Northwest Network July 2017
Posted on July 27, 2017
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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
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“ ‘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
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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
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“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.
UK Foreign Office agency says Evangelical Christians in the Global South should ‘reinterpret’ the Bible
Posted on July 20, 2017
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“A report produced by an executive agency of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has argued that Evangelical Christians in the Global South should be expected to ‘reinterpret’ the Bible to make it compatible with LGBT ideology.
The recommendations, if implemented, would massively reverse freedom of religion across the globe. …”
– News from Barnabas Fund. (h/t Anglican Mainstream.)
A Letter to the Anglicans of Great Britain — how to ensure a faithful ecclesial future
Posted on July 19, 2017
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This letter has been published at The Anglican Mission in England website, and elsewhere. We reproduce it here for you to read in full:
“Many will share our dismay at the recent decisions of the General Synod of the Church of England and the pursuing principles, values and practices contrary to Holy Scripture and church Tradition.
Given the persistent failure of the majority of the House of Bishops to fulfil the God-given duties which they have sworn to discharge these tragic developments were, sadly, not wholly unexpected.
Accordingly, and in preparation for such eventualities we, as some of those committed to the renewal of biblical and orthodox Anglicanism have already started to meet, on behalf of our fellow Anglicans, to discuss how to ensure a faithful ecclesial future.
We now wish that we have done so to be more widely known.
Our number is drawn from bishops, clergy and laity, from across Great Britain and from a breadth of traditions. Much more importantly, however, we meet joyfully united by a shared endorsement of the terms of the Jerusalem Declaration.
We will meet again, as planned and with external facilitation, mediation and episcopal advice, in October. It is our intention to welcome on that occasion an even greater diversity of contributors.
We would value your prayers and any expressions of interest from those who feel they might be able to make a valuable contribution to our deliberations.
Anyone desiring to contact us can do so through any of the organisations or churches listed.
Revd Dr Gavin Ashenden, Former Chaplain to the Queen
Mrs Lorna Ashworth, General Synod of the Church of England, Archbishops’ Council
Revd Nigel Atkinson, Vicar St John’s, Knutsford and Toft
Revd Andrew Bawtree, Chair of the House of Clergy, Diocese of Canterbury
Revd Mark Burkill, Chairman of Reform
Rt Revd John Ellison, Anglican Mission in England Executive
Rt Revd John Fenwick, Bishop Primus, Free Church of England
Rt Revd Josep Miquel Rossello Ferrer, Free Church of England
Ven Dr Amatu Christian-Iwuagwu, Vicar St Mary’s Harmondsworth & PiC Anglican Igbo Church of the Holy Trinity, London
Rt Revd Paul Hunt, General Secretary, Free Church of England
Canon Nigel Juckes, Incumbent, Llandogo, Monmouth
Mr Daniel Leafe, Gafcon UK
Mrs Susie Leafe, Director of Reform
Rt Revd Andy Lines, ACNA Bishop with Special Mission
Revd David McCarthy, Coordinator of the Scottish Anglican Network
Revd Lee McMunn, Mission Director, Anglican Mission in England
Revd James Paice, Trustee, The Southwark Good Stewards Trust
Rt Revd Jonathan Pryke, Senior Minister Jesmond Parish Church, Anglican Mission in England Executive
Revd Dr Peter Sanlon, Convenor of Anglican Partnership Synod
Ven Dr Will Strange on behalf of the Evangelical Fellowship in the Church in Wales
Revd Andrew Symes, Executive Secretary, Anglican Mainstream.”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…