Rector bashed outside Sydney church (updated)
“The Rector of Naremburn/Cammeray, Canon Rick Smith, is recovering after being bashed by a group of drunken youths at the weekend.
The incident happened at the front of the church building at 9.30 pm on Saturday night, after several youths had held up a pizza delivery boy and stolen pizzas. …”
– Russell Powell has the story at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Please pray for Rick and his family.
Update: Police media release, “Anglican minister assaulted – North Shore”, 13 November 2013.
Chris Edwards to be Bishop of North Sydney
“The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, has announced that a church planter, with experience in Australia and overseas, is to be the next Bishop of North Sydney.
The Rev Chris Edwards was the founding minister of Holy Trinity Adelaide Hills, in South Australia, which grew more than tenfold under his leadership. He later led St Paul’s Anglican Church, Tervuren, Belgium and was chairman of its school. He is 52 years old.
Since returning to Australia, Mr Edwards has been the Mission Director of Anglican Retirement Villages, ARV, in Sydney.”
– Announcement via SydneyAnglicans.net.
And from Moore College:
Moore College graduate Rev Chris Edwards has been appointed the new Bishop of North Sydney. Moore’s Prinicipal Dr Mark Thompson moved the motion at last night’s Diocesan Standing Committee to confirm the Archbishop of Sydney’s appointment of Rev Edwards.
In his speech Dr Thompson remarked: “Many of us here might not know him — that’s true, he has spent 17 of the last 20 years outside of this diocese — but those of us who do will be confident that he will continue the good work done by Glenn in the northern region of our diocese.”
“He is a son of this diocese who understands us and will champion what we stand for. He values our heritage, loves our College, understands both our strengths and our weaknesses”
Why we are contributing to Greenfields land
Through the Sydney Synod, the Anglican churches of Sydney have resolved to work together to purchase land in ‘Greenfield’ areas.
If we don’t get in early, it will be too late to purchase land to build centres where Christ’s people can gather and be beacons of light in their new communities.
Dominic Steele at The Village Church Annandale has kindly shared this video he made for his own church. He speaks with Stuart Starr at Oran Park. It’s ideal to show in your church to help everyone get behind the vision.
The Sydney Family Album — 9, T. C. Hammond
“One of the most important of Howard Mowll’s many influential appointments was that of Thomas Chatterton (T. C.) Hammond as principal of Moore College.
Appointed at a time when the College seemed to be shifting its theological position, Hammond, who already had a worldwide reputation as an evangelical preacher, teacher and apologist, would be, it was hoped, precisely the kind of leader who would strengthen the College and set its course firmly in the mainstream of evangelical Anglican theology. He would meet all of these expectations and surpass them. …”
– Moore College Principal Dr. Mark Thompson makes a welcome addition to his series on those who, under God, shaped Sydney Diocese.
See the earlier posts in this series at Theological Theology.
‘For the Feast of the Reformation’ — at the Cathedral
They’re doing something a little different at St. Andrew’s Cathedral for Reformation Day –
JS Bach — Cantata no.79 ‘For the Feast of the Reformation’
“In an Australian first – a performance of Bach’s magnificent Cantata 79: “God is our Sun & Shield”, within the context of our Sunday Service on October 27th at 10:30am.
Bach wrote this cantata for the Sunday morning service celebrating Reformation Day at St. Thomas’ Church in Leipzig in October 1725. His own choir of boys and men was almost the same size and age as the Choir of St. Andrew’s, making this the first time in Australia that the piece has been performed in the same context and with the forces that Bach would have heard it in 1725!
The Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, will be speaking on the Reformation festival itself; a celebration of the very heart of the Christian faith, and the congregation will be invited to join heartily with Martin Luther’s hymns that will frame the service, just as they did in Bach’s day.”
It’s at 10:30am on Sunday 27th October at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. Download a 600kb PDF flier.
Archbishop calls for prayer on bushfire crisis
“The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, has called on Sydney Anglicans to pray for Rural Fire Service members, emergency service workers and for people and families still in the path of bushfires in Sydney and its surrounds.
‘Our hearts go out to those who have already lost homes and for those weary firefighters who have already been stretched to the limit’ Dr Davies said. …”
– Read the full Media release from Anglican Media Sydney.
Related: Anglican Aid launches Bushfire appeal.
Anglican Aid launches Bushfire appeal
From Eternity Newspaper –
“One of the worst hit areas was Springwood-Winmalee, a normally peaceful area in the lower Blue Mountains. Eternity spoke to Senior Pastor at Springwood Anglican Church, Steve Young, who said they were still in the thick of it.
‘There are scores of houses that are burnt down in the community and whole sections like Yellow Rock where there are very few houses left. We know of 10 church families that have lost their houses.‘…”
SydneyAnglicans.net has more.
In response to the fires, the Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid has launched an emergency appeal –
Anglican Aid has launched an urgent appeal to respond to the needs of people in Sydney affected by the fires. The distribution of funds will be overseen by the Bishop of Western Sydney, Ivan Lee. Working through established networks, Anglican Aid and Bishop Lee will be able to identify and respond to the urgent needs of many.
