A place of hope opens in Sydney’s West

“’To the Glory of God and the growth of His Kingdom’ – so says the plaque unveiled at the official opening of Sydney’s latest Anglican church building.

The 21st-century design of the Stanhope Anglican Church was projected on the screen in the auditorium as Archbishop Glenn Davies joined the church’s pastor, Steve Reimer, members of the church and invited guests in opening the building. …”

– Good news from Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Jo Gibbs to be new CEO of Anglican Deaconess Ministries

“ADM is pleased to announce the appointment of Jo Gibbs as its new CEO, effective 17 November 2020.

Jo Gibbs joins ADM from St Pauls Castle Hill, where she has been the Care and Assistant Discipleship Minister. Prior to this, Jo spearheaded work in international and cross-cultural settings. …”

– Announcement from Anglican Deaconess Ministries.

See also:

Congratulations to the new CEO of Anglican Deaconess Ministries – Moore College.

“Jo is known to many of us as a godly woman and a gifted fellow-worker in the gospel.”

Sydney Archbishop: Indian MP must retract false statements about Graham Staines

“The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies has demanded an apology and a retraction of statements made by an MP during a debate in the Indian Parliament which accused murdered missionary Graham Staines of child abuse. The Archbishop called the statement ‘slanderous’…”

– Story from Indian Link via SydneyAnglicans.net.

See also the Diocese of Sydney Media Release, 08 October 2020.

Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney
Media Statement

Call for retraction of false statements about murdered missionary    

Archbishop Glenn Davies has called for an apology and the retraction of a slanderous accusation by an MP during debate in the Indian Parliament in which murdered missionary Graham Staines was accused of child abuse.

Mr Staines was an Australian missionary who worked tirelessly and selflessly with leprosy patients in India for more than 30 years. Along with his two sons, Timothy (aged 8) and Philip (aged 10), he was burned to death in an attack by Hindu extremists in Uttar Pradesh in 1999.

During Parliamentary debate in September, a member of the ruling BJP party and a representative of Uttar Pradesh state, Satya Pal Singh, accused Mr Staines and other Christians of molesting 30 girls belonging to local tribes in Odisha and converting them to Christianity. He cited this as the main reason for the murders and as justification for stringent amendments to the law on the basis ‘forced conversions’ are still being perpetrated by Christian missionaries.

The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies called the comments ‘reprehensible’.

“The murder of Graham Staines and his sons was a stain on the history of India. The then President K.R. Narayanan was right to describe it as ‘a monumental aberration of time-tested tolerance and harmony’ and that the murders belonged to ‘the world’s inventory of black deeds’. For the MP to now use parliamentary privilege to bring such baseless accusations for political purposes deserves the strongest condemnation. A retraction and full apology should be issued for the sake of truth and as a bulwark against religious intolerance.”

The Archbishop said many Sydney Anglicans have travelled to India in recent years and been welcomed, along with the help they bring to the population. “I would like to think that the Government and others from Mr Singh’s party would not sit idly by while such comments are made. They should be repudiated in the strongest possible terms.”

Archbishop Glenn Davies
8 October 2020

Review: The Mission Before Us

“You are an Anglican from Sydney? Get this book.

Read it carefully. Read it prayerfully. If it is aimed at you, do something about it.

And it is aimed at all of us. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, former Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Peter Jensen, commends “The Mission Before us”.

Learn how you can get your free copy.

Southern Cross magazine for October 2020 now out

The latest Southern Cross magazine (October 2020) is now available for download, or reading online.

Features include:

• Christians and sport
• Getting back to church in Sydney
• Evangelism in COVID Melbourne
• The latest Ordinations
• Persecution of Chinese Christians by rewriting John 8

Grab your copy here.

South Sudan Floods appeal

“Sydney-based Reverend Samuel Majok, leader of the South Sudanese congregation at St Mark’s Oakhurst, is raising funds for many thousands of people impacted by recent severe flooding that devastated most of Jongei State, where Samuel’s family is from. …”

– Learn more at Anglican Aid. (Photo: Anglican Aid.)

