Mark Dever on church numbers and growth
Posted on January 11, 2014
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Some encouragement from Mark Dever during a visit to Brisbane in 2011.
Moving Pictures and Gospel Motivation
Posted on January 10, 2014
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“‘Emotional appeals at missionary conventions fill the mission field with emotional missionaries.’ Such was the warning that a senior missionary gave me as she encouraged me to call upon people to give up their small ambitions and go overseas with the gospel. While many messages may move us to volunteer, only the gospel will move us to respond appropriately. …”
– Phillip Jensen looks at our motivation for mission.
Anglican Aid South Sudan Emergency Appeal
Posted on January 10, 2014
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The Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid has launched an emergency appeal for South Sudan.
Donations can be made online at this link.
Here’s the text of a letter released by Anglican Aid and sent to all Sydney parishes –
Anglican Aid Supporting South Sudan
Anglican Aid has launched an emergency appeal for the victims of the violence that has caused so much death and suffering in South Sudan in the last two months.
Media reports have put the death toll from the violence at 1,000. The Archbishop of The Episcopal Church of South Sudan (ECSS), Daniel Deng, estimates the number dead to be many more than that. Read more
Marie Robinson — Awaiting the Resurrection
Posted on January 9, 2014
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Members of the ACL are saddened to hear of the death of Marie Robinson, beloved wife of our former Archbishop, Donald Robinson. Yet in the midst of sadness we rejoice that, with all who have trusted in Christ, she is awaiting the Resurrection.
We note that her funeral will be held at St Swithun’s Pymble, on Saturday January 11 at 11:00am, and assure the Robinson family of our prayers.
Slavery’s Abolition and History’s Truth
Posted on January 9, 2014
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“Memories shape us powerfully. For all of us there are defining events, the memories of which stay with us and determine how we view the world. Not only individuals, but communities and nations have landmark memories. The Gettysburg Address of Abraham Lincoln is one such. …
Nowadays it is taken for granted that equality is a value which everyone respects, but we should never forget that it was not always so.”
– Dr Mark Durie, Vicar of St Mary’s Caulfield in Melbourne, writes in Quadrant about the cultural amnesia afflicting so many today.
(Longer, original version, at his blog.)
R.C. Sproul Commentary on John — free eBook
Posted on January 9, 2014
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“During the month of January, Reformation Trust is giving away the eBook edition of R.C. Sproul’s commentary on the Gospel of John.
In John, the second volume in the St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary series, Dr. Sproul deals with major themes in his easily understandable style.”
– Sign up for this free eBook from Ligonier Ministries.
‘Cross’ student missions conference
Posted on January 8, 2014
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The Cross student missions conference was held in the US in late December. Courtesy of Desiring God, video files of the talks (plus some selected quotes) are now available.
Be encouraged to check them out and pass on the links.
An Alternative Baptismal Liturgy
Posted on January 7, 2014
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John Richardson in the UK proposes an alternative Baptismal liturgy for the Church of England. It has a bit more substance.
‘Is the Church of England ashamed to preach Christ crucified?’
Posted on January 7, 2014
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“It must be the ultimate irony in liturgical development that the Church of England becomes ashamed of the exhortation not to be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified …”
– UK blogger ‘Archbishop Cranmer’ on the CofE trial Baptism service.
Feeling weary?
Posted on January 7, 2014
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Vaughan Roberts’ closing exposition on Luke 10:17-24 from the Proclamation Trust’s Autumn Minister’s Conference is a great encouragement.
Well worth watching the video here.
(We first posted this in November.)
First two talks from Summer School 2014
Posted on January 5, 2014
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CMS has made available the first two talks from the 2014 NSW Summer School at Katoomba.
Andrew Reid is preaching from the Book of Exodus.
Grace has brought me safe thus far
Posted on January 5, 2014
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“This first weekend of 2014 affords many of us an opportunity to hit “pause” on this busy opening week and to reflect, backward and forward, on our own lives.
Essential at the beginning of every new year is to set aside time to reflect on life, according to eighteenth-century slave-ship-captain-turned-pastor John Newton (1725–1807). This practice was embedded into his personal disciplines, and it emerged as a hallmark of his pastoral work. He penned new hymns and sermons and personal letters every year to urge his friends to take time at the unveiling of a new year to stop and reflect on life.”
– Tony Reinke, at Desiring God, looks at Amazing Grace.
Related: A hymn for the New Year.
Anglican church accused of ‘dumbing down’ baptism service
Posted on January 5, 2014
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“The Church of England has been accused of ‘dumbing down’ the baptism service by changing its wording so parents and godparents no longer have to ‘repent sins’ and ‘reject the devil’.…”
– story from The Guardian.
Don’t Teach the Bible
Posted on January 4, 2014
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“There is an important difference between teaching the Bible and teaching people the Bible. It is easy to be so engaged in what we teach that we forget whom we are teaching. We can even be oblivious to the fact that we are not teaching anybody.”
– Read all Phillip Jensen’s latest article.
ESV – free Audio Bible in January
Posted on January 3, 2014
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For January 2014, the free download from Christian Audio is the ESV Bible.
It’s available in two formats, mp3 or m4b. Each totals around 2.1GB for the full Bible, so keep that in mind before you download them. Here’s the link.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…