P&A 2023 annual conference: Lazy Complementarianism
Posted on January 12, 2023
Filed under Resources, Theology Comments Off on P&A 2023 annual conference: Lazy Complementarianism
Coming up at the Priscilla & Aquila Centre at Moore College.
‘Compassion…’
Posted on January 12, 2023
Filed under Encouragement, Resources Comments Off on ‘Compassion…’
“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
Filed under Diocese of the Southern Cross Comments Off on Northern Hope Anglican Church joins Diocese of the Southern Cross
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
Filed under Church of England, Culture wars Comments Off on C of E setting up £100m fund to ‘address past wrongs’ of slave trade links
“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’.”
The Vatican Files
Posted on January 10, 2023
Filed under Resources Comments Off on The Vatican Files
Dr. Leonardo De Chirico of The Reformanda Initiative in Rome is currently speaking at CMS Summer Conferences across Australia.
Many have found his insights extremely valuable in understanding the Roman Catholic Church so they might humbly and lovingly share the saving news of Jesus with their Roman Catholic friends.
From The Reformanda Initiative:
“The Reformanda Initiative exists to identify, unite, equip, and resource evangelical leaders to understand Roman Catholic theology and practice, to educate the evangelical Church and to communicate the Gospel.
Evangelicalism currently has an incoherent relationship with Roman Catholicism. Many evangelicals are uncertain about what Roman Catholics actually believe. Do they believe in the same Gospel, or something entirely different?
This question is important for leaders of evangelical churches and organizations and for hundreds of millions of evangelical believers around the world. …”
A key linked website is The Vatican Files where Dr De Chirico shares what is happening in the Roman Catholic Church. A recent article is entitled, “God has many ways to save.” Cardinal Cantalamessa and Roman Catholic Universalism:
“Like every Christmas season, the tradition of the ‘advent sermons,’ whereby the preacher of the Papal household addresses the Pope and the community working in the Vatican, was repeated this past December when Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, a capuchin, preached three sermons.
This preaching role is important because it is officially appointed by the reigning Pope and assigned to a priest whose task is to preach to the community working and living in the Vatican (Pope included) on special liturgical festivities. More generally, the Vatican preacher contributes to setting the standard of Roman Catholic homiletics even beyond the little community of the recipients and is looked upon as a ‘model’ for good Roman Catholic preaching.
For these reasons, it is always useful to have an eye on what he says and how he says it. …”
See also The Reformanda Initiative Podcast.
How a man reading the Bible revolutionised my Bible reading
Posted on January 9, 2023
Filed under Encouragement, Resources Comments Off on How a man reading the Bible revolutionised my Bible reading
“For most of the time I have been a Christian, talking about personal Bible reading has made me uneasy.
I usually regarded people who talked about their deep quiet times (often early in the morning) as spiritual skites. That was simply jealousy, because most of my attempts at quiet times could be likened to the Wright brothers’ experiments with flight. A lot of effort, airborne for a short time, then a crash.
Weirdly enough, it was a combination of the pandemic and technology that came to my rescue. …”
– Anglican Media Sydney’s Russell Powell shares some great encouragement for you.
How the Bible makes sense of modern life and culture – with Christopher Watkin
Posted on January 9, 2023
Filed under Resources Comments Off on How the Bible makes sense of modern life and culture – with Christopher Watkin
From Dominic Steele at The Pastor’s Heart:
“How does the Bible’s unfolding story makes sense of modern life and culture?
Christopher Watkin, who lectures in Philosophy at Monash University, has a new book out that paints a picture of a Biblical Theological worldview and interacts well along the way with all the major thinkers of the age.
Chris has done us pastors a significant service here.
One of my friends has called it the most helpful book for those of us in pastoral ministry since Don Carson’s late 1990s contribution, The Gagging of God. …”
‘Amazing Grace…’
Posted on January 8, 2023
Filed under Encouragement Comments Off on ‘Amazing Grace…’
“A close source pointed me to an article by Marylynn Rouse in Christian Heritage London, about the 250th anniversary of Amazing Grace. She comments, ‘It’s not often that a pop song in the charts can claim to have been around for 250 years. John Newton’s hymn Amazing Grace featured in hit parades all over the world in the 1960s and 70s, but was written for New Year’s Day 1773. …”
– John Mason writes at The Anglican Connection.
