St. George’s Tron, Glasgow, secedes from Church of Scotland

Posted on June 15, 2012 
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News from Scotland:

The Rev Dr William Philip, minister of the 500 strong congregation based in Buchanan St, Glasgow,  said:  “Our decision to separate from the Church of Scotland is the culmination of careful thought, sincere discussion and prayer for over 12 months… We believe the Church of Scotland is choosing to walk away from the biblical gospel, and to walk apart from the faith of the worldwide Christian Church.”

Full statement from St. George’s Tron below:  Read more

Church Society response to the Church of England Submission on Same-Sex Marriage

Posted on June 14, 2012 
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The Church Society media release below refers to this submission (PDF) from the Church of England.

“Church Society Response to the Church of England Submission on Same-Sex Marriage

Church Society welcomes the Church of England’s official submission to the government’s ‘consultation’ on sex-same marriage, which argues strongly in favour of retaining the current definition of marriage as “the voluntary union for life of one man with one woman to the exclusion of all others”.  Read more

‘Sexegesis’ book launch in Hobart

Posted on June 14, 2012 
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Bishop of Tasmania, John Harrower, reports –

“Today we launched Sexegesis – An Evangelical Response to Five Uneasy Pieces on Homosexuality at St David’s Cathedral, Hobart. I would like to express my thanks to the Revd Joel Kettleton and the Dean Richard Humphrey, for their work in putting together this event.

Here is the introduction which I gave at the book launch:

2012 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Anglican Church of Australia. At the recent Synod of our Diocese we gave thanks that our founding documents affirm that we are part of the apostolic and worldwide church, that we are biblically based and that we are Christ centered.

As Anglicans then as we deal with issues such as homosexuality we do so in this context.

We are part of a worldwide Anglican communion and need to listen to that body which has clearly stated in the Lambeth Resolutions (1.10 – Human Sexuality) that homosexual practice is incompatible with the Scriptures.

As that resolution makes clear and the constitution of our Church says we take the Scriptures “as being the ultimate and standard of faith given by inspiration of God.” The Church is not at liberty to “ordain anything contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another.” (Article XX of the Anglican Church’s 39 Articles of Religion).  We need to keep coming back to Scripture, to wrestle with it, understand and apply it, even when it corrects and challenges us and our culture. Read more

Sydney Anglicans II. The congregation as the centre

Posted on June 13, 2012 
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Mark Thompson writes about ecclesiology in the second post of his series on Sydney Anglicans –

“One of the most celebrated, most ridiculed and most misunderstood theological commitments shared by most Sydney Anglicans is the priority of the local congregation.”

Read it all here –

“One of the most celebrated, most ridiculed and most misunderstood theological commitments shared by most Sydney Anglicans is the priority of the local congregation. No doubt historical, cultural and sociological factors have contributed to what some see as a ‘distinctively Sydney’ approach to ‘church’.

The colony of New South Wales began in 1788 with a chaplain rather than a bishop (though notionally under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Calcutta). The Australian psyche has a large strain of anti-authoritarianism and individualism running through it. In addition, federalism (as opposed to centralism) has been an organising principle at a number of levels in Australian society (e.g. national-state government relations and the concern in the Australian Anglican constitution to shy away from a large central bureaucracy and rather to protect the integrity of each of the constituent dioceses). However, influential as these larger cultural factors have been, first and foremost this is a theological commitment arising from convictions about what the Bible teaches on the subject.  Read more

Walking in opposite directions

Posted on June 13, 2012 
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From St. George’s Tron in Glasgow:

“Download Walking Away from Jesus by Willie Philip and Walking with Jesus by Dr J.I. Packer.

Over a year ago, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland took the decisive step of walking away from the historic, orthodox Gospel. These reflections on that decision were written by Dr Philip for the Tron Times of May 2011.

By re-publishing them now, alongside the article by Dr Packer, we see clearly that the situation faced by our church family in recent days is shared by many in the world-wide confessing church today. There is great encouragement to know we don’t stand alone.”

– Download here. (PDF)

‘Is David Cameron about to force the Queen to break her Coronation Oath?’

Posted on June 12, 2012 
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Well-known UK blogger ‘Archbishop Cranmer’ looks at some implications of the British government’s proposals –

“The newspapers today are full of reports of the likely consequences to the Church of England of the Government’s plans to redefine the institution of marriage to include same-sex unions, contra the official teaching of Church, as established by Act of Parliament. The Report has been hyped, selectively quoted, misquoted and misrepresented by much of the media, so His Grace urges you to READ IT for yourself…”

– Read it all here. (h/t Anglican Mainstream.)

One flock and one Shepherd

Posted on June 12, 2012 
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Steve Etherington gives an excellent reminder of the need for Bible translation for the Top End (and elsewhere) – on Vimeo.

