Sydney Synod overwhelmingly endorses GAFCON Jerusalem Declaration
Tonight a packed meeting of the Synod of the Diocese of Sydney very strongly supported the Jerusalem Declaration.
Read the Media Release by Russell Powell. See also this story.
Related: The Jerusalem Declaration.
Reform pledges support for GAFCON movement
Reform, the 1,700-strong conservative evangelical network, has pledged support for the initiatives of GAFCON at its annual conference in London.
Revd Rod Thomas, Reform’s chairman, welcomed the clear Biblical leadership given by the GAFCON Primates at the Jerusalem meeting in June 2008, saying that there “we saw what an Anglicanism united in the Gospel and dedicated to mission could look like.”…
– Read the full Reform statement here.
Update: The Anglican Mainstream steering committee has released a statement of support for the Jerusalem Declaration.
Bp David Mulready’s Presidential Address to the Synod of North West Australia
Bishop David Mulready’s Presidential Address to the Synod of the Diocese of North West Australia last weekend has now been made available.
“Our Diocese is committed to the Bible as The Word of God. We are committed to teaching God’s Word and obeying it, living it out in our lives. As the Bible is taught during sermons and at Bible Studies, our teachers consistently seek to bring God’s Word to impact on every area of our lives.
One of the most important exhortations in the Scriptures is for God’s people to make God known to those who do not know Him. So we know that God is a ‘missional God’ and we are to be ‘a missional church’. At every opportunity and in a great variety of ways our churches are to be reaching out with the Good News of Salvation found only in Jesus Christ and His atoning death. …
There are many worthy causes to which our Church could turn our attention: climate control, improving the environment, justice for refugees to name just three. These are important matters and I hope that some members of our Churches are involved with a Christian voice. However, they are not the ‘core business’ of the church.
We must keep our minds and our energies on the main event: The Gospel. It is by proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and repentance and faith in Him as the means by which people are rescued from hell and come into friendship with God. This is the main event. This is our core business. This is why we exist. Let’s do all that we can in our local Churches to be calling people from darkness into God’s wonderful light.…”
If only every Anglican bishop could affirm these things!
Download Bishop Mulready’s full text as a PDF file. (Photo: Russell Powell.)
Sydney Synod set to support GAFCON
This evening, Sydney’s Synod will vote on whether or not to endorse the Jerusalem Declaration, a statement overwhelmingly supported by those who attended GAFCON in June. …
This week, as some GAFCON churches continue to be targeted by the liberal dioceses in which they find themselves, Sydney Synod is likely to uphold the historic communiqué…
– Report by Nathasha Percy at SydneyAnglicans.net. (GAFCON photo: Russell Powell.)
Anglican TV interviews J I Packer
Kevin Kallsen at Anglican TV has posted an interview with Dr J I Packer.
Topics include the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the problems in the Anglican Communion; the ‘episcopal autocracy’ in the Canadian dioceses; and the so-called ‘Instruments of Unity’.
Recorded at the Anglican District of Virginia second annual Synod Council earlier this month. The video interview runs for 16 minutes and is available at Anglican TV.
The Essential Jesus – a preview
As part of Connect09, The Essential Jesus, a translation of the Gospel of Luke, will be mass produced for distribution throughout Sydney.
The Connect09 website now has a preview as a 412kb PDF file (direct link). Sydney parishes want to have their orders in by the end of October.
Invitation to members of all Anglican Churches globally to sign Vancouver petition
Ahead of expected action by the Diocese of New Westminster against the churches of Good Shepherd and St. John’s Shaughnessy, a new petition has been made avialable, so that members of the Anglican Communion worldwide (and not just C of E members as on the previous petition) can express their support.
This new petition reads,
We, the undersigned, as active clergy and lay members of the Anglican Communion, stand with those parishes in Vancouver that are part of the Anglican Network on Canada, affirming that they are authentically Anglican.
Please consider adding your support. Helpful background here.
