Church of England Bishop gives backing to rainbow eucharist

“A Eucharist to celebrate LGBT Pride has taken place in the Diocese of Oxford with the full backing of the local suffragan Bishop and Archdeacon.

After the service on 30th August, well known LGBT activist and lay member of General Synod Jayne Ozanne tweeted a photo the service in Reading Minster (Oxford Diocese), where the Communion table is covered in the rainbow flag …”

– Report from Anglican Mainstream. Photo: Jayne Ozanne.

Trusting in God in drought


“Be strong and courageous” sang Colin Buchanan, but the words of one of his most famous kids’ songs were being applied to all ages as St Andrew’s Cathedral filled with people wanting to pray for an end to the worst drought for more than a century.

The singer’s poignant songs about the Australian bush, farmers and faith hit the right note as the congregation was told of the struggles of those living and working in rural and remote areas of New South Wales. …

– Full story from SydneyAnglicans.net.

See also: The Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid Drought Appeal.

The Church and the Bible (Part 2)

“What particularly threatens us as members of the Church of England is the very serious danger of the official acceptance by our Church of doctrines and practices which are additional and contrary to the Scriptural witness – and all in the supposed interest of larger and truer unity among Christians.

As each Lambeth Conference makes more obvious, there is the growing pressure of the Anglican Communion, and of a striving after a comprehensive ‘wholeness‘ whose governing principle is not uncompromising loyalty to the Scriptures, as the one supreme rule of faith and conduct, but the holding together in one family of churches which have come to believe and worship differently …”

– Alan Stibbs wasn’t writing yesterday, but in the January 1960 issue of The Australian Church Record.

Learn about the nine new GAFCON Networks

Learn about the nine strategic global Networks launched at GAFCON 2018.

Why evangelicals in the Church of England need to talk openly

“One year before WWI broke out, Winston Churchill wrote a memo: ‘Timetable of a Nightmare.’

It predicted details of the coming war. Churchill frequently warned of the danger his country faced – the majority of his fellow leaders merely complained about him. Sir Henry Jackson spoke for many when he wrote that he ‘did not like the style’ of Churchill’s writing.

Churchill’s warnings of danger were ignored and instead his manner, style and motivations were impugned. Trying to prepare the military and nation to defend itself felt like wading through treacle with chains of iron around his neck – because free and open debate about the actual issues was precluded by those in a position to act. …”

– Peter Sanlon writes at Evangelicals Now. (Link via Anglican Mainstream.)

Ambulance staff see a lot of ‘death and dying’ and one man provides different help

“With only a Christian cross on the epaulet of his blue uniform to distinguish him from other paramedics, senior chaplain Paul McFarlane had barely finished parking when he was asked for help. …

‘We can walk right in because we are part of the team,’ said Reverend McFarlane. …”

– A Sydney Morning Herald story today on the value of Ambulance Chaplaincy.

(Photo: NSW Ambulance Service.)

Standing on the Authority of God’s Word

“The absolute necessity of what Gafcon rightly contends for is becoming a very personal experience for me. My wife, Gillian, and I have been married for 37 years and I write (with her agreement) on our last wedding anniversary. …

For the suffering and the dying, the pick ’n mix optional orthodoxy of the new Canterbury Anglicanism simply will not do. If my understanding of God’s grace in the gospel and my hope in Christ are just that – my understanding – where is my assurance and confidence in the face of the ‘last enemy’?…”

– In a deeply personal note GAFCON’s Membership Development Secretary, Charles Raven, shares the hope he and his wife Gillian cling to – the sure promises of Gods Word. And do pray for them both.

Dean defends cathedral screening films with graphic sex scenes and paganism

“A cathedral is pressing ahead with plans to show two “not for the faint-hearted” horror films and Monty Python’s Life of Brian on an inflatable big screen – despite opposition from some church wardens.

The Dean of Derby, The Very Reverend Dr Stephen Hance, said the decision to host the city’s QUAD cinema’s Fright Club and other films in the nave would not compromise the cathedral’s holiness. … [despite] a graphic nude sex scene and themes of paganism.”

