Presiding Bishop’s ‘eyes and ears’ to be at GAFCON?
“Bishop Robert O’Neill of Colorado has agreed to serve as the eyes and ears of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori during the upcoming Global Anglican Futures Conference (GAFCON) next month in Jerusalem.
Bishop Jefferts Schori announced during an internet press conference May 20 that Bishop O’Neill would be receiving hospitality during the invitation-only conference of traditionalist Anglican leaders from Bishop Suheil Dawani of Jerusalem. Invitations to the conference for bishops of The Episcopal Church were issued through Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh. Bishop Duncan is moderator of the Anglican Communion Network.
Although the conference is being held in his diocese, Bishop Dawani is not a member of the GAFCON organizing committee.”
– from The Living Church. The press conference may be seen here.
(Washington-based Anglican blogger BabyBlue has posted her take on the press conference here.)
Post-GAFCON briefing in London
In the wake of GAFCON, a ‘briefing for Incumbents and local Church Leaders’ is being held on July 1st at All Souls, Langham Place in London.
Special guest speakers will be Archbishop Henry Orombi, Archbishop Greg Venables, Archbishop Peter Jensen and Dr Jim Packer.
Details from Anglican Mainstream.
Book Review – In the Eye of the Storm
“Once the Bible’s authority has been discarded, we can redraw the faith as we see fit. And this, unfortunately, is precisely what Robinson does. For example, he appears to draw much of his justification for homosexuality from extra-biblical revelation, including a vision experienced by John Fortunato. Never minding what Scripture says, Fortunato and Robinson claim that visions from God trump the revelation of Scripture. …”
– Tim Challies helpfully reviews Gene Robinson’s much-hyped book “In the Eye of the Storm”.
GAFCON programme announced
An outline of the programme for the Jerusalem component of GAFCON has been released.
It includes expositions on Genesis 12 (The Promise of God), Exodus 24 (The Presence of God), 2 Samuel 1–17 (The King of God), Luke 24 (The Son of God) and Revelation 21 (The Throne of God).
Further details of the programme are expected soon – on the GAFCON website.
Mugabe police target Anglican churches
Armed riot police prevented Harare’s beleagured Anglican congregations from worshipping in their churches on Sunday in defiance of a supreme court order.
Police moved into the gardens of Anglican churches around the city from early morning and senior officers telephoned priests and warned them not to try and hold services yesterday. …
– Report from the UK Telegraph. (Graphic: Anglican Communion Office.)
New Dean for Trinity School for Ministry
The Trinity School for Ministry Board of Trustees announced today that the Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry has accepted an enthusiastic call by the board to become the new Dean and President, succeeding the Rt. Rev. Dr. John H. Rodgers, Trinity’s second Dean and President, who left retirement to serve as Interim Dean/President beginning in August 2007.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees the Rev. Canon David Roseberry said, “The Lord has blessed us indeed, as Justyn will assume the awesome responsibility of Trinity’s vital role as a bearer of an orthodox evangelical witness in North America.” …
– from Trinity School for Ministry in Pennsylvania – one of the very few conservative Anglican seminaries in North America.
Brian McLaren ‘invited to participate’ at Lambeth
Brian McLaren, one of the leaders of the emerging church movement, has now confirmed that he has been “invited to participate in the Lambeth Conference” to speak on “evangelism/disciple-making”.
Matt Kennedy, who broke the news at Stand Firm, comments,
We ought not be naive with regard to Brian McLaren’s invitation to Lambeth… He will be there to tell the assembled bishops just how hazy, foggy, undefined, and ultimately, unresolvable the question of homosexual behaviour really is and why nothing ought to be done until at least 2016.
For some responses to McLaren’s theology, see Mark Dever’s review of Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christian – at IX Marks – and Al Mohler’s 2005 article What Should We Think of the Emerging Church? part 2. (Photo: brianmclaren.net.)
Archbishop of Uganda responds
The Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi, has responded to this letter from TEC Presiding Bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori, accusing him of an “unwarranted incursion into The Episcopal Church”.
“I am not visiting a church in the Diocese of Georgia. …
Your selective quoting of the Windsor Report is stunning in its arrogance and condescension. …
You and your House of Bishops rejected outright the Pastoral Scheme painstakingly devised in Dar es Salaam, and to which you agreed. You have, therefore, left us no choice but to continue to respond to the cries of God’s faithful people in America for episcopal oversight that upholds and promotes historic, biblical Anglicanism. …”
Read Archbishop Orombi’s full letter below – Read more
Inaugural Queen’s Birthday Convention
St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney is hosting the inaugural Queen’s Birthday Convention on Monday June 9th.
It’s the sequel to this year’s Australia Day Convention in which Phillip Jensen expounded Mark 1–8. The series will conclude with talks on Mark 9–16.
You can register – and also hear and see the last talk (on Mark 8) from the Australia Day Convention – at the QBC website.
New Westminster: Assets must be protected
Bishop Michael Ingham has told his Diocesan Council that he feels he has no option but to protect the property and assets of the Diocese of New Westminster and the Anglican Church of Canada, and warned that the diocese may find itself in the civil courts to do so. … He said the diocese had attempted to “create space” for people of differing opinions. …
– from the Diocese of New Westminster.
TEC bulletin inserts ‘explain’ Lambeth
Each week, the Episcopal Church publishes Episcopal LIfe weekly: bulletin inserts which may be used by churches across the US.
Starting this weekend, the bulletin inserts begin a nine (or is it ten?)-part series “on the Lambeth Conference and the Anglican Communion”. The first insert is on how Lambeth will be “equipping bishops for mission”.
– See The Episcopal Church website.
UK women priests say price of ‘safeguards’ too high
“From: Women Clergy undersigned
… As ordained women, from amongst whom some of the first generation of women bishops may come, we wish to make our own contribution to the current debate.
We believe that it should be possible for women to be consecrated as bishops, but not at any price. The price of legal ‘safeguards’ for those opposed is simply too high …”
– Ruth Gledhill reports in Times Online on a letter sent by women priests to the Church of England’s bishops.
Gospel of Luke Introduction from the ESV Study Bible
The people behind the ESV Study Bible have made available their Introduction to the Gospel of Luke as a free download. Obviously, they hope to encourage you to order the Study Bible.
You can see the sample with this 1.1MB PDF file.
Ugandan Primate’s ‘incursion’ into Georgia
Archbishop of Uganda Henry Orombi’s actions to visit a Savannah congregation on May 14 without the invitation of Episcopal Bishop of Georgia Henry Louttit “violate the spirit and letter of the work of the Windsor Report, and only lead to heightened tensions,” Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori wrote in a May 12 letter to Orombi. …
– from the Episcopal News Service. (Graphic: The Episcopal Church.)
An Evangelical Response to “An Evangelical Manifesto”
Who are the Evangelicals? The issue of Evangelical identity and definition has been central to the Evangelical project from its very beginning in America. Given the nature of the movement, definition is elusive and constantly contested.
The release of “An Evangelical Manifesto” on May 7 caught the attention of the national media [in the US] …
– From the blog of Al Mohler.
Don Carson addressed a related topic at a recent European Leadership Forum – “What is an Evangelical? An Assessment of the Evangelical and Roman Catholic Project” – available online as a 43MB, 3h 8m mp3 file.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…