A Short Book About Paul: The Servant of Jesus — review

Posted on February 18, 2020 
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“Historians don’t merely assemble a puzzle. Before considering how the pieces fit together, they need to determine which ones belong in the box. Some subjects offer an abundance of resources, while others leave us wishing for more.

The historian and theologian Paul Barnett combines mastery of his craft with a subject that provides plenty of pieces for someone who knows where to look. The result is that this portrait of the Apostle Paul, while relatively brief … offers a rich presentation of his life and work.”

– Moore College’s Philip Kern reviews A Short Book About Paul: The Servant of Jesus by Paul Barnett. At SydneyAnglicans.net.

Book availability.

Nexus20 — How to Save a City

Posted on February 17, 2020 
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The Nexus20 conference is set for Monday 23rd March at a new location: Moore College – and at a new time: 2:00 – 8:00pm.

From the Nexus website:

“No matter where God has placed us – in the suburbs, in the inner city, in a regional or rural area – our task is to bring the message of salvation to the people we’ve been given to serve.

At this year’s Nexus conference, we’ll be thinking about what it means to be part of God’s extraordinary saving purpose in the particular place we’ve been given to reach, how important the local church is in that purpose, and how God uses decidedly ordinary people and methods to do extraordinary things.

Our focus this year will be on how to bring salvation to our particular city (of Sydney) and the challenges we face in our gospel fellowship (that is, among Sydney ministry workers, many of us Anglicans).

But as always, we’ll be having this discussion with one eye on the broader fellowship around Australia (and beyond) who tune in to Nexus via Livestream. Our hope is that by talking honestly and theologically about our own patch, we can encourage, challenge and stimulate everyone to do the same, wherever God has placed us.”

– Watch the promo video, and register, at the Nexus website.

Ordinations in Sydney

Posted on February 15, 2020 
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Twenty-two men and women were ordained as deacons at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney today.

“The ordinands will disperse to ministries all over Sydney including parish postings, multicultural work and Hospital, Defence Force and School Chaplaincy. …”

– Russell Powell has this story at SydneyAnglicans.net.

(Photo: Archbishop Glenn Davies, The Rev Stephen Gibbons, and Archdeacon Kevin Russell.)

Daniel Willis to be GAFCON Operations Manager

Posted on February 14, 2020 
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GAFCON General Secretary, Archbishop Ben Kwashi, has announced that Canon Daniel Willis will take on the position of Operations Manager for GAFCON from March 1st.

He succeeds Mr James Stileman, who has stepped down for health reasons.

Many will be aware of Daniel’s key role in organising Jerusalem 2018, as well as his many years of ministry in Sydney, including at Frenchs Forest, the Cathedral, and with the Bible Society, as well as on the ACL’s Council.

(Photo of Karen and Daniel Willis, courtesy of GAFCON.)

Feeling anxious about ‘You’? Why modern Identity can be crushing

Posted on February 13, 2020 
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“Whereas as our ancestors drew their identity from their place in society, we moderns are liberated from that dependency. We can be our own people. We don’t care what others think.

Except we do.

If we’re to feel good about ourselves, we crave other people’s validation. We need it, if we’re to feel worthy. …”

– Akos Balogh writes about identity and security at The Gospel Coalition Australia.

Archbishop Sir Marcus Loane remembers the beginnings of the Sydney University Evangelical Union

Posted on February 11, 2020 
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Forty years ago, members of the Sydney University Evangelical Union were thanking God as they remembered the founding of the SUEU in 1930.

They marked the jubilee by proclaiming Christ in ‘The Jubilee Mission’.

As part of the preparations, on 30 April 1980, then Archbishop of Sydney, Sir Marcus Loane spoke at the SUEU’s End of Term Service.

In his 19 minute address, Sir Marcus recalls the beginnings of the Evangelical Union, fifty years earlier.

Listen on this page in our Resources section.

Most encouraging.

How Jesus helps my fear

Posted on February 11, 2020 
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“Since the death of my paternal grandmother on 26 June 2018, my family has had to mourn the loss of three family members. Preaching at two of the three funerals, I have been forced to reflect on death personally more than I ever have before. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Ben George points us to the big picture of God’s purposes.

Jesus the People Person

Posted on February 11, 2020 
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“You would expect that if God showed up in the world that there would be something to indicate his arrival. A virgin birth was a pretty good clue along with the centuries of prophesies about his coming.

My assumption would be, if God was to join us, His teaching would be significant. Indeed God joining us has shaped western society – our ethics, our politics, our literature, our culture, our relationships and brought untold blessings to the world.

I reckon if God is God then you’d also expect He’d perform some miraculous indicators of His presence.

Well for the past few weeks I have been trying to introduce you to the God who visited, to Jesus Christ, for whom the press is very mixed. …”

– Bishop of Armidale Rick Lewers continues his series to encourage people to consider Christ. Previously, he has written about ‘Jesus the Teacher’ and ‘Jesus the miracle man’.

Some Best Practices for Public Reading of Scripture

Posted on February 10, 2020 
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“I’m convinced that the public reading of Scripture is an important and too often overlooked aspect of our worship services. We spend considerable time preparing sermons, prayers, and music for our gatherings, but often Scripture reading is reduced to something mechanical. Like most things we do, with some attention, we could improve a bit in how we read the Bible in our churches.

What follows is something I wrote up for our church …”

– At The Gospel Coalition, Erik Raymond shares some helpful thoughts.

