North West Network March 2022

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.

An unwanted gift

“Have you ever received a gift that you did not want? A number of years ago I asked my father to buy me a cast-iron griddle pan, but he decided to give it to my wife Pearl instead. I was delighted. She was less than impressed. Not every gift is something we want.

I received a gift I didn’t want recently. Despite abundant caution and double vaccination I received a bad case of COVID-19. And it really was bad. I cannot remember feeling so ill in my life. Even a month later I’m still in the process of recovery. Yet, despite all that, and amid recognition of all the pain and loss it has caused so many, I still consider it a gift. …”

– Bishop of Western Sydney Gary Koo shares what he has learned through COVID – at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Image: Bishop Gary Koo / Anglican Media Sydney.

National Bishops meeting in Adelaide

The Bishops of the Anglican Church of Australia are meeting in Adelaide Friday 18 – Tuesday 22 March. Due to COVID the last two years, this is their first in-person meeting since 2019.

Please uphold in prayer all who are meeting.

Pray for good and godly discussion as relationships in some quarters have been strained by recent actions relating to the blessing of same sex marriages.

Pray for wisdom for all and that the Lord will be honoured in what is said and done.

(Diocesan crests via the Anglican Church of Australia website.)

How ‘voluntary assisted dying’ would change our culture and values

“The introduction, last year, of Independent MP Alex Greenwich’s Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill (2021) (the ‘Bill’) is a momentous shift in medical practice and community expectation. It marks the final abandonment of one of the cornerstones of Western civilisation: the sanctity of life. The idea that all human life is inherently precious was not generally affirmed in the world into which Jesus Christ was born. It spread with the growth of early Christianity and finds expression today in the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

Advocates of Voluntary Assisted Dying (a deeply misleading cluster of words) have emphasised not the sanctity of life, but quality of life as subjectively experienced, and the primacy of autonomous choice.  Recently, a man said to me, ‘Archbishop, if you don’t want to choose assisted suicide you don’t have to, but don’t get in the way of those of us who want the right to choose’. I understand the depth of feeling and the logic.

But this way of arguing – ‘if you don’t choose it, it won’t affect you’ – is naïve.…”

– Archbishop Kanishka Raffel writes at SydneyAnglicans.net.

See also:

The Archbishop joined The Hon Damien Tudehope MLC (Leader of the Govt in the Legislative Council Professor), Professor Margaret Sommerville AM FRSC (Bioethicist) and Dr Frank Brennan MBBS, DCH, Dip Obs, FRACP, FAChPM, LLB (Lawyer and Palliative Care Specialist) in a special event at St. John’s Parramatta last night.

Watch the full video – and share with friends.

Likewise, please see and share: ePetition: “Please unanimously reject the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021”.

New start at Parkes

“The Anglican Parish of Parkes and Peak Hill has welcomed and embraced the Reverend Ben Mackay and his family who moved to Parkes in early January.

Ben’s formal welcome and commissioning will be held at St George’s Parkes tomorrow, 12th March, at 10am. The Bishop of the Diocese of Bathurst, Mark Calder will conduct the service …”

– News from The Parkes Phoenix.

Bathurst Anglican e-News — March 2022

The Diocese of Bathurst’s e-News for March 2022 is now up on their website.

It’s a “newsletter for the Anglican Church in Central & Western NSW”, but will be of interest to many who are praying for the eternal good of men and women across that diocese.

In this issue Bishop Mark Calder writes –

Encouraging signs of growth

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind towards each other that Christ Jesus had so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the same mind towards each other that Christ Jesus had; a humility of servanthood and of sacrifice, so that with one voice and one mind we may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom. 15:5-6)

I’ve been sharing those verses with you since before I began here and I think that under God we are slowly seeing our prayers answered in that regard. …

Read it all on page 2 – and download the whole issue here. (3.7MB PDF file.)

In an e-mail to newsletter recipients Bishop Calder writes:

“Please give thanks with us for the grace of God at work among us and pray that the Lord will raise up more gospel workers for our 16/29 parishes without clergy.”

