West Hamilton Parish and the wilderness
“One of our harshest critics here, a former Diocesan Manager, opined in the Waikato Times that we have consigned ourselves to the religious wilderness.
I can’t help thinking that’s not a bad place to be…”
– The Rev. Michael Hewat, Pastor of West Hamilton Community Church, writes about his experience of being forced out of the Anglican Church of NZ. (PDF file)
Published back in March on the Latimer Fellowship website.
President’s Address — ACL AGM 2015
Anglican Church League AGM
President’s Address
The fundamental problem with the world continues to be alienation from God.
The solution remains the gospel of peace which proclaims reconciliation by Christ’s death. This is a gospel for all creation and the church remains the pillar, defender and herald of that truth. Read more
Moore Matters — Winter 2015
The Winter 2015 edition of Moore Matters is now available as a 3.5MB PDF file on the college website.
Check it out, and be encouraged in your prayer (and other) support of the college.
Matt Brain consecrated Assistant Bishop in Canberra & Goulburn
“Although the winter chill had settled on Goulburn, the congregation in St Saviour’s Cathedral received Dr Matt Brain warmly as bishop following his consecration on Saturday 13 June 2015.
Dr Brain was consecrated as the new Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn with responsibilities for training and development, making him of the nation’s most youthful bishops…
The Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Revd Dr Glenn Davies, led the consecration service while Dr Brain’s father, the Rt Revd Peter Brain and former Bishop of Armidale, delivered the sermon.”
– Report from the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn.
Anglican church failed abuse victims: Bishop of Newcastle
“In an emotional media conference at Lambton on Wednesday, Bishop Greg Thompson conceded that the church had failed abuse victims…”
– Report from The Newcastle Herald.
See also: newcastleanglicanhealthyfuture.com
Two Ways Ministries launch (updated with video)
When Phillip Jensen resigned as Dean of St. Andrew’s Cathedral at the end of 2014, it wasn’t so that he could retire.
His new venture, Two Ways Ministries, was launched at Moore College on Saturday 30th May, with the help of a large group of friends.
The tag line of Two Ways Ministries is “Preaching the gospel by teaching the Bible”. Phillip explains that his aim is to promote the strong connection between faithful exposition of the Bible and preaching the gospel. He, and a few consultants, aim to model evangelistic preaching from the Bible. As well, he plans to continue recruiting and training young preachers, and writing.
Watch or listen:
Richard Chin asks Phillip Jensen about the new ministry. (video)
Two Ways Ministry and book launch – Phil Colgan. (video)
Phillip spoke on 2 Timothy 4:5, “Do the Work of an Evangelist” (video) or audio only.
The ministry was launched with prayer.
As well, a book of 20 essays in honour of Phillip – Let the Word do the Work – was also launched by The Australian Church Record.
The offices of Two Ways Ministries are inside Moore Theological College and can be contacted here.
Please do pray for this new ministry, at the same time giving thanks for tools such as Two Ways to Live – which has been such a blessing to so many over the years.
Praying for those who serve those who serve
The 2015 Defence Anglicans Prayer Diary is now up on their website.
Use it to help you uphold in prayer those who minister to members of the Australian Defence Force.
Don’t miss the ACL Georges River Region Information Night Monday 15th June
Don’t miss our ACL Georges River Information Night –
• What is the Anglican Church League?
• What do we do? Why is this worth your interest and support?
• Why do many consider consider the League to be vital for the life of the Diocese of Sydney?
Please be encouraged to invite others in your church (clergy or lay) who may be interested in the work of the ACL.
Church and religious leaders send letter on Same-Sex Marriage to Prime Minister Abbott
“Archbishop Glenn Davies has joined other church and religious leaders in signing an open letter to the Prime Minister against same-sex marriage.
Parliament could take steps to redefine marriage as early as August.
The letter, signed by Dr Davies and the Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher as well as 36 other religious leaders including the heads of Pentecostal and orthodox churches as well as senior rabbis from the Jewish community and leaders from both the Sunni and Shia Islamic communities, expresses ‘grave concerns’ regarding ‘Bills that have or will be introduced into the Federal Parliament to change the definition of marriage in Australian law’.…
It ends with a request for a meeting with the Prime Minister and MP’s to further discuss the issue.”
– read the full report at SydneyAnglicans.net – and please be encouraged to pray about this matter.
and a Media Release from Catholic Communications.
‘Stoush over NSW public school enrolment forms’
“Accusations that Rev Nile asked for the ethics changes in exchange for his support of the government’s power privatisation plans have also emerged, and have been denied by Rev Nile and the Christian Democrats.
While the media has focused on Rev Nile’s request to take ethics classes off the enrolment form, there has been barely a mention that the same request has been made unanimously by faith groups offering Special Religious Education in NSW schools…”
– helpful background from Bible Society Australia to a story that’s in the news.
Sydney Diocese appoints Domestic Violence task force
“The Standing committee of the Diocese of Sydney has voted to appoint a taskforce to develop a diocesan response to domestic violence. …
The taskforce includes a chaplain, a professional counsellor, the Archdeacon for women, Kara Hartley and several other members. …”
– from SydneyAnglicans.net. (Photo of Archdeacon Kara Hartley by Sam Law.)
Northwest Network June 2015
The Diocese of North West Australia has issued their latest newsletter. Check it out – and pray for the churches of the North West – 900kb PDF file.
Bishop Peter Lin consecrated
“The Rev Peter Lin was consecrated as Bishop of the George’s River Region by Archbishop Glenn Davies, at St Andrew’s Cathedral on Saturday 30th May.
Mr Lin is one of the youngest bishops in the history of the Diocese and only the second of Chinese descent in Australia…”
– Russell Powell has the story at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Related:
SBS News reports on the consecration, and also the appointment of Kanishka Raffel as Dean of Sydney. (video expires 06 June 2015.)
Newcastle Bishopscourt sold
“The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle has sold Bishopscourt on The Hill to a local purchaser…” – report from Property Observer.
Praying for Nungalinya College
Nungalinya, the Combined Churches Training College for Indigenous Australians in Darwin, has posted their 2014 Annual Report online.
Grab the 3.6MB PDF file here. Fuel for prayer.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…