Free PDF: The Lord’s Supper in Human Hands – Epilogue

Posted on March 16, 2011 
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The Australian Church Record and the Anglican Church League published ‘The Lord’s Supper in Human Hands – Epilogue’ just before last year’s meeting of Sydney Synod.

“Sydney’s discussion of lay and diaconal administration of the Lord’s Supper has occurred for some forty years. After a related legal question was referred to it, the Appellate Tribunal handed down its opinion in August 2010. This legal opinion needs to be set within its proper context, and the biblical-theological discussion about the issue needs to continue.

This booklet is an epilogue to The Lord’s Supper in Human Hands (2008), updating the discussion on the eve of Sydney Synod, October 2010.”

Chapters are:

The Minority Report – Peter Bolt

Diaconal Administration of the Lord’s Supper and The 2010 Opinion of the Appellate Tribunal – Glenn N. Davies

The Constitution, the Appellate Tribunal and other things – Robert Tong

The theological necessity of lay administration – Mark Thompson.

The ACR is making the Epilogue available as a free download. It’s a 2.4MB PDF file.

(Printed copies of the Epilogue and the original ‘Lord’s Supper in Human Hands’ from 2008 are still available from the ACR.)

God is still holy and what you learned in Sunday School is still true: A review of ‘Love Wins’

Posted on March 14, 2011 
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Kevin DeYoung:

“Instead of summoning sinners to the cross that they might flee the wrath to come and know the satisfaction of so great a salvation, Love Wins assures people that everyone’s eternity ends up as heaven eventually. The second chances are good not just for this life, but for the next. And what if they aren’t?

What if Jesus says on the day of judgment, “Depart from me, I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23)? What if at the end of the age the wicked and unbelieving cry out, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:16)? What if outside the walls of the New Jerusalem “are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Rev. 22:15)? What if there really is only one name “under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)? And what if the wrath of God really remains on those who do not believe in the Son (John 3:18, 36)?”

– Kevin DeYoung has written a comprehensive and very helpful review of Rob Bell’s Love Wins. Read it at his Gospel Coalition blog, or as a PDF file.

Japan Earthquake — missionary update

Posted on March 14, 2011 
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Here’s the latest from CMS Australia.

Sydney prayers for Japan

Posted on March 14, 2011 
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“Churches across Sydney have been praying for Japan in the aftermath of the quake and tsunami, but none more fervently than the North shore Japanese congregation.

The Cammeray congregation, led by returned missionaries Grahame and Cathy Smith, spent the weekend praying after the quake occured on Friday, just hours before its houseparty in the Blue Mountains …”

– Russell Powell has this update at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Proclamation Trust Preachers Weekend 2011

Posted on March 14, 2011 
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The Proclamation Trust has made available videos from its 2011 Preachers Weekend.

Vaughan Roberts and Adrian Reynolds taught and modelled preaching. See the talks at Vimeo.

A Prayer for Japan

Posted on March 13, 2011 
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John Piper has posted ‘A Prayer for Japan’ at the Desiring God blog.

(General prayer resources for Japan at Operation World.)

‘Love Wins’ – A review of Rob Bell’s new book

Posted on March 10, 2011 
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Tim Challies:

“Questions matter. They can help you to grow deeper in your knowledge of the truth and your love for God—especially when you’re dealing with the harder doctrines of the Christian faith. But questions can also be used to obscure the truth. They can be used to lead away just as easily as they can be used to lead toward. Ask Eve.

Enter Rob Bell, a man who has spent much of the last seven years asking questions in his sometimes thought-provoking and often frustrating fashion. And when he’s done asking, no matter what answers he puts forward, it seems we’re only left with more questions. This trend continues in his new book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, where Bell poses what might be his most controversial question yet:

Does a loving God really send people to hell for all eternity?

The questions you probably want answers to as you read this review are these: Is it true that Rob Bell teaches that hell doesn’t exist? Is it true that Rob Bell believes no one goes to hell? You’ll just need to keep reading because, frankly, the answers aren’t that easy to come by…”

– Respected Canadian blogger Tim Challies has read Bell’s book. This review is essential reading.

