Australian Anglicans become more evangelical, redress debts mount

General Synod in Melbourne wrapped up yesterday. John Sandeman at The Other Cheek filed his last (?) report from the meeting –

“The Anglican Church of Australia is tilting further and further towards evangelicalism, an analysis of the election results from the General Synod (national church parliament) shows. This is seen clearly in the election of members to the Standing Committee of the General Synod. A quirk in the first-past-the-post method of elections makes changes in the [churchmanship] of the synod transparent, as it displays trends easily. …”

– Read here.

We need to be reminded that the story is bigger than numbers and ‘politics’ and pray that – despite the enormous challenges mentioned in this article – men and women, boys and girls, across Australia will hear the wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ and be saved for eternity.

Do pray for General Synod as it meets in Melbourne 9-14 August

The Nineteenth Session of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia will be held from Sunday 9 August to Friday 14 August 2026 in Melbourne.

“The Session will commence with an Opening Service at St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, at 5.30 pm on Sunday, 9 August.”

Today and tomorrow, General Synod members will be travelling from all around Australia. Please pray for them as they travel and as they meet for this Session.

Via the GAFCON Australia Facebook page, here are some prayer suggestions –

“Please continue praying with us for General Synod for the Anglican Church of Australia, as it kicks off next week (August 9-14) in Melbourne.

Pray that there would be helpful motions and that godly, competent people will be appointed to all General Synod bodies.

Thank God for faithful people who serve as General Synod members and on General Synod bodies currently.

Pray for wise and gospel-focused decisions about how to respond to dioceses that are struggling financially. Pray that ministry will be prioritised over money.”

And you could pray for each of the members by name, asking for the Lord’s blessing, grace and wisdom, and that Christ will be honoured in all discussions and decisions.

Image: The crests of the Australian dioceses, thanks to the Anglican Church of Australia.

Diocese of Tasmania recognises the Global Anglican Communion in recent Synod

We missed this news from Gafcon Australia when it came out last month –

“We are delighted by the motion recently passed by the synod of the Diocese of Tasmania. The following was moved by the Venerable Jennifer Hercott:

‘That this Synod:

1. Notes that this Diocese has previously affirmed and assented to the Jerusalem Declaration as a faithful expression of Anglican doctrine and identity;

2. Acknowledges its continued constitutional relationship with the Church of England in England as presently established;

3. Recognises the Global Anglican Communion as a genuine expression of Anglican fellowship, grounded in historic orthodoxy and shared commitment to the authority of Scripture;

4. Declares that this Diocese considers itself to be in fellowship with those Provinces and Dioceses within the Global Anglican Communion that uphold the doctrine and teaching reflected in the Jerusalem Declaration;

5. Encourages the strengthening of relationships, prayer, and mutual support with these Anglican bodies for the sake of the gospel and the unity of Christ’s Church. …’ ”

– Read more at Gafcon Australia, where the question is posed, “Could your diocese propose a similar motion? Or your local church begin by adopting the Jerusalem Declaration?”

Bishop Richard Condie’s 2026 Presidential Address to the Synod of the Diocese of Tasmania

Bishop of Tasmania Richard Condie delivered his Presidential Address at the 2026 earlier this month.

It’s now on the diocesan website –

“Synod is about partnership. We each have our roles to play, as we bring our spiritual gifts to bear on our ministry and leadership. Each Parish and sector ministry, each chaplaincy and school has a unique context with unique mission challenges. But Synod reminds us that we do not labour alone, but alongside each other in partnership in the gospel. Paul was very aware of this as he wrote to the Philippian church. He was not a solo missionary, nor was the church in Philippi all on its own. Rather, Paul gives thanks to God for their partnership, their fellowship, their communion in the Gospel, right through his association with then. They were in this together, and so are we.

I am so thankful for your partnership and prayers and give thanks to God for them. I have been especially aware of this in recent days as we have begun to address our challenges around redress, but also in the development of our renewed shared Vision that we will launch at this Synod. We genuinely do this work together and it is a great joy. …”

Bishop Condie speaks around three points –

  1. Where we have come from
  2. Where we are now – redress
  3. The Future – Launching Tasmanian Anglicans 2031.

Under the third heading, he outlines –

– Read it all here.

Plenty of food for prayer for our brothers and sisters and the progress of the gospel in Tasmania.

Image thanks to the Diocese of Bathurst.

Canberra-Goulburn magazine for May 2026

The Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn has posted online their Anglican News magazine for May 2026.

Here’s Bishop Mark Short’s Reflection:

“Like many of you, I’ve been fascinated by talk of The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God or even The Quiet Revival, especially among younger people in the West.

