Be Faithful! event begins tonight Australian time
Posted on July 6, 2009
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The Be Faithful! event in London to launch the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans begins this evening (Monday July 6 2009), Sydney time. Anglican TV will stream it live.
The main programme begins at 10:30am UK time, which is 7:30pm AEST. We’re told that Archbishop Peter Jensen will be bringing greetings to the assembly at around 9:20pm AEST, though that time may vary a little.
Please pray that Christ will be glorified as men and women stand for him in this gathering and in the days ahead.
This from Canon Chris Sugden (UK times referenced) … Read more
‘Change and repent’, says bishop
Posted on July 5, 2009
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“The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, has defended traditional biblical teachings on homosexuality and said the Church should not be ‘rolled over by culture’. …
‘We welcome homosexuals, we don’t want to exclude people, but we want them to repent and be changed.’ The bishop added that it is not just homosexuals who need to repent, but all who have strayed from the Bible’s teaching. …”
– The thought of repentance is foreign to many today. See this story from The (London) Telegraph.
Related: Damian Thompson comments – “My colleague Jonathan Wynne-Jones does a grand job of explaining what’s going on, but my basic reaction is: this is so over. The Anglican Communion does not have the structures, the consensus, the money or the guts to police the boundaries of doctrinal diversity. Soon, it will become – at best- a federation of independent Churches. …”
Gay minister inducted at service
Posted on July 5, 2009
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“The gay minister whose appointment sparked a furious debate in the Church of Scotland has been formally inducted in Aberdeen.
The Reverend Scott Rennie was introduced to his congregation at a service at Queen’s Cross Church. …”
– BBC report.
Welcome the FCA
Posted on July 4, 2009
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“Andrew Goddard, perhaps the best-informed and most thoughtful critic of FCA, argues: ‘There is, at present, no widespread sense that this new initiative is a necessity for Anglicans to be faithful and maintain fellowship within the Church of England and with the churches of the Communion.’
… So why should anyone support FCA and why should it be launched now?”
– Andrew Carey gives some good reasons why the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans is needed now.
Ichabod — the glory departing from Scotland
Posted on July 4, 2009
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“The Church of Scotland has declared that the Bible is not the Word of God, that active homosexuality is no bar to the ministry, that a magisterium is to be set up to determine what the Word of God is, and crowns it all by an unchecked stomach-churning display of mockery and faux repentance. A Rubicon has been crossed and there is no turning back. …”
– The Minister of St. Peter’s Free Church in Dundee, David Robertson, writes about the new territory in which the Chirch of Scotland is now travelling. (h/t Reformation21)
On Being Moderately Faithful
Posted on July 3, 2009
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“Although the GAFCON movement is firmly rooted in the apostolic faith and the historic reformation formularies of the Church of England, this very clarity has been very unsettling for those whose instincts are first and foremost to preserve the Church as an institution and the whole system of power and patronage which goes with it, formal and informal. The most unsettled are evangelicals who want to preserve the status quo…”
– At SPREAD, Charles Raven answers critics of next week’s launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in the UK.
9Marks eJournal on missions
Posted on July 2, 2009
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The latest 9Marks eJournal has been released – the theme for this issue is Missions.
Grab your PDF copy (direct link) from 9Marks.
100 Recommended Reads
Posted on July 2, 2009
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Colin Adams at Unashamed Workman has listed 100 books he recommends to his congregation in Northern Ireland –
“It does reflect the fact that I am Reformed, Baptist, cessationist and complementarian! – but hopefully it will still be helpful to an even wider audience.”
– See it here.
Smart Planting, Right Planting
Posted on June 30, 2009
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“It wasn’t so much that anyone called us to prayer, but that the day reminded us all of the way that God is sovereignly growing his church, in all sorts of unexpected places and amongst the least likely of people. God’s word is powerful and his mighty Spirit is transforming lives. …”
– At The Sola Panel, Paul Grimmond reflects on last week’s church planting conference at Moore College.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
Posted on June 30, 2009
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“When Baxter lay a dying, and his friends came to see him, almost the last word he said was in answer to the question, ‘Dear Mr. Baxter, how are you?’
‘Almost well,’ said he, and so it is. …”
– C H Spurgeon puts death in perspective for all who belong to Christ. At Pyromaniacs.
Video: UK couple quizzed by police
Posted on June 30, 2009
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“The 2005 story of Joe and Helen Roberts – an elderly Christian couple from Lancashire who were interrogated by police because they criticised a ‘gay rights’ project being run by their local council.
In this new video, Helen speaks about how intimidating it was to be questioned by police officers for over an hour. The officers told them they were near to committing a hate crime which carries a seven year prison sentence. …”
– Video from The Christian Institute – report from Anglican Mainstream.)
Why I don’t have a television and rarely go to movies
Posted on June 27, 2009
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“But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshipping Christ. …”
– John Piper challenges Christians to consider the influence of what they watch – at Desiring God.
A Tortured Existence
Posted on June 27, 2009
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“We want our celebrities to start strong and finish weak, to begin with a bang and then fizzle, pop and sputter, all for our enjoyment and entertainment… Jackson gave us so much to talk about, so much to enjoy. More than any other celebrity he embodied the ‘vanities’ of Ecclesiastes. …”
– Tim Challies reflects. (Image: Google News.)
Al Stewart to head Evangelism Ministries
Posted on June 25, 2009
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A media release from the Diocese of Sydney –
Archbishop Dr Peter Jensen has announced the appointment of Bishop Alan Stewart to spearhead a major diocesan church planting initiative.
Dr Jensen says “Connect09 has challenged us to move from maintenance to mission. The fact that I have released Bishop Stewart from his valuable ministry in Wollongong is an indication of how high church planting is on our mission agenda.” Read more
ACNA Assembly latest
Posted on June 25, 2009
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The inaugural Assembly of the Anglican Church of North America continues. You can read the latest from the ACNA website.
See also George Conger’s report at Religious Intelligence.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…