Stopping the Rot

Posted on October 24, 2022 
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“Andrew Thorburn’s recent ejection from the CEO’s role at Essendon has heightened the concerns many of us already have about the direction of our society.

We seem to be headed to a place where, not only will life be harder for Christians, but many destructive evils are being allowed to spread unchecked—all kinds of sexual immorality, substance addiction, and greed. At the same time, many freedoms we have taken for granted, like freedom of speech and freedom of association, are being curtailed.

What should we do about it?…

the Lord Jesus has told us the way that he wants all of us to influence our society”

– Neil Chambers has some encouragement for you at The Gospel Coalition Australia.

Consecration of new Assistant Bishops for the Anglican Network in Europe

Posted on October 22, 2022 
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Early this morning (22 October 2022), Australian time, Tim Davies, Lee McMunn and Ian Ferguson were consecrated as Assistant Bishops in the Anglican Network in Europe at a service in Hull in the UK.

The service was introduced by Bishop Andy Lines, Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Network in Europe.

Many international guests were present. Archbishop Foley Beach presided at the consecration. Archbishop Laurent Mbanda, Primate of Rwanda, preached and called his hearers to take Jesus’ command, The Great Commission, seriously.

Watch the full service here. Most encouraging.

‘Church of England spokesman’ responds to ‘inaccurate’ statements from GSFA and GAFCON

Posted on October 22, 2022 
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The Anglican Communion News Service has published an article purportedly correcting “inaccurate” statements from the Steering Committee of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches and the GAFCON Primates Council about the appointment of the new Dean of Canterbury Cathedral.

The unnamed spokesman claims the statements misunderstand –

• the nature of civil partnerships into which “some gay and lesbian English clergy have entered”, and

• the claim that the Archbishop of Canterbury has no “authority to discipline or exclude a church of the Anglican Communion” – even though the Archbishop chose to invite to the Lambeth Conference bishops in same-sex marriages.

– Read the full article here.

Related:

Communiqué from the Steering Committee of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches – 17 October 2022.

Excerpt:

“We are deeply saddened, but not totally surprised. The present ABC’s action is part of the direction he had set in the recently concluded Lambeth Conference. There, he indicated that he is not willing for the office of ABC to be used to discipline member provinces in keeping to the Church’s teaching. He also indicated that he felt that the Communion should allow for ‘a plurality of views’ on what the Holy Scriptures teach [1]. Archbishop Welby’s first position is lamentable; his second is repugnant to our understanding of the authority and clarity of Holy Scripture. The notion of ‘pluriform’ truth is contrary to the Anglican Ordinal which binds duly consecrated bishops to be responsible for the guarding, teaching and imparting of divine truth in Holy Scripture.

It saddens us that in this recent appointment of the Deanery of Canterbury, the ABC shows yet again, that his oft-expressed assurance that Lambeth 1.10 remains ‘the official teaching of the Church’ is merely lip-service [2]. If it is the official teaching of the Church, then it ought to be followed through in the ‘faith & order’ of all Provinces. The appointment of a person in same-sex civil partnership to a senior clerical position clearly contravenes the spirit of Lambeth 1.10, which not only rejects ‘homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture’, but goes on to declare that the Lambeth Conference of 1998 ‘cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same-sex unions.’

The GSFA Churches are committed to upholding Lambeth 1.10 in its entirety. This means that while we hold fully to the moral teaching of Scripture expressed in 1.10 , we also commit ourselves to “assure homosexual persons that they are loved by God and … that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation , are full members of the Body of Christ.” We heed the words of Jesus to all sinners: “Repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mk 1:15).

It is in our Christian faith to love a person for who he or she is, regardless of the person’s sexual orientation. But this love for the person is always in the context of honouring and obeying God’s revealed Word. The first cannot be at the expense of the second. Indeed, to love a person is to help usher the person, by our word and deeds, into the life-transforming power of the Gospel as revealed in Holy scripture. That, as GSFA understands it, is the unchanging mission of the Church.

So, we take exception to the Church of England’s accommodation of a person in a same-sex union being appointed to an office of spiritual authority over the flock of God’s people.