– Story from ITV News. (Photo: Dr Stephen Hance, Derby Cathedral.)

Four ways Christians can support our farmers

“Take a drive into the country and you’ll see rolling hills of red dirt and crispy yellow grass. The drought is crippling farmers and rural economies, and it doesn’t look like relief is coming any time soon.

‘The short version is that it’s pretty tough,’ says Rev Ted Brush, the Bush Church Aid’s NSW & ACT Regional Officer. Since stepping into the role in January, Mr Brush has seen the toll that the drought is taking on towns.…”

– Story from SydneyAnglicans.net.

See also:

Bush Church Aid

Archbishop of Sydney calls for Prayer for the Drought.

Euthanasia Bill Defeated in the Senate

“The push to allow territories the right to legalise euthanasia has foundered in the Senate, with a majority of the chamber voting against the proposal before it reached the committee stage.

The proposal appeared doomed when senators Brian Burston and Peter Georgiou reversed their position on the legislation, switching from yes votes to no votes. …”

– Story from The Guardian.

See also: Euthanasia Defeat In Senate Calls For Congratulations – Australian Christian Lobby:

“We know from international experiences that euthanasia is a slippery slope which leads to cases like in Belgium recently where a nine-year-old with a brain tumour and an eleven-year-old with cystic fibrosis were euthanaised.

“The inherent value of every life must continue to be maintained.  Australia must not become the kind of society where some lives where considered worthier of life than others.” – Martyn Iles.

(Image: St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.)

Morning Star Publishing joins Bible Society Australia Publishing Arm

From a Bible Society Australia press release:

“Morning Star’s list joins Acorn Press and the Centre for Public Christianity as imprints of Bible Society Australia Publishing.”

– Full press release here. And the Morning Star Publishing website.

GAFCON announces plans for additional Conference for 2019

The Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, has announced that GAFCON will hold a conference in 2019 for those excluded from attending the recent global gathering in Jerusalem.

“…we were saddened by the fact that there were some from Africa and the Middle East who wanted to join us but were prevented from doing so due to visa issues. We are determined that they should experience the same sense of awe and joy and we have therefore decided to organise a conference specifically tailored for them.”

– Source: GAFCON.

Response to Ely Cathedral’s Support of Pride Festival

Here’s a response to Ely Cathedral’s support of their local Pride Festival, from Lee Gatiss, Director of Church Society. He comments on an item on a Cambridge local news website:

“Why is a Church of England cathedral promoting what is described as “primarily a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender celebration”?

They are not naive, and know what they are doing. The flag will no doubt be a rainbow, but in reality it is a white flag, signalling their surrender of Christianity in favour of a completely different gospel, which is divisive in the church and endangering to the soul.

There are better ways of rejoicing in the diversity of humanity — by proclaiming the joyful news of eternal life for every one of us who repents, turns away from our sin and turns to Jesus instead. Bring back the cross, the symbol of his kingdom. That is the banner under which Christians gather. But God says, ‘pride comes before destruction.’”

– from Church Society.

Edinburgh church votes to split from the Scottish Episcopal Church

“One of the largest churches in Edinburgh has voted to split from the Scottish Episcopal Church amid tensions over its decision to become the first Anglican body in the UK to endorse gay marriage. …

The Rev David McCarthy, Rector at St Thomas’ told The Sunday Telegraph the decision had been a “very painful” one. …

‘… it is the Episcopal Church who are leaving us. They are leaving orthodoxy.’…”

– Report from The Sunday Telegraph.

(Photo of David McCarthy via GAFCON.)

See also: St. Thomas’, Corstorphine, Edinburgh.

Lambeth 98 — Scripture Rules

Twenty years ago today, the 1998 Lambeth Conference passed Resolution 1.10 on Human Sexuality. (5th August 1998.)

Many see it as an important date in Anglican history – as does Dr. Stephen Noll, who was there for the American Anglican Council. Read his Diary notes from Week Three of Lambeth 1998.

How was Lambeth 98 seen at the time?

