation of Andrew Thorburn as chief executive of the AFL’s Essendon Football Club. We believe that this marks a watershed moment in Australian history – the day we have departed from some well-established common law principles, where there was freedom of conscience and religion, to being a society where only certain views are permitted in public life. 

While Israel Folau was discriminated against for his own beliefs, we note that Mr Thorburn was forced to resign from his post merely because of the particular church he belongs to. There is apparently now a religious test for significant employment posts in Australia.   

We note that the ethical position Mr Thorburn’s church—City on a Hill—takes on the subjects of abortion and sexuality, are the same as that of the mainline Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths.

Will the Essendon Football Club now no longer welcome people who have sincere religious convictions from being involved with the club, at either an administrative, coaching or playing level? GWS player Haneen Zreika has announced she will be opting out of the upcoming AFLW pride round. Will she be hounded out because of her faith?

Essendon Football Club says it supports “wholeheartedly the work of the AFL in continuing to stamp out any discrimination based on race, sex, ‘religion’, gender, sexual identity or orientation, or physical or mental disability”, whilst at the same time forcing Mr Thorburn to resign because of his religion. This looks rather like speaking out of both sides of one’s mouth. 

We are in a dangerous place as a nation when a premier can seek to impose his own personal ideologies on everyone else. Such behaviour is itself “appalling, hateful, bigoted, unkind and exclusive”.

The Presbyterian Church of Australia will continue to uphold the Bible’s teaching, that marriage should only ever be between a man and a woman, and that the lives of unborn babies must always be protected. This is for both the flourishing of families and all of human life. There is nothing loving about killing unborn children and promoting an anti-life view of marriage.

We pray for our political leaders and remind them that they, like us all, will one day have to give account before Almighty God. We also urge our people to pray, stand firm for the faith, and not give into the opposition from those who reject our Lord Jesus Christ and His Word. Finally, we ask those whom God has placed in authority over us in this world, for the freedom to live out our faith, without intolerant bullying.   

Signed:

Rev Dr Peter Barnes
Moderator-General
Presbyterian Church of Australia

Rev David Maher
Moderator, Presbyterian Church NSW

Rev Peter Phillips
Moderator, Presbyterian Church Victoria

Download the Press Release PDF file.

Rod Thomas retires as Bishop of Maidstone

Bishop Rod Thomas, set apart as a ‘flying bishop’ in the Church of England, has retired.

“Bishop Rod’s retirement on 2nd October 2022 was marked by a service of thanksgiving held at Oak Hill College on 1st October.”

– from his website.

Earlier:

Reform’s Chairman Rod Thomas to be Bishop of Maidstone – 05 May 2015.

At the time, Church Society’s Lee Gatiss responded–

“Rod is the only complementarian evangelical to be made a bishop since Wallace Benn in 1997. This appointment is part of the package of compromises agreed recently by General Synod, through which women bishops have been introduced into the Church. It is a great pity that despite Synod’s overwhelming approval of the first Pilling Report, Talent & Calling, in 2007, which called for more conservative evangelicals to be considered for such roles, there has been no such appointment until today. …

It may be asked whether a single isolated new bishop is mere tokenism. Surely ‘flourishing’ implies rather more than the reluctant toleration of one among more than a hundred bishops?”

And other related posts.

Sydney diocese declares ‘breach of fellowship’ with Australian Church

“The synod of the diocese of Sydney has carried several motions urging changes to the way in which the diocese interacts with the Anglican Church of Australia. …

One motion carried at the Sydney diocesan synod noted ‘with godly grief the deep breach of fellowship in the Anglican Church of Australia exposed at the eighteenth session of General Synod on matters of doctrine and human sexuality’. It requested the synod’s Standing Committee ‘to consider our future approach as a Diocese to meetings of the General Synod’…

Speaking at a pre-synod dinner, Dr Davies, who is the first bishop of the diocese of the Southern Cross, said that, if Sydney diocese really cared for Australia, the ‘best clergy’ and lay people should be sent to dioceses where there were ‘welcoming bishops’. It also needed to support, through the Gafcon diocese, ‘hurting Anglicans’ in dioceses led by ‘revisionist bishops’.”

