GAFCON grows – conference doubles
Posted on June 19, 2018
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“Not to choose to embrace Jesus is to choose to reject Jesus.” This stirring call to Jesus-centred mission, and biblical faithfulness came from Ugandan Bishop Alfred Olwa at the start of Global Anglican Future Conference 2018 in Jerusalem today.
The meeting is the third GAFCON and came 10 years after the first gathering which established a movement to promote bible-based, mission-focussed ministry in the Anglican Church.
The conference is unique because unlike other Anglican Communion gatherings lay people participate, as well as clergy and bishops.
GAFCON 2018 is meeting in the Jerusalem International Convention Center in order to fit the two thousand delegates – almost twice the number who met in 2008. …
– Read today’s report from Jerusalem by Russell Powell.
GAFCON described as ‘ecumenical gathering’ by Anglican Communion News Service
Posted on June 19, 2018
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“The third international conference organised by the Gafcon movement has begun in Jerusalem. Organisers say that 2,000 people are taking part – media reports suggest that 230 are from Uganda.
The ecumenical gathering attracts a large number of Anglicans. Many in Jerusalem are now members of independent churches set up in opposition to official Anglican Churches and Provinces. …”
– Here’s a rather sad news report from the Anglican Communion News Service.
GAFCON livestream from Jerusalem
Posted on June 18, 2018
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The GAFCON livestream is available while sessions are in progress.
How to share the gospel with a stranger
Posted on June 18, 2018
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“I first heard the gospel at 18, from an older lady I’d never met before.
She told me the good news of Jesus while I was pumping fuel into her car (I worked at a petrol station). She then said that I should go to a local church to learn more about Jesus.
We had almost nothing in common, and relationally she didn’t have a leg to stand on, but she trusted in the power of the gospel to save (Rom 1:16) and she understood that loving her neighbour meant going outside of her comfort zone for her neighbour’s salvation. As a result, I went to church, started reading the Bible, and God saved me…”
– Some real encouragement from ACL Council member Mike Taylor – at The Australian Church Record. Be sure to read it all – and then act.
Parish confident St Matthias’ will be saved
Posted on June 18, 2018
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“The Holy Trinity Anglican Parish [Launceston] is confident St Matthias’ Church will be saved from sale.
The Windermere church was chosen as one of 108 properties the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania plans to sell in order to partly fund its commitment to the national redress scheme for sexual abuse survivors. …
Speaking at a public meeting on Sunday, the Holy Trinity Anglican parish Archdeacon Dane Courtney said the community could successfully raise the amount expected to go toward the redress scheme to save the church. …”
– Report and image from The Examiner.
Trinity Western University loses before Supreme Court of Canada
Posted on June 18, 2018
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“Trinity Western University, an evangelical tertiary institution in British Columbia, has lost two cases it had brought protesting the decision of two Canadian Provincial Law Societies to not authorise graduates of their proposed Law School as able to practice in the Provinces.
The reason for the denial of accreditation was that TWU requires students and staff to agree to a Community Covenant Agreement, which undertakes (among other things) that they will not engage while studying or working at TWU in ‘sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman’. …”
– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster provides his analysis of the decisions.
Related: Supreme Court of Canada strikes a blow against religious freedom.
The urbane voice likely to capture the CofE
Posted on June 18, 2018
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“As GAFCON gathers in Jerusalem, a sermon on June 7th preached at a church in Clapham in south-west London would probably not be deemed worthy of an agenda item or even of much passing discussion. But actually it is highly significant in the battle for biblical orthodoxy in the Church of England.
For the sermon by the Revd Dr Sam Wells, vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields on London’s Trafalgar Square, entitled ‘Not until you give me your blessing’, aptly illustrates why the LGBTQI++ movement is so close to capturing the Church of England as well as the English alphabet. …”
– Julian Mann in the UK writes of “the urbane, erudite-sounding voices of apparent Anglican moderation”.
Less than two days to #Gafcon2018 !
Posted on June 17, 2018
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Less than two days to #Gafcon2018 ! from GAFCON Official on Vimeo.
In this pre-GAFCON2018 video, Dominic Steele speaks with Charles Raven in Jerusalem.
“The Gafcon Jerusalem 2018 conference starts Monday morning at 8:30am Jerusalem time. Delegates are arriving in Jerusalem from 50 countries around the world.
Charles Raven is Membership Development Secretary for Gafcon and is speaking here with Dominic Steele about the hopes and dreams for this week in Jerusalem.
