Reimagining Science Fiction

Posted on June 8, 2025 
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“In our increasingly secular society, the phrase ‘Christian fiction’ probably elicits more discomfort than it does excitement, even for Christians. Often rightfully criticised as clunky and overly tactless in its messaging, the ability to hammer home biblical truths without altogether breaking a good story seems to be a lost art!

Perhaps this is why the work of C.S. Lewis often stands out in my mind. …”

– Isaac Kwong commends C S Lewis’ first foray into science fiction, Out of the Silent Planet, as an exciting and challenging read. At AP.

Image: The first close up picture of Mars, 15 July 1965.

Bishop of Leicester steps down as lead on Living in Love and Faith

Posted on June 7, 2025 
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“The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, has announced that he is stepping down as lead bishop for the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process.

On Facebook on Friday afternoon, he wrote that he was doing so ‘with a very heavy heart’. He was ‘hugely grateful to the staff team that I have worked with over the last 18 months and similarly the Working Group members who have given hours of their time to seek an agreed way forward in the Church of England on matters of sexuality, relationships, and marriage. I hope it may yet be possible to reach such an agreement, but I don’t think that can happen under my leadership.’…”

– Report from Church Times.

Image from an October 2024 (now deleted) video by Bishop Snow.

2025 Moore PTC Graduation – Occasional Address

Posted on June 7, 2025 
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From Moore College:

“Building Christ’s body through truth and love – Ephesians 4:7-16.

At the 2025 Moore PTC Graduation, Dr Lionel Windsor urged us to build up the church by speaking the truth in love and furthering unity and maturity in diverse ways to fulfill God’s purposes. From Ephesians 4, this is a powerful encouragement for all who serve Jesus.”

– Watch here.

Godly Tracts and Spurgeon’s Example

Posted on June 6, 2025 
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At AP, the Presbyterian online journal, Troy Appleton has some encouragement concerning gospel tracts:

“Some Christian commentators have argued that tract giving is a useless activity; that times have changed. True, many a tract may end up unread and crumpled up in the trash bin. Yet, we must trust in God’s providence. It is likely you will never be able to meet every person in your neighbourhood or even on your street – they are unlikely to ever hear the Gospel told to them in their lifetime. The giving of a tract may be the seed that God uses in His providence to cause them to come to Christ. We may never know this side of eternity. …”

– Read here. (And yes, Matthias Media also has various kinds of tracts.)

Image – a home-made tract distributed at the University of Sydney in the late 1970s.

Survey results: How often do Rectors preach in the Sydney Diocese?

Posted on June 5, 2025 
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“In January 2025 the ACR emailed out a survey to all Sydney Anglican Rectors – numbering just over 250. The survey was short and uncomplicated to ensure a good number of respondents. Below are the results for the survey and the questions that were asked.

The catalyst for the survey followed some anecdotes about preaching frequency amongst our Rectors, especially amongst those Rectors who serve in what might be called a large church.…”

– Mike Leite, Editorial Director of The Australian Church Record, shares the results of the ACR’s survey.

The heart of God for children

Posted on June 5, 2025 
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“Children have a unique way of humbling us. From the joys of first steps to the frustration of sleepless nights, children shape our experiences in profound ways. But beyond our personal encounters, what does God say about children? How does he view them, and what should our response be? …”

– Charles Cleworth, who teaches Theology, Philosophy and Ethics at Moore College, writes at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Creating warm and deep church gatherings

Posted on June 4, 2025 
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From The Pastor’s Heart:

“How can we create gatherings that are both warm and deep? How can we avoid gatherings that are superficial or dry.

How do we embed gospel culture in our church gatherings.

How do we emphasize grace, forgiveness and a welcoming atmosphere?

And how to encourage authenticity and emotional intelligence in gathering leaders. Plus how do we evaluate.

A Pastor’s Heart episode to watch with your staff team.

Toby Neal is Senior pastor at Vine Church in Sydney. And Liv Chapman Leggett leads the gatherings aspect of the ministry at Vine Church.”

– Watch or listen here.

Was the Garden Paradise?

Posted on June 4, 2025 
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From Phillip Jensen:

“Peter and I love gardens but hate gardening. However, all the good things about the garden are set out in Genesis 2.

In today’s podcast, we explore God’s generous provision symbolised in the Garden of Eden. To what extent was the garden paradise that we need to regain? To what extent is the paradise promised to the thief on the cross something greater than the Garden of Eden?”

