Prayer for Goma diocese

Today’s prayer request from GAFCON –

“Six weeks ago, we prayed for the portable Bible schools in Goma diocese, DR Congo. Joseph Rusangiza reports from the Archdeaconry of Binza. They recently had a graduation ceremony, and 42 evangelists were presented with their certificate.

We prayed that each may have a Bible and the Lord provided for this. However, the supply of Bibles is nearly finished. Please continue to pray that each evangelist may have his or her own Bible.”

Anglican bishop: ‘No-religion’ census campaign is quite ‘frankly bizarre’

“Anglican Bishop of South Sydney Dr Michael Stead says he finds it ‘bizarre’ that there needs to be a concerted campaign by the Rationalist Society, atheists and the like to try and dissuade people from saying they are religious in the census. …”

– Story and video from Sky News Australia.

Lift Up Your Hearts Devotional from Jodie McNeil during August

During August 2021, GAFCON’s Lift up Your Hearts devotionals are by Jodie McNeil. He’s sharing from 1 Kings.

“Each day’s devotion is based on one chapter from 1 Kings, where we witness King David’s final days, King Solomon’s wisdom and his temple construction, the tragic fall from grace by so many of the disobedient kings of the divided kingdom, through to the extraordinary ministry of Elijah.

Jodie seeks to help us read 1 Kings as Christian scripture, understanding this remarkable book in its Biblical Theological context. As we experience the highs and lows of the rule of God’s kings, we will learn so much more about the true king of the Kingdom of God, Jesus the Messiah, and what that means to us as we follow him as our king.”

Australian and English evangelicals show different approaches to Anglican institutional revisionism

“On the same day (19th July) that Gafcon Australia publicly unveiled their plans to establish an alternative Anglican jurisdiction in response to the trajectory of revisionism in the Church of Australia, the Church of England Evangelical Council issued a statement about the Bishop of Liverpool’s address to the MOSAIC campaign group, in which he called for same sex marriage in the Church of England. The difference in the two statements is symptomatic of more general differences between the way that orthodox Anglicans are engaging with the national church in both countries.

The CEEC statement begins with an appreciation of Bishop Bayes’ subsequent apology for his attack on those who believe the historic teaching of the church on sex and marriage …”

– At Anglican Mainstream, Andrew Symes makes some very interesting comparisons. He has a strong challenge to his UK readership.

Andrew’s sentiments would probably have been shared by the late John Richardson. Twenty-eight years ago, the ACL’s newsletter published his article “UK Evangelicalism: Optimistic?“. John consistently argued that evangelicals in the Church of England need to fight for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, rather than act like gentlemen playing cricket.

And, for good measure, here’s a brief clip of John speaking about the significance of his 1993 year at Moore College.

Image of Andrew Symes: Christian Concern.

Bishop Julian Dobbs interviews Bishop William Love

“At the 2021 Provincial Council for the Anglican Church in North America, Bishop Julian Dobbs of the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word had an opportunity to interview Bishop William Love.

As you will hear, this was a pivotal time for Bishop Love as he was being welcomed into the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word as an Assisting Bishop having resigned from the Diocese of Albany in The Episcopal Church.”

– From GAFCON.

Background:

No Love in the Episcopal Church – October 26, 2020
includes links to earlier posts.

Advance Australia Where?

“The creature we know as the Anglican church has a history replete with knotty problems and gritty solutions. And when it comes to the matter of problems, it is something of an understatement to say that the Anglican Church of Australia has a very serious one on its hands at present: the dioceses of Wangaratta and Newcastle have resolved to pursue the practice of blessing of same-sex marriages. This, of course, has pushed them away from a good swathe of the wider national church and further structural estrangement has the potential to rend the (already weakened) fabric of the national fellowship asunder.

