‘Out of step’ with the times — but not the Bible
“The Church of England’s decision to allow women bishops may represent a historical shift in attitudes in its General Synod, but to the dismay of supporters of the ordination of women, the move may hold little sway for Sydney’s Anglican community…
‘As much as we respect the Church of England, it is no longer the centre of our world,’ Bishop Forsyth said. ‘It’s not our Rome, it’s a partner church in the worldwide community of Anglicans.’…”
– from The Sydney Morning Herald.
Includes a quote from ACL President Gav Poole –
”Sydney is known around the world for its evangelical character and its holding to the authority of the scriptures,” he said. ”That’s a long tradition here in Sydney and something we have always appreciated.”
Who is the most important person in your church?
“Who is the most important person in your church? On one level it’s kind of a silly question to ask. Yet in his book Healed at Last, Scott Blackwell provides an answer that is both sweet and encouraging. He tells about his friend Steve who has been profoundly disabled since birth.”
– Tim Challies draws attention to Healed at Last.
‘Can I Really Trust The Bible?’ Promo
You might enjoy this promotional video for Barry Cooper’s book, Can I Really Trust the Bible?
When the sermon could have been better
In the latest Preaching Matters video from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London, William Taylor speaks about what to do when your sermon wasn’t really up to scratch.
New Proc Trust website
The Proclamation Trust has an updated website with lost of resources.
Biblical Theology and the Sexuality Crisis
“As the church responds [the current moral and sexual revolution], we must remember that current debates on sexuality present to the church a crisis that is irreducibly and inescapably theological.
This crisis is tantamount to the type of theological crisis that Gnosticism presented to the early church or that Pelagianism presented to the church in the time of Augustine. In other words, the crisis of sexuality challenges the church’s understanding of the gospel, sin, salvation, and sanctification.
Advocates of the new sexuality demand a complete rewriting of Scripture’s metanarrative, a complete reordering of theology, and a fundamental change to how we think about the church’s ministry.”
– Albert Mohler writes at the 9Marks blog.
Praying for Moore College
In the latest post at the Moore College ThinkTank, Principal Mark Thompson urges us to pray for the College.
And they’ve been trawling through College audio archives for classic sermons on Prayer. So far, two are online – Graeme Goldsworthy on Galatians 4:6, and John Woodhouse on The Lord’s Prayer. They plan to add another one each week.
Subscribe to the Moore College Classic Prayer podcast on iTunes.
Confident and Equipped: Facing Today’s Challenges in the Church of England
One of the passions of John Richardson, who departed this mortal life at the end of March, was to see the Church of England reclaimed for Christ.
A Thanksgiving Service was held for John at St. Peter’s, Harold Wood on June 11th (Order of Service, PDF file).
It’s fitting that the new book, Confident and Equipped: Facing Today’s Challenges in the Church of England, was available just in time for the service. It’s a volume of papers from the Junior Anglican Evangelical Conference 2013 (which John started).
Lee Gatiss has an outline of the contents – and the book is available in the UK from Church Society (£40.00 for 10, £22.00 for 5, £5.00 for one – contact them for international orders).
Photo: St. Peter’s Harold Wood.
Check out Introducing God 2.0
The new and updated version of Introducing God was launched in March.
The first version was widely used around Australia.
In this video, Tony Payne speaks with Introducing God 2.0 author Dominic Steele about what’s different and why this version might be just the thing for use in large groups, small groups, and one-to-one settings. Check it out.
And here are ten ways you could use the course.
Print edition of ‘Women, Sermons and the Bible’ on the way
Matthias Media advises that a print version of Women, Sermons and the Bible will soon be out. The eBook was published in May. (Table of contents here.)
Why not ‘burn out for Jesus’?
Cornhill’s Christopher Ash spoke on ‘How to maintain pastoral zeal while avoiding pastoral burnout’ at a conference in the US last month.
Justin Taylor has the video and audio, as well as links to the books mentioned.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea for anyone in ministry (and anyone who supports them) to watch this. Runs for 52 minutes.
12 Questions to ask before you watch ‘Game of Thrones’
“The closer I get to death and meeting Jesus personally face to face and giving an account for my life and for the careless words that I have spoken (Matthew 12:36), the more sure I am of my resolve never intentionally to look at a television show or a movie or a website or a magazine where I know I will see photos or films of nudity. Never. That is my resolve. And the closer I get to death, the better I feel about that, and the more committed I become…”
– Perhaps ‘Game of Thrones’ isn’t your thing – but this is still good advice from John Piper.
Related: “Foxtel says about 500,000 Australians watch each episode via a paid subscription, while another half a million download it illegally…” – ABC News.
Moore College School of Theology 2014
Moore College’s 2014 School of Theology is set for Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th September.
The focus is on the Gospel of Matthew.
Registration is now open – and there’s a list of Contributors and their topics at the link!
Oh, and if you are a user of the College Library, note that it’s closed June 23rd to July 11th, inclusive.
Learning to pray
Dr Michael Spence, Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney, spoke movingly at this year’s Sydney Prayer Breakfast about his own prayer life after his wife died.
His talk has been made available at Eternity Newspaper.
Latest ‘New Life’
The latest issue (15 June 2014) of New Life newspaper, published in Melbourne, is now up on their website. (PDF file.)
It has a good spread of international news you might not see otherwise. In addition, there’s mention of a new commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah by Moore College graduate Greg Goswell (now Academic Dean at Christ College in Sydney).
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…