Funeral service for Bishop Donald Robinson Tuesday 11:00am

Posted on September 10, 2018 
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The funeral service for Bishop Donald Robinson will be held at 11:00 am on Tuesday, September 11, at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney.

Church leaders: realistic idealists

Posted on September 10, 2018 
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“Here’s a thought I’ve been musing over: leaders in ministry need to be realistic idealists. Primarily, we need to be idealists because we are gospel people. We are people of God’s word who seek to do all we do through the lens of Scripture.

However, secondarily, we also need to be realistic. We need to remember that we operate in a fallen world, full of sinful people, where the first heaven and the first earth have not yet passed away, and when God has not yet made everything new (Revelation 21). …”

– Mike Leite explores how this looks in Christian ministry – at The Australian Church Record.

A Drought Reflection

Posted on September 10, 2018 
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“I teared up! The farmer’s dozer was broken down, the diesel mechanic had returned to town for parts and the farmer’s chainsaw filled the bush with noise as he brought down branches suitable for his sheep to eat.

Over a sandwich we talked of assistance but the response was like that of others, ‘There are people a lot worse off than us!’ Five thousand dollars a week I am told to keep his sheep alive but his wife made clear that they’d take no help. …”

– Bishop of Armidale Rick Lewers writes with a plea to the farming communities and those who would seek to help them.

Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Australia to be known as “GAFCON Australia”

Posted on September 8, 2018 
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“The AGM of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Australia has been held during the Anglican Future Conference in Melbourne.

The meeting agreed to change the public name and title to “GAFCON Australia” in order to match similar decisions in other provinces. …”

– David Ould shares this and other news from the Anglican Future Conference in Melbourne.

Related:

Archbishop Davies presents proposal for NZ Anglican future (25 August 29018)

Donald William Bradley Robinson (1922-2018)

Posted on September 8, 2018 
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“We at Moore College rejoice today that our dear brother and father in the faith, Archbishop Donald William Bradley Robinson AO, has been called home to be with Christ, ‘which is better by far’.

The debt we owe to this faithful disciple and Bible teacher is truly incalculable. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, many of whom do not even know his name, have been shaped in their reading of the Bible by the approach to biblical theology that he pioneered at Moore College in the 1950s and 1960s. Graeme Goldsworthy’s Gospel and Kingdom and Vaughan Roberts’ God’s Big Picture have taken that approach around the world.

Donald William Bradley Robinson was born on 9 November 1922, the son of a clergyman in the Diocese of Sydney. He studied classics at Sydney University, graduating in 1946, and theology at Queen’s College, Cambridge, graduating in 1950. …”

– Moore College Principal Dr. Mark Thompson adds his tribute to Bishop Donald Robinson.

Read it all at Theological Theology. (Also published at the Moore College website.)

With much thanks for Bishop Donald Robinson

Posted on September 7, 2018 
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“One of the towering figures of Anglicanism in the 20th century and former Archbishop of Sydney Bishop Donald Robinson, has died at the age of 95. …

The first to pay tribute was the current Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, who described the contribution of Bishop Robinson as ‘immeasurable’.

“We have lost a giant in the world of New Testament scholarship” Dr Davies said in a statement.

“Bishop Robinson, who lectured at Moore Theological College for more than 30 years, influenced a generation of future ministers and scholars. His innovative approach to Biblical Theology is one of his many lasting legacies.

While a scholar of great intellect, he was also a man of great humility and grace.” the Archbishop said.”

– SydneyAnglicans.net has the first tribute.

Bishop Robinson’s funeral service will be held at 11:00 am next Tuesday, September 11, at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney.

(Top photo courtesy Dr Chase Kuhn, via Dr Mark Thompson. Bottom photo from the 1982 Sydney Diocesan Year Book.)

Anglican Future starts with ‘Gospel Confidence’

Posted on September 7, 2018 
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“The opening of the Anglican Future Conference in Melbourne has begun with a stirring call for Christian leaders to defy secular stereotypes of the church as a dying force. …

The conference, with the theme “Grace and Truth in Uncertain Times” is organised jointly by the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Church (EFAC) and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, Australia and New Zealand, chaired by the Bishop of Tasmania Richard Condie.”

– Russell Powell reports at SydneyAnglicans.net.

The Lydia Project: Conversations with Christian Women

Posted on September 7, 2018 
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“As a young girl, I just loved to talk. I talked all the way through primary school and high school, and when I became a Christian at fourteen, I loved to talk with my Christian friends and leaders about what it meant to follow Jesus.

