Contracts exchanged for purchase of All Saints’ College

“On Friday November 24, The Presbyterian Church in NSW and the All Saints’ College Council exchanged contracts for the purchase of All Saints’ College by the Presbyterian Church. …”

– The latest from the Diocese of Bathurst.

Newcastle Election Synod this Saturday — 25 November

“This coming weekend the Synod of the Diocese will gather for the purpose of electing its new Diocesan Bishop. …

Members of the Board are agreed that we have three very good people before us for our consideration. They have been impressed, particularly, with the openness of these nominees to reflecting on what God’s call to them is at this time, and their generosity with us testing this call. …”

– Read it all here, and be encouraged to pray for the Newcastle Synod as they meet.

WA Anglican Bishop says ‘no’ to same-sex church weddings

“A WA Anglican bishop has declared he will not allow same-sex couples to marry inside Anglican churches, regardless of the consequences.

Gary Nelson, the bishop of North West Australia, was a vocal No campaigner during the postal survey.”

– Story from The West Australian.

Newcastle election synod set for Saturday November 25

“Over the weekend the Bishop Nomination Board advised parishes of progress leading up to the Bishop Election Synod, including indicating that they will be nominating three people to the Synod for consideration. …

This year’s Synod will open with a Synod Eucharist at St Peter’s, East Maitland, 7pm on Friday 24 November. All are welcome to attend this service of worship. The Election Synod will then gather the following day at Bishop Tyrrell Anglican College, with Synod commencing at 9.00am. Our ordinances direct that Election Synods are held in camera.”

– News from the Diocese of Newcastle for your prayers.
(Nomination Board pictured.)

Sarah Macneil to resign as Bishop of Grafton

“The Anglican Bishop of Grafton, the Right Reverend Dr Sarah Macneil, has resigned, effective from March 3 next year. She announced her decision in a pastoral letter to her diocese, saying she had hoped to remain until 2020, when she turned 65, but questions of health had forced an early departure. …”

– News via Archbishop Philip Freier’s website.

Latest news from the Top End, November 2017

Top Centre, the newsletter of the Diocese of the Northern Territory, for November 2017 is now up on their website.

Download the 4.7MB PDF file and use it as fuel for your prayers for the churches and people of the Top End.

(You could also pray for Nungalinya College in Darwin.)

‘Anglican Bishop of North West Australia threatens to ditch registering marriages if Yes prevails in SSM survey’

“The conservative Anglican bishop of north-west WA is threatening to abandon registering marriages if the Yes vote prevails in the same-sex marriage survey and religious protections are weak.

Criticising the Federal Government’s handling of the postal survey, Bishop of North West Australia Gary Nelson said details of the legislation should have been released before the vote began. …”

– Story from The West Australian.

Wanniassa to Holbrook: City-to-Country Mission

“In July St Matthews, Wanniassa, ran a mission to Holbrook. Praise God for an abundance of opportunities to share the saving news of Jesus with kids, teens and adults. The program allowed the team to make connections with all people through door-knocking, a Trivia/Games night and a Big Brekky, in addition to the usual host, social and church settings. …”

– Good news for Holbrook – from the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn website.

Dogs, donkeys, cockatoos head to annual Pet Blessings in Newcastle

“The Anglican Parish Telarah Rutherford and Christ Church Cathedral held their annual Blessing of the Pets this week.

A bearded dragon, delightful donkeys, cackling cockatoos and a pack of pooches were just some of the purrfect pets who attended with their human companions.”

– News and photos from the Diocese of Newcastle.

Meanwhile, also in Newcastle Diocese, “Anglican Priest Rod Bower brands Peter Dutton a ‘Sodomite’ in social media post” – Sydney Morning Herald.

Assisted suicide opposed

“Anglicans in New South Wales and Victoria have been urged to contact their MPs to oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide legislation.

The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia, which met in Queensland, passed a motion opposing the legalisation of ‘assisted dying’. …”

– Report from SydneyAnglicans.net.

Dr Megan Best’s Synod speech on the Euthanasia motion – from Sydney Synod 2010.

Albert Mohler’s The Briefing, 08 September 2017, from 9’40”.