Related: Denny Burk’s post, “Rob Bell Outs Himself” gives clear, biblical answers to the questions Rob Bell asks in his promotional video.

The Sound of Silence

Posted on March 10, 2011 
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Many Christians have downplayed the reality of hell in recent years. With Rob Bell about to publish what is likely to be a controversial book, this is a time for clear thinking and faithful speaking.

Liam Goligher reflects at Reformation21.
Related: Albert Mohler on Doing Away with Hell? (Part One).
and Mark Thompson on A hell of a ruckus.

Continue to pray for Christchurch

Posted on March 10, 2011 
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Please continue to pray for the people of Christchurch, recovering from last month’s earthquake.

Anglican Aid has an appeal, and the website of St. John’s Latimer Square has information on how people can pray and help in other ways. (The St. John’s building is not usable.)

An Exposition of the Theses — 3

Posted on March 7, 2011 
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“I turn now to the third of the twelve theses which I posted as a way of giving shape to a new reformation of the Anglican Communion.

If the Anglican Communion is to be reformed again it needs to hear and heed these crucial truths:

3. The most urgent and important need of every human being is to be reconciled to God. We are all naturally God’s enemies (Rms 5:10) with the result that we stand under the wrath of the God who loves us (Rms 1:18; Eph. 2:1–3). Our natural disposition is to insist on our own autonomy, to repeat the folly of the Garden of Eden where the goal was to determine right and wrong without reference to God and the word he had given (Gen. 3:4–6). If we are to be reconciled to God, then the cconsequences of our rebellion against him — our guilt, corruption, enslavement to sinful thinking and behaviour, and death — must all be dealt with in their entirety. A gospel which does not explain this most basic need is no gospel at all.…”

– Read Mark Thompson’s full post at Theological Theology. (Part 2, Part 1, ‘Theses for a new reformation in the Anglican Communion’.)

Do you treasure God’s Word?

Posted on March 7, 2011 
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This ten minute video is a wonderful challenge to the apathy of many western Christians towards reading the Bible.

(h/t Justin Taylor and many others.)

The Sydney Family Album — 2

Posted on March 6, 2011 
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“The Rev. Samuel Marsden, second Chaplain to the Colony of NSW, was born in Farsley, Yorkshire on 25 June 1765. He was brought up under a Methodist and Evangelical influence and came under the patronage of the evangelical Elland Society which provided for his education from Grammar School to Magdalene College, Cambridge University, the centre of Evangelical influence at the time.

He was appointed second Chaplain to the Colony of NSW, arriving in 1794 with the backing of the Rev. Charles Simeon, William Wilberforce and the Rev. John Newton…”

– in a guest post at Theological Theology, David Pettett reminds us about Samuel Marsden.

The Lesson of David Swing

Posted on March 5, 2011 
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“While the internet has rocked with information about a prominent minister who has denied the reality of hell, being more historically minded, I couldn’t help but think about David Swing.

Most people don’t know who David Swing was–but in the 1870s and 1880s, David Swing was the most popular minister in Chicago: bigger than D. L. Moody, more significant than anyone else. As Swing’s New York Times obit put it, at one point, he had the largest church and the largest salary of any minister in Chicago…”

– Sean Lucas writes at Reformation21 with a valuable history lesson.

Church and Parachurch: Friends or Foes?

Posted on March 3, 2011 
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‘Church and Parachurch: Friends or Foes?’ – that’s the title of the latest eJournal from 9Marks. Grab your free copy.

UK: Should Christians be allowed to keep children?

Posted on March 2, 2011 
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“Apparently, according to the High Court, Christians who are not willing to commend homosexual acts ought not to be given other people’s children to foster.

If this is what was said, and if it is a valid judgement, is it therefore right that Christians should nevertheless be allowed to keep their own natural children, if they similarly will not commend homosexual acts to them?”

– John Richardson wonders about the logical outcome of a controversial court case in the UK. Story from the BBC – and many more linked at Anglican Mainstream, including this one from The Spectator.

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