Who Owns Jesus? Tommy Robinson and The Dirty Revival
Posted on December 13, 2025
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Republished at Ian Paul’s Psephizo, Dr Jason Clark reflects on responses to the “Unite the Kingdom” Christmas Carol event planned for central London tonight Australian time:
“Over the last few days, my social media feeds—shaped by the strange, selective algorithms we all live under—have been replete with progressive and left-leaning Christians condemning the upcoming ‘Christ in Christmas’ event in London linked to Tommy Robinson. Anecdotally, those are the voices I see most loudly. And beyond my feeds, the national news and radio have been wheeling out predominantly Anglican clergy (as they always do) to denounce the gathering in firm, moral tones, with warnings of the ‘Far Right’ and ‘Christian Nationalism’.
I understand why people feel uneasy. I am no Tommy Robinson supporter. But I also sense that something deeper is happening here—something revealing, something uncomfortable, and something worth paying attention to. Because if we only focus on the personalities involved, we risk missing what this moment is saying about the soul of the UK, and perhaps the state of Christianity itself. …
For years now, huge numbers of ordinary Brits have felt ridiculed, unheard, and publicly shamed simply for being British. And the moment some of them reach for Christian symbols, language, and tradition—the very things Christianity once assumed belonged to all—those who preach tolerance respond with moral panic and purity tests. The contradiction is hard to ignore.”
– Read here.
Related:
‘Putting Christ back into Christmas’: Carol concert announced as follow up to Tommy Robinson rally – Premier Christian News,
Possibly related:
Let the young man come to church with mixed motives – Steve McAlpine.
ACNA Archbishop Steve Wood case to proceed to Trial
Posted on December 13, 2025
Filed under ACNA, for your prayers Comments Off on ACNA Archbishop Steve Wood case to proceed to Trial
“Archbishop Steve Wood of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is to be tried in a church court according to a memorandum directed to members of the denomination today.
Wood faces a formal complaint submitted by ACNA clergy and laity alleging bullying of staff, misuse of funds, and two separate allegations of inappropriate advances brought by a former children’s ministry director and an anonymous complainant. …”
– Jeffrey Walton at Juicy Ecumenism reports on the latest developments in ACNA.
Uganda and Australia in partnership with Bishop Alfred Olwa
Posted on December 13, 2025
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From Moore College’s Moore in the Word podcast:
“In this episode, we are pleased to bring you an interview recorded in September 2025 between Simon Gillham, Vice Principal and Head of the Mission Department at Moore Theological College, and Alfred Olwa, Bishop of the Lango Diocese in Uganda, chairman of Uganda Christian University and Moore Theological College graduate.
Alfred tells the stories of how he came to study at Moore College, the relationship of mutual ministry between Uganda and Australia, and the history of theological training in Uganda and the impact that is having on the country.”
– A cause of much thanksgiving.
GAFCON to Re-Order Communion — Anglican Unscripted with Bishop Paul Donison
Posted on December 12, 2025
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In the latest edition of Anglican Unscripted (number 945!), Kevin Kallsen interviews Gafcon General Secretary Bishop Paul Donison.
If you missed Bishop Donison’s recent Australian tour, this is the next best thing.
– Watch here.
Bishop John Guernsey Appointed Chairman of Chairman of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans
Posted on December 12, 2025
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Prayer request from Gafcon:
“Give thanks to God for the appointment of The Rt. Rev. John A. M. Guernsey as the new Chairman of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, whose Trustees faithfully govern and support the ministry of Gafcon and the Global Anglican Communion.
We praise the Lord for Bishop Guernsey’s deep and longstanding commitment to Gafcon: a delegate at GAFCON 2008, Chair of the Statement Committee in Nairobi 2013, and Worship Coordinator in Jerusalem 2018. His decades of faithful leadership in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) have strengthened our global fellowship.
Pray for Bishop Guernsey and his wife, Meg, asking that God grant him wisdom, humility, and joy as he helps guide our movement to have the Bible at the heart of the Anglican Communion.”
– Source. (Background: Bishop Guernsey Wikipedia entry.)
How to fight your Phone Idolatry
Posted on December 12, 2025
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“Smartphones are physical objects we take everywhere; they’re rarely more than an arm’s length away. When was the last time you went out for errands without your phone? Left for an overnight trip without your phone? We shudder at the thought.