General Synod news – 7 September 2017

Stories from SydneyAnglicans.net –

Domestic violence ‘first priority’

“The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia has condemned domestic and family violence in all its forms, saying churches are committed to being safe places for all people, especially children and vulnerable adults.

In a motion moved by Melbourne’s Bishop Stephen Hale and seconded by Sydney’s Archdeacon Kara Hartley, Synod described domestic violence as sin, saying Scripture should never be twisted to justify or excuse any abuse. …”

Scots ‘impair’ communion with Australia

“The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia has acknowledged that relationship with the Scottish Episcopal Church has been impaired by the SEC removing gender from its marriage canon.

In June, the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church voted in favour of altering the church’s Canon on Marriage to remove the definition that marriage is between a man and a woman allow same-sex couples to marry in church.…”

On the vote concerning the Scottish Episcopal Church:

Read Dean Raffel’s speech (PDF file):

“Across the Anglican communion churches are trying to work out how best to love people of diverse sexual orientation.

This is important because all people are made in God’s image; and God hates nothing that he has made.

It is important because all people are to be valued honoured and loved not only because they are created in God’s image but because of Christ’s costly redeeming love for them.

It is important because Christians have often failed to love same sex attracted people, making it difficult or impossible for them to hear and experience the welcome and power of Jesus in their lives.

And it is important because same sex attracted people are our friends, our family members, our colleagues, members of our churches, and we might assume, members of this Synod. …”

Bishop Richard Condie’s speech (via David Ould).

“We want to express a deep welcome to homosexual people in our church. We should treat all people with love and respect. We shun actions and words that demean and marginalise; we reject discrimination, and especially grieve the way people who identify as homosexual have been treated in our society and churches.

While the SEC’s action is ostensibly about the inclusion of homosexual people in the church, it actually undermines the Biblical witness to the ultimate trajectory of salvation, our union with Christ. We must not fall for the world’s view that holding to the teaching of Christ on marriage means we can’t be welcoming to homosexual people in the church. …”

General Synod Day 3 – More bills, less lunch, less Jesus

“As the afternoon kicked in we turned to considering issues surrounding future ministry, particularly two related debates around future structures and what are being called “pioneer ministries”. …

As we heard about the need to being doing ministry beyond the Sunday service it seemed like some people were, for the first time, grappling with what many of us simply call “evangelism”. But even then the struggle to actually be clear on the overall aim was soon going to manifest itself. …

I moved the following amendment:

after the words “The General Synod”, add:

“, captivated by the declaration of Christ that repentance for the forgiveness of sins be preached in his name to all nations”

Readers will recognise the language as being a direct citation from Jesus’ final charge to his disciples in Luke 24.47. Not controversial, surely?…”

– David Ould reports on the third day of General Synod, meeting in Maroochydore. Tragically, it seems the gospel of the Lord Jesus was narrowly voted down.

General Synod passes National child protection measures

“Binding rules on all clergy and church workers have been passed during a debate on child protection at the Anglican Church of Australia Synod, meeting this week in Queensland. …”

— News from SydneyAnglicans.net.

Photo courtesy Anglican Media Melbourne.

Fallout in Australia over Lines consecration

Interesting developments ahead of next week’s General Synod meeting in Maroochydore:

“The Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia has asked the church’s Appellate Tribunal to offer a ruling as to whether its bishops may participate in the consecration of bishops who are not members of the Anglican Communion.

On 16 August 2017, the Most Rev. Philip Freier, Archbishop of Melbourne, wrote to the registrar of the tribunal stating he had received a request from the Bishop of Bendigo, the Rt. Rev. Andrew Curnow, supported by four other bishops that raised objections to the consecration of the Rt. Rev. Andrew Lines of the Anglican Church in North America by the Archbishop of Sydney and Bishops of Tasmania and Northwest Australia. …

Bishop Curnow, joined by the Rt. Rev. John Stead of Willochra, the Rt. Rev. Kay Goldsworthy of Gippsland, the Rt. Rev. William Ray of North Queensland, and the Rt. Rev. Allan Ewing of Bunbury, asked the Tribunal to address three issues …

While Drs Davies and Condie had kept the primate, Dr. Freier, fully informed of their plans and had had communicated with him before they acted, Bishop Curnow and his colleagues had not shown the same courtesy to Drs. Davies and Condie.”

– Report from Anglican Ink.