Diocese of the Northern Territory Prayer Cycle for 2022

From the Diocese of the Northern Territory –

“We covet your prayers for the work of the Gospel in the Diocese of the Northern Territory.

Please keep praying that God will raise up the next generation of leaders in all the parishes here in the Northern Territory, for additional resources for our urban and remote parishes and that we will use the resources that God has given wisely.”

– Download the Prayer Cycle for 2002 here.

A word from Bishop Gary Nelson

Bishop of North West Australia, Gary Nelson, writes –

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” [ESV, 2 Tim 47]

Paul writes these words to Timothy as he nears the end of his life and ministry. They certainly encourage us all to finish well, to remain faithful to our Lord.

Friends, as I write, it’s only a few months before I conclude my ministry in the North West on May 15. For Christine and I, it has been, and still is, a wonderful privilege to serve the Lord in this part of remote Australia. It seems only yesterday we were leaving Sydney to drive across the continent to Geraldton. Now, we find ourselves preparing to do the reverse trip, 10 years later. We find it hard to believe our time in the North West is rapidly drawing to a close. So, Christine and I, want to thank you, whether family, friends or supporters [across Australia, and overseas, especially in America], for your constant prayer, generous giving and continued encouragement to press on. Read more

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel’s message to churches — March 2022

“Archbishop Raffel has written to churches, and spoken on video, about the remarkable week which has seen the invasion of Ukraine and flooding in two states.”

– Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net has more.

In a letter to Rectors, Archbishop Raffel also writes,

“The Rev Mark Charleston has also written a prayer for those affected by floods. It is available online at sydneyanglicans.net/news/a-prayer-for-those-affected-by-flood.”

Numbulwar Restoration Project

From the Diocese of the Northern Territory:

“The Diocese is seeking financial support for the restoration of the church building and rectory in the remote community of Numbulwar.

We hope to continue to enable culturally appropriate worship activities in the region by improving its facilities. For further information, please review the project presentation or contact Lee Walton at the Diocesan Office…”

Numbulwar is a remote community on the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Southern Cross magazine, March 2022

Anglican Media Sydney has just released Southern Cross magazine for March 2022.

Printed copies will be available in parishes from this weekend, but you can download a PDF version now at magazine.sydneyanglicans.net.

Pastoral video from Bishop Mark Calder on the floods and Ukraine

Yesterday Bishop of Bathurst Mark Calder released this pastoral video.

Please use it as an encouragement to turn to the Lord in prayer.

New Registrar for Moore College

From Moore College:

“It is with great joy and in eager anticipation that the Governing Board of Moore Theological College has appointed Dr Paul Yeates to replace Rhonda Barry in the position of Registrar. …”

– Story here.

A prayer for Ukraine

From Archbishop Kanishka Raffel via SydneyAnglicans.net tonight –

The world is dismayed, though perhaps not surprised, to find that Russia has illegally invaded Ukraine in an act of unprovoked and unjustified aggression. We fear that the toll on the brave people of Ukraine will be heartrending and dreadful.  The world has had to engage in defensive action to protect the innocent and to contain aggressors in the past.

We must pray for the government and people of Ukraine, the people of Russia who live under an authoritarian regime, for the leaders of the world that they will respond with wisdom and courage and for the restraint of evil and the restoration of peace, with justice.

Psalm 10 says “Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.”

And so we ask –

Sovereign Lord, you observe all those who dwell on earth. Have mercy we pray on those who now suffer the miseries of a war not of their own making. Have compassion on the wounded and dying; comfort the broken-hearted; confound the hatred and madness of those who make war; guide our rulers, bring war to an end, bring peace across the world.  Unite us all under the reign of your Son, the Prince of Peace, before whose judgement seat the rulers of the world will give account, and in whose name we pray. Amen.

Archbishop Kanishka Raffel,
Sydney, February 24, 2022.

Archbishop of Perth Responds to Concerns over Ordination

“The Archbishop of Perth has today released a statement in response to growing concerns about tonight’s ordination and the appointment of a new precentor at the Cathedral. The statement is reproduced below …

davidould.net understands that conservatives in the diocese are not placated by this message…”

– Read the latest at davidould.net.

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