Into the breach the recent Appellate Tribunal has come. Through an unusual definition of ‘doctrine’ and some eccentric exegesis the majority opinions imply that the Australian Anglican family can adopt these changes and keep toiling together in the same constitutional territory. Such opinions have stunned the many onlookers who believe precisely the opposite. Indeed, the vast majority of the submissions to the Appellate Tribunal, the Board of Assessors report, and the guidance of the House of Bishops all said in unison, words to the effect of ‘no!’…”

– At The Australian Church Record, Dr Mark Earngey explains that “the GAFCON movement is precisely what is needed for a time such as this”.

His article, republished from the Autumn 2021 ACR Journal, was written before Archbishop Raffel’s election, and before this week’s announcement from GAFCON Australia.

See also:

Dr Robert Tong on the Appellate Tribunal Opinion – 12 November 2020.

Preliminary thoughts on the Appellate Tribunal ruling – Dr Mark Thompson, 11 November 2020.

Catholic Archbishop of Sydney on ‘Alex Greenwich’s Kill Bill’

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher has released a statement about the assisted suicide legislation being introduced into NSW Parliament by independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich:

“There’s never a good time to introduce laws that sanction the killing of vulnerable human beings such as the terminally ill, elderly, frail and suffering. But to introduce such a bill in the middle of a pandemic and amidst lockdowns adversely affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions seems especially insensitive.

The people of NSW are currently accepting significant restrictions on their personal autonomy in order to protect those most at risk – particularly the elderly. In response to the latest wave of COVID-19, we’ve had a month of lockdown already and more is likely. Many of us have been unable to visit our elderly parents at home, in hospital or in aged care. Our sick and elderly have already suffered 17 months of increasing isolation and right now that is being intensified. Meanwhile, people are losing their jobs, businesses are going under, families are under the pressures of schooling and working from home, people’s movements are severely restricted, and depression rates are up. The last thing we need to hear from our leaders in this situation is a pro-suicide message or any suggestion that the elderly and dying no longer deserve the resources or protections given to the rest of us.

The NSW Government is rightly focused on getting us safely vaccinated and out of lockdown as soon as possible, and leading the process of social and economic recovery.

The NSW Health System is rightly focused on keeping the elderly and sick safe, and ensuring the system can cope with the increasing pressures upon it. Our health professionals do not want a bruising controversy that will further disrupt their already very pressured work environment.

In the face of our present emergency precious parliamentary time and health resources should not be diverted to other causes, and especially not to a bill that would enable a small group of highly autonomous people to make their doctors complicit in their suicide. The state-sanctioned killing of the sick, elderly and frail of New South Wales is the last thing we need right now! I call on the Government to keep us focused on the present challenges and once they have been met, let us focus on medicine at its best and not its most lethal.

Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP
Archbishop of Sydney.”

Source (PDF).

Related:

NSW assisted suicide bid must fail – Australian Christian Lobby, 15 December 2020.

Assisted suicide opposed – SydneyAnglicans.net, 08 September 2017.

Palliative Care It’s More Than You Think – Palliative Care Australia.

Gafcon Australia moves ahead — plans for new Australian diocese

Here’s a Media Statement issued after tonight’s GAFCON Australia online gathering:

Media Statement – 19 July 2021
Gafcon Australia moves ahead

Gafcon Australia has outlined its plan to support Anglicans who leave the Anglican Church of Australia over doctrinal revision which overturns the plain teaching of Scripture.

At an online meeting replacing the postponed Gafcon Australasia conference on Monday, the Chair of Gafcon Australia, Bishop Richard Condie, expanded on Gafcon’s Commitment 2020.

“With great sadness and regret, we realise that many faithful Anglican clergy and lay people will no longer be able to remain as members of the ACA if changes allowed by the Appellate Tribunal majority opinion take place in their dioceses”, Bishop Condie said.

“We love these people and don’t want them to be lost to the Anglican fold.” he said, “We want them to be recognised and supported as they love and serve their own communities.”

For this reason, Gafcon pledged in late 2020 to form a new Diocese for Anglicans who will be forced to leave the Anglican Church of Australia.

On Monday he outlined that the new church entity will be formed through a company structure, led by a small Board of Directors.

