“Who do they think they are?” Church Society responds to the CofE House of Bishops Proposals for Same-Sex Blessings
Posted on January 20, 2023
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Church Society’s Lee Gatiss responds to the ‘unworkable compromise’ that is the Church of England’s House of Bishops proposal for Same-Sex Blessings:
“The bishops of the Church of England have finally announced what it is they want to do at the end of the Living in Love and Faith process. …
They will be issuing an apology to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Queer, Intersex, and other people (LGBTQI+) for the ‘rejection, exclusion, and hostility’ they have faced in churches. After what they describe as a 6 year period of listening and learning, they have decided they will ‘offer the fullest possible pastoral provision without changing the Church’s doctrine of Holy Matrimony for same-sex couples through a range of draft prayers, known as Prayers of Love and Faith, which could be used voluntarily in churches for couples who have marked a significant stage of their relationship such as a civil marriage or civil partnership.’
They will also be replacing Issues in Human Sexuality, which binds clergy to celibacy outside of heterosexual marriage, with new pastoral guidance. The basis for this is given in large bold letters as ‘God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.’ (1 John 4:16). …”
He argues that, despite claims to the contrary, it is a change of doctrine. Of the Bishops behind this, he writes,
“Who do they think they are? Bishops are asked at their consecrations: ‘Will you teach the doctrine of Christ as the Church of England has received it, will you refute error, and will you hand on entire the faith that is entrusted to you?’ Were they serious when they replied ‘With the help of God, I will’? What are we to conclude about God’s help, if they no longer will? It would be a fearsome thing to be led by those whom God had abandoned.”
Further, he writes,
“There has been no convincing argument made for us to change our doctrine and practice. Living in Love and Faith and its associated survey, provided no warrant for change, no biblical justifications for a shift of this magnitude, as I have already stated elsewhere.
The Bishop of Oxford made no real attempt to argue from the Bible in his case for change, so ably countered by Vaughan Roberts.
The Bishop of Worcester delved so deeply into the Bible that he was able to make a puerile point about Solomon having hundreds of wives, which apparently proves there is no biblical doctrine of marriage. Teenagers would hoot at such impudence in a sixth form debating society, but it is hardly biblical scholarship. Again, Martin Davie easily takes his argument apart piece by rusting piece.”
– Read it all at Church Society’s blog.
Make 2023 the year of truly knowing Jesus
Posted on January 19, 2023
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“There is a time for everything, the Teacher of Ecclesiastes tells us. Whether it is a time for birth or for death; to plant or to uproot; to weep or to laugh; to mourn or to dance – understanding the time in which we live as we enter 2023 really matters.
Knowing our time will dictate how we should act, what we should do, what we should prioritise, and what we believe is most significant. So, what is the time in which we live?…”
– At The Australian Church Record, Ben George has both challenge and encouragement.
Dean of Sydney: ALP ‘can do better’ on Pokies
Posted on January 18, 2023
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A media release from earlier this week:
“The Dean of Sydney, Sandy Grant, a long-time campaigner for poker machine reform in NSW, has responded to the NSW ALP’s launch of its gambling reform policy today.
He said:
Although I am pleased to see some helpful steps in the ALP’s proposals that will be helpful, the ALP can do better by committing to the principal of introducing a cashless gaming card, with mandatory pre-commitment, for poker machine use right across NSW.
With NSW losses on poker machines approaching $8 billion per annum – that’s over $20 million/day! – we urgently need ‘Airbags on Pokies’.…”
January sale at Matthias Media
Posted on January 18, 2023
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Matthias media has a number of terrific books on sale – the sale “ends 11:59pm 31 January 2023, unless a product sells out first. Our standard generous quantity discounts don’t apply.”
John Chapman’s A Foot in Two Worlds is available for just $5.
“This book from John Chapman helps us understand both the joys and the hardships that we experience as part of the normal Christian life.”
Many would find it a great help and encouragement.
See what else is on offer here. (This is not an advertisement – we just thought you might like to know.)
‘Holy Scripture is the one that must give way’: Bishop Calls for Church of England to Change its Doctrine on Sexuality
Posted on January 17, 2023
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In his The Briefing for 17 January 2023, Dr Albert Mohler addresses last week’s letter in support of same sex marriage from Bishop John Inge of Worcester.
– Hear Parts 2 and 3 of The Briefing. Image: Bishop Inge.
Same words. Different worlds. Reaching Roman Catholics.
Posted on January 17, 2023
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On the Pastor’s Heart this week, Dominic Steele speaks with Leonardo De Chirico and Rachel Ciano on understanding our Roman Catholic friends and sharing the saving news of Jesus with them.
Leonardo De Chirico, Director of The Reformanda Initiative in Rome, is currently in Australia. Rachel Ciano serves at SMBC.
Last week to register for Launch 2023
Posted on January 16, 2023
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This is the last week to register for Launch Camp
– 30 January – 2nd February 2023
– Katoomba, KCC and CMS sites
Launch camp has been an enormous help to so many students as they begin uni days with Christian friends and enfolded in uni Christian ministries.
The aim of Launch is to work out together what it means to live for Jesus in the transition to post-school life – years that are likely to be the most formative years of life.
Bathurst Diocesan Prayer Diary 2023
Posted on January 16, 2023
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Please be encouraged to pray for the churches and people of the Diocese of Bathurst using their 2023 Prayer Diary.
Downloadable here as a PDF file.
One of the prayer requests for Day 15 –
“Please pray for the financial sustainability task force, that you would give them wisdom as they seek to lead our diocese to a better financial position. …”
A weary pilgrimage
Posted on January 15, 2023
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“I remember going to a weekend conference some eighteen months after I was converted, and a girl there asked me if I was a Christian. I answered, ‘Yes’.
