The Church in the Furnace
David Mansfield follows up on his earlier article, ‘The Church in the Fridge’.
“Sometimes our thoughtlessness and insensitivity can seem cool and indifferent. At other time, as I mentioned in the last blog, in the story of the inveterate hugger of every newcomer and regular that he could get his arms around, our behaviour can be too intense. Rather than a church in the fridge, we may come across as a church in the furnace.
While extreme examples don’t apply to most of us, there may be more subtle ways that we do things that can also come across as a bit intense to the newcomer…”
– As someone who visits many churches, David spots sub-cultural quirks you might not notice. At SydneyAnglicans.net
Catch up with the Nexus16 conference
If you missed the Nexus16 conference at Annandale today (or would like to revisit it), you can view the videos at the Nexus website.
The videos include interviews with various attendees – and the talks!
Are you ashamed of Jesus?
“You’re an embarrassment to be around.”
“Please don’t walk next to me – I don’t want people to know that we’re together.”
These are painful words that no one ever wants to hear. But does my life speak these words to Jesus?
This is the question that has troubled me since my first day visiting persecuted Christians in the Middle East with Open Doors…
– At Communicate Jesus, Steven Kryger has a challenge for you.
“Exemptions” in discrimination laws applying to churches
“Australia is in the midst of a Federal election campaign at the moment (thankfully, one which will end on July 2, unlike the one being endured by our friends in the United States, which seems to stretch on interminably!) But law and religion has now emerged as one of the election issues.
This time the question is not about same-sex marriage (SSM), although the various parties’ views on that topic are well-known (at the moment, the Australian Labour Party (ALP) has promised to introduce SSM within 100 days if elected, and the Liberal-National Party Coalition, currently in power, has promised to put the matter to a plebiscite after the election if they are returned.)
But the latest question has been raised by a minority, but increasingly influential, Greens Party, which has included as part of its election platform a promise to remove ‘religious exemptions to federal anti-discrimination law’…”
– Neil Foster, at Law & Religion Australia, looks at the background and some implications of election promises from The Greens and others. Very relevant.
‘Don’t Drift!’ — exhortation
At the SMBC Centenary Service on April 15th, David Cook preached from Hebrews 1 and 2, with the theme of “Don’t Drift!”.
“When I was Principal here, I received an invitation … to go to a conference in Cape Town, in South Africa, and the invitation was addressed to ‘The most dangerous person in the Church’. It was a conference for the Principals of Bible Colleges and Theological Colleges. The most dangerous people in the church.
That, historically, is an accurate description. If a denomination moves away from the truth, invariably, it is because its denominational College has moved from the truth…”
Audio of David’s sermon is now available (18MB mp3 file) on the SMBC Centenary web page. Encouraging.
Related: In his weekly column, David writes about Chappo and the need for evangelists.
Broken bad
“I’ve noticed something of a cultural shift in the way we evangelicals talk about the human condition: more and more, we are ‘broken’, rather than ‘sinners’ – people who act out of our ‘brokenness’, not our ‘sin’, rebellion’, ‘disobedience’ or ‘rejection’ of God.
And I’m not convinced this shift is all good…”
– At GoThereFor, Claire Smith points out a drift in language you might not have noticed.
Ministry in Exile — Nexus16
Nexus16 is coming up on Monday 23rd May at Annandale.
Speakers include Lionel Windsor, Phil Colgan, Chris Braga and Kanishka Raffel, with an extended Q&A between Dominic Steele and Phillip Jensen.
Tony Payne writes:
“Nexus 2016 is less than a week away (10am 23 May 2016), and we have to tell the caterers this Wednesday how many spit roast lunches to prepare.
So if you’ve been wavering, procrastinating, or just too busy to get to it, now is the time to act. Head over to our website to register. You’ve got till midnight Tuesday 17 May. (You can still come if you register after that time but we won’t be providing lunch for you).
We’re very encouraged not only by the numbers already registered (25% more by this stage than last year) but by the increase in groups all round Australia who have been telling us that they are planning to be part of the day via Livestream (more details here).”
Endurance Needed: Strength for a slow reformation and the dangerous allure of speed
Several people have told us of the encouragement given by Mark Dever’s exhortations on Endurance in Pastoral ministry – at the Together for the Gospel Conference 2016.
Strong encouragement.
Watch it here – or listen at this link.
How a Minority achieved a Majority
“For years leading up to Ireland’s civil partnership legislation, a small nongovernmental organisation (NGO) – the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) – along with its many supporters and collaborators, worked quietly and methodically toward this day. …
In 2005, GLEN received a sizable long-term grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies that allowed GLEN to increase its organisational capacity and to pursue its ambitious advocacy strategy for advancing equality for gays and lesbians in Ireland.
The story of how Ireland’s landmark legislation was achieved for same-sex couples holds insights and lessons for any advocacy group trying to achieve legislative change…”
– This PDF document, available on The Atlantic Philanthropies website, charts how minority groups were able to achieve the goal of Civil Partnership in Ireland back in 2010.
We posted a link to this, and related material, last year. It’s well worth revisiting to be aware of the methods used to shift public sentiment, which resulted a vote to change the definition of marriage in 2015.
Three dollars worth of gospel, please
Adam Ford tackles a well-known illustration from D. A Carson.
The Reason for Faith
“Faith may lack a comprehensive knowledge of its object, but unless it is pure folly, it typically can see enough evidence to know that the testimony about it is, at least, likely to be true. It is more than a mere opinion which cannot commit firmly to one position or another…”
– Dr Andrew Leslie at Moore College writes about Faith in the College’s ‘ThinkTank’ Faculty blog.
A majority of millennials reject capitalism and support Bernie
“After generations of both political correctness and philosophical postmodernism, we now see a generation that seems to be virtually incapable of beginning any sentence with anything other than, ‘I feel like,’ which as is indicated in this article means a retreat from any claim of truth or a fact merely to an assertion of opinion.…”
– Albert Mohler reflects on the belief system (or lack thereof) of many millennials. Insightful and disturbing. From The Briefing, 03 May 2016.
Defence Anglicans Prayer Diary 2016
Our friends who minister to Australia’s Defence personnel would be very glad of your prayers on a regular basis.
The Defence Anglicans Prayer Diary for 2016 is now up on their website.
Be encouraged to download and use it.
FCANZ Opening Conference audio
Audio files from the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans New Zealand’s opening conference have now been posted online.
In his closing address, FCANZ Chairman Jay Behan (pictured) reminds his hearers that human sexuality is not the gospel. However it is a gospel issue which must not be ignored.
Take the time to listen, and be urged to pray for our brothers and sisters in New Zealand as they seek godly wisdom for the days ahead.
(The General Synod of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia meets in Napier 06–13 May 2016.)
Preaching or Social Action?
“Can a ‘church’ be a good church if it minimises the importance of preaching? Or if it does not engage with social action?
How does the New Testament help set our priorities for ministry and preaching?
Should a pastor preach on things such as political matters, social matters or current controversies?”
– In the latest Preaching Matters video from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, Kevin DeYoung looks at the New Testament pattern.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…