In the beginning, former ACA churches would be able to join as affiliates of the new entity, through an affiliation agreement.

At a later date these churches will become a Diocese, establishing a Synod to elect a Bishop and Standing Committee.

Once established it is anticipated that the new diocese will be recognised and endorsed by the Gafcon Primates, as they have endorsed the formation of similar dioceses in the USA, Canada, Brazil and New Zealand, where the established Anglican Church in these countries has departed from the teaching of Scripture.

Bishop Condie also told the on-line gathering that the Board had appointed the Revd Michael Kellahan as its first Executive Officer.

Mr Kellahan has recently been the Executive Director of Freedom for Faith, a think-tank on religious freedom in Australia, and will help the Board deliver its commitment to its supporters.

“It grieves the Gafcon movement that these measures are necessary”, Bishop Condie said, “but the support of faithful Anglicans has been the objective of Gafcon Australia since its beginning.

“Gafcon Australia embraces evangelical, catholic and charismatic Anglicans, ordained women and men, and lay people, each of whom uphold the Jerusalem Declaration. We see a great future for orthodox Anglicans as they love ordinary Australians with the gospel.”

The Gafcon Movement began in 2008 at the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem where Anglicans met from around the world to work to heal and restore the Anglican Communion in the face of theological revision.

The Jerusalem Declaration made at that conference is a statement of contemporary Anglican Orthodoxy that guides the movement.

The global movement now embraces over 70% of the world’s worshipping Anglicans and seeks to go about proclaiming Christ faithfully to the nations. Gafcon has held further Conferences in Nairobi in 2013 and Jerusalem again in 2018.

Gafcon Australia was formed in 2015 in anticipation of the same theological revision occurring in Australia that has occurred in other western Anglican churches. Sadly, the time has come to protect faithful Anglicans from the changes in understanding of the doctrine of the ACA, which are being embraced by various bishops and their synods.

END. (PDF file.)

See also:

Going forward with Gafcon Australia – Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net

Gafcon Australia Announces Plans for Extra-Provincial Diocese – David Ould.

Gafcon Australasia 2021 Conference postposed – but …

 

From GAFCON Australia:

“It is with great disappointment that the organising committee has made the decision to postpone the Gafcon Australasia 2021 Conference amidst the escalating national COVID-19 outbreak.

We acknowledge the disappointment and inconvenience that this announcement will cause, however see this decision as the only reasonable course of action at this time.

Although we have postponed the conference, all supporters are invited to a special, online gathering to be held on Monday 19th July at 7:00pm (AEST).

You can register for this event here.”

An evangelical Rector quits apostate denomination – with Andrew Pearson

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“The resignation of Rev Andrew Pearson as rector of the 11-hundred strong Advent Cathedral in Birmingham, Alabama has come as a shock.

The conventional wisdom had been that Advent could ride the storms of liberalism surrounding it, despite many other evangelicals being gradually forced out of America’s Episcopal Church over the last decade.

However, the Cathedral’s vestry has recently capitulated to the demands of the new Alabama Episcopal bishop.

Andrew says an ultimatum was put to him by two successive bishops, ‘change or leave the denomination.’

Andrew speaks about how he reluctantly came to realise there was no future for him in the Episcopal denomination, and that he needed to leave.

He speaks about joining the Anglican Church in North America, what it’s like now serving under a bishop he can trust in Foley Beach, and his plans for a new church plant in Birmingham.”

– A very sobering reminder of the choices facing the remaining evangelical pastors in The Episcopal Church and other denominations on a similar trajectory.

He also reminds Australian Anglicans of what the real issues are – but do watch it all, and do pray.

For some of the background:

‘The Advent has changed’: Andrew Pearson on why he left Advent Cathedral – al.com

The Anglican Debacle: Roots and Patterns – by Dr. Mark Thompson, March 2008.

The Sydney Lambeth Decision Briefing – March 2008.

A Crisis in Koinonia: Biblical Perspectives for Anglicans – David Short, May 2004.