Looking back, perhaps the rot in upholding biblical doctrine on this matter had set in with the consecration of an openly homosexual bishop in the Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003 in TEC. The rot has since spread through the woodwork of the Communion, and this recent appointment is foreboding because the rot is now blatantly visible in the Communion’s ‘mother church’ under the guise of love, tolerance and human rights.

As GSFA Churches, we believe in the mutual accountability of Anglican provinces to one another, and that we are duty-bound to God to admonish (‘warn with tears’) one another not to compromise ‘the faith once delivered’ (Jude 3) . We shall therefore be writing a personal letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the bishops in the Church of England on the seriousness of this action.…”

Communiqué from the GAFCON Primates Council – 20 October 2022.

Excerpt:

“The original GAFCON in Jerusalem in 2008 was born out of the tragic cost that has come from Provinces that have departed from clear biblical teaching and established historic Anglican Formularies that were unquestioned until recent years. Those departures continue and are even spreading. We were deeply grieved by the recent appointment of a man who lives in a same-sex civil partnership as Dean of Canterbury Cathedral. It is a heartbreaking provocation that such a departure from biblical standards would be thrust upon the Communion in the historic See of Canterbury and in opposition to the established teaching and practice of the majority of Anglicans.

The announcement from the Archbishop of Canterbury distanced himself from this appointment, as it was the recommendation of a Selection Panel, requiring the Queen’s approval. Yet it is difficult to see how a Diocesan Bishop, let alone the Archbishop of Canterbury, could not influence the appointment of the Dean of his own Cathedral, especially given the published process for the Appointment of Deans. Moreover, filling this position was the responsibility of Mr Stephen Knott, the Archbishop’s Secretary for Appointments, who is himself in a same-sex marriage. It is disingenuous, if not duplicitous, for the Archbishop to claim that the Church of England has not changed its doctrine of marriage …”

Mark 7:1-23 – ESV.

Image: Anglican Communion News Service web banner.

‘Men Have Forgotten God’: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Posted on October 22, 2022 
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Back in 2018, to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The National Review republished an article adapted from his 1983 Templeton Address.

Among his remarks are these words which have great relevance today –

“Within the philosophical system of Marx and Lenin, and at the heart of their psychology, hatred of God is the principal driving force, more fundamental than all their political and economic pretensions.

Militant atheism is not merely incidental or marginal to Communist policy; it is not a side effect, but the central pivot. To achieve its diabolical ends, Communism needs to control a population devoid of religious and national feeling, and this entails the destruction of faith and nationhood. …”

– Read it all.

Photo: US Library of Congress, via The National Review.

The Greater Love Declaration

Posted on October 21, 2022 
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From the UK:

“The Greater Love Declaration is a statement by Ministers and Pastoral Workers from across the different Christian Denominations as a statement of classic, orthodox Christian teaching on marriage, sex and identity.

In it we affirm the essential and unchangeable place of this teaching in Christian theology, its foundation in Christ’s own example of self-giving love, and our duty and commitment as ministers of the gospel to uphold, teach and proclaim it.”

– ‘The Greater Love Declaration’ was launched last week by ministers from several denominations. The website states,

“It is our hope that this will be of use to Ministers, who wish to declare their loyalty to Biblical, and historic Christian teaching; to all Christians, who wish to understand their own beliefs better; and to anyone else who wants to understand standard, orthodox Christian teaching on Marriage, Sex and Identity.”

The initiative has been commended by a range of Christian leaders.

Family Bible Reading – Interview with the Windsors

Posted on October 21, 2022 
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The Australian Church Record asks Bronwyn and Lionel Windsor about their family, prayer, and reading the Bible.

“To begin with, we read a children’s Bible with our baby daughter before bedtime, even though ‘reading’ meant she only wanted to find all the pages with pictures of camels.”

– Encouragement for families in all stages of life.

GAFCON Primates Council Communiqué: Welby’s Language “Disingenuous, if not Duplicitous”

Posted on October 20, 2022 
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From David Ould:

The GAFCON Primates Council have issued a communiqué with very strong language challenging Welby’s statement over the appointment of the new Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, a man living in a same-sex relationship. They write,

The announcement from the Archbishop of Canterbury distanced himself from this appointment, as it was the recommendation of a Selection Panel, requiring the Queen’s approval. Yet it is difficult to see how a Diocesan Bishop, let alone the Archbishop of Canterbury, could not influence the appointment of the Dean of his own Cathedral, especially given the published process for the Appointment of Deans.

