Continue the ‘conversation’ and keep giving your money
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson has issued an impassioned plea for unity in his denomination via two videos on the ELCA website – (update: This wmv file is one of them)
“My heart aches when I hear ELCA members express a feeling of abandonment because of the decisions on human sexuality taken by our church-wide Assembly. I deeply concerned when ELCA members and congregations are being encouraged to signal that disagreement by withholding financial support…”
Meanwhile –
“Conservative Lutherans from congregations throughout the country voted on Saturday to begin deciding on whether to go their separate ways from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. … ‘We are forming a churchly community because our prior churchly community has walked away from the faith off the one holy catholic and apostolic Church,’ said Ryan Schwarz, a member of the Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Reform) steering committee.”
– from a report in The Christian Post.
Related: Lutherans adopt statement on sexuality.
Wearing the disguise of Faithfulness.
Lutheran Coalition for Renewal.
Mark Dever on 2 Peter 1
On the weekend Mark Dever spoke at the 9 Marks ‘God Exposed’ Conference on Preaching at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina.
Before the conference, on Thursday, he addressed the seminary chapel on 2 Peter 1 and the challenge of preaching God’s word.
The 48 minute video file is now available on the SBTS website. A great reminder. (The last three minutes of the video, on Charles Simeon, is missing – it’s all there on the audio file.)
Canberra & Goulburn 2009 Synod report
The Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn has posted news on last weekend’s diocese synod – including Stuart Robinson’s Synod Charge and the latest Diocesan Statistics.
Please pray for the churches of Canberra & Goulburn as they seek to reach men and women, boys and girls with the saving news of Christ.
Bishop Bob Duncan radio interview
Bob Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh and Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, was interviewed on Christian radio in Pittsburgh last week.
You can hear the interview (37 minutes / 36MB mp3 file) from WORD FM. (h/t Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh.)
A matter of Trust(s)
Here’s an excerpt from the weekly update from Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council –
Beloved in Christ,
As we went to press last week there was breaking news of the decision of the Supreme Court of South Carolina, finding in favor of the local parish of All Saints’, Pawley’s Island and against the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and The Episcopal Church (TEC). Among the findings of the court is that the so-called “Dennis Canon” is illegal in SC and has no effect. The basis for this is that one person can’t establish a trust on someone else’s property. It is the person who owns the property that is the one to establish a trust, if they wish to. Makes sense, doesn’t it? As the court stated in the finding, “It is an axiomatic principle of law that a person or entity must hold title to property in order to declare that it is held in trust for the benefit of another or transfer legal title to one person for the benefit of another.” Read more
Why do the heathen rage?
“Ready for a day to honor blasphemy? According to press reports, September 30 is set as the observance of the first-ever International Blasphemy Day. …
How should Christians respond?
First, take no offense. Refuse to play into the game plan of those sponsoring International Blasphemy Day. The Lord Jesus Christ was and is despised and rejected of men. Our Lord bore the scorn heaped upon him by his enemies. Christianity is not an honor religion. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are not commanded to defend his honor, but to be willing to share in the scorn directed to him. Is the servant greater than his master?…”
Bishop Martyn Minns’ message to Lutherans
“[The] Convocation of Anglicans in North America… has posted a video for the benefit of a this weekend’s Lutheran CORE meeting near Indianapolis…”
– Julia Duin blogs at The Washington Times.
Three helpful posts for difficult times
Worth reflecting on –
What To Do When You Receive Bad News – Mark Altrogge.
Helpful Things: Pastors Who Love Their People – John Knight (h/t Desiring God).
Not afraid of bad news – Iain D Campbell quotes Spurgeon.
(Image: Blazing Center.)
Landscape — new CMS online magazine
CMS NSW has launched its new online magazine – Landscape.
Moore College open day Saturday
Moore College is holding an Open Day and Spring Carnival on Saturday, 26 September, 9:30am – 2:30pm in the College grounds. Families welcome. See this PDF file for details.
Inspiring People in the news
“Peter Costello caused quite a stir when he addressed the Hillsong Church conference on leadership in 2004 while he was federal Treasurer. Now he has taken up an invitation from the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, to speak at one of a series of one-hour panel discussions at the Westin Sydney on Tuesday…”
– from The Sydney Morning Herald.
Details of the events at Inspiring People.
Mission Summit 09 talks online
CMS NSW has made available audio files of the talks from Mission Summit 09 held at SMBC September 9–12.
Talks included:
Training Global South pastors – Greg Anderson.
Engaging with Muslims in a divided world – Peter Riddell.
Mission and development – John Thew.
Directions for mission – Bruce Dipple.
Plenty of challenges and food for thought from the CMS website.
(Photo of Greg Anderson: Moore College.)
Peter Jensen on CMS Summer School 2010
Archbishop Peter Jensen encourages you to come to CMS Summer School 2010 at Katoomba (watch on Vimeo).
Jesus All About Life TV ad released
The Bible Society has released a Jesus. All About Life TV advert.
Hey Jesus, Thanks for everything.
Like, thanks for sunshine, but what about sunburn?
How come the more you have, the more you want?
We’ve got more friends, but less friendship
More convenience, but less patience
More hope, but more uncertainty
A healthy body still isn’t good enough
And how come the best things always have to end?
Jesus Has Answers.
You can see it here on YouTube.
Foundations: new website by Peter Corney
Peter Corney writes:
“Due to the generous help of a friend I have recently developed a website that contains a number of articles I have written and resources I have developed over the years. It will also have a couple of my books that are now out of print downloadable as PDFs. I also plan to place new material regularly on the site.
The site is called ‘Foundations’ and its aim is to stimulate creative thinking about Christianity and culture, provide resources for those in Christian leadership and to encourage Christians to be more effective in our mission of sharing Christ with the world.
The material is all freely available under the Creative Commons licence and acknowledgement of material used would be appreciated. I pray that you may find it useful and stimulating. I would appreciate any feedback you might want to give.”
Peter was the Senior Minister at at St. Hilary’s Kew in Melbourne until 1999 and is well known to many ACL members. He was the guest speaker at the ACL AGM in 1991. His 1992 book ‘The Welcoming Church’ has been used widely around Australia. You can hear his talk on ‘Being a Welcoming Church’ here.
See the website at petercorney.com.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…