See also:

The emergency you haven’t heard about – SydneyAnglicans.net

Death and starvation as floods destroy South Sudan – ABC Religion and Ethics Report.

Southern Cross — September 2020

The September 2020 issue of Anglican Media Sydneys Southern Cross magazine is now available to read online, or to download as a PDF file.

(Click on the icon at the top left of the linked page to download.)

Moore College Online Open Night – Monday 31 August 2020

Monday night.

Details here.

From Generation to Generation: Societas 2020

The 2020 edition of Societas, the annual magazine produced by the students at Moore Theological College, is now available for download or to read online.

Much encouragement.

Do share the link.

Call for ‘ethically uncontroversial’ COVID vaccine

“Archbishop Glenn Davies has released the text of a letter, signed by the Archbishops of the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches, calling for ethical research on COVID-19 vaccines. …”

– Story from SydneyAnglicans.net.

Sydney Church History

“In 1965 John Stott, the Rector of All Souls Langham Place in London, visited Sydney to preach on 2 Corinthians at the CMS Summer School.

‘I heard only one of those Bible studies but I was so taken by the way he stuck to the text and stayed with it. He could show you the logic of the argument in the Scriptures, prior to that I had tended to get an idea from the passage and to leap all over the Bible supporting the idea from other parts, so that the people I taught knew the ‘idea’ but not the passage from which it came or how that passage fitted into some overall argument from the Scriptures. It is to John Stott I owe what ability I have to expound the Bible.’

Those were the words of the esteemed Sydney evangelist and preacher, the late John Chapman…”

– David Cook writes to remind us of our history, and how God works. At The Expository Preaching Trust.

(David Cook has served in parish ministry, as the Principal of SMBC, and as the Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia.)

The Pastor’s Heart: ‘The Minister Drought’ with Mike Leite and Mark Earngey

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“Across the Western world theological college enrolments are down. Today it’s the third part of a conversation about this problem.  Specifically we are focusing on the issues of Sydney.

We’re exploring the joint issues of not enough people putting themselves forward for ministry and the shortage of senior ministers for Sydney’s Anglican Churches.

Moore Theological College Lecturer Mark Earngey and St George North Assistant Minister Mike Leite have been researching for several years the underlying issues that have contributed to the Sydney minister drought.

Mike’s responsible for editing the recently released booklet ‘Sydney Anglican Ministry.’  Mark is behind the latest edition of the Australian Church Record Journal.

Plus we review the important ‘From Sydney to the World’ online conference held on the weekend, which was aimed at putting recruiting for ministry back on the agenda.”

– Watch or listen at The Pastor’s Heart.

Related:

The Minister Drought: A Millennial’s Perspective – Angus Martin at The Australian Church Record.

Why workplaces need religious freedom, too

“The COVID-19 pandemic has indefinitely delayed the introduction of the Commonwealth Religious Discrimination Bill, which would have provided protection against religious discrimination in the workplace. With Federal reform on pause, One Nation MP Mark Latham has introduced a bill to the NSW Parliament, which will protect people of faith (and no faith) from discrimination. This Bill has been referred to a Joint Select Parliamentary Committee…

The Sydney Diocese will be making a full submission to the Joint Select Committee with a detailed analysis of the Latham Bill. The committee is inviting individuals to submit comments about the Bill via an online questionnaire at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F8KFWXB. This closes on August 21. I encourage you to complete this short survey to indicate your support for these protections against religious discrimination.”

– Bishop Michael Stead writes about an important bill on religious freedom. (Emphasis added.)

Archbishop Davies writes about parish vacancies

“Readers of Southern Cross will have noticed the large number of vacant parishes over the past couple of years.

Of course, the reason for listing vacant parishes each month should be obvious. We want you to pray for these parishes, for their nominators and for the Synod-elected members who comprise the Nomination Board…”

– Archbishop Glenn Davies writes to encourage your prayers.

From Sydney to the World

If you missed out on seeing From Sydney to the World on Saturday (15th August), you can now watch the full presentation here.

It’s an important online event focussing on the raising up of the next generation of labourers for the harvest. Most encouraging. And do consider sharing the link.

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