First GAFCON 2013 prayer bulletin available
“A series of prayer bulletins is being issued in the weeks leading up to the October conference.
This allows provinces, churches, organisations and individuals to read about the preparations and to uphold GAFCON in prayer.”
– Download the first one from this page.
The St. James’ Massacre remembered
On Thursday evening, the congregation of St. James’ Kenilworth in Cape Town met to remember the terrible massacre of Sunday 25th July 1993.
The sermon preached by the current Rector, the Rev Dr Mervyn Eloff, is now available. Well worth hearing and passing on.
And a ten minute video, made shortly after the massacre, can be seen here (h/t George Athas).
Earlier post by David Manfield.
J.I. Packer’s conversion and C.S. Lewis
“Just this week, J.I. Packer celebrated his 87th birthday. We asked him to explain the formative role and influence of C.S. Lewis’s writings on his teen years, his conversion, and his later ministry, which he explains in this three-minute video.”
– from Tony Reinke at Desiring God.
A one-sentence summary of each of Screwtape’s Letters
“In The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis masterfully ‘teaches in reverse’ by wryly using demonic points of view to enforce a biblical one. He calls it ‘diabolical ventriloquism.’ Here is a one-sentence summary of each of Screwtape’s thirty-one letters that advise Wormwood how to tempt his ‘patient’…”
– from Andy Naselli.
STEP: A free online Bible Study resource
“Today the STEP development team of Tyndale House Cambridge launched the Beta-test version of a new free Bible study resource at www.StepBible.org. … The Beta launch of STEP invites users to try out the new tools and give suggestions for improvement.”
– Justin Taylor draws attention to this valuable new resource from Tyndale House.
New Moore College website — and Societas 2013 is out now
Moore Theological College has launched its updated website – www.moore.edu.au – check it out.
In addition, the 2013 issue of Societas – the produced by the Moore College student body – is also available. You can get printed copies from student ministers at your church, and you can also read it online.
Is Scripture enough?
“It’s tough believing that Scripture is enough for building and leading churches.
The ‘old man’ in us is continually tempted to build our churches on other things, things we can see and measure.”
– The role of the Word of God in our churches is the focus of the just-released July/August 2013 edition of 9Marks Journal.
Oak Hill Commentary magazine — Summer 2013
The latest issue of Oak Hill’s magazine is available for download.
What’s So Great about the Doctrines of Grace? — free eBook
“During the month of July, Reformation Trust is giving away the eBook edition of Richard Phillips’ What’s So Great about the Doctrines of Grace.” – might be worth checking out.
Seminar audio files from the 2013 EMA
From Adrian Reynolds at the Proclamation Trust –
“The audio of seminars from the 2013 EMA [Evangelical Ministers Assembly in London] is now available to download for free here.”
Packer: Playing the Numbers Game
“I have found that churches, pastors, seminaries, and parachurch agencies throughout North America are mostly playing the numbers game—that is, defining success in terms of numbers of heads counted or added to those that were there before…”
– J. I Packer, via Justin Taylor.
Mark toolkit – last two instalments
If you’ve been following the videos of Andrew Sach and his Mark Toolkit, the last two video files are now available. These are part of the video resources from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, and are ideal for all who teach or who lead Bible studies.
“Epic mini-series” coming to Australia
It’s been announced that the US “epic mini-series”, The Bible, will be screened on the Nine Network from next week. Perhaps 100 million people saw it in the US earlier this year.
It was produced by Mark Burnett (Survivor, Celebrity Apprentice, The Voice) and his wife, actress Roma Downey (starred in Touched by an Angel).
It’s a great opportunity to get the Bible into your conversations.
However, before it screens, it’s probably important to get some background.
See this article by Andy Naselli – “Three reasons I don’t enthusiastically recommend the ‘The Bible’ miniseries”. Being aware of that can help us to discuss what it portrays, and encourage our friends to read the Bible for themselves.
The Bible Society of Australia will be following the mini-series as part of their ‘Daily Bible’ email service, from Tuesday 16 July. (Image: Bible Society.)
Ten Passages for Pastors to Memorise
“Here’s one way to cool down warm up during a sizzling hot freezing July: ice-cold memorization to warm your heart.
Grab an iced tea a hot chocolate, find some air-conditioned cozy warm space, and put these ten passages to memory. You’ll never regret any extended time given to memorizing God’s word — especially when it’s the passages that come up again and again as particularly useful in the Christian life and in ministering to others.”
– from Desiring God (more or less).
How to pray for God’s work
How is your prayer for the Archbishop’s election going?
Dick Lucas preached from 1 Kings 18 at The Tron Church in Glasgow last month. He reminded his hearers that first of all, we must pray that the Lord will be known, and that hearts be turned back to him – a crucial prayer for Glasgow, and a crucial prayer for Sydney. Hear or see his sermon at The Tron’s website. (It starts 38 minutes into the video.) Most edifying.
It’s also a good reminder to continue to pray for the saints in the Tron, for all of these reasons.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…