It’s a good reminder to support the CMS Annual Appeal.

Same sex marriage — Weekend Sunrise interview

Posted on June 11, 2012 
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On Saturday (June 9 2012), Archbishop Peter Jensen, Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Julian Porteous and the Australian Christian Lobby’s Jim Wallace were interviewed by Andrew O’Keefe on the Seven Network’s Weekend Sunrise.

The topic was, “Why are so many Christians opposed to same sex marriage?”

The segment runs nearly 12 minutes and is well worth watching and passing on.
(h/t Lionel Windsor.)

Queen’s Birthday Honours 2012

Posted on June 11, 2012 
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We spotted these people among those in the just-published Queen’s Birthday Honours List –

Member (AM) of The Order of Australia

Professor Alanna Nobbs (pictured)
Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University
For service to education in the fields of ancient history and the classics, particularly the Society for the Study of Early Christianity.

Medal (OAM) of The Order of Australia

Canon Dr Peter Adam
For service to theological education, and to the Anglican Church of Australia.

Mrs Noelene Beer
For service to the Anglican Church of Australia through the Girls Friendly Society.

Professor Trevor Cairney
Master of New College, University of New South Wales
For service to education as an academic and administrator.

The above are summaries – details and the full list may be seen here.

Nationwide launch announced for Sexegesis

Posted on June 10, 2012 
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“On June 14, senior clergy of the evangelical church in Australia will make statements in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Perth and Adelaide (June 19), with an online launch in Canberra.”

– Download the full media release here (PDF) via the Diocese of Tasmania.

Related:
An important contribution to a vital debate.
Bishops publish protocols.
Sydney Standing Committee motion on Gippsland ‘breach of trust’.
Bishop McIntyre breaks ranks on homosexuality.
The Gippsland Crisis.
Bishop defends gay priest appointment.

Reading Biblical devotional books — An antidote to burnout

Posted on June 9, 2012 
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“A Pastor left the ministry burned out and totally discouraged. He left his whole library behind in his last church.

When the new pastor looked through his library, he found that the older books in the library were biblical and theological books. The newer books were mostly how-to books, dealing with the practical challenges of ministry. It seems that he had been working on improving his skills without feeding his soul…”

– Ajith Fernando, Teaching Director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka, shares some wise advice in a guest post at Koinonia blog.

The brave new world of the media

Posted on June 8, 2012 
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At SydneyAnglicans.net, Russell Powell comments on the media stories of the week:

“I’m fairly cynical about the media, having worked in it for 30 years, but even I was taken aback.”

– See why here. (Photo: Zac Veron.)

‘Gay Danish couples win right to marry in church’

Posted on June 8, 2012 
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“Homosexual couples in Denmark have won the right to get married in any church they choose, even though nearly one third of the country’s priests have said they will refuse to carry out the ceremonies.

The country’s parliament voted through the new law on same-sex marriage by a large majority, making it mandatory for all churches to conduct gay marriages. …”

– Report from The Telegraph (UK). h/t Anglican Mainstream.

The Venus Transit: A Monumental Missions Anniversary

Posted on June 7, 2012 
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“Cook rounded Cape Horn in time to observe the transit from Tahiti. He then continued from east to west across the largely uncharted Pacific Ocean, mapping it and claiming islands for England including Terra Australis Incognita.

An account of Cook’s voyage was published in 1773 and was read by, among many other people, a cobbler and lay pastor in the Particular Baptist Church, named William Carey. …

In 1792 Carey published his missionary manifesto, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens, which included a theological justification for missions based on Matthew 28:18-20 and an analysis of the world’s countries and religious situation based largely on Cook’s journals.”

– Tom Richards, on Tanna in the Vanuatu group, gives thanks for Captain James Cook’s voyage to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus. (Photo: Bill Mellberg.)

An important contribution to a vital debate

Posted on June 7, 2012 
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An important book, which meets a desperate need, is due to be launched next week.

“Sometimes we all just wish this debate would go away. Christians aren’t preoccupied with this subject, they’re preoccupied with Jesus. However, this is the form in which the gospel of Jesus is under most direct challenge just at the moment and we need the courage and the resources to take our stand on the teaching of Scripture.” – Mark Thompson

ACL President Dr. Mark Thompson explains why the book is important:

“The debate about homosexual behaviour and the concerted attempt by the gay lobby and others to gain legitimacy by rebadging homosexual liaisons as ‘same-sex marriage’ is quite intense at the moment. A culture bankrupt of any moral compass increasingly accepts the gay lobby’s caricature of Christians who take the Bible’s teaching on the subject seriously as bigots and homophobes.  Read more

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