Breakfast with Dick Lucas
“While we were away in the UK, Her Majesty the Queen turned 88 years old, having been born on 21 April, 1926.
This makes the Queen six months younger than Dick Lucas, who for nearly 40 years was the Rector of St Helen’s, Bishopsgate in London. Dick used to be a regular visitor to speak at Christian conventions in Australia. Dick is still mentally and physically active, preaching most weeks. The day I visited he was working on Jude and had his language aids and thesaurus at hand. …
Maxine and I had breakfast with Dick at Joe’s Eats, a local café near where he lives … in between orange juice and coffee and a hearty serving of eggs benedict, these are Dick’s insights after so many years of Christian ministry. …”
– David Cook shares them at The Moderator General’s Comments (11 June 2014).
N T Wright on Same Sex ‘Marriage’
N. T. Wright was recently interviewed on the topic of same sex ‘marriage’ and spoke about what happens when words are redefined. See it here.
BCA Jazz concert
There’s a Jazz Convert in support of The Bush Church Aid Society – at Oatley West on Friday 11th July 2014.
Details in this PDF flier.
9Marks Interview — John MacArthur on Fellowship
In the latest 9Marks Interview, Mark Dever speaks with John MacArthur about Fellowship, smart phones, and Twitter.
41 minutes. Worth hearing.
Chappo’s 20%
“When I first started preaching I was given a series of videos by the Australian evangelist John Chapman (now in glory) on how to prepare a sermon. Anyone who has heard Chappo will know that he was a great communicator of the gospel and that a central strength of his preaching was his tremendous clarity and simplicity. …”
– At the Proclamation Trust, Jonathan Griffiths shares some advice from Chappo.
David Peterson interviewed on ‘Encountering God Together’
Books at a Glance (the subscription Christian-book-summary service) interviewed David Peterson on his book “Encountering God Together”.
CMS annual appeal 2014
The Church Missionary Society is holding its annual appeal. You can donate here.
‘One of the finest Biblical commentaries’
Job: The Wisdom of the Cross – a new Commentary by Christopher Ash – is receiving an enthusiastic reception.
“This is one of the finest Biblical commentaries I have had the privilege to read, and certainly the best I know on the wonderful but perplexing book of Job.” writes John Woodhouse.
Other reactions at Between Two Worlds.
‘When we get it wrong’ — Southern Cross
“Some months ago, the team at Southern Cross started planning to do a cover story on prayer.
They say everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it. With prayer, we don’t talk much about it and do it even less (myself included).
Article complete, we went about trying to illustrate it. It seemed ‘knee fitness’ might be catchy and contemporary. Because we don’t have the funds to stage our own photography, we used a stock image of a woman in fitness gear.
In an effort to focus on the knees to make the theme work, the cover unhelpfully drew attention to other parts of her body and cut off her head, depersonalising the image.
Let me be clear. This was a mistake. With the best of intentions we actually did the opposite of what we were trying to do. …”
– Russell Powell, CEO of Anglican Media Sydney, issues an apology. An exemplary way for Christians to respond.
And you can now download the updated version of Southern Cross – with lots of great content – here as a 5.3MB PDF file.
One-to-One Bible Reading
“There is something to be said for evangelism strategies and discipleship programs. My guess is that most churches have some way to introduce unbelievers to the Christian faith and to mature those who are new to the faith. I would guess as well that most churches keep an eye on the various new offerings, looking for what is original, what is interesting, what promises results.
But what if we’ve made it all too complicated? What if both evangelism and discipleship can be as simple as reading the Bible?”
– Tim Challies looks at One-to-One Bible Reading by David Helm.
Committed to actually reading the Bible?
In an article at SydneyAnglicans.net, Archbishop Glenn Davies observes,
“It is a strange phenomenon that we Sydney Anglicans, who are so devoted to our commitment to the teaching of the Bible, do not appear to be as devoted to our personal reading of the Bible…”
– Read his article, and then check out these resources –
- Two-Year reading plan from The Gospel Coalition.
- Many other Bible-reading resources via Justin Taylor.
- For the Love of God – Online version. Printed volumes.
- Reap Journal from Anglican Youthworks.
- Matthias Media resources.
- YouVersion Bible apps.
Lasting hope — at Munguishi Bible College
To help promote their Lasting Hope appeal, CMS Australia has posted several videos you could use in church or in small groups. The latest video features testimony from the Rev Nicholaus Charles, who has been studying at Munguishi Bible College in Tanzania.
There are also an encouragement from Archbishop Glenn Davies, and other recent videos here. Take the time to see them.
Emotional Preaching — Andrew Sach
In the latest ‘Preaching Matters’ from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London, Andrew Sach speaks about preaching on a passage which is truly horrible.
Why Creeds?
“In every major service in the Prayer Book, the congregation recite one of three Creeds, helpfully laid out for us in Article VIII: ‘Of the Three Creeds’.
The Three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius’s Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles’ Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture. …”
– At Church Society’s blog, Mark Smith writes to encourage saying of the Creeds.
Condemned Christian woman gives birth
“Meriam Ibrahim, a Christian woman who was sentenced to death in Sudan for apostasy, has given birth to a daughter…”
– Report from Barnabas Fund.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…