Moreover, filling this position was the responsibility of Mr Stephen Knott, the Archbishop’s Secretary for Appointments, who is himself in a same-sex marriage. It is disingenuous, if not duplicitous, for the Archbishop to claim that the Church of England has not changed its doctrine of marriage, when he has engaged an Appointments Secretary, whose own union is a living contradiction of marriage as God has ordained it, and which the Church of England claims to uphold. …

– Read the full communiqué.

New 9Marks Journal – The Pastor and Church Administration

Posted on October 20, 2022 
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Here’s the latest issue of 9Marks Journal with a topic that’s close to most pastors!

Don’t Quiet Quit your Faith

Posted on October 19, 2022 
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“Quiet quitting is a phrase that rose in popularity at the beginning of this year, mainly through a viral video on TikTok.

Quiet quitting is the idea that you do the bare minimum that your job requires. You don’t go above and beyond. You don’t complete any unpaid tasks and you draw strict boundaries around your work and personal life. …”

– Jocelyn Loane writes at The Australian Church Record.

Global South Bishops ‘aggrieved’ by appointment of new Dean of Canterbury

Posted on October 18, 2022 
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“The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GFSA) has expressed disappointment that the new Dean of Canterbury, the Very Rev Dr David Monteith, is in a same-sex civil partnership.

Rev David was appointed on 10th October. He currently chairs the College of Deans for the Church of England and is the former Dean of Leicester.

In a statement, the Archbishop of Canterbury praised Rev David’s service in the Church of England thus far.  ‘We will benefit greatly from David’s experience and perspective, not least from his work in helping diverse faiths and cultural communities to live well together,’ he said.”

– Report from Premier Christian News.

See also:

Statement from Global South Anglicans – via Anglican.Ink.

“We are deeply saddened, but not totally surprised.

The present ABC’s action is part of the direction he had set in the recently concluded Lambeth Conference. There, he indicated that he is not willing for the office of ABC to be used to discipline member provinces in keeping to the Church’s teaching.

He also indicated that he felt that the Communion should allow for ‘a plurality of views’ on what the Holy Scriptures teach.

Archbishop Welby’s first position is lamentable; his second is repugnant to our understanding of the authority and clarity of Holy Scripture. The notion of ‘pluriform’ truth is contrary to the Anglican Ordinal which binds duly consecrated bishops to be responsible for the guarding, teaching and imparting of divine truth in Holy Scripture.”

Photo: Canterbury Cathedral.

The Plateau Problem and a deeper issue

Posted on October 18, 2022 
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“It’s a moment of honesty for Sydney Christians as we face up to an ‘elephant in the room.’  Despite rises in giving, clergy numbers and population the number of Christians in Sydney Anglican Churches is in plateau or decline. …”

Dominic Steele speaks with Dr Raj Gupta. Plenty to think about and to pray about.

– Watch or listen at The Pastor’s Heart.

Are There Many Ways to God? Most “Evangelicals” Say Yes.

Posted on October 17, 2022 
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This 3 and a half minute video from Ligonier Ministries in the US shares one key finding from the latest ‘State of Theology’ survey. (Link via Tim Challies.)

Gafcon Primates’ Council meets in Kigali

Posted on October 17, 2022 
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Prayer point from GAFCON:

“The Gafcon Primates’ Council meets in Kigali Rwanda today for three days.

Pray for warm fellowship, encouragement in gospel partnership, and for the Lord’s help as they work through a busy agenda.”

Communique from the Australian Bishops after meeting Archbishop Justin Welby

Posted on October 15, 2022 
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The Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, Archbishop Geoffrey Smith, has released this communiqué after the Australian bishops met with the Archbishop of Canterbury this week.

(This copy via the Diocese of Bathurst.)

Re-Imagining Success in Ministry

Posted on October 15, 2022 
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“We need a new model for the church. Actually, the model we need is an old one. We need churches in which the key indicator of success is not evident results but persevering biblical faithfulness. …”

– This week 9Marks is highlighting this 2010 article by Mark Dever – excerpted from Nine Marks of a Healthy Church – for your encouragement and edification.

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