Newcastle Synod Presidential Address 2021

Bishop of the Diocese of Newcastle, Dr Peter Stuart, addressed his Synod on Saturday 6th March.

He spoke about the challenges and opportunities facing the Anglican Church in the Hunter and Central Coast regions of NSW.

A good reminder to pray for gospel ministry in that large area.

Read his full address here (PDF file).

There’s a list of Appointments and moves from page 24.

Photo: Diocese of Newcastle.

God blesses with rain and new bishop

“After years of drought in North West News South Wales, pouring rain seemed an appropriate gift from God and an appropriate welcome for the new Bishop of Armidale, consecrated at the weekend.

No-one complained about the downpour, in fact Archbishop Glenn Davies described it as a ‘wonderful start’. …”

– Russell Powell at Anglican Media Sydney has this report on Bishop Rod Chiswell’s consecration in Armidale on Saturday.

North West Network February 2021

The latest issue of North West Network, the newsletter of the Diocese of Northwest Australia, is now available.

Download your copy and use it as fuel for your prayers for the churches and people of the North West.

Peter Jensen’s sermon at the Consecration and Installation of Rod Chiswell in Armidale

Dr. Peter Jensen, former Archbishop of Sydney, preached at the service of Consecration and Installation of Bishop Rod Chiswell in Armidale this morning.

Most encouraging and very much worth your time – and an extra insight into how to pray for your bishops.

Here’s the Order of Service, and please uphold in prayer Rod and Jenni Chiswell in this new sphere of service of the Lord Jesus.

Peter Grice consecrated as Bishop for Rockhampton

Peter Grice, until recently the Dean of Geraldton Cathedral in the Diocese of North West Australia, was consecrated in St John’s Cathedral Brisbane this evening.

He will be installed as the 13th Bishop of Rockhampton at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Rockhampton on Saturday 27th February 2021 at 11:00am (AEST, Noon AEDT). That service will be streamed live.

(The consecration service was streamed live, and a recording may be viewed here.)

Please uphold Peter and Virginia in prayer in this new phase of their service of the Lord Jesus.

Top image: Bishop Grice (back to camera) is greeting by Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies as Brisbane Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, seated, looks on.

Rod Chiswell’s Consecration and Installation as Bishop of Armidale this Saturday

From the Diocese of Armidale:

“Our new Bishop, the Reverend Rod Chiswell, will have his consecration and installation service at St Peter’s Cathedral Armidale on Saturday 27th February 2021 at 10 am, followed by a reception at the Armidale Ex Services Club.

The Metropolitan of NSW, the Most Reverend Dr Glenn Davies, will be presiding.

Unfortunately COVID-19 restrictions mean that numbers at the service and reception will be limited, and so attendance will have to be by invitation only. However there are plans to make a live stream of the service available.”

Update: The livestream will be available here.

Photo: Rod and Jenni Chiswell.

The future of the Australian Anglican Church – with Kanishka Raffel, Richard Condie and Jennifer Hercott

“The unity of the Australian Anglican Church is hanging by a thread.

Bishop of Tasmania Richard Condie, Dean of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel, and Jennifer Hercott from St Luke’s Church in Emerald in Queensland all serve on the Board of GAFCON Australia, a group within the Anglican denomination who are committed to upholding biblical and historic Christian faith, within Anglicanism.

In 2019 the Wangaratta Diocese in Victoria voted to go ahead with blessing same sex unions.  That decision was followed by a vote in the Diocese of Newcastle in New South Wales.

The issue was expected to come to a head at the Australian General Synod in June 2020. But COVID put everything on hold, delaying the gathering till June this year…”

– A very sobering and important edition of The Pastor’s Heart.

Plans for Bishop of Armidale’s Consecration and Installation

From the Diocese of Armidale:

“Our new Bishop, the Reverend Rod Chiswell, will have his consecration and installation service at St Peter’s Cathedral Armidale on Saturday 27th February 2021 at 10 am, followed by a reception at the Armidale Ex Services Club.

The Metropolitan of NSW, the Most Reverend Dr Glenn Davies, will be presiding.

Unfortunately COVID-19 restrictions mean that numbers at the service and reception will be limited, and so attendance will have to be by invitation only. However there are plans to make a live stream of the service available.”

Photo: Rod and Jenni Chiswell.

Blayney’s new Anglican minister

“Reverend Wally Cox is the iteration of Bishop Calder’s plans to bring new life and energy into the Bathurst diocese parishes, and Reverend Cox is under no delusions as to the difficulty of the task in front of him as he begins his life as Blayney’s new Anglican minister…”

– Report and photo Mark Logan, The Blayney Chronicle.