Related:

The Art of Reading Aloud – Clifford Warne.

“Master communicator and story-teller, Clifford Warne teaches how to read the Bible aloud, sound natural and make the meaning of the text clear.” – from SydneyAnglicans.net.

Image: Clifford Warne and Toto on Anglican Television’s Sing Me a Rainbow, with thanks to Reason for Hope on Vimeo.)

Anglican Reality Check

Posted on February 8, 2020 
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GAFCON has launched a new website – Anglican Reality Check – subtitled, “What’s happened since Lambeth 1998?”.

In the midst of PR releases coming from Lambeth Palace, this website is a great help in remembering how far the Anglican Communion has slid since 1998. It would be good to work through the timeline to be clear on why GAFCON is needed.

GAFCON’s Acting Operations Manager, Canon Charles Raven, discusses the new website, and other matters, with Bishop Julian Dobbs at the Living Through The Word podcast.

_________________________________

Related:

And here is a summary we posted in May 2018:

Every so often, media reports warn that the current situation (whatever it is at the time) might provoke a split among Anglicans. The truth is that this is nothing new – but each ‘crisis’ is no less serious or tragic.

From our archives, here are five articles which are well worth reading. Among other things they provide context for the formation of GAFCON:

– all from our Resources section.

From Dr. Mark Thompson’s paper, The Anglican Debacle: Roots and Patterns:

“The first thing to note about the crisis the Anglican Communion is facing today is that it has been coming for a very long time. …

That background might lead you to ask, ‘So what’s changed now?’ If the denomination has long been compromised in these ways, and evangelicals have always struggled within it, why are we arguing that we have now reached a moment of crisis where decisive action needs to be taken? What is different about what’s happening at the moment? …”

‘Few Anglicans back blessing gay marriages’

Posted on February 7, 2020 
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“Only a small number of submissions to an Anglican tribunal examining a push to allow the blessing of same-sex marriages say the move is legitimate under church law.

The Victorian Diocese of Wangaratta in August passed a resolution providing for the blessing of same-sex couples who married under the Commonwealth Marriage Act. …“

– Report from The Canberra Times.

Frankin Graham Event and the Glasgow Hydro Arena

Posted on February 7, 2020 
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“The cancellation by the SSE Hydro in Glasgow of the Franklin Graham event is a deeply disturbing decision that is antithetical to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and to true democratic values. …”

– Members of the West of Scotland Gospel Partnership have signed this letter of support for Franklin Graham, freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Bishop Rod Thomas’ letter after the Archbishops’ statement following the earlier release of the ‘Pastoral Statement on Civil Partnerships for Opposite Sex Couples’

Posted on February 7, 2020 
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The Bishop of Maidstone, Rod Thomas, sent this letter on 31st January, 2020 to incumbents of all evangelical resolution churches:

Dear Partners in Ministry

I thought I should write following the statement that was issued after the conclusion of the College of Bishops yesterday. The statement can be found here.

My understanding at the College was that the statement was needed for two reasons. First, it was felt that the Pastoral Statement on Civil Partnerships for Opposite Sex Couples which had been released on 22nd January was pastorally insensitive in the way it was framed and released to the press. Secondly, there was concern that as a result, some of the necessary participation in the discussions which will follow the publication of the Living in Love and Faith materials could be jeopardised. Yesterday’s statement therefore apologised for the release of the Pastoral Statement.

However, it was also my clear understanding that nothing in yesterday’s statement should be taken as a retraction of the doctrinal teaching of the Church of England on marriage and sexual relationships. While some of that teaching may well come into question during the discussions about the LLF materials, it remains the current teaching of the Church. The position set out in the Pastoral Statement on Civil Partnerships for Opposite Sex Couples, and which was agreed by the House of Bishops, therefore continues to apply.

While I understand many of the concerns that were expressed at the College, I had the opportunity to say that for many faithful Anglicans the Pastoral Statement of 22nd January came as a great encouragement.  I was keen to establish that the apology did not relate to the doctrinal position it articulated.

I am conscious that many of you will remain concerned about these developments. Please be assured that together with other bishops, I will continue to make clear my commitment to the historic, biblical teaching of the Church. I hope most of you know that I don’t take part in social media discussions, but if you want to pursue any of this with me, there will be an opportunity to do so at our forthcoming regional conferences.

With every good wish in Christ

Rod Thomas
Bishop of Maidstone.

(Emphasis added in blue.)

Bishop Jay Behan’s ACL Dinner Address

Posted on February 6, 2020 
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“On 19 October 2019, Jay Behan was consecrated Bishop of CCAANZ in Christchurch, New Zealand.

ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach and Chairman of GAFCON Primates Council presided, former Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen preached, and various others, such as Dean Kanishka Raffel of Sydney were involved in this important occasion.”

Earlier that week, the then Rev Behan was in Sydney and addressed the ACL’s Synod Dinner.

Thanks to the Australian Church Record, you can read the text of his address – or you can listen to our audio recording.

Authentic Anglicanism and False Fears

Posted on February 4, 2020 
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“[In] the topsy-turvy world of Canterbury institutionalism … networks committed to aims such as church planting, global mission, prayer, sustainable development and theological training are … feared as divisive and dangerous…”

– GAFCON’s Membership Development Secretary, Canon Charles Raven, wrote this article for Evangelicals Now.

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