A curious document from Charleston

In his weekly e-mail update, Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council, wonders about the allegations against South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence –

“When one sees the incredibly detailed and ridiculous document comprising the list of charges that was supposedly submitted by a group of loyal (to the Revisionists) people in South Carolina, it certainly doesn’t look like something a group of casual Charlestonians threw together while preparing shrimp and grits on the side.”

Read more

Christians know what the world does not

“I am writing this essay on an Apple laptop computer. I am listening to the strains of Bach playing from my iPad via an AirPort Express. My iPhone sits on my desk, downloading a new App from iTunes. Steve Jobs has invaded my life, my house, my office, my car, and my desktop — and I am thankful for all of these technologies.

But unerring taste, aesthetic achievement, and technological genius will not save the world…”

– Albert Mohler gives thanks for Steve Jobs – in perspective.

A world without Jobs — the gospel of a secular age

We posted this link back in January 2011. This might be a good time to revisit it:

“As remarkable as Steve Jobs is in countless ways—as a designer, an innovator, a (ruthless and demanding) leader—his most singular quality has been his ability to articulate a perfectly secular form of hope.

Nothing exemplifies that ability more than Apple’s early logo, which slapped a rainbow on the very archetype of human fallenness and failure—the bitten fruit—and made it a sign of promise and progress.…”

– Plenty of fuel for a gospel conversation in this article by Andy Crouch.
(Photo: Apple. Thanks to Justin Taylor for the reminder.)

The value of a theological education

John Richardson wonders about the future of theological education for ordination candidates in the UK. It seems some are suggesting that ‘on the job’ learning instead is the way to go.

“For a lot of what passes for ministry is not a ‘theological’ ministry at all. ‘Pastoral’ ministry in the Church of England is ‘helping people with their problems’, not bringing people to the knowledge of God in Christ.”

In reflecting on this, he draws attention to a booklet he wrote in 1993, after a year at Moore College:

“What I found at Moore was a Christian community committed to the pursuit of intellectual excellence by every student, where it was assumed that the ordinary parish clergyman both should and could be conversant with the most ‘academic’ of theological thinking. I soon realized that in this country we have been setting our sights far too low.”

Read his post here, and then the booklet, A Little Knowledge (PDF).

We have all your stuff now, but we think you owe us more!

“I’d like to share with you a letter from the Bishop and Diocesan Council of The Episcopal Church’s (TEC) Diocese of the Rio Grande. But first, a little background so that you can appreciate the letter in all its fullness.

This time two years ago, approximately 80% of the parishioners of St. Mark’s on-the-Mesa (TEC) left the parish and formed Christ the King Anglican, Albuquerque, NM (Anglican Church in North America). When those parishioners left the parish, the Diocese of the Rio Grande, and the Episcopal Church, they left everything… they walked away and began a new life together as Anglican followers of Jesus Christ at Christ the King Anglican Church. …

Fast forward two years to August 31, 2011 (about three weeks ago). The congregation’s rector, the Rev. Roger Weber, former priest at St. Mark’s, received this letter from TEC Bishop Michael Vono of the Diocese of the Rio Grande…”

– Canon Phil Ashey of the American Anglican Council shares the tale of this extraordinary request made to a congregation which had left the TEC.

John Richardson reviews ‘Sydney Anglicans and the Threat to World Anglicanism’

John Richardson has posted on his blog an article he wrote for New Directions. It’s another review of Muriel Porter’s book ‘Sydney Anglicans and the Threat to World Anglicanism’.

Use of Social Media during meetings

“I enjoy social media. I have recently commenced using Twitter (@tasbishopjohn). I have had this blog for some time. I am also on facebook, and I am a major user of the diocesan website.

I guess I am a fairly outgoing, social being and my experiences with social media have been enriching. I intend to continue in conversation through using them.

I believe that the essential principle in the use of social media is that we are to be Christlike…”

– Bishop of Tasmania, John Harrower, has some helpful thoughts on using social media. (And worth keeping in mind at our upcoming Synod!)

Are Sydney Anglicans actually Anglicans?

Last week Michael Jensen wrote for the ABC’s Religion and Ethics, responding to suggestions that Sydney Anglicans are something other than ‘Anglican’.

Read it here.

A question for PCUSA Conservatives: Why now?

In his column at Reformation21, William Evans asks if something more obvious than the current issue of homsexuality has been overlooked…

“Even as PCUSA liberals were busy dismantling the confessional heritage of the church, evangelicals were repeatedly stepping back and stepping back and stepping back from decisive confrontation…”

Read it all at Reformation21. (We earlier incorrectly attributed this to Carl Trueman – oops! our sincere apologies!)

The heart of growing Christianly

“… The world takes a census, of our numbers, size and influence but it does not know what it is counting. For the institutional size of a Christian denomination or church tells you little about its growth or impact.”

– Phillip Jensen writes about the growth that’s key – at the Cathedral website.

Looters: Them or us?

“I spoke on the phone yesterday with a south London vicar whose parish had been hit by rioters. Actually, “rioters” is not quite the word. The disorders straight after the death of Mark Duggan may have been riots with the associations of protest that brings, but by now a better word than rioters is looters, because the focus seems so strongly on violent theft. …”

– Principal of Oak Hill College in London, Mike Ovey, has some very perceptive comments about this week’s trouble in England.

‘Evangelicals and the gay moral revolution’

“Our greatest fear is not that homosexuality will be normalized and accepted, but that homosexuals will not come to know of their own need for Christ and the forgiveness of their sins.

This is not a concern that is easily expressed in sound bites. But it is what we truly believe.

It is now abundantly clear that evangelicals have failed in so many ways to meet this challenge. …”

– This article by Albert Mohler was originally published in The Wall Street Journal.

Two stories on ‘the Culture of Death’

Two disturbing stories – one from the US, and one from the UK.

From Albert Mohler:

“Consider … the fact that 40 percent of all pregnancies in New York City end in abortion (and fully 60 percent of all pregnancies to African American women). Those horrendous and chilling percentages are evidently not enough for the abortion industry and its ideological supporters. They want to shut down crisis pregnancy centers or render them ineffective.”

and this story in the UK’s Mail Online (h/t Bishop John Harrower):

“Can you imagine a lonelier or more frightening place to be trapped in, unable to communicate, than your own body?

These are terrifying times for anyone who cannot speak up for themselves. Whether they know it or not, they are lying prone in a world increasingly seduced by the idea that death is preferable to the life they are living. … But I can. I have lived that life and I know how precious it is.”

(Image: Feggy Art on Flickr.)

Paul Barnett’s tribute to John Stott

“Two World Wars and the Depression left Christianity in a poor state in the post-World War II era, compounded by the influence of sceptical Biblical Criticism. Amongst those God raised up in these difficult times were C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, F.F. Bruce, J.I. Packer, and John Stott.

Stott was deeply committed to the theology of the Reformation, as may be seen in his magisterial The Cross of Christ and his commentaries on Romans and Galatians. …”

– Bishop Paul Barnett adds his own words of thanks for the life of John Stott.

Evangelism cannot be enough for Evangelicals

John Richardson writes of what it is to be an Evangelical in the Church of England:

“We have an ‘honoured’ place in the institution, but the price exacted from us is to identify ourselves as a ‘tradition’ — one amongst the many different traditions which make up the all-embracing comprehensiveness of the Church of England.

But, … at least from our own perspective, this is a betrayal not only of ourselves but of everyone else. To accept this definition of ‘evangelicalism’ is to cease to be Evangelical. …”

– Read it all at The Ugley Vicar.

 

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