‘Tell me’ she said, ‘what I have to do to become a Christian’.
I didn’t have the faintest idea where to begin.
As I write this now, I remember well the mixed emotions that swamped me. First, joy—because more than anything else I wanted to see people converted. Second, shame—because I didn’t know what to say. Third, anger—(with myself) for allowing such a situation to arise. All these emotions muddled together produced the only possible answer: ‘I’ll take you to someone who can tell you’.
So I did that, and she was converted—but not by my words or witness.
That incident left an indelible imprint on my memory, and that day I vowed that such a situation would never happen again. In the future I would know exactly what to say.
So I set out to learn the gospel. Which I did. …”
– from John Chapman in his book Know and Tell the Gospel. Extract published by Matthias Media.
‘Save the Parish’ Chairman writes to Justin Welby concerning slavery reparations
Posted on January 13, 2023
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“The Revd Marcus Walker writes to the Archbishop of Canterbury concerning the the announcement of £100m fund on slavery reparations. …
The announcement that the Church Commissioners are intent upon using £100 million of endowments of the Church of England for what has widely been reported as ‘reparations’ comes at a time of deep crisis for the Church. For the first time since the Dark Ages a majority of those living in England would not call themselves Christian. The number of people attending acts of worship in Anglican churches has fallen to a level never before seen, and we face a demographic cliff edge as our congregations grow older. …
– Read it all at Anglican Mainstream.
Sydney Church History — repost
Posted on January 13, 2023
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We first posted this link in August 2020. As CMS Summer School at Katoomba concludes for 2023, here are even more reasons to give thanks to God:
“In 1965 John Stott, the Rector of All Souls Langham Place in London, visited Sydney to preach on 2 Corinthians at the CMS Summer School.
‘I heard only one of those Bible studies but I was so taken by the way he stuck to the text and stayed with it. He could show you the logic of the argument in the Scriptures, prior to that I had tended to get an idea from the passage and to leap all over the Bible supporting the idea from other parts, so that the people I taught knew the ‘idea’ but not the passage from which it came or how that passage fitted into some overall argument from the Scriptures. It is to John Stott I owe what ability I have to expound the Bible.’
Those were the words of the esteemed Sydney evangelist and preacher, the late John Chapman…”
– David Cook writes to remind us of our history, and how God works. At The Expository Preaching Trust.
(David Cook has served in parish ministry, as the Principal of SMBC, and as the Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia.)
P&A 2023 annual conference: Lazy Complementarianism
Posted on January 12, 2023
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Coming up at the Priscilla & Aquila Centre at Moore College.
‘Compassion…’
Posted on January 12, 2023
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“Predictions about the global economic outlook for the new year are not encouraging. Nor is the news of the ongoing aggression by Russia in Ukraine. Given the rise of powerful despots and divisions within western democracies, is there anything that we can do?
Two and a half millennia ago the Jewish people were in exile. In 586 BC Babylonian forces had rampaged through Judah, conquering Jerusalem, razing its walls and its temple to the ground. Political obliteration seemed inevitable as the cream of the population was taken to Babylon.
Yet the extraordinary thing was this:…”
– At The Anglican Connection, John Mason continues to remind us that our needy world waits to hear the truth about God.
Northern Hope Anglican Church joins Diocese of the Southern Cross
Posted on January 11, 2023
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As of 8th January 2023, Northern Hope Anglican Church in Cairns is the third church to join the Diocese of the Southern Cross. Northern Hope is meeting under the pastoral leadership of the Rev. Trevor Saggers.
Please uphold these churches, and Bishop Glenn Davies, bishop of the diocese, in your prayers.
Hear the sermon by Bishop Davies, as well as interviews on local radio.
Further from GAFCON:
Northern Hope Anglican Church Launched in Queensland
After 23 years of ministry at a parish church in Cairns, Australia, the Reverend Trevor Saggers decided enough was enough, when his bishop, among other things, was unable to support the Bible’s teaching on same-sex relationships.
When a motion was put to the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia in May 2022 affirming the Bible’s teaching on marriage and declaring the blessing of same-sex marriages to be contrary to the Bible’s teaching, the Bishop of North Queensland could not vote in favour of such a statement. Sadly, he was not alone among the House of Bishops, as a majority of 12 bishops voted against the motion, thus preventing the adoption of the statement addressing the faith of the Church, despite a majority of lay and clerical members of the General Synod voting in favour.
This action precipitated, in part, the formation of the Diocese of the Southern Cross, an extra provincial diocese within Australia, as a lifeboat for faithful Anglicans to join, when they felt they could no longer serve under the jurisdiction of a bishop who did not faithfully teach the doctrine of Christ and his apostles.
On Sunday, 8th January 2023, Bishop Glenn Davies commissioned the Reverend Trevor Saggers as the pastor of Northern Hope Anglican Church and welcomed 120 people who gathered in a rented hall with their pastor to form a new Anglican congregation in Cairns, the third Member Church of the Diocese of the Southern Cross. …”
C of E setting up £100m fund to ‘address past wrongs’ of slave trade links
Posted on January 11, 2023
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“The Church of England has committed £100m to a fund it is setting up to compensate for its historical benefit from the international slave trade. …
The church is not using the term ‘reparations’ as the scheme will not compensate individuals but will support projects ‘focused on improving opportunities for communities adversely impacted by historic slavery’. …”
– Report from The Guardian.
See also:
Church plans to spend £100m atoning for its historical slave trade links after branding it a ‘shameful and horrific sin’ – Daily Mail.
“Senior clerics have admitted that the £100million investment, to be made over the next decade, is a huge sum at a time when parishes and congregations are struggling but insisted the church had to ‘address past wrongs’.”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…