Reformation sights in Oxford

Moore College’s Lionel Windsor shares some sights from Oxford relating to the English Reformation.

“Right in front of the pillar and the picture of Cranmer was a little stand where people could pay a pound to light a candle.”

Christmas message from GAFCON General Secretary Peter Jensen

Dr Peter Jensen, soon to retire as GAFCON General Secretary, has recorded this Christmas message.

Accommodation is not Guidance

“On Tuesday 11th December the House of Bishops published ‘Pastoral Guidance for use in conjunction with the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith in the context of gender transition.’ Whilst sharing the desire to show pastoral care, the content of the Guidance causes me deep concern and I support the request from the Bishops of the Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda for the reception of the Guidance to be reviewed. I note too the personal reservations expressed about it by the Chair of the House of Bishops’ Delegation Committee, The Rt Rev’d Julian Henderson, and commend the recent critiques produced by the Church Society and the Church of England Evangelical Council.

The Guidance represents a way of accommodating the request from the General Synod that the House of Bishops consider devising a liturgy for the welcome of transgender people. However, in doing so it has raised many more questions than it answers. These include:

Accordingly, I would support any move to change the status of this Guidance so that it is seen as a contribution to the LLF Project, rather than a finished product of the House of Bishops.”

– Bishop of Maidstone Rod Thomas has posted this statement on this website.

Earlier: Bishop Andy Lines on the Church of England’s guidance on liturgies to celebrate gender transition.

Ruddock Report response (part 3)

“In my former posts (here and here), O Friend of Law and Religion, I have dealt with all that the Ruddock Report covered in recommendations 1-12 and 15, along with the official Government Response to those recommendations.

In this post I aim to cover recommendations 13-14 and 16-20. These deal with important issues of the law of blasphemy and religious free speech, along with State discrimination laws, collection of data, education on religious freedom, the role of the Australian Human Rights Commission, and the exercise of leadership in the area by the Commonwealth. …”

– Associate Professor in Law, Neil Foster, has just posted part three of his response to the Ruddock Report.

He concludes, in part, “… my general response is that the Report is a sensible document which takes religious freedom seriously, and hopefully the actions promised by the Government will be implemented with due speed”.

Bishop Andy Lines on the Church of England’s guidance on liturgies to celebrate gender transition

“… The sacrament of baptism is designed to signify the new identity that is given to us in union with Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection, so we were dismayed that this guidance commends using the same service to “recognise liturgically a person’s gender transition.”

In doing this, the House of Bishops has denied the teaching of Jesus Christ, not least by rejecting his words, ‘He who created them from the beginning made them male and female,’ (Matt 19: 4) in favour of celebrating a self-created identity. …”

– Bishop Andy Lines is quoted on the GAFCON website.

See also:

Pastoral Guidance for use in conjunction with the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith in the context of gender transition (PDF file, Church of England).

Anglican bishop who hailed transgender rite as biblical calls it flawed in shambolic U-turn – Rebel Priest.

Wisdom and folly: the bishops’ guidance on transgender welcome – Ian Paul.

The latest Fuel for Prayer from GAFCON

Here’s the latest Fuel for Prayer from GAFCON.

Ruddock Report summary and responses (Part 2)

“Following my previous post giving comments on Recommendations 1, 5-8 and 15 of the Ruddock Report and the Government Response, I will comment here on another set of recommendations (Recs 2-4, 9-12) and the likely outcome. Comments on recommendations 13-14, and 16-20, will (hopefully) be made in Part 3! …”

– More from Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia.

The Ruddock Report has landed! (Part 1)

“The long-awaited Religious Freedom Review: Report of the Expert Panel (chaired by the Hon Philip Ruddock) has now been released publicly, along with the formal Government Response.

After the prior leaking of its 20 recommendations there were no major surprises as to the final conclusion, but there is much interesting background to the recommendations (and in one or two cases the full Report seems to have a significant impact on how one should read the language of the recommendations.) It is also important to see the announced intentions of the LNP Government as to how they will respond.