Before you watch Harry & Meghan
Posted on January 8, 2023
Filed under Opinion Comments Off on Before you watch Harry & Meghan
“The age of the internet accelerates the pace of rumour spreading from the old school gossip magazines and water coolers. Twitter and Netflix are the latest machines for globalising gossip. My secret today can be the topic of public scrutiny tomorrow.
The thing is, by watching and reading and gossiping, we’re leaping into a carefully managed trap. We’re suckers for a good juicy story about a family imploding. And what’s bigger than that family being our King and Princes? …”
– Murray Campbell has some thoughts on the story almost everyone is discussing.
Evangelism in Tough Times?
Posted on January 6, 2023
Filed under Australia, Evangelism Comments Off on Evangelism in Tough Times?
His topic: “Evangelism in Tough Times”.
Looking at our context in Australia, he argues –
- These are not tough times.
- The has been no substantial change, and
- The difficulty evangelism faces is seduction and persecution.
It’s a challenging talk and is very much worth your time. Good to share too.
Recorded at Moore College, 22 November 2022.
Bishop of Tasmania’s Training Event 2022
Posted on January 4, 2023
Filed under Australian dioceses, Encouragement, Good News Comments Off on Bishop of Tasmania’s Training Event 2022
From the Diocese of Tasmania:
“On 17 and 24 September, over 500 Anglicans from across Tasmania gathered in Hobart and Launceston to attend the annual Bishop’s Training Event.
In its 6th year, it was our biggest year yet, and we enjoyed encouragements from Bishop Richard and Wei-Han Kuan (the State Director of CMS Victoria). We are making the videos of the keynotes available and you can watch them below.”
Pope Benedict XVI — His Life and Legacy
Posted on January 2, 2023
Filed under People, Theology Comments Off on Pope Benedict XVI — His Life and Legacy
“According to Benedict, the evangelical understanding of the church is a ‘new concept’ whereby the church is only a community summoned by the Word. Benedict looked at evangelicals with a mixture of spiritual curiosity and Roman perplexity.
Benedict did have a high view of Scripture, and his last books were focused on the life of Jesus according to the historical accounts of the Gospels. Yet we must understand his true position. …”
– At The Gospel Coalition, Leonardo De Chirico reflects on the life of Pope Benedict.
See also:
Remembering Benedict XVI – Carl Trueman at WORLD.
“A deeply learned theologian rather than a philosopher, Benedict made signal contributions to thinking about the nature of the secular world. Indeed, though many of his most significant intellectual contributions predate his papacy (2005-2013), the accuracy of so many of his observations and analyses has given his work a mantic quality.”
Why Religion will Return to the West
Posted on January 1, 2023
Filed under Opinion Comments Off on Why Religion will Return to the West
David Robertson writes:
This is an important article by Greg Sheridan – which we republish with permission. Please do read the whole article – but this quote stuck out for me –
“Christianity was just as weird to the sophisticated first-century Graeco-Roman civilisation of the Mediterranean as it is to the most disillusioned sophisticate of today.Happily for contemporary Christians, they have a readily accessible account of how the first Christians spread the gospel in a hostile, alien and comprehensively pagan culture. It’s a primary source, uniquely immediate and reliable, and still in print.It is found in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament, and in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. It’s worth reading these two short books – only 50 pages between them – straight through, as they offer a gripping, vivid picture of the first Christians. …”
Photo: Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor, The Australian.
Amazing Grace shown to sinners like us
Posted on January 1, 2023
Filed under Good News, History, Resources Comments Off on Amazing Grace shown to sinners like us
Two hundred and fifty years ago today, the hymn Amazing Grace was first sung. The Rev. John Newton wrote it to accompany his sermon on 1 Chronicles 17:16-17 on New Year’s morning 1773.
At the time, Newton can have had no idea of what a blessing that hymn would be to millions.
There’s no better way to begin a new year than by remembering God’s grace shown to us in Christ, to bless God, and to tell others of him.
JohnNewton.org has resources linked from their front page.
Update: Marylynn Rouse, Director of the John Newton Project, has contributed this piece just published in The Times.
(What is the good news Newton knew? Glad you asked.)
Twenty-three years closer to Eternity
Posted on December 31, 2022
Filed under Good News, History, People Comments Off on Twenty-three years closer to Eternity
Sydney celebrated the beginning of 2000 by displaying on the Harbour Bridge the word Eternity in the iconic copperplate handwriting of Arthur Stace.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, and in many ways the world has changed. But the basic and urgent need of men and women is the same – to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and be saved.
In 2023, be encouraged to continue to trust Christ, and to live in the light of eternity. Romans 13:11.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…