The Christmas Countdown: from Speak Life

Speak Life in the UK has released this year’s Christmas video – The Christmas Countdown.

It’s something you could share with a friend, and then encourage them to consider the 321 course –

“321 comprises of 8 interactive video sessions designed to be completed at your leisure. Each session is around 20 min long and can be played, paused and accelerated to suit.

Presenter Glen Scrivener leads each session and offers the opportunity to think, question and test different worldviews.”

See also the Speak Life Christmas Video Rewind where Glen Scrivener and Nate Morgan Locke take a look at Speak Life’s previous Christmas videos.

The blood that brings peace

“As the Israel-Gaza war rages, with all the tragic death and suffering it entails, many pressing concerns naturally spring to our minds.

Why is the situation so dire?

Who is to blame for the suffering?

And what are our political leaders doing about it?

I can’t begin to answer all these questions in this short article. But I want to point us to something that will help us: the cross of Jesus Christ. How does it help? I’m convinced that the message of the cross gives us a deep foundation and a vital framework for making sense of issues of conflict in our world as well as in our lives. …”

– A timely reminder – from Lionel Windsor at The Australian Church Record.

Australia: Meet Jesus!

“In 2024 the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) is prayerfully embarking on a national mission; the theme is ‘Meet Jesus’ and the focus is John’s Gospel.

The AFES will, of course, be focused on proclaiming Christ on university campuses. But they have invited churches, Christian organisations, and individuals to join them, where possible, by using the same Gospel (John), the same strategy (reading John with others) and the same branding (Meet Jesus). …”

– From The Gospel Coalition Australia.

“Jesus has come to invade the realm of darkness”

“Archbishop Kanishka Raffel has visited the Diocese’s newest Anglican building, Leppington Anglican Church, celebrating ministry to what has become known as the ‘new southwest’. …

The church’s opening was disrupted by COVID and the service was the first opportunity to mark the event. …”

– Leppington opens as ‘new SouthWest’ emerges.

Russell Powell writes of Hope Anglican Church at Leppington.

Embedded in the article is the video of the service, including an interview with the Archbishop, and his sermon. The Archbishop reminds us, “Jesus has come to invade the realm of darkness”.

“To know and love the indigenous people of this land”

In his response to the Voice Referendum result, Archbishop Kanishka Raffel says there should be renewed effort towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ministry.

“The people of Australia have now spoken on the Voice to Parliament,” the Archbishop said in a statement. “Whatever your reaction to the outcome it is timely to remember what the Sydney Anglican Indigenous Peoples Ministry Committee affirmed this year – it is God’s voice that is sovereign over all peoples and lands.”…

– Read Russell Powell’s report at SydneyAnglicans.net – complete with a brief video message from the Archbishop.

Full statement below:

Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney Public Statement

The people of Australia have now spoken on the Voice to Parliament.

Whatever your reaction to the outcome it is timely to remember what the Sydney Anglican Indigenous Peoples Ministry Committee affirmed this year – it is God’s voice that is sovereign over all peoples and lands.

The conversation around the referendum highlights the need for reconciliation with the indigenous people of this land and should spur us on to the true work of reconciliation through Jesus.

Our ministries of care and education for and by indigenous people, through Anglicare and our schools, are an important part of this.

I was encouraged by our last Synod warmly welcoming and listening to the voices of our indigenous brothers and sisters. I recall the words of the Rev Michael Duckett who challenged us to spend as much time as we have spent talking about the Voice, talking about the spread of the gospel among first nations people.

“Put your efforts and your prayers,” he said “into the spread of the gospel among my people here so the Sydney Diocese can showcase to the world what it means to be reconciled to the First Nations peoples through Christ Jesus.”

What a wonderful and humbling vision! To know and love the indigenous people of this land. To direct our prayers and our efforts into helping to raise up the next generation of ministry leaders. To pray for First Nations people, young and old, to know the Lord.

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us, so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. PS 67:1,2

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel
15 October 2023.

John Anderson in conversation with Glen Scrivener

From JohnAnderson.net.au:

“In this interview, John sits down with author, minister and director of Speak Life, Glen Scrivener for a conversation on how the Christian worldview has shaped our society.

Glen does a fantastic job communicating how thoroughly the Christian ethic has shaped and still continues to shape our culture today. Most remarkably, Glen highlights how even many of Christianity’s biggest detractors’ arguments are based on presuppositions that are fundamentally Christian in nature.”

– Fascinating and worth watching. This would be a very helpful video to share with anyone who wants to know that Christians believe.

At JohnAnderson.net.au – or see YouTube for a version with time markers to jump topics discussed.

See also:

Want to Reach the World? Evangelize the Church — Glen Scrivener at The Gospel Coalition.

