5 Fish: A wonderful free gospel resource

Posted on October 26, 2021 
Filed under Evangelism, Resources Comments Off on 5 Fish: A wonderful free gospel resource

Some might not be aware of a wonderful resource largely developed in Australia by Global Recordings Network.

5fish is available as a smartphone app on iOS and Android, and as a website – www.5fish.mobi.

“Listen to the Christian gospel spoken in virtually any language … Access Christian messages from the largest collection of languages in the world (6,175 speech varieties).

Download free content:

Bible stories, basic Bible teaching, Scripture, Christian songs and testimonies. The recordings are useful for learning about the Christian faith and sharing lessons with others.

Bible stories have been selected from the Old and New Testaments.

They include stories about significant events and people such as the creation of the world, Noah, Abraham, Moses, King David, the prophets and Jesus’ life, miracles and teaching. …

Languages are grouped by country. They can be identified by variant names or by listening to a sample online.

Gospel messages can be downloaded for future playback offline. Many recordings are audio-visual displaying high quality colourful illustrations.”

It’s well worth downloadling the app to your phone to be ready for any opportunity.

How I came to know Jesus – Jane Tooher

Posted on October 26, 2021 
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“A friend of mine named Helene became a Christian the year before I met her. Her sister took her to a Billy Graham Crusade, and she responded to the gospel. I met Helene at the beginning of high school, and she invited me to the lunchtime Christian group, ISCF. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Jane Tooher shares how she came to know Jesus.

Dissecting the new Two Ways to Live – with Phillip Jensen and Tony Payne

Posted on October 26, 2021 
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“We are joined by the authors of Two Ways to Live, Phillip Jensen and Tony Payne, to talk through the changes they have made to the iconic gospel outline.

We talk through the what and why behind the changes.”

– Great encouragement in thinking how to share the gospel. At The Pastor’s Heart.

Share the Gospel Month in Kununurra

Posted on October 25, 2021 
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“Kununurra Minister Daniel Faricy recently led a ‘Share the gospel month’ to give people a launchpad to invite their friends to consider the claims of Christ. …

Daniel said the idea followed a difficult year (2020) for the church after one-third of members left Kununurra due to Covid-19 and energy levels around town and in the church were low.”

– Encouragement from the Diocese of North West Australia and the parish of Kununurra.

Also, please do pray for the people of the North West and the continued search for Cleo Smith from near Carnarvon.

Album Review: A (Not So) Silent Night from Quiz Worx

Posted on October 23, 2021 
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“Finally, a kids’ Christian album that my whole family enjoys!

Can you imagine seeing Colin Buchanan and Karen Pang performing a Christmas concert backed by Blink-182, Relient K, Superchick and The OC Supertones?  I’d pay good money for that! …”

– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Kingsley Davidson introduces the brand new Christmas album from Quizworx!

Back to the Word

Posted on October 23, 2021 
Filed under Culture wars, Evangelism, Opinion Comments Off on Back to the Word

“I’m just about ready to give up the rational conversational approach to social intercourse and to start quoting straight Bible to people.

The further we go, the more reason isn’t working anymore. In these sputtering last gasps of the Enlightenment, language itself is deconstructing before our eyes. …”

– At World Magazine Andrée Seu Peterson says we need to rethink our approach.

And Australia comes in for dishonourable mention.

Link via Tim Challies.

What will the new Church of England General Synod look like?

Posted on October 22, 2021 
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In a guest post at Psephizo, Peter Ould, Church of England priest, consultant statistician and amateur psephologist, shares his insights into the makeup of the new Church of England General Synod –

“… orthodox laity actually form a larger group than revisionist laity, and given that the electorate knew quite explicitly what they were voting for, this puts to bed finally the misconception constantly spun by those wanting a change in the church’s teaching that the average person in the pews supports their position. In reality, the representatives of those in the pews were more likely to back someone who took a traditional stance than someone who wanted to revise the church’s teaching.”

– Very interesting. Read it all here.

Image: Church of England.

Bringing people back to church: A pastor’s word

Posted on October 22, 2021 
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“In one of our congregations, we recently conducted an online poll of the challenges people are facing as we head towards re-opening church.

One of the most commonly identified challenges was learning to manage our fears and anxieties as we step back into meeting in person. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Nathan Walter looks at what is a very real pastoral question for many people at the moment.

The End of Humanity Would Result in End of Meaning?