– Listen at Two Ways News.

Related:

Two Ways Ministries’ 2025 King’s Birthday Conference is coming up at Moore College next Monday 9th June.

“From Feminism to motherhood, from animal rights to toxic masculinity, from racism to euthanasia, Australia is in an ethical turmoil on many issues. Christians often feel in the crossfire of these culture wars. Do Christian ethics apply to non-Christians?

This year at the King’s Birthday Conference, Phillip Jensen is going to look at how becoming a Christian takes us back to the universal morality of Creation.” …

– See the details, and register before it’s too late!

75 Years of Church Society

Posted on June 3, 2025 
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In the latest Church Society podcast with Ros Clarke:

“Church Society is celebrating 75 years since its formation from the Church Association and the National Church League in 1950.

In this episode of the podcast, we hear from Andrew Atherstone, Gerald Bray and Lee Gatiss about the history of Church Society before 1950, in the past 75 years, and into the present day.”

– Listen here. 35 minutes.

We are on mission with Jesus

Posted on June 2, 2025 
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“ ‘Jesus is in the midst of his people as we pursue the mission on which he has sent us,’ Archbishop Raffel has told church leaders and evangelists from 57 countries and territories who gathered in Berlin last month. …”

– Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net has this report on the European Congress on Evangelism in Berlin – organised by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

We understand that the Archbishop’s address will be published in the next Southern Cross.

Photo courtesy Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, with thanks to Russell Powell.

Church of Uganda celebrates Archbishop Janani Luwum’s legacy

Posted on June 2, 2025 
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From NTV Uganda –

“Forty-eight years ago, Archbishop Janani Luwum was reportedly assassinated on the orders of the former President Iddi Amin Dada.

Luwum was at the time the leader of the Church of Uganda. But his legacy lives on after Uganda declared the 16 of February a public holiday to celebrate the life of Luwum. Daniel Kibet brings us the tales from the Northern Uganda Diocese of the Anglican Church, where Luwum once served as the bishop, and how people there remember him.”

– The 5 minute report includes comments from Moore College graduate Bishop Alfred Olwa.

A Psalms ‘taster’

Posted on June 1, 2025 
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“Friends in Christ, recently a younger new friend has started reading the Bible, and had read some New Testament books, some of the Gospels, and some of the Letters. He’d also begun in Genesis. But I wanted to encourage him to read the Psalms. After all, the Psalms are really the song book of Jesus. That’s what all Jewish people in his era would have grown up knowing, and often singing.

But there are 150 of them! And although there is structure to the chapters, and some important themes and groupings, they don’t have an unfolding narrative that’s necessarily obvious.

So for better or worse I decided to pick just 15, 10% of the total, as a kind of introductory highlights orientation tour for my friend to read over a few times, before hopefully going on to read all 150 later on. …”

– Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant writes in the Cathedral newsletter.

The Reason to persevere in Prayer — Luke 18:1–8

Posted on May 31, 2025 
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“This is a parable Jesus told his disciples ‘to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart’ (Luke 18:1). And we all need this encouragement, don’t we? Because prayer is hard. Especially that persistent, daily habit of praying, day after day, month after month, year after year. …”

– Lionel Windsor speaks in Chapel at Moore College.

Cultural Pain and God’s Megaphone

Posted on May 31, 2025 
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“What we are seeing across the West in the so-called ‘Quiet Revival’,  the ‘Surprising Rebirth’, or ‘Tide of Faith’ – call it what you will –  is a corporate expression of a previously personal phenomenon: The problem of pain.

And in this instance – not simply personal pain, but cultural pain. The pain of a society in deep distress. All of the levers of success, or ease, or hope have been pulled, and they have broken off in our hands. Pain is everywhere. …”

– Stephen McAlpine thinks we are reaching a tipping point of corporate cultural pain and we need to be ready.

Moore College Vice Principal Simon Gillham to return to the Mission Field

Posted on May 30, 2025 
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“The Principal, Mark Thompson, announced today that Simon Gillham, the Vice Principal, and his wife Margie, have been accepted to serve again as missionaries with the Church Missionary Society from 2026.

Simon joined the Faculty in 2016 and was appointed Vice Principal in 2020. Before they returned to Moore, they had been serving in the Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary. Prior to that, they had been involved in church planting in the Newcastle area. …”

– Read the news from the Moore College website.

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