Anglicans and pandemics: 101 years on

Posted on April 22, 2020
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“This is not the first time that the ACR has seen a pandemic.

From 1880, the Church Record, as it was known, reported on all the news relating to the Anglican Church in Australia and New Zealand. So I did a bit of research and trawled through the archives to find out what the Church Record said about the 1919 influenza epidemic.

I discovered that the ACR has ‘seen this movie before’ and has some wise advice for us today. …”

– Bronwyn Windsor shares the encouragement she discovered. At The Australian Church Record.

ANZAC Message from the Anglican Bishop of the Australian Defence Force

Posted on April 21, 2020
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Bishop Grant Dibden, the Anglican Bishop of the Australian Defence Force, has recorded this ANZAC message.

He’s also recorded this Prayer for ANZAC Day.

(Both are also available here.)

Maybe you could use them in your online services this weekend.

Thanks to Russell Powell and Anglican Media Sydney.

Mike Baird named as new HammondCare CEO

Posted on April 21, 2020
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“HammondCare has today announced that Mike Baird has been appointed as incoming Chief Executive Officer and will replace Dr Stephen Judd who is stepping down on August 31, after more than 25 years in the role.

HammondCare Board Chair, John Kightley, said that Mr Baird had been selected after a rigorous search for the critical appointment, that commenced when Dr Judd announced in July 2019 his intention to stand down in 2020. …”

– Read the full news item at HammondCare.

Moore College Open Night – Online!

Posted on April 20, 2020
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11 May 2020, 7:30pm – 9pm

A night to meet online, get an insight into Moore’s in-depth theological training, plus have your questions answered by faculty and students. A live Q&A session is available.

RSVP here.

Easter Around the World

Posted on April 19, 2020
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GAFCON has compiled this video montage.

Church meetings and COVID-19 in Australia

Posted on April 19, 2020
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“For most believers in Australia, ‘law and religion’ issues have been interesting but not part of their regular experience. But in this unprecedented time of the coronavirus pandemic, the simple activity of attending regular church services or home groups has been, like much of the rest of life, turned upside down. We now find that our normal weekly gatherings are potentially illegal!

In this post I want to review some of the recently-made laws that impact church meetings in Australia.”

– Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia summarises the implications of the current health orders for churches.

Peter Jensen: Why I am still a Christian

Posted on April 17, 2020
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“I still remember learning to swear. It was in my first year at secondary school. I was aged 13. My parents never used bad language – at least, not in front of their children. I did hear my father say “bloody” once, but that was when I brought him my final school report. But in order to impress my peers I had to speak their language and so I did.

Not the greatest sin in the book, and the experience of virtually all of us. Not worth remarking on, except for one thing. When, after a while, I tried to rein myself in and stop, I found that I was powerless to do so. It was not the fact of a relatively trivial sin but the power of sin which impressed itself on me. It was as if I had given up my freedom to join a club. When I read the words of Jesus, ‘Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin,’ I understood them at once. …”

– Dr Peter Jensen, now Editor of Churchman, shares his story – at Church Society.

Most encouraging and good to share. (Image from The Pastor’s Heart.)

Corona Crisis — a Five week series from the Bishop of Bathurst

Posted on April 15, 2020
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Next Sunday, the Bishop of Bathurst, Mark Calder, begins a 5 week special sermon series addressing issues raised by the crisis.

This weekend, he turns to Psalm 13.

Do pray that this series might be a blessing to many across New South Wales, and further afield.

Protestants and Plagues

Posted on April 15, 2020
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“The present pestilence of COVID-19 is often described as ‘unprecedented’ in the modern Western media, and understandably so.

However, the presence of pestilence was a familiar reality throughout early modern Europe. Our Reformation forebears so frequently encountered the plague that it would not be too much to say that the entire course of religious history, at times, hung by the thread of a mere matter of breaths.

Unsurprisingly, though contrary to the popular opinion in the modern blogosphere, our Reformers had a wide variety of responses to the plague. This lecture aims to explore the impact of the plague upon the Reformers, and explain the differences and similarities in their responses. This, of course, will be instructive to our own set of responses to COVID-19 today.”

Watch Dr Mark Earngey’s overview of some of the intellectual, theological, and practical responses to the plague throughout the early period of the Reformation.

Available now at the Moore College website.

Cancel culture is coming for Christianity

Posted on April 14, 2020
Filed under Church of England, Culture wars Comments Off on Cancel culture is coming for Christianity

“How awake are British Christians to the threat to their freedom of speech and assembly from the virus of cancel culture?

One of its latest victims is a politically incorrect Pentecostal organisation called Destiny Church. Destiny had planned to hold a three-day conference in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall in June. But shortly before the coronavirus lockdown, Edinburgh Council, which owns the venue, cancelled the event. It cited the views of one of the advertised speakers, US preacher Larry Stockstill. Stocksill has said that homosexual behaviour is ‘not accepted by God’…”

– Julian Mann, who left the Church of England after a long incumbency in South Yorkshire, writes at spiked.

What TV professionals want preachers to know about communicating through a camera

Posted on April 14, 2020
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“We talk to TV professionals Evan Batten & Paul Richards about how preachers can best use video to effectively share the gospel.

We discuss the similarities and differences of presenting to a full room of people versus to a camera, how to relax and the difference post production can help make in capturing and keeping attention.”

– Watch it all at The Pastor’s Heart. Very helpful.

Good News from the Other Side — Dean of Sydney’s Easter Day sermon 2020

Posted on April 12, 2020
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The Dean of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Kanishka Raffel, shares this Easter message. “From the Other Side”.

What is the good news?
Can we believe it?
Does it matter?

“The Resurrection of Jesus is Good News from the Other Side.”

The Bible passages to read are Psalm 118:1-2, 14-29 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-11.

Watch and share widely.

Easter messages of hope, joy and love from Sydney’s religious leaders

Posted on April 12, 2020
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“The great news is that God is as close to us as he has ever been. He is not socially distant. What we remember at Easter is that Jesus came into a world full of viruses, loneliness and broken relationships.

In his death on the cross and resurrection on Easter Day, he foreshadowed a day when our world would be healed. His promise still stands. …”

– from Archbishop Glenn Davies’ Easter message in The Daily Telegraph.

‘Committing to what really counts’: Easter message of hope

Posted on April 9, 2020
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“The Anglican Dean of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel, who will lead a service on the St Andrew’s Cathedral live stream at 9.30am on Good Friday and from 10.30am on Easter Sunday said many people were ‘dipping their toes into online church’ because they had nothing to lose watching it from home.