The former is the title of a 2023 book by UK journalist Justin Brierley, in which he discusses the growing number of thought leaders who are displaying warmth towards Christianity or even declaring faith in Christ. Historian Tom Holland and former Muslim turned atheist Ayan Hirsi Ali are two such examples.

The latter was the title of a 2025 report published by the UK Bible Society, which found a fourfold increase in church attendance by young adults in just five years. Understandably this generated a great deal of discussion and excitement amongst Christians within and outside the UK.

Now for the letdown: two months ago the Bible Society withdrew The Quiet Revival report after being advised the data on which it was based could not be trusted. This prompted some soul-searching on the part of Christians but we need not be alarmed; we have nothing to fear from the truth and God does not need spin or selective statistics to advance His kingdom.

So, what is the good news in the aftermath of Easter?

Christ is risen, ascended and building His church! The most important realities cannot be captured through opinion polls. Nonetheless (and here I’m being tentative rather than definitive) there are signs that something significant is happening in the spiritual climate of Australia and other similar nations.

Earlier this month the Church of England released its attendance figures for 2025. They found that while average weekly church attendance had increased only marginally over the previous year, attendance at Easter was up by 8 per cent. This tallies with reports from a number of parishes in our own Diocese of substantially increased Easter attendance this year. In other contexts, I’ve suggested we might be seeing the re-appearance of the ‘fringe’ – people not yet fully connected with congregational life who find major festivals an ideal opportunity to take first steps.

Likewise, as I travel around the Diocese, I seem to be encountering a larger than usual number of people who have recently connected or reconnected with church. Some, but not all, are young men. If there are factors common to these newcomers they would seem to be some level of engagement with matters of faith online, a longing for spiritual grounding and an interest in liturgy and/or church history.

So what are to do and make of all this?

The first step is to trust God rather than our own prognostications. As Jesus reminds us in John 3, the life-transforming work of God’s Spirit is like wind: elusive, unpredictable yet unmistakeable in its impact. Second, we need to be ready to welcome and care for the people God sends us. Third, we need to cultivate healthy communities of faith. Some are being introduced online to toxic expressions of Christianity that are allied to patriarchy or extreme nationalism. A truly Christ-centred church is the best place for people to be formed into a generous and orthodox faith through the joys and the messiness of embodied relationships.

By God’s grace let’s keep sharing and being shaped by the Gospel of Jesus, the truest and best news there has ever been.”

– Read it online here. Or direct link to PDF file.

A Pastoral Letter from the Bishop of Tasmania on Redress

A Pastoral Letter from Bishop Richard Condie –

“Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As many of you will know, over the past couple of decades we have been dealing with the sins of historic child sexual abuse that were committed in the Diocese of Tasmania. Sadly many young people became victims of abuse and have suffered terrible personal consequences. We have been determined to provide restorative justice, recognition and support for survivors through the National Redress Scheme and through civil financial settlements. …”

– Read it all at the Diocese of Tasmania website.

(Photo: Diocese of Bathurst.)

Principles of the Prayer Book

“What I offer here … is not a nostalgic plea for the recovery of a lost golden age, nor a polemical defence of one authorised book over another. Rather, it is an attempt to articulate and reflect on the principles that underlie The Book of Common Prayer, principles which have shaped Anglican worship historically and which continue to exercise normative authority within the Anglican Church of Australia.”

Bishop of The Northern Territory, Greg Anderson, writes at The Australian Church Record –

“I am probably one of a relatively small number of people these days who has been – hard to know quite how to describe it – perhaps a committed participant in liturgical church services from my earliest childhood memories. Perhaps unusually, I was an early and competent reader, so I imagine I was reading and saying the prayers along with everyone else. And since it was the same liturgy every week (apart from the Psalm, which we didn’t always say), you didn’t need to read all that well… well, you could join in from memory. Our church was devotionally warm, scripturally focused, and theologically normal, and no one imagined for a moment that liturgical services sat in tension with any of that.

That is my background. I know that this is far from everyone’s experience. All this is to say that I approach liturgical corporate worship with a long?standing positive experience – something that is relatively rare these days. What I offer here, therefore, is not a nostalgic plea for the recovery of a lost golden age, nor a polemical defence of one authorised book over another. Rather, it is an attempt to articulate and reflect on the principles that underlie The Book of Common Prayer, principles which have shaped Anglican worship historically and which continue to exercise normative authority within the Anglican Church of Australia.

Before turning to those principles themselves, two introductory notes are necessary: first, concerning the place of The Book of Common Prayer in the Australian Church; and second, concerning where such principles are to be found and how they might be identified and ranked. …”

– Read it all here.

