Jay Behan consecrated in Christchurch

Jay Behan has been consecrated as the first Bishop of the Diocese of the Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa/New Zealand this morning in Christchurch.

Bishops from across the Tasman and around the world took part in the service.

ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach and Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council presided, and former Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen preached.

The event was live-streamed, and a recording may be seen via the ConfessingAnglicansNZ Facebook page (a Facebook account is not needed). Audio starts about 12 minutes into the recording, just as the service proper begins.

Archbishop Peter Jensen delivers the sermon. Bishops Peter Lin and Bill Atwood look on.

Archbishop Foley Beach addresses Jay Behan.

Listening to the consecration charge.

Dr Laurent Mbanda, Primate of Uganda and Vice-Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council, reads one of the Consecration questions while Archbishop Foley Beach (left) and Bishop Julian Dobbs (right) look on.

The laying on of hands.

“There’s much for us to do. This world is full of darkness and we know the One who is the Light of the World. … We’ve got to preach and proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ.” – Jay Behan speaking after his consecration.

(Images from the live-stream video.)

Jay Behan’s consecration to be live-streamed

GAFCON advises that Jay Behan’s consecration service will be live-streamed from Christchurch on the Gafcon Facebook page @gafconference. Here’s when to watch it live in your timezone:

Australian Eastern Daylight Time:
7:30am Saturday 19 October.
UK BST: 9:30pm 18 Friday October.
USA ET: 4:30pm Friday 18 October.
USA PT: 1:30pm Friday 18 October.

A Facebook account is not needed to see the live-stream on the Facebook page.

(Photo from Sydney Synod: Anglican Media Sydney.)

The Seventh Global South Conference held in Cairo, Egypt

“The 7th Global South Conference opened on the 8th of October 2019 with an Eucharist Service followed by a welcome dinner at the All Saints Cathedral, Cairo.

Slightly more than a hundred delegates and observers from 19 Provinces and other parts of the Communion were present for this 4-day Conference. …

Bishop Rennis Ponniah, who chairs the Study Group on Enhancing Ecclesial Responsibility, presented the proposal for an enhanced ecclesial structure to guide the work of Global South. …

A new Steering Committee was appointed:

Chairman: Archbishop Justin Badi (Sudan)
Vice-Chair: Archbishop Tito Zavala (Chile)
Secretary: Archbishop Samuel Manhkin (Bangladesh)
Treasurer: Archbishop Foley Beach (ACNA)

Members:
Archbishop Stephen Than Myint Oo (Myanmar)
Archbishop Masimango Katanda Zacharie (Congo)
Archbishop James Richard Wong Yin Song. …”

– From Global South Anglican.

See also:

The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSA) Covenantal Structure. (PDF file)

“This Proposal on Enhancing Ecclesial Responsibility of Global South Churches sets out a clear basis and a coherent structure for constituting The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSA).”

American Anglican Council Canon Phil Ashey’s hopes for the Anglican Communion. – Youtube.

Photo credit: Revd Canon Andrew Gross.

Questions for Global Anglicans

In his latest video series, “Questions for Global Anglicans”, the American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey outlines a way forward for the Anglican Communion.

He hopes to see a coming-together of GAFCON and the Global South Primates.

Other videos in the series here.

Anglican Church of Canada ‘gone by 2040’

“In 2018 General Synod was able to collect a complete and mostly reliable set of data for from the dioceses for the first time since 2001. The data is for the year 2017 and it shows that the decline observed in earlier data has continued.

Projections from our data indicate that there will be no members, attenders or givers in the Anglican Church of Canada by approximately 2040.”

– Anglican Samizdat highlights a sobering report just presented to the Anglican Church of Canada’s House of Bishops.

Also from the Anglican Church of Canada:

Get your pet blessed this Sunday in Vancouver – Vancouver Courier.

“Annual Blessing of the Animals ceremony welcomes creatures of all types to Shaughnessy church.” [This is the Anglican Church of Canada congregation now using the building vacated by St. John’s Vancouver.]