The Archbishop has said “I am grateful for Anglican Aid launching this appeal. While there are many calls upon our resources and many good causes seeking funds, I commend to your prayerful consideration this urgent appeal in the light of the loss of so many homes in Sydney and NSW on account of these horrific bushfires.”
Please feel free to pass on the link! (Photo: Smoke blankets western Sydney, 17 October 2013.)
Reaching a lost city for Christ
Principal of Moore Theological College, Dr. Mark Thompson, delivered this address at the ACL Synod Dinner on October 14.
In his talk he gave three compelling reasons why we must never give in to the pressure to move evangelism down the list.
“At last count (2011 Census) the population of Sydney was 4.3 million. Even if you took out all the regular churchgoers — Protestant and Catholic — there would still be more than 4 million people who are lost. At the end of the Book of Jonah God reminded the prophet of the mass of lost people in the city — ‘more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left’ (Jon. 4.11). Imagine what he’d say about a population more than 33 times the size!”
Read the full text below, or download the PDF file. … Read more
Watch Archbishop Davies’ Presidential Address
“Our Saviour left a final command to his apostles: to make disciples of all nations. This Great Commission, so aptly named, has not been superseded. It has not run its course, nor lost its energy or its urgency.”
– Watch the entire Presidential Address, delivered by Archbishop Glenn Davies at Sydney Synod, 14th October 2013.
Audio available here (mp3).
With thanks to SydneyAnglicans.net for making it available.
Archbishop Davies says ‘refresh and sharpen’ our mission
“Archbishop Glenn Davies has delivered his first address as President of the Synod of the Diocese of Sydney, covering areas such as the next diocesan mission, regionalism, the Royal Commission into child abuse and ethical challenges faced by Christians in Australia.
The 2013 Synod of the Diocese of Sydney meets from Monday 14th until Wednesday 16th October at the Wesley Theatre in Sydney, and Archbishop Davies, in the role for just two months, gave his address on the first afternoon.”
– Russell Powell has this report at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Download the Archbishop’s Presidential Address here (PDF).
“Significant responsibilities are placed upon us in this assembly, as we come together as representatives of the parishes and organisations of the Diocese to make decisions, either by ordinance to pass legislation, or by resolution to express opinion. Yet we do not make these decisions in secret but openly and within full view of the public eye. More importantly, we make these decisions in the presence of God. It is to him that we must give account of our stewardship of time, resources and gifts that he has bestowed upon us. As our mission is gospel-focussed and Christ-honouring, so our deliberations in this house ought to be gospel-focused and Christ-honouring. May his Spirit so direct us in our thoughts, words and deeds that what we do here over the next three days might be pleasing in his sight.”
Archbishop Davies interviewed on ABC Sunday Nights
Archbishop Glenn Davies was interviewed by Noel Debien on Sunday Nights on ABC Radio last night.
Topics included: Relationships with the Roman Catholic Church, liturgy, clerical dress, education, the Archbishop’s election process, women in Christian leadership, ‘lay presidency’, ‘homophobia’ and more. The 39 minute programme can now be downloaded from the ABC website.
Anglican Aid seeks help for three urgent causes
The Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid is seeking donations for three key causes:
1. Emergency Appeal for Anglicans in Peshawar
2. Helping Tanzanian Bishops and Leaders go to GAFCON2
3. Emergency Appeal for Syrian Refugees being cared for in Egypt
See the Anglican Aid website and donation page for more.
ACL Synod Dinner bookings open soon
This year’s ACL Synod Dinner will be held in the St. Andrew’s Cathedral Chapter House on Monday 14th October from 5:30pm (or when Synod rises). Dr Mark Thompson, Principal of Moore College will be our over-dinner speaker. We’ll open bookings soon, but in the meantime, you might want to note the date!
A ‘real leader’ who ‘wore out’
“A packed Memorial Service has been told Bishop Dudley Foord was a ‘real leader’ who will continue to shape the Diocese of Sydney in years to come…”
– Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net reports on today’s memorial service for Bishop Dudley Foord.
Two new Faculty members for Moore College
“The Governing Board of the College has approved the principal’s nomination of two new faculty members to join the College community in July 2014. …
The Rev Ed Loane (aged 34) is a graduate of the College … Senior Student in 2007. After leaving College with a first class honours degree, he served as the assistant minister at Moorebank Anglican Church and then moved to Cambridge where he has been undertaking doctoral research in William Temple’s thinking about church unity. …
Mr Will Timmins (aged 41) is an Englishman with an honours degree in theology from the University of Cambridge who attended the Cornhill Training Course and has worked in Eden Baptist Church, for the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship in the UK, at George Whitfield College, Beeston Free Church in Nottingham, and Christ Church Cambridge. He is currently completing a PhD in New Testament at Cambridge, studying the identity of the ‘I’ in Romans 7.”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…