Speak Life.

Richard Dawkins asks an important question and here is my answer

“I can imagine Richard Dawkins sitting in the back row at the Areopagus, stern-faced and shaking head, and leading a small chorus of sceptics.

Richard Dawkins is continuing his mission to evangelise people out of Christianity (and religion altogether) and to secure his message of a world without hope.

Today in a video message, he asks, ‘Do you want to be comforted by a falsehood?’

It’s a good question and an important one. Does anyone want to find consolation in a fabrication? Does anyone want to pour all their hopes into a dead end? For Professor Dawkins death is of course the dead end, with nothing beyond and no light to give hope to either the dead or those who are left behind. …”

– Murray Campbell shares his answer to Richard Dawkins.

The Mark Drama — 2023

From Moore College:

“A fast-paced re-enactment of Mark’s Gospel.

JESUS?

Jesus has to be one of the most hotly debated people of all time. During his lifetime many questioned his origin and authority, while others feared he was a dangerous revolutionary. A production of the Moore College community, the Mark Drama turns Mark’s biographical account of Jesus into a 90-minute, theatre-in-the-round stage production. Fully immersed in the action, here you can decide for yourself – is Jesus just another guy with imaginative ideas about God, or is he truly the King of the universe? …”

– A great idea. Details from the College.

The Gospel Speaks a Better Word than ‘You are Enough’

“We are currently in the so-called fourth wave of feminism, and it is not defined by people or texts so much as by cultural moments.

The Barbie movie will become part of feminist history for many reasons, but I am particularly interested in it because its central storyline conveyed something of a paradigm shift within liberal feminism, one I had been noticing for some time. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Christine Bransdon has some very helpful observations about where we are in our culture – and the good news we can bring.

God gives the growth, but we must sow the seed – Matthew 13:1–23 – Bishop Richard Condie

Bishop of Tasmania Richard Condie speaks at Moore College chapel on the Parable of the Sower.

Great encouragement to 1. preach Christ, and 2. pray for the churches of Tasmania as they hold out the Word of Life.

Review of J. C. Ryle, ‘Christmas Thoughts’

“J. C. Ryle was an unusual clergyman in that he could preach and write, and he could write in different styles while all the time being clear and engaging.

Andrew Atherstone has gathered and edited five of Ryle’s Christmas tracts written during the 1850s and 1860s, and published them for our benefit. …”

– Peter Barnes, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, writes a brief review at AP.

From the foreword of the book:

“This little book contains five of Ryle’s most popular Christmas tracts, originally published during the 1850s and 1860s. They have not been issued in this Christmas form since they were first printed more than a century and a half ago.”

Christmas Thoughts is published by Banner of Truth.

New to Ryle? See –

His Sermons Roused a Sleeping Church – John Piper.

Penal Substitution Evidences the Godness of God

“Man of Sorrows is a much-loved hymn that meditates on the wonder of Christ’s death for us. Like so many Christian songs that churches sing with conviction and praise, we are reminded of the intense beauty and grace of God’s sacrifice on behalf of sinners.

What happens though when a pastor decides to tell his congregation that the heart of the gospel is not only not the heart of the gospel, but is objectionable and not believed by him?

A Facebook comment appeared on my feed yesterday that caught my attention …”

– Murray Campbell has done Christians a great service by pointing us back to the cross. (He also points us back to the important book, Pierced for our Transgressions.).

The Peace-Maker

“Alienation is a word often used to describe our human plight. Everywhere relationships are broken – between or within nations, in the workplace, between friends and within families. The phrase ‘the power of love’ or ‘love is everything’ is said to be the cure-all for brokenness and division. But what do these expressions really mean? What does real love look like?

Throughout the Bible, especially as it relates to God and his relationship with us, we find a radically different way that love is understood.…”

– At the Anglican Connection, John Mason doesn’t want us to forget the wonder of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Two exciting projects from Discipleship Tech

Recently Andy Geers shared updates on two exciting updates from Discipleship Tech, the team behind PrayerMate.

• An update of Redeeming the Time.

• Crowdfunding for The Serpent & The Seed, “a mobile adventure game designed to help people, who would never normally open the Bible, to engage with the big story of salvation and our place within it.”

Good to pray about (and financially support, if you are able)!

Evangelism – A Priority in Your Parish? — Neil Prott

“There is nothing more wonderful we can do for anyone than introduce them to Jesus Christ.

However, this is not reflected in the programme of many parishes today.

No doubt there are numerous reasons for the current state of affairs. Our analysis should take in the Scriptural factors as well as the obvious ones. …”

– The late Neil Prott wrote this article for ACL News back in 1989.

(We gave thanks for Neil when he was called home in April 2022.)

← Previous Page — Next Page →