GAFCON Chairman’s Pastoral Letter July 2021

“Every day we are challenged with troubling news from around the world. Of late, there is a further complication from the global pandemic. There is a mutation to COVID-19 called “Variation D.” In addition, some regions are having a much higher mortality rate than others.

Archbishop Laurent Mbanda has shared that a rise in cases has led to a new lockdown in Rwanda. Western Kenya and parts of Uganda are also being hit very hard. Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba reports that Uganda is in the midst of a 42-day total lockdown. …”

– GAFCON Primates Council Chairman Archbishop Foley Beach shares his pastoral letter to members of the GAFCON family for July 2021.

Methodist Church and the way of the world

“Following prayerful consideration by the whole Church, the Methodist Conference has voted to confirm provisional resolutions on the principles or qualities of good relating, understanding of cohabitation and same sex marriages conducted on Methodist premises or by Methodist office-holders.

A report on marriage and relationships, ‘God in Love Unites Us’, was received by the Conference in 2019 and the local District Synods were asked to consider the provisional resolutions and report back to this year’s Conference which is being held this week in Birmingham.  The Conference received a report on the results of the local conferring which showed that 29 out of the 30 Synods confirmed support for the provisional resolutions.

The Revd Sonia Hicks, President of the Conference, prayed ahead of the main debate on Wednesday morning in Birmingham, asking that the Conference’s ‘words may be imbibed with your grace, with tenderness from on high.’

A range of views were expressed on the resolutions, in particular on cohabitation and same sex marriages. The Revd Dr Jonathan Hustler, spoke to the Conference acknowledging the ‘depth of feeling, pain and anxiety that there is’ with a commitment to work across the Connexion with District Chairs to heal divisions. …”

– from this news release from the Methodist Conference in the UK.

The discussions can be seen here – scroll down to “Wednesday 30 June 2021 – Session 3 14:15 – 16:15”.

Anglican Church Quenching Community Thirst In Marsabit

“In one of the remote parts of Marsabit County, Nairibi Sub-location in Laisamis Constituency, the Anglican Church is transforming lives of a community that has experienced water crisis for many years, by availing the precious commodity to them. …

According to the Co-ordinator, a study by the organization established that most residents of Marsabit have to trek long distances in search of the precious commodity which is not only tiring but also a drain on their useful time.

He told KNA that the high levels of illiteracy among women in the region, is linked to the water shortage problem as girls spend their valuable time fetching water and end up dropping out of school.

The boy child is also not safe as he has to undertake the chore of taking livestock to watering points which are situated far away from where they attend school.”

– Good news from Kenya.

And similar work to which you can contribute:

Marsabit Water and Income Generation – Anglican Aid.

Living in Love and Faith — a Quick Guide

At Church Society’s website George Crowder gives a brief introduction to the Living in Love and Faith process. He encourages everyone to be involved – but will the Bible’s message be heeded by those evaluating the responses?

Related:

The Church of England’s guide to hearing God’s voice through the Bible, according to LLF – Andrew Symes at Anglican Mainstream.

Handling the Bible in Love and Faith – Kirsten Birkett, Church Society.

St Helen’s Bishopsgate announces “Broken Partnership” with House of Bishops – ACL.

Should the church ‘let the world set the agenda’ on ethics and doctrine?

“Paul Bayes, currently the Church of England’s bishop in Liverpool, has made his clearest call yet for the Church to change its understanding of marriage and sexuality, in his address to the MoSAIC group …

He does not disguise the reasons for his views, where he thinks the Church should go, and what that would mean. Along the way, he makes some extraordinary comments for any Christian, let alone for someone appointed as a bishop…”

– Ian Paul at Psephizo takes a look at an address by Bishop Paul Bayes given to the National MOSAIC (Movement of Supporting Anglicans for an Inclusive Church) Conference on the weekend.

See also:

Albert Mohler speaks with Carl Trueman on ‘The Triumph of the Modern Self’

A conversation with Dr. Carl Trueman on the modern self and the sexual revolution.

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