Thinking about church planting?
Mark Dever interviews church planter Mike McKinley about the travails of planting and why we should plant churches WITHOUT a vision statement.
– Hear the audio file at 9 Marks.
News roundup from David Virtue
“The most sinister development of the week is that Katharine Jefferts Schori and her attorney David Booth Beers will put a resolution on the table at GC 2009 forcing all parishes to reconstitute their legal titles to reflect irrevocable trusts with their respective bishops as beneficiaries, and by extension, The Episcopal Church.”
– from David Virtue’s ‘Viewpoints’, a weekly roundup and commentary.
St. Bartholomew’s breaks away from Episcopal Diocese
Members of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church will become the first [Diocese of Western New York] congregation to break ties with the Episcopal Church since the contentious 2003 ratification of an openly homosexual bishop by the national governing body…
With average weekend attendance of more than 500 people, St. Bart’s ranks as the largest Episcopal congregation in upstate New York.
– Report from The Buffalo News. See also George Conger’s report for Religious Intelligence.
GAFCON Theological Resource Group at work
Natasha Percy at SydneyAnglicans.net has posted a report on the GAFCON Theological Resource Group meeting last week.
ACL President Dr Mark Thompson has just returned from the meeting in Uganda.
– Read the article here. Related: The Jerusalem Declaration.
The great Anglican divide
While about 20 parishioners pray under the old wooden beams of the church, most of the congregation is farther south…
Last February, most of the St. George’s congregation broke away from the umbrella of the Niagara Diocese, citing creeping liberalism in the Anglican Church of Canada… This weekend, the congregations of two more churches – one in Ottawa and one in Hamilton – voted to join the Anglican Network in Canada.
– Report from The Hamilton Spectator in Ontario. (Photo: St. George’s Lowville.)
The Lord’s Supper in Human Hands
The Australian Church Record and the Anglican Church League’s publication ‘The Lord’s Supper in Human Hands’ will be available from October 20.
The book is an attempt to summarise the course of Sydney’s journey towards lay and diaconal administration of the Lord’s Supper and has contributions from John Woodhouse, Mark Thompson, Peter Bolt, Glenn Davies, and Robert Tong.
Details on how to order your copy are now on the Church Record website. (If you are a member of Sydney Synod, you will be sent a copy of the book
courtesy of the ACR/ACL.)
Diocese of Pittsburgh Convention video
Anglican TV has made available their video of last weekend’s historic Pittsburgh Diocesan Convention.
A press conference held after the Convention starts 2 hours 43 minutes into the video.
– At Anglican TV.
Two more Ontario parishes join Network
The congregations of St George’s in Ottawa and the Church of St Peter in Hamilton both voted with overwhelming majorities today to come under the episcopal oversight of Bishop Donald Harvey, Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) and under the Primatial authority of Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.
The two congregations demonstrated strong unity in making these decisions. At St George’s the vote was 130 in favour and 27 opposed, while at St Peter’s, 42 voted in favour and one was opposed. Attendance at both parish vestry meetings was unexpectedly high. …
– See the full press release from the Anglican Network in Canada.
(Photo: St. Peter’s Hamilton.)
Pittsburgh leaves TEC, joins Southern Cone
“Deputies to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh’s 143rd Annual diocesan convention voted by strong margins on October 4 to join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.
Vote totals on the key constitutional provision that opened the way for the change were as follows. A total of 191 laity voted. 119 voted in favor. 69 voted against, 3 abstained. A total of 160 clergy voted. 121 voted in favor. 33 voted no. 3 abstained. 2 invalid ballots were cast.
‘We deeply value our shared heritage and years of friendship with those still within that denomination, but this diocese could not in good conscience continue down the road away from mainstream Christianity that the leadership of The Episcopal Church is so determined to follow,’ said the Rev. Peter Frank, director of communications for the diocese.
The passage of the vote by the diocesan convention, the diocese’s highest governing authority, means that the entire Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, including all of its congregations and clergy, is now part of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. The diocese expects a small group of 210 clergy and a minority of its 70 parishes to withdraw from the diocese and reorganize under the authority of The Episcopal Church. The diocese is committed to making such decisions of conscience as easy as possible for all those involved. …”
– Press release continued at the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
See also: Diocese Begins Process to Recall Bishop Duncan.
Presiding Bishop appeals for unity
In the face of more dioceses, parishes and individuals leaving The Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori has gone on camera to appeal for unity.
Speaking from Savannah, Georgia, she said that if people are led away by their leaders (even bishops!), the TEC will ‘leave the porch light on’ – and that there is ‘room for all’.
She also said “it’s time to get the gay issue behind us”.
Watch the 5 minute 37 second video on the Episcopal Church home page.
Pittsburgh vote tonight
The 143rd Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh will convene tonight, Sydney time, to vote on resolutions to realign the Diocese out of the Episcopal Church and into the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. The Coalition for Realignment plans to post live results on their website.
Doubtless, the delegates would be grateful for your prayers as they meet.
An idea for your church?
Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology read by 800 members of one church.
Hunter Street Baptist Church in Hoover, Alabama is the largest Baptist church in its state, averaging 4,500 attendees each weekend. Six years ago pastor Buddy Gray started a theology reading group with nine other men and chose Dr. Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology as their beginning text. …
– Story from Koinonia.
Statements by the Presiding Bishop and other TEC Leaders on Christian Theology
Peter Frank, Director of Communications of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, has assembled chilling quotes from TEC leaders – read the PDF file (direct link) at the Coalition for Realignment’s website.
While many of these quotes have been previously circulated, it’s yet another reminder that one can never assume the gospel, but that in every generation there is a need “to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
(Photo: Episcopal News Service.)
Williams hails apparitions at Lourdes
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has become the first Primate of the Church of England to accept visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes as historical fact.
In a homily at an international Mass in Lourdes on the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham last week, Dr Williams implied that he believed 18 visions of Our Lady experienced by St Bernadette Soubirous in 1858 were true…
– The Catholic Herald reports.
Pittsburgh final communiqué before vote
Pittsburgh’s Coalition for Realignment has issued a final pre-convention communiqué with 4 reasons to give a resounding YES to realignment at this Saturday’s vote.
It’s available here as a PDF file.
And the Diocese is organising a ‘Moving Forward in Mission’ Conference on November 7 and 8.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…