We go through our days with near-constant attachment to these mobile devices. In every in-between moment of waking life—in line for a coffee, sitting in a waiting room, walking from point A to point B, stopped at a red light—we instinctively pull out our phone and scroll, text, check notifications, aimlessly toggle between apps.
It’s not just a nervous habit. It’s a liturgical impulse: muscle-memory habits of devotion. When was the last time you sat still in a pause moment and meandered in thought or daydreamed, rather than grabbing for your phone? Most of us don’t do that anymore.…”
– Brett McCracken writes at The Gospel Coalition.
New General Secretary of The Anglican Church of Australia
Posted on December 12, 2025
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Here’s a media release from Bishop Mark Short, Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia –
“The Anglican Church of Australia is pleased to announce the appointment of Mrs Juliet Wenden as the next General Secretary, commencing in February 2026.
‘I am sure the Anglican Church of Australia will benefit from Mrs Wenden’s years of experience as Chair, Director and Executive Officer of different not-for-profit and commercial organisations. The Anglican Church of Australia faces challenges, and Mrs Wenden’s leadership will be critical in addressing them. I am sure the church in Australia will be praying for and wishing her every success,’ Bishop Mark Short, Primate, Anglican Church of Australia, said.
Juliet has been involved with Anglican Super for most of the past 25 years, more recently as Chair. Her husband, Richard, is Rector of Seaforth Anglican Church on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, and she has three teenage children.
‘I’ve worked with almost all the Dioceses in my time with Anglican Super and look forward to renewing that relationship in this new position,’ Mrs Wenden said. ‘My immediate priority will be working with the Dioceses across the country to prepare for General Synod in Melbourne during August next year.’
‘We congratulate Mrs Anne Hywood on her 11 years as General Secretary and wish her all the very best for her next endeavours,’ Bishop Mark Short concluded.”
– Source (PDF file.)
Living outside the Garden
Posted on December 11, 2025
Filed under Australian dioceses, Edification Comments Off on Living outside the Garden
The Spring 2025 edition of Armidale Diocese’s magazine The Link has been published online.
(It was out in churches a few months ago, and we’re glad it is now also up on their website.)
News, encouragement and food for prayer, including the article “Living outside the Garden” by St. John’s Tamworth vicar Joshua Bovis –
“I don’t know what has come over me lately. I have always been an emotional person, but I find myself grieving more than ever. Of course, I have reasons to grieve.
Earlier this year I faced the sixth anniversary of my Father’s death and the first anniversary of my Mother’s death. But it is more than the grief that comes due to outliving one’s parents, more than the fact that I am an emotional person. I think it is also that I grieve because I, like all of us, live outside the garden and long to return.
I grieve because my attempts, and the world’s solutions to find home…fail. Just like the Pevensie children’s futile attempt to re-enter the magical world of Narnia after returning to reality through the wardrobe, the way is shut. …”
– Read it from page 8 of the Spring edition of The Link.
Earlier issues of The Link can be found on this page.)
From the Nuba Mountains of Sudan to the suburbs of Perth, the story of Mekyal Keira: the Diocese of the Southern Cross’ first clergy ordination
Posted on December 11, 2025
Filed under Diocese of the Southern Cross, People Comments Off on From the Nuba Mountains of Sudan to the suburbs of Perth, the story of Mekyal Keira: the Diocese of the Southern Cross’ first clergy ordination
“Last month, Mekyal Keira was ordained as a deacon in the Diocese of the Southern Cross, and commissioned as pastor of the Kush church in Perth. The Diocese of the Southern Cross is a theologically conservative Anglican body that operates in progressive dioceses in Australia.
The Kush church is an English-Arabic speaking church that meets on Sundays at noon, at 160 Dampier Avenue, Kallaroo, a suburb of Perth. It is one of eight churches in the Diocese of the Southern Cross.
I am Mekyal Keira. When I was 11 years old, I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ in the Nuba Mountains through missionaries from Australia. In 1978, war broke out in the region between the Islamic government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). The main reason was the Christian minority living in the area.
In 1989, I migrated to Khartoum with my family. …”
– Read it all, thanks to John Sandeman at The Other Cheek.
Gafcon photo.