Posted on October 21, 2021 
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In his The Briefing for 21st October 2021, Albert Mohler begins by considering a recent statement by Professor Brian Cox (pictured) about humans and meaning.

Perhaps a good conversation-starter.

Have we domesticated service?

Posted on October 21, 2021 
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“A few times every year in our church we have ‘welcome suppers’ for people who are new to our church. During those times we talk about the things that define us and invite people to come on board. On each occasion we open up various passages of Scripture to talk about different aspects of church life and one passage we always look at is Mark 10:42-45 …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Phil Colgan reflects on the radical nature of Christian service.

(Photo taken at the 2018 ACL Synod Dinner.)

A Swiss Army knife for evangelism

Posted on October 21, 2021 
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Tony Payne writes about the forthcoming updated Two Ways to Live booklet:

“The new booklet has a number of … design changes that I think really improve its appeal as a give-away resource – a ‘modern classic’ look-and-feel, new versions of the drawings in badge form, a reworking of how text and graphics interact on the page, and a revision of all the explanatory text.

What of the updates to the 2WTL framework itself?

Apart from numerous small tweaks to the language here and there, these are the three main changes to the outline itself…”

– Read it all here.

Melbourne Retirement ages for clergy could be abolished

Posted on October 21, 2021 
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“Clergy’s retirement age would be abolished under proposed changes to the legislation that governs their employment by the diocese, a review group has told synod.

Abolishing the Diocesan Stipends Committee and keeping the term of appointment for vicars to 10 years were other key points in the Clergy Legislation Review group’s proposal. …”

– Story from The Melbourne Anglican.

Encouragement to pray for the Gafcon Theological Education Network

Posted on October 20, 2021 
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“The Gafcon Theological Education Network is led by Dr Peter Jensen. The purpose of this network is to give every bishop in the Anglican Communion access to excellent theological education.”

– Today’s topic for prayer from GAFCON.

(Photo: Archbishop Ben Kwashi with Archbishop Peter Jensen at GAFCON 2018.)

A Hope and a Future for Anglicans

Posted on October 20, 2021 
Filed under Anglican Communion, GAFCON, Global South Comments Off on A Hope and a Future for Anglicans

“It is an understatement that Anglicanism is not always neat and tidy.  The very nature of our decision making in councils, as ancient as it may be, is messy.  Things don’t always go as planned.  Sometimes people don’t respect what the whole decides together in scripture, prayerful study and discussion, and waiting on the Lord’s timing.  Sometimes a part demands that the whole adjust to it and runs ahead rather than waiting on the counsel of the whole church.

That seems to be at the heart Bishop Michael Nazir Ali’s decision to leave the Church of England to join the Anglican Ordinariate in the Roman Catholic Church. …

We have included a few articles in today’s weekly newsletter responding to his departure, but I want to offer some good news with some cautious optimism.  On Sunday, October 17, the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) issued their Communique (“The Eighth Trumpet”) after a four-day conference on Zoom attended by 90 delegates from 16 Provinces and one diocese (Sydney), including the Anglican Church in North America.

In the words of the Communique, the purpose of this GSFA gathering was to “address the unchecked spread of revisionism” among all the Churches of the Anglican Communion by enacting a “covenantal structure” that will “enhance ecclesial responsibility” and mutual accountability among the churches of the GSFA …

Now there is an ecclesial body, a Communion to which the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON) can bring distressed, biblically faithful, orthodox Anglicans from heterodox dioceses and provinces for membership.  GAFCON can authenticate and recognize those in distress and gather them for membership in GSFA—just as St. Paul gathered Gentile converts into churches that enjoyed communion with the established church in Jerusalem under St. Peter.”

– In his weekly newsletter from the American Anglican Council, Canon Phil Ashey sees hope for a genuinely orthodox Anglican communion.

He mentions the just-concluded 8th Global South Conference and its Communiqué (“The Eighth Trumpet”) from the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches.

Statement from Gafcon GB and Europe (GBE) on Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali

Posted on October 20, 2021 
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“The Trustees of Gafcon GBE (formerly known as Gafcon UK) give thanks to Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali as he steps down from the role of President, which he has held since the formation of the regional Gafcon branch in 2016. …

While respecting Bishop Michael’s decision to join the Roman Catholic church, we remain committed to the vision of a renewed, biblically orthodox, global Anglicanism here in Britain and Europe under the ANiE leadership of Bishop Andy Lines and those that we stand with under the Jerusalem Declaration.”

– from a statement issued several days ago by the Trustees of GAFCON GBE.

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