October 2011 Church Record online

The latest issue of The Australian Church Record is now online.

Includes:
Welcome to the 49th Synod – editorial
Knox/Robinson for Today – Mark Thompson
Meet the Secretariat’s CEO
What Kind of Bishop? – Gerald Bray

UV Festival

Looking for a school holiday activity with Good News for the children? Check out the UV Festival at Chapter House on Wednesday 28th September – at Kidzlink.

Forward on our knees

“From time to time, people ask me (often in a lugubrious, ‘I knew it would never happen’ tone of voice) how I feel, given that so far we have not seen 10 per cent of the population of our region attending Bible-based churches although our Mission is now more than eight years old. They seem to think that I may be terribly despondent.

The answer is that while I have always wanted to see many more people come to know Christ, I have such confidence in the wisdom and power of God not to be at all cast down. Among other things, we do not as yet know how the Lord will answer our prayers. …”

– Archbishop Peter Jensen reminds Sydney Anglicans that there’s only one way forward. (Image: SydneyAnglicans.net. The phrase about advancing ‘on your knees’ is attributed to Hudson Taylor.)

‘Anglican Church of Canada worship returns to St. John’s Shaughnessy’

“The Venerable John Stephens, Archdeacon of Vancouver has arranged a rota of clergy to conduct Sunday services and musicians to lead the music in worship beginning Sunday, September 25th at 11am with a Celebration of Holy Communion. …”

– from the Diocese of New Westminister website.

Related: Largest Anglican Church congregation in Canada leaves historic church home.

And from the St. John’s Vancouver website:

“We will pray that He will continue to use this space for His glory, and that many may come to know Him in it in the future.”

“On September 18, we will have regular services at 8am, 10am, and 6:30pm.  The 10am service will finish differently. Near the end of the 10am service we will thank God for his grace at giving us our home at St. John’s Shaughnessy for the better part of the last century. We will pray that He will continue to use this space for His glory, and that many may come to know Him in it in the future.  We will then depart the building together and drive to our new location at 5350 Baillie, arriving together.  We will thank God for his grace and provision and sing .  After this, at approximately noon, a light lunch will be served at our new location and there will be an opportunity to explore where ministries will be happening and enjoy our new home.”

Quiz Worx appeal

During September, the Quiz Worx team, who do terrific gospel ministry with kids, are seeking to raise funds to support their work.
(Check out their resources.)

Summer School 2012

CMS NSW has now opened registration for the 2012 Summer School.

Defence Sunday 2011 — 6th November

The Anglican Defence Force Chaplains are encouraging the observance of Defence Sunday on 6th November (the Sunday before Remembrance Day).

There are around 100 Anglican clergy serving in Afghanistan, East Timor, Solomon Islands, Malaysia, Australia and elsewhere.

There are a number of Defence Chaplains in the Sydney area. Archdeacon to the Air Force, Kevin Russell (e-mail Kevin.russell@defence.gov.au) would be delighted to field enquiries about having one of them come to your church – to open the Scriptures and to share about pastoral needs and gospel ministry in the Defence Force.

(The new under-development website is at defenceanglicans.org.au.)

Christian Doctors oppose South Australian ‘End of Life’ bill

Here’s a press release from the Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia, relating to a bill (Herald Sun story) before the South Australian parliament –

“Christian Doctors Oppose Keys ‘End of Life’ Bill

The South Australian branch of the Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia (CMDFA)  joins with many individuals and groups throughout South Australia, including the AMA South Australian branch and the Law Society (SA branch) to oppose the proposed amendments that would increase the vulnerability of patients by making it easier for doctors to provide treatment that shortened a person’s life.  Read more

The day the world stood still

On Sunday September 11 2011, Phillip Jensen preached on “The day the world stood still” at the 9/11 memorial service at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney.

The audio of Dean Jensen’s sermon may be found here. Worth downloading and passing on.

Moore College Open Day September 24

The Moore College 2011 Open Day & Spring Carnival is coming up – on Saturday 24th September from 9.30am to 2.30pm in the Moore College grounds at 15 King Street, Newtown.

BBQ lunch provided at 12:00pm. Information sessions at 10:30am and 1:30pm. Details from the college.

The Church and the Diocese — video

Here is the third of a short series of videos from the ACL aimed at helping understand how local churches relate to the Diocese and the Synod of the Diocese as they serve and worship the Lord Jesus.

Mark Earngey chats with Rick Smith, the Rector of Naremburn Cammeray Anglican Church.

Earlier videos:
Karin Sowada – How to prepare for Synod
Phil Colgan – What is the Standing Committee?

Are Sydney Anglicans actually Anglicans?

Last week Michael Jensen wrote for the ABC’s Religion and Ethics, responding to suggestions that Sydney Anglicans are something other than ‘Anglican’.

Read it here.

‘The PC brigade kills off Jesus Christ’

“A Decision to use politically correct terms – which do not mention Jesus Christ – for dates BC and AD in the new national history curriculum was an act of Christian cleansing, church leaders said yesterday. …

Removing BC and AD from the curriculum was an “intellectually absurd attempt to write Christ out of human history”, Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen said yesterday…”

– story from The Daily Telegraph.

In the running to support Moore College

Michael Jensen is raising money for Moore College by running the Sydney Marathon (42 km) on 18 September.

Learn more (and make a donation!) here.

Why aren’t we growing?

Over at The Briefing’s new online home, Tony Payne has a story which will be of interest to all Sydney Anglicans who want to better connect with their communities for the sake of the gospel –

“Tim Sims is a successful businessman and corporate strategist. … Over the past two years or so, he has been turning his analytical skills to a different sort of ‘business’ — the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. Tim has been driving a research project seeking to understand the current state of Anglican churches in Sydney…”

– This research raises some crucial questions for our churches. Read it all here.

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