Why 20 percent better is not good enough
Posted on December 10, 2025
Filed under Evangelism, Opinion Comments Off on Why 20 percent better is not good enough
“Over recent years a lot of ink has been spilt considering the implications for Christians of the seismic changes in Australian society over the past 50 years. The reality is that we have seen a massive shift as our culture has moved further and further away from its Christian roots, such that we now realise that we live in a post-Christian society.
Of course, some like to point out that that that change does not mean there are fewer converted Christians than there were in the 1950s or 1960s, and that may be the case. Yet, the reality is that forty years ago, even if most Australians didn’t follow Jesus, they at least knew that the Lord they didn’t follow was Jesus. In the same way, even if they didn’t worship the one true God, they knew that the God they didn’t worship was the God of the Bible and they believed His ways were good.
However, most of our thinking in this area has been focused on the implications of this shift for our relationship to the world. …”
– First published in The Australian Church Record’s Synod 2025 Journal, Phil Colgan shares encouragement and a challenge.
Introducing James — The impact of theological education
Posted on December 10, 2025
Filed under for your prayers, People Comments Off on Introducing James — The impact of theological education
From Phillip Jensen:
“Next year at Two Ways News, we are expanding our regular team of Peter and Phillip Jensen by adding James Chen.
James has just finished Moore College and has been ordained to minister at St Andrew’s and St Paul’s in Wahroonga, and we hope to have him as a regular member of our team.
So this episode introduces James to our podcast family with a fascinating description of his life story.”
– Listen here.
Tears, Questions and Hope — When a senior pastor takes their own life
Posted on December 9, 2025
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From The Pastor’s Heart, a painful but important discussion:
“In the last few months two senior evangelical leaders have taken their own lives.
The Archbishop’s letter said ‘It is with deep sadness that I write to inform you of the death of a colleague and friend … who took his own life on Tuesday and our hearts are heavy at this time as we come before God with our tears, questions and … hope in the promise of resurrection.’
We react with a range of questions: Should I have known? Could I have done more? What do I say to the church? What do I say to the world, but most importantly where is God?
Keith Condie, from Anglican Deaconess Ministry’s Mental Health and Pastoral Care Institute and Trinette Stanley, Mental Health Educator with Anglicare, are our guests.”
Related:
New appointments in the Diocese of Bathurst
Posted on December 9, 2025
Filed under Australian dioceses, for your prayers, Thanksgiving Comments Off on New appointments in the Diocese of Bathurst
Wonderful news from Bishop Mark Calder in Bathurst –
“I am writing with great thanksgiving to God to share several significant developments in ministry across our Diocese. These appointments represent a remarkable time of God’s provision, and I hope you will join me in praising him for the way he is raising up gospel workers for the diocese. …
These appointments represent truly extraordinary answers to prayer. In a short space of time, the Lord has provided gifted women and men for ministry across the Diocese—people eager to serve, care for his people, strengthen local churches and share Jesus for life.”
– Do read the details here – and please continue to uphold the churches of the Diocese of Bathurst in your prayers.
Let the young man come to church with mixed motives
Posted on December 9, 2025
Filed under Encouragement, Evangelism Comments Off on Let the young man come to church with mixed motives
“Has there ever been a cohort more scrutinised for seeking out the message of the gospel and the refuge of the church than The Young Man cohort at this particular point in history?
Has there ever been a level of scepticism levelled towards seekers than towards this particular type of seeker – The Young Man?
I find it strange. Strange and slightly deflating. After years of wringing our hands about the lack of evangelistic fruit in the West, there’s suddenly an uptick – indeed somewhat of a surge – among a cohort that has been viewed as the Holy Grail by evangelists – The Young Man! … But we are suspicious.”
– Steve McAlpine makes a very good point.
Christmas in Bethlehem
Posted on December 9, 2025
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“Christmas is unlikely to be much in Bethlehem this year. The city of Jesus’ birth has about 30,000 people, of whom about 9,000 identify as Christan. They live with poverty, restrictions and uncertainty. They are squeezed between their majority Muslim neighbours and the Israeli government and west bank settlers.
Nor was Christmas much in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. A few shepherds cared for some smelly, dirty and bothersome sheep in nearby paddocks. Forget the maternity suite with all mod cons. Instead, the baby arrived in the equivalent of a corrugated iron shed out the back of a country pub. …”
– At AP, David Burke, Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, reminds us of the good news of Christmas.
Photo of David Burke: Christ College, Burwood.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…