Freedom is the issue
Posted on February 21, 2013
Filed under Church of England, Opinion Comments Off on Freedom is the issue
“Any expression of the view that marriage is between a man and a woman is held to stigmatize those who believe that marriage is gender neutral.
Such alternative views are claimed to be prejudiced, to stigmatise others, and to be the source of unhappiness and searches for “change”. Such stigmatization has to be banished from society by the state.
Therefore even holding such an opinion is wrong – or rather causes offence and hurt, and must be eliminated. Even if the state admits diversity and plurality, certain pluralities cannot exist. …”
– The American Anglican Council has published an important article from the UK by Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden. Read it all here.
(images via Anglican Mainstream and GAFCON.)
Howard G. Hendricks
Posted on February 21, 2013
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Professor Howard G. Hendricks – author and Christian educator at Dallas Theological Seminary for more than 50 years – has died. There’s a tribute page at DTS.
More from Justin Taylor.
Expository Preaching: Charles Simeon and Ourselves
Posted on February 20, 2013
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“Expository preaching is the preaching of the man who knows Holy Scripture to be the living word of the living God, and who desires only that it should be free to speak its own message to sinful men and women; who therefore preaches from a text, and in preaching labours, as the Puritans would say, to ‘open’ it, or, in Simeon’s phrase, to ‘bring out of the text what is there’…”
– More than fifty years ago, J I Packer wrote this article on Simeon and preaching – for Churchman. You can now read it here online (PDF file).
Ordination in Kenya for church plant in Sheffield
Posted on February 18, 2013
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“In Sheffield, South Yorkshire, statistics show that only 3% of the population regularly attend church. Back in 2002 the leadership team at Christ Church Fulwood were invited by senior diocesan staff to investigate the possibility of church planting…
Pete Jackson, who has been one of the associate ministers at Christ Church Central, is the founding minister [of Christ Church Walkley].
Although recommended by the Reform Panel of Reference and trained at Oakhill Theological College, Pete had not been ordained since Christ Church Central was not part of Sheffield Diocese. Concern that his ministry and that of the new church should be appropriately recognised led us to consult the leadership of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE), who subsequently wrote to the GAFCON Primates’ Council…”
– Read the full story at Anglican Mainstream.
Encouragement from Machen for Sunday
Posted on February 16, 2013
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”There is just one reason why I may possibly expect you to listen to me. I may expect you to listen to me if I can bring to you a message from God. If I can do that, then the very insignificance of the speaker may in a certain sense be an added inducement to you to listen to him, since it may help you to forget the speaker and attend only to the message.
It is just that I am trying to do. I am asking you to turn away from me and my opinions; I am asking you to turn away from yourself and your opinions and your troubles; and I am asking you to turn instead that you may listen to a word from God.
Where can I find that word?…. Not in myself and not in you, but in an old Book that has been sealed by the seals of prejudice and unbelief but that will, if it is rediscovered again set the world aflame and that will show you, be you wise or unwise, rich or poor, the way by which you can come into communion with the living God.”
– from The Christian Faith in the Modern World, J Gresham Machen – with thanks to Paul Levy at Reformation21.
A small reminder
Posted on February 16, 2013
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Yesterday’s spectacular event above Russia (Meteor strike injures hundreds – BBC News) is a small reminder of the unexpected nature of Christ’s return –
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command….” – 1 Thess. 4:16.
“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” – Matthew 24:44.
The first step is always a study committee
Posted on February 15, 2013
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‘How Denominations come to tolerate, accept, and then endorse homosexuality’ – that’s the title of a brief post by Kevin DeYoung at The Gospel Coalition.
“Tom Oden, writing in his book Requiem way back in 1995, explains how it happens. The first step is always a study committee…”
Related:
How Revisionist Activists Subvert the Church – at Stand Firm.
Aberdeen church breaks away over gay ministers row – The Scotsman.
Bathurst Diocese welcomes new Bishop
Posted on February 15, 2013
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“Bishop Ian Palmer, who was consecrated as the tenth Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Bathurst on Saturday (February 9), has said that he is very aware of the difficult financial situation facing the Diocese. … Bishop Ian Palmer was consecrated by Archbishop Peter Jensen, Metropolitan of NSW, supported by twelve other Bishops from throughout the Australian church.”
– Story here from the Diocese of Bathurst.
Also from Bathurst:
Anglican Schools in Orange and Dubbo to be sold
“The new Bishop of Bathurst, Ian Palmer, has announced … that Bishop-in-Council had decided to sell two Anglican Grammar Schools as going concerns for the 2014 school year…”
– Story here.
The greatest of all Protestant ‘heresies’?
Posted on February 14, 2013
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“Let us begin with a church history exam question.
Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) was a figure not to be taken lightly. He was Pope Clement VIII’s personal theologian and one of the most able figures in the Counter-Reformation movement within sixteenth-century Roman Catholicism.
On one occasion, he wrote: ‘The greatest of all Protestant heresies is _______ .’ Complete, explain, and discuss Bellarmine’s statement. How would you answer? What is the greatest of all Protestant heresies?…”
– See Sinclair Ferguson’s article at Ligonier Ministries.
2013 Priscilla & Aquila Centre conference talks online
Posted on February 14, 2013
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Video and audio files from the 2013 Priscilla & Aquila Centre conference at Moore College have now been posted online – at the Priscilla & Aquila website.
Canberra-Goulburn Diocese 150th pilgrimage
Posted on February 13, 2013
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“With the Diocese’s 150th birthday pilgrimage set to start in Eden this weekend, Bishop Stuart Robinson will officially receive the 2 metre cross he will carry at 1pm this afternoon (February 14). … it is a compelling invitation to share Jesus’ message of life, salvation and hope with others. ‘My aim is to highlight the ministry of Christ crucified, risen, ruling and returning,’ he said.”
– Stuart Robinson, Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn, would be very glad of your prayers as he speaks evangelically at every opportunity during the pilgrimage. Story here.
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.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…