The ‘Must Read’ book in its field
Posted on February 12, 2013
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At The Gospel Coalition, Justin Taylor draws attention to Dr Megan Best’s book Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: Ethics and the Beginning of Human Life – and the strong recommendation by Dr Don Carson.
“At last—a single volume examining beginning-of-life issues that is equally competent in biology, theology, philosophy, and pastoral care. This is now the ‘must read’ book in the field, a necessary resource not only for pastors, ethicists, and laypersons who share her Christian convictions, but also for anyone who wants to participate knowledgeably in current bioethical debates.”
(Tim Challies also makes mention of the book.)
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, as you will remember, was launched last November and is available from Matthias Media.
Guarding the Gospel
Posted on February 10, 2013
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Moore College Principal-elect Dr Mark Thompson –
“On one occasion I heard [Archbishop Marcus Loane] remark with concern that a new generation of clergy had no idea at what great cost the diocese of Sydney had been won for the evangelical cause or how easily it could all be lost…”
Read it all here:
I did not know Archbishop Marcus Loane well. I did know, of course, that he was one of the truly great Archbishops of Sydney (there have been a few — Frederic Barker comes to mind, though he was never actually styled ‘Archbishop’, as do Howard Mowll, Donald Robinson and Peter Jensen). Nevertheless, he had retired the year before I entered Moore College as a student and, though over the next twenty years or so I heard loads of Marcus Loane stories (and even more impersonations of his unique voice and speaking style), I had very few opportunities to meet with him. When those opportunities came, though, they always left a deep impression. Read more
‘An Aussie Christian icon’
Posted on February 9, 2013
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In a recent post at Reformation21, Paul Levy in the UK writes, “Colin Buchanan is, to my son and countless other kids like him, the equivalent of what John Piper is to Christian hedonists, Gresham Machen is to the OPC and John Stott is to English public schoolboys…”.
Now Eternity Newspaper has a profile piece on Colin. Good reminder to pray for him and his ministry.
Why does preaching matter?
Posted on February 8, 2013
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St. Helen’s Bishopsgate has added two more interviews in its Preaching Matters video series –
Sydney’s Gavin Perkins is asked about the place of preaching in the church, and Paul Clarke from St. Helen’s speaks about Preaching Evangelistically.
Be edified and watch them both!
‘Carbon fast for Lent’?
Posted on February 8, 2013
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The Anglican Communion News Service reports on calls for “a Carbon Fast for Lent”.
Perhaps reminiscent of TEC’s Episcopal Relief and Development 2008 Stations of the Cross liturgy.
The Origin of the Thirty-nine Articles
Posted on February 7, 2013
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“What were the Articles meant to do? … They were part of a wider program of establishing the Protestant character of the Church of England…”
– Church Society has posted online a 2011 Churchman article by Dr Mark Thompson on The Origin of the Thirty-Nine Articles. Available here as a PDF file.
Melbourne Thanksgiving service for Stuart Barton Babbage
Posted on February 7, 2013
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“About 12 months ago, soon after my appointment as Principal of Ridley Melbourne was announced, I received an invitation to have a cup of tea with Stuart Barton Babbage in his home in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. Meeting Babbage was a memorable experience…”
– Dr Brian Rosner gave the address at last week’s Memorial Service in Melbourne for Dr Stuart Barton Babbage. (Photo: Ridley College.)
Church Society calls for preaching on marriage
Posted on February 7, 2013
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“In light of yesterday’s historic debate in parliament where MPs voted in principle to redefine marriage, Church Society have released the following comment, and are suggesting co-ordinated action by ministers…
As evangelicals, we are persuaded that the means God uses to transform individuals, churches and nations is the Word of God. Therefore, this April we are calling all evangelicals to preach on the true nature of marriage as a picture of the marriage all Christians will enjoy with Christ in the New Creation.”
– at EVnews.
Archbishop Jensen on the 225th Anniversary of Australia’s first Christian service
Posted on February 5, 2013
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Here’s Archbishop Peter Jensen’s sermon given at St. Philip’s York Street on February 3rd 2013. It was the 225th Anniversary of the first sermon preached in the Colony of New South Wales, by the Rev Richard Johnson.
“Today we have little concept of the difficulties and dangers through which the First Fleet passed in order to deliver its cargo to these shores. Its arrival here was a masterpiece of organisation, skill and courage.
Given the ubiquity of modern communications, we can scarcely imagine what it was like to travel so far with little chance of report or cry for help. We forget how rarely European ships had passed this way and how uncharted the sea was. We can scarcely conceive how frail their ships were, how powerful the forces of nature that imperilled them, how lacking in the technical instruments by which the path may be found and the course traversed in safety.
I think we may say that in truth the voyage of the First Fleet was one of the greatest feats of seamanship in recorded history. …”
– Read it all at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Understanding the Parable of the Tenants
Posted on February 5, 2013
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Barry Newman’s latest project has been to blog his way through the Parable of the Tenants.
You can now read his completed series here. (PDF)
Sydney Ordinations 2013
Posted on February 3, 2013
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Thirty four candidates have been ordained to various ministries at a service at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. Russell Powell has the encouraging story at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Prizes and Consumables
Posted on February 3, 2013
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Carl Trueman draws attention to a very thoughtful piece by Matthew Vos. Prizes and Consumables: The Super Bowl as a Theology of Women.
The American Super Bowl might not be big in Australia, and there are differences in our cultures, though perhaps the differences aren’t as great as we might think.
225 years on — will we be faithful?
Posted on February 2, 2013
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Two hundred and twenty five years ago, on Sunday February 3rd 1788, the Rev. Richard Johnson, Chaplain to the First Fleet and first Chaplain to the Colony of New South Wales, preached at the first Christian church service in Australia.
Craig Schwarze has some resources here – and there’s our own page on Richard Johnson here.
And it’s also worth taking the time to read Johnson’s Address to The Inhabitants of The Colonies Established in New South Wales and Norfolk Island (PDF file) published in 1792.
Excerpt:
“This will be my daily prayer to God for you. I shall pray for your eternal salvation, for your present welfare, for the preservation, peace, and prosperity of this colony: and especially for the more abundant and manifest success of the Redeemer’s cause and kingdom, and for the effusion and out-pouring of his Holy Spirit, not only here, but in every part of the habitable globe.”
As the spiritual beneficiaries of men like Richard Johnson and John Newton (who recruited Johnson and who edited his ‘Address to the Inhabitants of the Colonies…’), the question remains: Will we remain faithful to the gospel of the Lord Jesus, and will we be as concerned as these men were for those without Christ?
Related: Lord hast thou not a time for these poor benighted souls? – John Newton’s diary entry as he considered the needs of those without Christ in far-off lands.
(Archbishop Peter Jensen will be preaching at a service to mark the anniversary – 10:15am at St. Philip’s York Street.)
God’s Smuggler
Posted on February 2, 2013
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God’s Smuggler is the free audiobook from Christian Audio for February 2013.
New Creation Ministry ‘completes its work’
Posted on February 1, 2013
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New Creation Teaching Ministry in South Australia – founded by Geoffrey Bingham (pictured) in 1974 – is closing down. Eternity Newspaper has the story.
(See also the New Creation newsletter.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…