Livestream the conference from Monday at gafcon.org/live or fb.me/gafconference.
For posts related to Gafcon’s 2018 Jerusalem conference please use the hashtag, #gafcon2018”
Catch the action from Monday, 7:00am Jerusalem time = 2:00pm AEST.
Supreme Court of Canada strikes a blow against religious freedom
Posted on June 16, 2018
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“The Supreme Court of Canada struck a brave blow on Friday for LGBTQ students who would be compelled to attend a proposed law school at Trinity Western University – a small, private, evangelical Christian school in Langley, B.C., whose ‘community covenant’ prohibits sexual relations except among married men and women.
That is to say, they struck a blow for nobody. …”
– Read the full article at Canada’s National Post.
From Trinity Western University:
“Until now, Canada has encouraged the rich mosaic created by the diversity of views, race, gender, and belief systems.
Sadly, the Supreme Court has decided that this does not extend to a law school at Trinity Western University.”
What is the Community Covenant? Read it here (PDF).
Then read this summary of the background to the legal case.
Image: Trinity Western University website.
‘Belonging and renewal in our Anglican Communion’
Posted on June 15, 2018
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“… I sometimes encounter confusion about who is and isn’t in the Anglican Communion.
This was something that Archbishop Justin spoke about during the CAPA meeting. Let me make this clear: there are 39 provinces around the world which are part of the Anglican Communion. The latest to be added to our global family was Sudan in July 2017.
The Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) is not a province of the Communion. And nor is the newly-formed Anglican Church in Brazil (ACB). Why? The answer is very simple: it is necessary to be in communion with the See of Canterbury in order to be part of the Anglican Communion. …”
– On the eve of GAFCON 2018, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, ‘Secretary General of the Anglican Communion], makes clear who is, and who is not, a part of the Anglican Communion, in his understanding. The leaders of GAFCON, representing something like 80 percent of church-attending Anglicans worldwide, would doubtless beg to differ.
Related:
GAFCON General Secretary Archbishop Dr Peter Jensen interviewed by Anglican TV’s Kevin Kallsen.
The Anglican Church in Brazil and the Anglican Communion – Dr. Peter Jensen:
“… Of course the new Anglican Church in Brazil is an authentic part of the Anglican Communion. It is not a matter of recognition by Canterbury. But, like the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the Brazilians invite Canterbury to recognise spiritual reality, and to use its influence to help align the old instrument of the Anglican Communion with the spiritual reality and new growth of the Communion. Will this happen?”
The Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil changes its canons to permit same-sex marriage – Anglican Communion News Service, referring to the liberal denomination which is ‘in communion with the See of Canterbury’.
Single Minded Conference
Posted on June 15, 2018
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Read about the Single Minded Conference coming up in September with Sam Allbery.
It’s ‘a conference about singleness … but for everyone”.
Pray for GAFCON 2018 Jerusalem
Posted on June 15, 2018
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From GAFCON, a request for prayer to our heavenly Father –
“Please pray with Gafcon for our Jerusalem 2018 Conference between 17-22 June.
Please set aside time to pray for each daily need if you can. Read more
Anglican Unscripted – Interview with Archbishop Peter Jensen, June 2018
Posted on June 14, 2018
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Anglican TV’s Kevin Kallsen interviewed GAFCON General Secretary Archbishop Dr Peter Jensen about GAFCON 2018 and the future of the GAFCON movement.
Embedded above – or watch here. Most encouraging.
J. D. Greear elected President of the Southern Baptist Convention
Posted on June 13, 2018
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“This afternoon the Southern Baptist Convention—the largest Protestant body in the United States and the largest Baptist denomination in the world—elected 45-year-old pastor J. D. Greear as its 62nd president, the youngest man to hold the office in 38 years. …”
– Justin Taylor has some background at The Gospel Coalition.
Proclaiming Christ to the nations
Posted on June 12, 2018
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“This year marks the 20th anniversary of the momentous resolution concerning human sexuality adopted by the 1998 Lambeth Conference of bishops from around the Anglican Communion.
In essence, Resolution I.10 reiterated our long-held doctrine that only marriage is the God-ordained place for sexual relations. Hence one of the opening paragraphs of Resolution I.10 states:
[This conference], in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage;
The phrase “in view of the teaching of Scripture” is critical. It is the teaching of God’s word that must direct our lives, and despite its counter-cultural perspective in today’s society …”
– Archbishop Glenn Davies writes on the eve of GAFCON 2018 – at SydneyAnglicans.net.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…