– Muriel Porter writes in The Church Times – also at Virtueonline.
Photo: Sydney Synod 2022.

Related:

Bishop Glenn Davies’ ACL Synod Dinner address, 2022.

Diocese of the Southern Cross.

Bathurst Diocese Service for Thanksgiving for Queen Elizabeth II

A memorial service for the late Her Majesty the Queen was held in Bathurst on Thursday 22 September.

See Bishop Mark Calder’s address above.

Download the Order of Service here.

Post-Truth Post-Lambeth

“In August 2022, Archbishop Justin Welby told the assembled bishops of the Anglican Communion at the Lambeth Conference that,

‘I neither have, nor do I seek, the authority to discipline or exclude a church of the Anglican Communion. I will not do so. I may comment in public on occasions, but that is all.’

I was astonished by this. Because it is simply not true. …”

Church Society Director Dr Lee Gatiss spoke at their AGM on 31st August 2022.

Watch or read at the link.

Bishop Glenn Davies’ Address at the ACL Synod Dinner 2022

The Rt Rev Dr Glenn Davies spoke tonight, 12 September 2022, at a packed ACL Synod Dinner.

His topic?  “Where to from now? The place of Sydney Anglicans in Australia”.

Dr Davies, former Archbishop of Sydney, is Deputy Chair of Gafcon Australia and also Bishop of the newly formed Diocese of the Southern Cross.

Speaking of the Anglican Church of Australia, he said there is a fracture in unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity – a tear in the fabric.

Take the time to hear his very informative address:

 

or download the 11.5MB / 23 minute mp3 file. (right click on the link to Save As.)

Assembly of Confessing Congregations — UCA situation is ‘untenable’

The Assembly of Confessing Congregations National Assembly has been meeting on the Gold Coast this weekend. Chief among their discussions was their position within the Uniting Church when that organisation’s Assembly holds to two contradictory doctrines on marriage.

This statement has been posted today on the Assembly of Confessing Congregations Facebook page:

“The ACC National Council has come to the conclusion that the situation we are in is ‘untenable’. We cannot continue to live within the illusion of so called ‘two integrities’. The position of the UCA Assembly on the one hand, and that held by orthodox Christian members, congregations, networks and Presbyteries on the other, represent two contradictory and mutually exclusive understandings of truth, salvation, and therefore also of mission. This situation raises an essential impossibility of pursuing a common mission between these two respective positions.

This weekend, the ACC National Assembly has now put in place a mechanism of action towards navigating its way to a process of a collection of action items to be decided in an upcoming decision in March 2023.”

– Source of the text and photo.

Earlier:

A message to Uniting Church members about the decision on marriage from Uniting Church President Dr Deidre Palmer  – 20 July 2018.

Archbishop Foley Beach’s tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

As Chairman of the Global Anglican Future Conference Primates Council (Gafcon) and Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, I join with Anglicans across the world in praying for the royal family at this most difficult time.? …

Read it all at the GAFCON website.

Queen Elizabeth II — A model of compassion, faith and selflessness

Statement from the Archbishop of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel, on the Death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth is a profound sadness, the depth of which is difficult to express.

Anglicans in NSW join with all Australians in mourning her passing. For most people, her reign and her godly example is all we have known.

We have delighted in her visits to this nation and to our churches. She has been for many a tower of strength in times of adversity, and a model of compassion, faith and selflessness in the service of humanity.

But we do not grieve as those without hope (1 Thess 4:13). We give heartfelt thanks to God for her long reign marked by dignity, grace and unstinting humble service motivated by enduring Christian faith.

We offer our condolences and prayers for the Royal Family.

Details of services of commemoration will be made in accordance with requests from Buckingham Palace in due course. Flowers may be left in tribute at the George St door of St Andrew’s Cathedral.  A condolence book will be available at the Cathedral.

– Source: SydneyAnglicnas.net.

Also from SydneyAnglicans.net:

We will pause to offer prayers at noon today, Friday 9th September, and there will be a special Service of Choral Evensong at St Andrew’s Cathedral, this evening at 5:15pm which will include prayers for the Royal Family.

Related:

June 5, 2022 – A celebration of uncommon leadership  — Archbishop Kanishka Raffel’s sermon for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

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