Leaving the denomination
Posted on July 27, 2017
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“In 2012, the Tron Church in Glasgow City Centre, to which I belong, took the difficult decision to leave the Church of Scotland. In this short article I hope to describe something of the experience our congregation went through, and something of what it feels like five years on, in 2017.…”
– Edward Lobb writes for Anglican Mainstream.
Background:
St. George’s Tron, Glasgow, secedes from Church of Scotland, June 2012.
Walking in opposite directions (PDF), May 2011.
(Photo: Cornhill Scotland.)
‘No change to religion in Queensland state schools’
Posted on July 27, 2017
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“There had been no change to religious instruction policy in Queensland schools said education Minister Kate Jones.
Ms Jones said the Palaszczuk Government supported religious instruction in state schools in consultation with parents…”
– Part of a media statement from the Queensland Government.
For background – see this earlier opinion piece from Murray Campbell:
“In the school playground, children talk about everything and anything: what they watch on television, who is eating what for lunch, their favourite sporting players and what bands they’re listening too, and what they’re hoping to do on the weekend. But if the Queensland Education Department have their way, the one topic children will not be allowed to speak about is Jesus.
In our click bait media culture, it is sometimes hard to discern real stories from the dubious, but sure enough, this story is legitimate.
The Queensland Education Department have undertaken to inform schools that children are not to discuss Christianity outside formal Religious Instruction classes.”
and also this story from News.com.au, Christmas cards, Jesus talk to be discouraged in ‘inclusive’ Qld schools.
“Christmas cards and Jesus talk may be quashed in Queensland school yards after a review into religious instruction by the state’s education department. The Australian has today revealed that the move to discourage Christianity references in the state’s school yards comes as part of a bid to crack down on “junior evangelists” who may be imposing their beliefs on non-Christians. …”
Bill Muehlenberg at CultureWatch writes (28 July 2017):
“This hastily released statement is really about two things: damage control, and sleight-of-hand government-speak. There was a huge public backlash about this, with petitions circulating, letters being written, and MPs being contacted. So the Labor government had to move quickly.”
Photo: The Hon. Kate Jones.
Northwest Network July 2017
Posted on July 27, 2017
Filed under Australian dioceses Comments Off on Northwest Network July 2017
The latest issue of the Diocese of North West Australia’s newsletter is now out.
A great way to discover what is happening in the North West, so you can pray.
Report on the Anglican Connection Conference, Dallas, 13-15 June 2017
Posted on July 26, 2017
Filed under Encouragement, Resources Comments Off on Report on the Anglican Connection Conference, Dallas, 13-15 June 2017
“ ‘A dog’s breakfast’. During a recent conversation in the UK, a casual observer used that phrase to describe to me the Anglican Church in the United States of America.
The fracture in the global Anglican Communion is most acute in the States, where the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) has been set up as a parallel Anglican province, bringing together the various Anglican groups that have been forming over the last twenty years or so – such as the Nigerian based, Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). However, the gospel clarity of the 16th century English Reformers – expressed in the Thirty-Nine Articles and the 1552 Prayer Book – is not yet found in North American Anglican structures. This is why the formation of the Anglican Connection is important.
Initiated by John Mason, among others, the Anglican Connection works outside the formal structures of the Anglican Church. It is an affiliation of like-minded gospel-focused ministers and church leaders who are committed to making disciples of Christ and whose ministry is grounded in the Scriptures and framed by the riches of the English Reformation. …”
– At The Australian Church Record, Stephen Tong reports on last month’s Anglican Connection Conference in Dallas.
(We understand that recordings of the talks will be available within days, and we’ll post a link when they are online.)
Music for the Church: Mark Dever interviews Keith Getty
Posted on July 26, 2017
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“Mark Dever recently sat down with hymn writer and musician Keith Getty to talk about his hymn-writing, the effects of technology on church music, and more.”
– An interesting and encouraging interview, as well as insights on how Mark Dever picks songs.
Listen at the 9Marks website.
Cathedral to remember “Mr. Eternity” Arthur Stace, 50 years on
Posted on July 25, 2017
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This Sunday (30th July) marks the 50th anniversary of the homecalling of Arthur Stace, the man who wrote “Eternity” on the streets of Sydney from 1932 until 1966.
He died at Hammondville Nursing Home on the evening of Sunday 30th July 1967.
On Sunday, Arthur Stace will be remembered at a special service at St. Andrew’s Cathedral at 10:30am.
Why did he write “Eternity” right across our city? What happened to change him from a life of alcohol and crime and hopelessness? Was he a mystic or a loner? This Sunday, hear the wonderful news he discovered, and understand what drove this humble Sydney icon.
Photo of Arthur Stace by Les Nixon, via Ramon Williams, used by permission. Taken at Burton Street Tabernacle, 27 December 1952. Right hand photo: the Eternity memorial in Town Hall Arcade.
Related: The Eternity waterfall after 40 years – 12th July 2017.
