Election survey probes parties on faith freedom

“A survey of political parties and candidates on their attitude to religious discrimination has revealed varying levels of support – and in some cases, no support – for measures to ensure religious freedom. …”

– Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net writes about the religiousdiscriminationsurvey.au website.

The Australian Christian Lobby (not associated with the Anglican Church League – we just have the same initials) has produced a page of “various documents and videos to help you make an informed choice on Election Day”, including this page where they share the answers given to their questionnaire in each electorate as well as each candidate for the Senate.

And not forgetting the call to pray –

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” – 1 Timothy 2:1-6.

Adultery of the heart

“Judgement is not just for the last day. God also judges now. There are contemporary consequences for misplaced sexual desire. For example, when God hands people over to their shameful lusts and sinful desires in Romans 1:24,26, one of those consequences is the increased engagement in sexually immoral physical behaviour. God gives people what they want, which is the punishment. …

We have to stop and listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 5:28, because he takes a blowtorch to our world’s hypersexualised values.”

– Marshall Ballantine-Jones writes at SydneyAnglicans.net (it’s also in the current Southern Cross magazine).

Image: SydneyAnglicans.net

Southern Cross May-June 2022 now out

The May-June 2022 issue of Southern Cross (the magazine of the Diocese of Sydney) will be available in churches this week.

You can also download a PDF version here.

Southern Cross will now be published by Anglican Media Sydney every six weeks.

Lots of encouraging reading.

Processing disappointment in ministry

“How do we process disappointment in ministry? Personally as leaders and with our people?

What about when the church plant fails? Hans Kristensen planted Resolved Church in Newtown, and six years later closed it down.

If we try lots of things, many of them will fail. But how do we know when to call time? And what part does ego play in all of this?”

– Watch or listen here.

Embracing a Hostile World — Queen’s Birthday Conference 2022

“The Bible tells us that God loved the world yet commands us not to love the world. So how do we live as a Christian in this world?

Are we to love it like God or reject it as He commanded us?

How do world mission and holiness hold together?”

– Read about (and register for) the Queen’s Birthday Conference 2022 – at Moore College, or online for those outside Sydney.

Navigating change management in church – with Raj Gupta

From this week’s The Pastor’s Heart:

“How to navigate change management in church?

We want and need to make changes in our churches. But there are so many war stories of ‘church change resistance,’ where well meaning ministers have had relationships blow up in their faces when they attempted to bring about needed change.

Raj Gupta is the senior minister of St Paul’s in Carlingford in Sydney and a director with Moore College’s Center for Ministry Development and has insights for churches based on John Kotter’s Change Management Framework.”

– Watch or listen here.

Freedom22 – National Conference 2022

It’s just a week to the Freedom for Faith: Freedom22 Conference in Parramatta:

“Religious Freedom in Australia has reached a crisis point.

The promised protections in the Federal Religious Discrimination Bill have been put on hold, and new State laws have removed several religious freedom rights from faith communities.

These new issues include unprecedented intrusions into prayer, unsympathetic treatment of conscience exemptions, reduced employment rights for religious schools, and a troubling surge in discrimination cases against Jewish, Muslim and other minority faith groups.

Will there be room for authentic expression of faith in Australia’s future?

Register for the Freedom22 National Conference on May 3 at Parramatta’s Park Royal Hotel to hear our distinguished speakers explain the content and consequences of these laws, as well as how we arrived at this cultural moment.

The Freedom22 speakers are:

Mark Sneddon – Executive Director of the Institute for Civil Society
Dr Sarah Irving-Stonebraker – Senior Lecturer in Modern European History, Humanities (Arts) at Western Sydney University
John Steenhof – Principal Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Alliance
Stephen McAlpine – Author and Pastor
Mark Spencer – Director of Public Policy for Christian Schools Australia
Patricia Weerakoon – Sexologist, Author and Speaker.”

Book via the Freedom for Faith website.

Tasmania Celebration with Will Graham — May 2022

From the Diocese of Tasmania –

“The Tasmania Celebration with Will Graham is coming up in Hobart on 21 May and in Launceston from 27-29 May 2022.

Since 1950, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has held Crusades all across the globe for one purpose: to proclaim God’s love to people who need Jesus Christ. Today, Will Graham Celebrations continue this life-changing mission. …”

Weakness is good for you – with Matt Fuller

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“Senior Minister of Christ Church Mayfair, in the centre of London, Matt Fuller describes standing up in front of his church, saying he couldn’t cope and being told by his elders that he needed to take time off.”

– Watch or listen here.

On The Prosperity Gospel — 9Marks

From the latest 9Marks Pastors Talk –

“The prosperity gospel is wicked. It leads people on a path toward destruction. It lures people into a false sense of security. At the same time, the temptation to believe a version of this prosperity gospel lies in all of our hearts and minds.

We need to be equipped to call out this false gospel both in our lives and in the lives of our friends and family.

That’s why Sean DeMars and Mike McKinley wrote Health, Wealth, and the Real Gospel. They’re burdened to expose the errors of the prosperity gospel while upholding the beautiful purity of the real gospel.”