The American Anglican Council’s Encompass newsletter for August 1998 featured a front page report by AAC President Bishop James Stanton, Bishop of Dallas, who wrote these prophetic words:

“I hope that the result of Lambeth 1998 will be the forming of an alliance of Anglicans from the West and the South committed to the biblical Gospel and to our Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples of all nations.”

Here is the full text of his report:

“l am writing on the final day of the 1998 Lambeth Conference in Canterbury. We are completing three weeks that have been full of the joys one would expect from a great gathering of the Church‘s leaders, ‘elect from every nation yet one o’er all the earth.’ And all this during a beautiful English summer, overlooking Canterbury Cathedral, our communion’s historic home.

But I must confess that a dark shadow hung over this Conference that was only dispelled in the final days. This shadow was the work of our American Episcopal Church.

By tolerating an overt non-theist in its midst — the Bishop of Newark — and by promoting practices clearly contrary to the Bible and the Church’s historic teaching — the ordination of practicing homosexuals and ‘blessing’ of same-sex partnerships — our Church was threatening its own unity and the unity of the Communion.

Frankly we Americans needed help. Last September in Dallas, Stephen Noll, our Encompass editor, had urged the forty Third World bishops gathered there: ‘The handwriting is on the wall. Please spell it out for us, by the grace of God that is given you and the help of the Holy Spirit.’ On August 5 they did just that when they passed a strong, clear Resolution on Human Sexuality.

This Resolution was not easily won. We faced, sadly, opposition prepared to thwart the will of the majority. Our team at Lambeth worked hard to provide support in terms of networking, information, planning, and praying (intercessors prayed every waking hour of the Conference). The crisis point came when the Archbishop of Canterbury, seeing the determination of the Third World bishops on this issue, intervened to ensure a fair and orderly debate. The dam then broke and the Conference did spell out its position by a vote of 526 for, 70 against, 46 abstaining.

Archbishop George Carey said at the end of this historic debate that ‘if this Conference is known and named by what we have said about homosexuality we will have failed.’ l agree. This Conference was not about sex. It was about the authority of Scripture in the Church, which is at the heart of our identity as Christians and Anglicans. It was no accident that the day after the sexuality vote the Conference passed a strong statement of biblical authority.

Furthermore, I think this Conference will be known as the moment when the voice of the ‘South,’ i.e., the Two-Thirds World Anglicans, became the voice of the Communion. it was a bold but caring voice –  It is the voice of the Decade of Evangelism –  It is a voice seeking help to teach, to nurture, and to employ the new converts who are the fruit of the past decade’s expansion. It is a voice challenging us to take the Gospel to our secularized societies in the West.

Our African, Latino, and Asian comrades acknowledged our role here. ‘The Conference would have been a disaster without you,’ one Nigerian bishop told us as we bade farewell. ‘We are not self sufficient. You managed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to keep us together.’

I hope that the result of Lambeth 1998 will be the forming of an alliance of Anglicans from the West and the South committed to the biblical Gospel and to our Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. We have seen a work of God. Our work has just begun.

With great thanksgiving to God and greetings to you.

James M. Stanton, Bishop of Dallas
President, American Anglican Council.”

See the original article here (700kb PDF file).

On the inside pages, Dr Stephen Noll, Encompass Editor, provided his own perspective:

Lambeth Report: Was it a Defining Moment?

“The bishops of the South did not want to talk about sex, but they did want to talk about Scripture, so the next day they passed a Resolution on Scripture that ‘reaffirms the primary authority of the Scriptures, according to their testimony and supported by our own historic formularies.” It goes on to urge “that the Biblical text be handled respectfully, coherently, and consistently …  believing that Scriptural revelation must continue to illuminate, challenge and transform cultures, structures, and ways of thinking, especially those that pre- dominate today.’…”

With twenty years’s hindsight, Dr Noll’s reflection is sobering reading. See his full comments here (1.2MB PDF file).

See also Bishop Paul Barnett’s remarks to the October 1998 ACL Dinner.

(In the older section of our website).

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