Religious discrimination bill so flawed it cannot be supported, Anglicans say

“The flaws in the Coalition’s religious discrimination bill are ‘so serious’ it cannot be supported in its current form, the Sydney Anglican diocese has warned. …

In a separate submission, the Freedom for Faith group has claimed the bill fails a commitment by the prime minister, Scott Morrison, ‘that the law would not take faith groups backwards in terms of protection of religious freedom’. …”

– Story from The Guardian.

Submission on the Religious Freedom draft laws

Associate Professor Neil Foster shares his personal submission on the Government’s package of draft laws on Religious Freedom – at Law and Religion Australia.

If you would like to make your own submission, you have until 5:00 pm on Wednesday 2nd October 2019.

Archbishop Henry Ndukuba elected as new Primate on Nigeria

“The Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion has elected Most Rev’d Henry Ndukuba as the new Primate of the church for the next ten years.

Archbishop Ndukuba who is currently the Bishop of Gombe Diocese and Archbishop of Jos Province, respectively, took over from His Grace, the Most Rev’d Nicholas Okoh. …”

– Story from The Vanguard (Nigeria).

And some biographical details via Anglican Ink.

Serving God or Mammon in the Anglican Communion?

“What role does money play in the continuing struggle for biblical faithfulness in the Anglican Communion? The sharp warning from Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 6:24) about the impossibility of serving both God and Mammon alerts us to the reality that money can become a spiritual power when it seduces us into materialism. Rather than being used in the service of God, it can become a god.

But this power of money does not normally manifest itself in a simple and unsubtle appeal to greed…”

– GAFCON’s Membership Development Secretary, Canon Charles Raven, wrote this article for Evangelicals Now.

Why one Minister left the Church of England

Julian Mann, who has recently joined the Free Church of England, explains why he finally decided to leave the Church of England.

At the Free Church of England website.

The passing of new abortion laws — Statement from Archbishop Glenn Davies

Anglican Diocese of Sydney

Media Statement

Abortion laws pass the NSW Parliament

I want to thank the people of NSW who have petitioned, rallied and written to their parliamentary representatives during the recent debate on abortion.

Much has been achieved through these efforts so that the Bill that was finally passed by the Parliament is a far better Bill than what was introduced eight weeks ago.

We said at the time that it was unconscionable to attempt to rush this through the Lower House in the originally proposed timeframe, without any public consultation. We are grateful for the time that both Houses gave to the Bill and for the amendments made in both Houses.

Yet we are deeply saddened by the passing of these laws and the abortion-on-demand regime they introduce. The life of both a mother and her child in the womb are precious to God. We must love them both and protect them both.

May God have mercy on us.

Dr Glenn N Davies, Archbishop of Sydney, 26 September 2019

– Source: SydneyAnglicans.net.

Tragic day for Australia as NSW parliament passes its deadly abortion bill

“The Australian Christian Lobby has expressed its deep disappointment at the passing of the controversial abortion bill in the NSW Parliament today.

The bill, which has seen the third longest debate on any bill in the Legislative Council, quickly passed the Legislative Assembly this morning on the voices, after passing the Upper House with amendments last night. …”

– Press release from The Australian Christian Lobby.

Possibly ‘the worst law passed in New South Wales in modern times’

“Last night the controversial bill, which has been the source of public and political debate over the past eight weeks, passed the upper house 26 votes to 14.

This paved the way for it to be reintroduced to the Lower House today.

Ms Berejiklian, who faced significant public criticism from conservative figures over the bill, was not in the chamber for the final vote.…”

– Report from ABC News.

(Image from the 15 September 2019 Stand for Life rally in Hyde Park.)

Freedom for Faith submission on the draft Religious Discrimination Bill

“Freedom for Faith has released its submission to the Commonwealth Government on its Exposure Draft Religious Discrimination Bill. …

I recommend it as an excellent overview of the Bill, with a good summary of its good points and some areas where it could be improved. …”

– See Neil Foster’s latest post to download a copy of the submission, along with previous comments – at Law and Religion Australia.

New Principal announced for SMBC

An announcement from Sydney Missionary and Bible College:

“We’re delighted to inform you today that the SMBC Board has appointed a new Principal.

After a lengthy recruitment process, attracting outstanding local, interstate and overseas candidates, we can today announce that the new Principal of Sydney Missionary and Bible College will be Derek Brotherson. …”

– More at the SMBC website.

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