Anglican board directs Bishop of The Murray to step down

From John Sandeman at The Other Cheek, a report on Bishop Keith Dalby of The Diocese of The Murray –

“Following the diocese becoming aware of his secret marriage to Alison Dutton in August 2023, Bishop Keith Dalby had stepped aside from his office as Bishop of the Diocese of The Murray with effect from 9 December 2023. In his statement, Bishop Murray expressed his ‘deep regret for the impact of my actions on the Diocese of the Murray, its clergy, and its people.’ …

[Bishop Dalby responds] ‘I am considering my position in light of the Board’s determination and will respond within the required timeframe. I ask for prayers for all those affected by this matter, including the people and leadership of the Diocese of the Murray.’”

– Story here.

Easter Message from Bishop Mark Short

Mark Short, Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn and Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, has released his 2026 Easter message for the churches of his diocese –

The Bible tells us that the Roman Governor Pilate ordered Jesus to be executed with a sign that read “This is the King of the Jews”. The message was written in Hebrew, the language of the locals, Latin, the language of their conquerors and in Greek, the language of global commerce and culture. Pilate meant it as a mockery directed both at Jesus and his fellow Jews. But it disclosed a profound truth. Jesus died both in solidarity with His own people and for the sake of all the peoples of the world.

Last year I visited the suburban church where I first came to trust in Christ as a teenager. A lot has changed in those forty or so years. Red-tiled houses on quarter-acre blocks have been replaced by townhouses and multi-storey developments. What was once a working-class Anglo and southern European community is now home to many people from the Asian sub-continent. The Chinese and Australian meals of memory have given way to desi food and culture.

My childhood church is still part of that rich local life. A little smaller but much more culturally diverse than I remember it and more representative of its community. Some individuals and couples who mentored me in my younger years continue to live and worship there, because they love their neighbours and their neighbourhood and are convinced that the Risen Lord Jesus does as well. I continue to thank God for their witness. Grounded in the knowledge that through Jesus, God has forgiven them and gifted them new life they are free to engage the changing world around them with hope and with hospitality.

At a time when change can feel rapid and unsettling and social cohesion is under pressure there is no word more worthy of our attention and trust than the message of the cross.

with prayers and blessings,

Bishop Mark.

Published in Anglican News, March 2026, page 2.

There’s also news of the induction of Joshua Kuswadi as the eighth Rector of St. Matthew’s Wanniassa (page 8).

The Link – from Armidale Diocese – Autumn 2026

The Link magazine from the Diocese of Armidale for Autumn 2026 is now up on their website.

Download a copy (direct link to PDF file) for your edification and as fuel for your prayers.

The Global Anglican Communion, Abuja and the Australian Anglican Church — with Archbishop Kanishka Raffel

From The Pastor’s Heart –

“What does the reordering of the Anglican Communion actually mean for Christians in the Australian Church?

Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel on what it means for Anglican churches, clergy and church members in Australia.

We explore what ‘principled disengagement’ from the Canterbury Instruments will mean for Australian leaders and other Global Anglican Communion leaders.

Plus an update on implementing the Sydney Diocean goal of seeing five percent saved through conversion growth each year.

And Archbishop Raffel responds to criticism over his comments on Pauline Hanson, ‘We must reject hateful words and threats of violence.’”

– Watch or listen here.

Listening in Lent — in the Diocese of Melbourne

Newly installed Archbishop of Melbourne Ric Thorpe invites members of his diocese to “listen, reflect, and respond together”.

“During Lent, you are invited to be part of Listening in Lent – an opportunity to pause, reflect, and share what you notice and hope for as part of the Diocese of Melbourne today, and as we look to the future together.”

It’d be good to pray for Archbishop Thorpe and all involved in this, in their desire to see churches strengthened and for the people of Melbourne to come to trust in the Lord Jesus.

Canberra & Goulburn’s Anglican News for Feb 2026

The February 2026 issue of Anglican News, the magazine of the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn, has been posted on their website.

– A good way to get a feel for – and to pray for – what’s happening in the diocese.

North Qld Anglican diocese given green light to sell properties to pay compensation

Report from ABC News:

“The Anglican Diocese of North Queensland has been given the green light to sell church properties to help meet its payment commitments to victims of historical child sexual abuse.

The church diocese, which covers a third of the state, entered receivership in August in order to meet its financial obligations under the National Redress Scheme, which receivers estimate will reach up to $11 million by 2028. …”

– Read the story here.

Image derived from the North Queensland Diocese website.

Diocese of the Northern Territory Prayer Cycle for 2026

The Diocese of the Northern Territory’s Prayer Cycle for 2026 is now available on their website.

A great way to be reminded to pray for gospel ministry in the Northern Territory and around Australia.

On this page – or direct download (PDF).

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