Can the new St. John’s Shaughnessy really tell you anything about God?
Posted on June 7, 2013
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From their website –
“St. John’s Shaughnessy is a small but flourishing congregation, living our calling as Christians by faithfully walking the Anglican path. Our road is less travelled.
We do not claim absolute knowledge of the Divine. We really welcome everyone and are enriched by the dynamic tension of differing beliefs. We embrace doubt. Pray hopefully. And celebrate diversity.”
This is the new Diocese of New Westminister congregation using the building vacated by St. John’s Vancouver. (h/t Anglican Essentials Canada blog.)
Canterbury’s Lords Speech leaves door open for Same-Sex Blessings
Posted on June 7, 2013
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“Welcome though the Archbishop of Canterbury’s opposition to the same-sex marriage bill is, Dr Justin Welby’s speech in the House of Lords on Monday made some significant concessions that bode ill for local churches. …”
– Julian Mann takes a look at Archbishop Welby’s address in the House of Lords this week.
The Gentle Temeraire
Posted on June 7, 2013
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“The book is a devotional gem.
It is also a reminder that perhaps the most important voices in the church are not those of the young and the beautiful, of the middle aged who cannot accept that their teenage years are behind them, least of all of the Twittocrats who can reduce any profound and subtly beautiful truth to 140 banal and clichéd characters; instead, they are the voices of the old and the weak who know whereof they speak when it comes to the cross and suffering and weakness.”
– Read all of Carl Trueman’s commendation of J I Packer’s Weakness is the Way.
Women Bishop Proposals may bar many evangelicals from parish ministry
Posted on June 6, 2013
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“New proposals for introducing women bishops run counter to the Church’s desire to see those on both sides of the debate flourish in the Church of England, according to Reform …”
Installation of 13th Principal of Moore College
Posted on June 5, 2013
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Mark Thompson will be installed as the 13th Principal of Moore College, at St. Andrew’s Cathedral Thursday night.
From the College: “We hope you can join the College family on this special occasion to give thanks for God’s continued provision for Moore College and to pray for the College’s crucial work of raising up a fresh generation of gospel workers for Sydney and the world.”
Christian Freedom
Posted on June 4, 2013
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In a 9Marks Leadership Interview, Mark Dever speaks with Carl Trueman, Mike McKinley, and Andy Johnson on Christian Freedom.
The Explicit Gospel — free audiobook
Posted on June 2, 2013
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This month’s free audiobook from Christian Audio is Matt Chandler’s The Explicit Gospel, published by Crossway. (The audio version is read by David Cochran Heath.)
The download is about 200MB. (There’s also an interview by Mark Dever with Matt, recorded in Sydney in 2009 on the link page.)
Free eBook: Berkhof’s Systematic Theology
Posted on June 1, 2013
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Louis Berkhof’s classic theology text is now freely, and legally, available in electronic format.
Justin Taylor has the details.
20,000 New Testaments for Canberra & Goulburn
Posted on June 1, 2013
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Parishes in the diocese of Canberra & Goulburn are giving away 20,000 New Testaments to help celebrate the sesquicentenary of their diocese.
The Billy Graham of the 19th Century
Posted on May 31, 2013
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“Dwight L. Moody was to the 19th century what Billy Graham was to the 20th century.
Both spent the better part of their life as itinerant evangelists, travelling the world preaching Christ and calling upon people to repent and put their trust in him.
There were differences between the two men and differences between the two centuries in which they preached, but it is unlikely that anybody preached Christ to more people in the last two centuries than these two men…”
– Phillip Jensen gives some key background to the Men’s Collegiate Choir of the Moody Bible Institute, who are in Sydney this weekend.
Diocese of Tasmania Presidential Address 2013
Posted on May 31, 2013
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Bishop of Tasmania John Harrower’s 2013 Presidential address – delivered at the Diocesan Synod today – is now online (PDF file).
“In my 2012 address to Synod I mentioned the approaching “social tsunami” of issues that would be entering public debate. These issues – euthanasia, marriage redefinition and, unexpectedly, abortion, amongst others – speak to the nature of humanity, the characteristics of community, and the fundamental manner in which life is embraced, respected and affirmed in our society…”
The Indulgence Box
Posted on May 31, 2013
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In his “History of Christianity in 25 objects”, Tim Challies uses an Indulgence Box to introduce readers to Martin Luther and his great discovery.
“It is a plain and unadorned box, notable only for a coin slot in the lid. Its significance is found far more in what it represents than it what it actually is. The pennies that slid through the slot and into the coffer represented a gospel of salvation by works, a gospel foreign to the Bible, a false gospel. Luther had recovered the great doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone, and there would be no place for indulgences and no place for meritorious good works.”
No Truth without Love, No Love without Truth: The Church’s great challenge
Posted on May 30, 2013
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“Our churches must teach the basics of biblical morality to Christians who will otherwise never know that the Bible prescribes a model for sexual relationships.”
– Albert Mohler writes to challenge the church to speak clearly on the presenting issue of today.
Church Society calls on House of Lords to put the brakes on Same Sex Marriage Bill
Posted on May 30, 2013
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Here’s a Church Society Press Release, dated Wednesday 29th May 2013
Lee Gatiss, Director of Church Society, has written to the Lords Spiritual to express concern about the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill which will be debated in the House of Lords next week.
The debate may focus on the notions of ‘rights’ and ‘equality.’ As Christians, we support and should defend the legal equality (properly defined) of all those who experience same sex attraction, and recognise them as made in the image of God. What this Bill would actually achieve, however, is not a great advance for minority rights but a fundamentally-flawed redefinition of a basic institution for every single one of us. Read more
Going Beyond the Cliches: Christian Reflections on Suffering and Evil
Posted on May 29, 2013
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Dr Don Carson spoke last month at the Lanier Theological Library in Houston.
“If we live long enough, we will suffer. Christians will therefore be wise if they prepare in advance for the suffering and evil they will face. This lecture does not so much attempt to ‘answer’ the problem of suffering and evil, as establish biblically faithful perspectives that enable us to think about such matters in a godly fashion, thereby forging frames of reference that strengthen us before evil days descend.”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…