Dr Phillip Aspinall re-elected Primate
“The Anglican Church of Australia has re-elected Brisbane Archbishop Phillip Aspinall as the Primate of the Church for a further term of six years.
A meeting of the Primate Board of Electors in Sydney today re-elected Dr Aspinall following his election in 2005 for three years…”
– Full press release (PDF) from the General Synod Office.
(Note: The Primate’s main role is to chair meetings of General Synod. Unlike, for example, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church of Australia does not have a ‘head’, other than Christ. Each diocese operates largely independently. Dr. Aspinall is Archbishop of Brisbane.) Photo: General Synod Office.
Joint Statement made at City of London Deanery Synod
The latest from London –
“All of us who sign this statement are sinners and celebrating any of our sins would have just the same serious consequences.”
Joint Statement from the City of London Deanery Synod representatives from St Helen Bishopsgate, St Peter-upon-Cornhill, and St Botolph-without-Aldersgate, made at the Deanery Synod on 16th October 2008.
On 31 May 2008 at The Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great the Revd Dr Martin Dudley conducted a service of blessing for the Revd Peter Cowell and the Revd Dr David Lord, subsequent to their civil partnership ceremony. We are grateful that the Bishop of London has called for an investigation, but given that our Deanery Synod meets on Thursday 16th October 2008 for fellowship and prayer we want to explain the degree to which that fellowship has been fractured. Read more
Manitoba parish votes to join ANiC
The congregation of St Bede’s Anglican Church in Kinosota, Manitoba voted overwhelmingly yesterday, October 15, to come under the episcopal oversight of Bishops Donald Harvey and Malcolm Harding of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) and under the Primatial authority of Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. …
– Full press release at the Anglican Network in Canada.
Invitation to CofE members to support Vancouver churches
Members of the Church of England have been invited to express their support for the Anglican Network in Canada parishes, including St. John’s Shaughnessy, where David Short is Rector.
The petition, and background information, is available at this link. The actual petition reads:
We, the undersigned, as active clergy and lay members of the Church of England, stand with those parishes in Vancouver that are part of the Anglican Network in Canada, affirming that they are authentically Anglican.
Australian readers (who therefore cannot sign this petition) are urged to continue in prayer. Formore information, please see the St. John’s website.
(Photo: David Short and James Packer at St. John’s Shaughnessy.)
Reform Conference ‘discusses alternative oversight’
In a report for Times Online on the Reform Conference taking place in London, Ruth Gledhill writes,
“The Rev Rod Thomas, chairman of Reform, the conservative evangelical grouping that represents dozens of Anglican congregations, told parishes they should go ahead and seek alternative oversight, even if the Church of England fails to ‘accommodate’ this solution through its General Synod.”
(Bear in mind, of course, that the issue is not homosexuality per se, but theological liberalism.)
And Martin Beckford in The Telegraph reports,
“The Rev Rod Thomas, chairman of the Reform network of evangelicals, said some clergy and congregations may make the ‘radical’ move of secession from the established church because of the liberal direction in which it is moving on women bishops and homosexuality.
He claimed the differences are now so great that there effectively two religions within the church, one liberal and one conservative, and that at least 25 parishes are already seeking ‘alternative oversight’…”
Sydney affirms women’s ministry
Synod has strongly affirmed the ministry of women in the Diocese after the Rev Chris Albany’s motion calling the Archbishop to consider how different views on women’s involvement in ministry can be “creatively lived out” in the Diocese was lost…
– Full report on yesterday’s Synod debate from SydneyAnglicans.net. (Photo: Anglican Media Sydney.)
Melbourne Synod Charge online
The Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, gave his Synod Charge to the Melbourne Synod last Thursday. It’s available on the Anglican Media Melbourne website (pdf file).
(Photo: Bryce Amner.)
Mateship doing it tough as cash cult cracks
Traditional Australian values of mateship, good neighbourliness and offering a helping hand to those in need could be seriously tested by the economic downturn, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, has warned…
– The Sydney Morning Herald reports on last night’s Presidential address at Synod.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…