In this first post in response to the full Report I will comment mainly on recommendations 1 & 5-8 and recommendation 15, with the other recommendations to be left for part 2 or later. …”

– Neil Foster provides his first response, at Law and Religion Australia.

Archbishop Glenn Davies’ response to the release of the Ruddock Report

Anglican Diocese of Sydney Media Statement

13 December 2018

We are grateful the Ruddock report has finally been released and view it as the start of an urgent process to frame appropriate legislation for religious freedom. This should be a bipartisan issue since it involves the harmony of our entire community, not just the more than 60 percent of Australians who identify with religious faith.

Dr Glenn Davies
Archbishop of Sydney.

Source: SydneyAnglicans.net.

Transitioning a Liturgy

“The House of Bishops of the Church of England has issued guidance on the use of liturgy to mark and celebrate a person’s gender transition. This follows a statement from the Bishops in January (responding to a motion at General Synod in July 2017) that the existing rite of affirmation of baptismal faith could be used for this purpose.

Church Society and other groups responded then, as we also have on previous occasions (see below for examples). We continue to have extremely serious concerns.

The bishops start by affirming that all people are welcome at church and celebrating the diversity of the body of Christ. Those are things that every evangelical Christian would want to endorse enthusiastically. Our astonishment at God’s amazing grace, that embraces even a sinner like me, drives us to want others to share in that too.

However, this guidance is highly problematic for a number of reasons …”

– Church Society’s Lee Gatiss examines the newly released guidance from the Church of England.

Partnering and Planting – A very Anglican activity of Gafcon Ireland!

“What a wonderful visit and encouragement to receive from incoming Secretary General of the global Gafcon movement! Gafcon Ireland was privileged to receive him at the annual two-day residential attended by over 50 church leaders in his first visit to a Gafcon branch since his election. …” – Here’s a report via the GAFCON website.

GAFCON Chairman’s Advent Letter 2018

“Archbishop Peter Jensen will be standing down at the end of this month as our General Secretary. He is one of our founding fathers and truly a man of courage who has not flinched from the heavy burden of this global ministry. The affection and esteem in which he is held were obvious to all at the close of our Jerusalem conference and his passion for the gospel of God will continue to be a great inspiration. …”

– There is much to be thankful for – and much to pray about – in the Advent Letter from GAFCON Chairman Archbishop Nicholas Okoh. Take the time to read and pray through it.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz calls for apology for ‘spiritual abuse’ of Indigenous people

“The Anglican Church of Canada should apologize to the country’s Indigenous people for having ‘demonized’ their traditional spirituality, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, told Council of General Synod (CoGS) November 24. …”

– Report from Anglican Journal (Canada), via Anglican Samizdat.

Related: 1 Corinthians 10:14-21.

Algonquin ‘spiritual teacher in residence’ appointed at Ottawa cathedral

“Indigenous spirituality has a powerful new voice at Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa.

In a historic appointment, local Indigenous spiritual leader Albert Dumont has been named Algonquin Spiritual Teacher in Residence for a two-year term at the cathedral. During his term, Dumont will help educate members of the cathedral community on traditional Indigenous spirituality …”

– Story from The Anglican Church of Canada.

Link via Anglican Samizdat.

The Derby Cathedral scandal and the alleged establishment bias of conservative evangelicals

“Derby Cathedral has given biblical orthodoxy a great boost by banning the Revd Melvin Tinker from preaching at a university Christian Union carol service.

The ban has built a tremendous platform for Mr Tinker and his supporters to demonstrate how intolerant of biblical Christianity the Church of England establishment is increasingly becoming.

But it is important to reflect on something Mr Tinker said in the course of the controversy in an interview on Anglican Unscripted. …”

– The Rev. Julian Mann writes this opinion-piece at Anglican Mainstream.

For the background, see Kevin Kallsen’s interview with Melvin Tinker at Anglican Unscripted.

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