In Memoriam: Haddon Robinson
Posted on July 24, 2017
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“Dr. Haddon W. Robinson, longtime faculty member, former President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and one of the world’s foremost experts in Biblical preaching, went to be with the Lord on July 22, 2017.”
– Gordon-Conwell Seminary gives thanks for Haddon Robinson.
‘Becoming more truly who I am: a transgender female priest’
Posted on July 24, 2017
Filed under Australian dioceses, People Comments Off on ‘Becoming more truly who I am: a transgender female priest’
In an Ad Clerum (a letter to the clergy) dated 22 July 2017, Archbishop of Brisbane Dr Phillip Aspinall writes:
“Recently the Reverend Dr Jonathan Inkpin shared with me a deeply personal journey involving a life-time struggle with gender issues and personal identity. That journey has now culminated in a decision to transition gender and a formal request to be known by the wider diocesan family as Josephine or Jo.
Jo has written a letter which tells of that journey and asked me to distribute it to you all in the hope that you are properly informed and that unhelpful speculation might be avoided.”
Dr Inkpin is a member of the faculty of St Francis Theological College in Brisbane, and posts the full text of the letter. (Photo via St. Frances’ College.)
Reformation Preaching and the Modern Mind — Annual Moore College Lectures 2017
Posted on July 24, 2017
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“The Annual Moore College Lectures will be given by Carl Trueman, a well-known church historian who has written extensively on reformation themes.”
– Beginning 3rd August. Details from the College.
UK government’s sweeping transgender reforms
Posted on July 23, 2017
Filed under Culture wars Comments Off on UK government’s sweeping transgender reforms
“British adults will be able to change their gender legally without a doctor’s diagnosis under government plans that will transform British society.
Men will be able to identify themselves as women – and women as men – and have their birth certificates altered to record their new gender.…”
– Report from The Australian.
The Banner of Truth Trust turns 60
Posted on July 23, 2017
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“Iain Murray is 86 years old. Sixty years ago today, along with Jack Cullum and Sidney Norton, officially founded Banner of Truth, the Reformed-evangelical publisher that began out of Westminster Chapel in London in 1957.…”
– A cause for thanksgiving. Justin Taylor marks the anniversary. (Picture: Iain Murray.)
ABC ignored church’s ‘positive story’
Posted on July 22, 2017
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“A senior female Anglican leader has expressed ‘disappointment’ that her ‘positive’ story in fighting domestic violence was ignored by the ABC in its controversial TV program claiming Christian men who go to church occasionally are the worst abusers of women.
Sydney diocese Archdeacon for Women Kara Hartley was interviewed for more than an hour by ABC journalist Julia Baird for the report on 7:30 that aired on Wednesday night, but none of her comments were aired.…
Archdeacon Hartley’s remarks came as the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, revealed he had, on request, provided the ABC with extensive comments for a related online essay by Baird and co-author Hayley Gleeson. But not only did Baird and Gleeson not publish any of his remarks, they falsely reported he had not responded.
Only after the diocese made an official complaint to the ABC did it amend the article yesterday.”
– Story from The Australian. (Photo courtesy Sam Law.)
Related:
A summary of major public statements from Diocesan Leadership on the issue of Domestic Violence – Anglican Diocese of Sydney.
Domestic Violence: A starting point for answers – Kara Hartley, The Australian Church Record.
Bolt Report editorial, 20 July 2017. – Sky News via The Herald Sun.
Update:
An Unholy Row – ABC TV Media Watch, 24 July 2017.
Orange East welcomes new Rector
Posted on July 21, 2017
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“Bishop Ian Palmer commissioned the Reverend Bob Cameron as Rector of the parish of Orange East in a service in St Barnabas’ Church on Saturday morning, July 15.”
– News from the Diocese of Bathurst.
Fundamental shifts in the Church of England General Synod
Posted on July 21, 2017
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“The decisions taken in the February and July 2017 sessions of the General Synod crossed a line never before reached.
Its failure to take note of the definition of marriage as that between ‘one man and one woman in lifelong commitment’, and its embrace of key LGBT agenda (banning so-called ‘conversion therapy’ for unwanted same-sex attraction, liturgy to mark a person’s gender transition) has caused serious consternation, anger and anxiety in the Church of England, and beyond.
It was the scale of defeat of orthodoxy in the July sessions that is most shocking. …”
– At the GAFCON website, Dr. Chik Kaw Tan, a 12-year veteran of General Synod, shares his reflections on the significant shifts which have taken place, and possible consequences.
What was the Reformation and why does it matter?
Posted on July 20, 2017
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Last week, David Cook spoke at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, on What was the Reformation and why does it matter?.
“The great pastoral effect of the Reformation is Assurance.”
Most encouraging. Watch on Vimeo.
Related: The English Reformers’ Teaching on Salvation. Talk by Donald Allister at the 1991 Church Society Conference.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…