Thirty (thirty!?) years on, I still love to be a part of these encouraging Christian conversations.  They spur me on to keep standing firm in Christ, and they open my mind and heart to new ways of thinking about the things of God. …”

– At Equal But Different, Moore College graduate Tori Walker introduces her Lydia Project podcasts (hosted by The Gospel Coalition Australia).

St. John’s Cathedral Brisbane ‘celebrating and supporting’ Brisbane Pride Festival

Posted on September 6, 2018 
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St. John’s Cathedral Brisbane, the ‘mother church’ of the Diocese of Brisbane, has announced it will be “Celebrating Pride and supporting the Brisbane Pride Festival throughout September”.

Announced via the Cathedral’s Facebook page.

Church of England Bishop gives backing to rainbow eucharist

Posted on September 6, 2018 
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“A Eucharist to celebrate LGBT Pride has taken place in the Diocese of Oxford with the full backing of the local suffragan Bishop and Archdeacon.

After the service on 30th August, well known LGBT activist and lay member of General Synod Jayne Ozanne tweeted a photo the service in Reading Minster (Oxford Diocese), where the Communion table is covered in the rainbow flag …”

– Report from Anglican Mainstream. Photo: Jayne Ozanne.

Banning ‘Conversion’ Therapy, what does it mean?

Posted on September 6, 2018 
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“Media outlets have renewed a campaign to outlaw gay conversion therapy (GCT). The Age published an article on the weekend with the title, Churches, LGBTI Christians urge crackdown on ‘conversion’ therapy.

The headline is somewhat misleading, for according to the SOCE website (the group who are asking the Federal Government to ban GCT), only four churches have signed their statement along with 3-4 church ministers. No doubt there other supportive Churches, but nothing like the groundswell of ecclesial enthusiasm that the newspaper implies. …

While the SOCE Survivors document is vague at points, a spokesperson from SOCE has this week responded to a friend of mine who was also seeking clarification from them. The spokesperson said,

‘Anything other than the full affirmation of lgbtiq individuals as fully equal (including in the church, with a move toward correcting the poorly translated words currently classed as “homosexual” in the bible) is really unacceptable.’ … ”

– Murray Campbell takes a close look at what proposals to ban ‘conversion therapy’ actually involve. You should read this.

The healing way (Exodus 15:23-26)

Posted on September 5, 2018 
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“When they came to Marah they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter” (Exodus 15:23). This happened to God’s people, after their redemption from Egypt, when he was leading them.

We may rightly regard the incident as a picture not only of the trials of life, but more particularly of the trials of our Christian pilgrimage. The question of fundamental importance, therefore, was—and still is—what was the attitude of God’s people to such a trial? Or what is our attitude? …

– The Australian Church Record continues to republish Alan Stibbs’ biblical reflections from 1960.

Does the Secular Party know better than a child’s parents?

Posted on September 4, 2018 
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“An extraordinary claim before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal recently, Secular Party of Australia Inc. v the Department of Education and Training (Human Rights) [2018] VCAT 1321 (27 August 2018), alleged that a child at a public school should be prevented from wearing Islamic religious garb in the child’s own interests!

Thankfully the claim failed, but the fact that the case could even be argued illustrates the pressure that some groups on society are placing on parents and children of faith…”

– Associate Professor Neil Foster writes at Law and Religion Australia.

Have we finally hit peak Attractional?

Posted on September 4, 2018 
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“As I watch the video announcing the series, I can’t help but feel some pity for the countless thousands of pastors who have been convinced by this model. James Montgomery Boice once warned ‘what you win them with is what you win them to’ and the attractional model bears this out: If you draw people with stunts like Wrastlin’, you’ve got to keep them with other similar or bigger stunts. I feel sorry for the pastor who knows that to keep his congregation, he has to keep coming up with bigger and more shocking ideas. …

Ed Young’s latest desperate attempt to draw a crowd is a good opportunity for us to consider the hallmarks of the attractional church model and to compare it to something far better …”

– Tim Challies on something far better than the latest cringeworthy attempt to fill a church building.

Trusting in God in drought

Posted on September 2, 2018 
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“Be strong and courageous” sang Colin Buchanan, but the words of one of his most famous kids’ songs were being applied to all ages as St Andrew’s Cathedral filled with people wanting to pray for an end to the worst drought for more than a century.

The singer’s poignant songs about the Australian bush, farmers and faith hit the right note as the congregation was told of the struggles of those living and working in rural and remote areas of New South Wales. …

– Full story from SydneyAnglicans.net.

See also: The Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid Drought Appeal.

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