Challenges and opportunities in rural NSW

In the Summer 2020 edition of Moore College’s Moore Matters, Mark Calder, Bishop of Bathurst, shares:

“… I am surprised and delighted and sometimes terrified to find myself in a new role in the Diocese of Bathurst. It is an extraordinary privilege. Having been here a year (on 23rd November) – and a very unique and challenging year at that – I know that I am only just beginning.

My oft repeated line, when asked how things are going, has been ‘the challenges are great, but so too are the opportunities’. So let me tell you a little about both. …”

– Read, be encouraged, pray – and – perhaps – go!

Bishop Mark Calder’s Christmas message for 2020

The Bishop of Bathurst, Mark Calder, has released a brief Christmas message.

Click this link to watch the video – and the text is below.

Can you imagine the conversation Mary had to have with Joseph?

“Joseph – we need to talk”. (Long pause while she gathers the courage.) “I’m pregnant”.

What a shock! Mary knew she hadn’t slept with anyone. Joseph knew it wasn’t him!

Joseph was a good guy and decided not to make a fuss but simply walk away.

But God had other plans.

“What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit”, an angel told Joseph in a dream. What a dream!! There would have been comfort in that dream – Mary had not been sleeping around. But confusion too – whatever does “conceived by the Holy Spirit” mean?

Put simply, it means that in this baby, God was stepping into our world. He had an earthly mother, but a heavenly Father. God turned up – not in a majestic palace – but as a small, vulnerable baby, laid in a food trough and needing his nappy changed. Astonishing!

The two names given to this boy help us understand something of the significance of his birth.

The first: ‘Jesus’. It means ‘God saves’. Saves from what? The angel explained to Joseph, “You are to give him the name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins”. “Sins” is not a word we use today. Ultimately it means shutting God out and living as if he doesn’t exist or doesn’t matter. That attitude breaks our relationship with God. Jesus’ whole mission was to mend that relationship. By his life, death and resurrection, he makes it possible for anyone, should they want to, to be forgiven and come back into relationship with him, now and forever. That is pretty wonderful and overwhelmingly generous.

The second name: ‘Immanuel’. It means ‘God with us’. “What if God was one of us?”, Joan Osborne mused in her hit song. Christmas reminds us that God did in fact turn up as one of us. That means he gets us. He knows life! And he’s still with us – by his Spirit. In all our joys and laughter. In all our pain and grief. God is with us! This too is pretty wonderful.

COVID may dent our plans and indeed may have caused us grief this year.

But it is not so powerful that it can change the meaning of Christmas.

God saves. God with us. Revel and enjoy. (Even if your plans have had to change.)

Watch our traditional Christmas service here: https://tinyurl.com/trad-service
Watch our more contemporary service here: https://tinyurl.com/mod-service

And do pray for the churches right across Bathurst Diocese as they seek to share the saving news this Christmas.

Responses to the Appellate Tribunal Opinion

Essential reading on the 11 November 2020 Opinion issued by the Appellate Tribunal:

Armidale’s The Link introduces their new Bishop

The latest edition of The Link from the Diocese of Armidale leads with an article about Bishop-elect Rod Chiswell and his wife Jenni.

Most encouraging.

Read online or download your copy here.

Latest from the Northern Territory — Top Centre Issue 20.3

From David Ray, Registrar of the Diocese of the Northern Territory –

“Dear friends of the Anglican Diocese of the Northern Territory, please enjoy reading the latest edition of ‘Top Centre’, featuring the ordination of Craig Rogers to the Order of Deacons and our new Dean at Christ Church Cathedral, Darwin!”

And from Bishop Greg Anderson’s page –

“We are close to the end of another year – and most of us will hope that next year is very different from this year.

But although 2020 has been challenging in many ways (and very much more challenging for people in other parts of Australia and in the wider world compared with the Northern Territory), so much has remained the same. God is still God, and he is doing his work in the world. Jesus still reigns and the good news about his work of rescuing the world still builds the church. The Holy Spirit still works to transform and empower Christians, and to soften hard hearts. …”

– Plenty of encouraging reading and fuel for prayer.

Gafcon Australia Statement about Wangaratta

Gafcon Australia has released this statement:

“The Board of Gafcon Australia notes with regret that a blessing of a civil marriage of two men has taken place in the Diocese of Wangaratta. This is inconsistent with the teaching of Christ that marriage is between a man and a woman. The Anglican Church of Australia has no other doctrine of marriage. Actions of this type in other Anglican jurisdictions around the world have deeply impaired fellowship between Anglican provinces and resulted in the most serious, and in some cases, formal and ongoing breaches of unity within and between Dioceses.  Gafcon Australia remains committed to supporting faithful and orthodox Anglicans wherever they may be, and invites any who are concerned about these recent developments to contact us for prayerful encouragement and support at info@gafconaustralia.org.”

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