Biblical requirements for Presbyters
Posted on February 18, 2009
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“In writing to both Timothy and Titus the Apostle Paul sets out qualifications and standards expected of those to be presbyters. …
What is immediately striking from the person described by Paul in both places is the almost total lack of ability. Only two abilities are required, and these are not accidental. …”
– Church Society has published online their booklet on what ought to be expected of Christian leaders.
Sydney bushfire suburb in fundraiser
Posted on February 17, 2009
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Residents of a Sydney suburb threatened with destruction by a bushfire in 2001 will host a fundraising event for the victims of Victoria’s bushfires. …
“Heathcote in the Sutherland Shire has been threatened by ferocious fires many, many times over the years with the last one … requiring evacuations of massive sections of our suburb in the middle of the night with flames clearly visible in the distance,” Heathcote Anglican Church Assistant Minister Tom Hargreaves said. …
– Story from The Australian. (View of Heathcote: Google Earth.)
Responding to the fires
Posted on February 16, 2009
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“Every morning I wake up and it’s okay—until, with a dull thud, it comes back to me: image after image of people who died in the fires; rows of army tents with homeless people staying in them; entire communities that have been wiped out; my friend whose parents lost their house; a family known to me who died in their car in their driveway; a 12-year-old girl, badly burned, whose parents and sister died.
How do we respond to a tragedy like this?…”
– Jean Williams in Melbourne writes at The Sola Panel. Will your church be observing the National Day of Mourning on Sunday?
‘As Darwin turns 200, Jefferts Schori the scientist reflects’
Posted on February 15, 2009
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“Jefferts Schori’s supporters say her unique background has invigorated her church and brought fresh insights into age-old problems. …
Jefferts Schori said science informs everything from how she interprets the Bible to her views on homosexuality — two subjects that now embroil her church and the larger Anglican Communion.”
– Article from Episcopal Life Online. (Photo © 2009 Episcopal Life Online.)
Primates’ Report on The Episcopal Church
Posted on February 15, 2009
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The American Anglican Council has prepared a comprehensive document entitled ‘The Episcopal Church: Tearing the fabric of the Communion to shreds’.
Archbishop Peter Akinola requested its preparation to aid the Global South Primates at the meeting in Alexandria earlier this month and decided to release it when he wrote his Open Letter to Archbishop Rowan Williams.
It’s available as an 820kb PDF file – direct link. (h/t Stand Firm.)
Of Fire and Flu
Posted on February 14, 2009
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My grandfather died of the flu. He was a man in his prime of life with a large family of young children. Within a few days he was dead.
Usually influenza is of greatest danger to young children or the elderly. However the so-called “Spanish flu” was notorious for its attack on healthy young adults.
Most Australians today have never heard of “the Spanish flu”. It was a great pandemic that spread across the world at the end of the First World War – killing more people than the war did. …
– The Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, writes for the St. Andrew’s Cathedral newsletter.
Is the liberal tide in the Church of England beginning to ebb?
Posted on February 13, 2009
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In contrast to the bad natured meeting of July last year, this week’s General Synod of the Church of England has passed off not only peacefully, but also with a significant step forward for those who want to see the Church of England recover its confidence in the gospel. A motion by lay member Paul Eddy affirming the uniqueness of Christ was agreed with 283 votes in favour and only 8 against.
Its significance was not lost on journalist Ruth Gledhill of the London Times who was quick to claim, under the headline ‘Anglicans called on to convert non-Christian believers’, that ‘The established Church of England put decades of liberal-inspired political correctness behind it in a move that led one bishop to condemn in anger the “evangelistic rants”.’ …
– Charles Raven writes at Anglican SPREAD. (Photo: C of E website.)
From Hatred to Reconciliation
Posted on February 13, 2009
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Justin Taylor has linked to a 3.5 minute video clip from ABC News in the US – about a sudden transformation. Worth watching.
Another Canadian parish joins Anglican Network
Posted on February 13, 2009
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“The congregation of St Mary’s Anglican Church, in Nanoose Bay, British Columbia voted overwhelmingly on Sunday, February 8, to come under the episcopal oversight of Bishop Donald Harvey, Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC), and under the Primatial authority of Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. …”
– press release from the Anglican Network in Canada.
Missed the Big Day In?
Posted on February 11, 2009
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If you missed the Big Day In (the launch of Connect09), you can now watch Archbishop Peter Jensen’s sermon. It’s been posted to Vimeo by SydneyAnglicans.net.
A Wake up call to the People of God
Posted on February 11, 2009
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“All through our gathering at the recently concluded Primates’ meeting I kept wondering whether we were the ones to whom John was writing. We have a glorious reputation – a worldwide communion of millions with a glorious history and beautiful heritage, fluid structures, grand cathedrals, “infallible” canons, historical ecclesiology and ‘flexible’ hermeneutics – but we are in danger of forgetting what we have received and heard and replacing it with the seemingly attractive gods and goddesses of our age. We are in danger of becoming the ‘living dead’ by giving the outward appearance of life but in reality we are no more than empty and ineffective vessels.…”
– Archbishop Peter Akinola reflects on last week’s Primates’ meeting.
See also An Open Letter from Archbishop Akinola to Archbishop Williams – at The American Anglican Council website –
“…In preparation for the meeting I asked The American Anglican Council to prepare the attached report on the continuing situation of The Episcopal Church to enable people in the wider Communion to have a fuller perspective of the circumstances in North America. I shared it with my colleagues in the Global South but did not release it more widely in the hope that we would receive assurances from the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada that they were willing to exercise genuine restraint towards those Anglicans in North America unwilling to embrace their several innovations.
Sadly that did not prove to be the case. Instead we were treated to presentations that sought to trivialize the situation and the consequences for those whose only offence is their determination to hold on doggedly and truthfully to the faith once delivered to the saints.…”
Bushfires: Melbourne Diocese responds
Posted on February 10, 2009
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Anglican Media Melbourne has the latest on Melbourne Diocese’s response to the Bushfire tragedy – including Archbishop Freier’s launch of a Bush Fire Appeal.
See also “Churches hit hard but stay focussed on pastoral care” by Barney Zwartz in The Age.
Photo: The Rev Stephen Holmes (vicar of Whittlesea and Kinglake) and Abp Philip Freier, at the ruins of St Peter’s Kinglake.
Hospitals betray their history by banishing prayer
Posted on February 10, 2009
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“The long withdrawing roar of the sea of faith seems to be getting louder: nurses cannot pray, the Creed cannot be recited at Christian services for fear of offending non-believers, Christian marriage counsellors are removed because they believe in Christian marriage and Christian adoption agencies cannot be publicly funded because they believe that children are best brought up in a family with a mother and father to look after them.
It seems certain that no other faith would be subjected to such strictures and, indeed, to the benign neglect to which the churches have become accustomed. A place for Christians in the public square must be reclaimed. …”
– Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali comments on the recent case in the UK where a nurse was suspended for offering to pray for a patient. In The Telegraph. (h/t Anglican Mainstream. Photo: Joy Gwaltney.)
Special Prayer Service for the Victorian Bushfire Disaster
Posted on February 9, 2009
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St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney has announced a special Prayer Service for the Victorian Bushfire Disaster – to be held at 6:00pm on Wednesday 11th February 2009.
Bushfire appeal launched
Posted on February 9, 2009
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Media Release from Sydney Diocese:
Dr Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan of NSW has asked churches to be in urgent prayer and to offer practical help for bushfire victims in Victoria.
“The scale of the tragedy is horrifying. When part of our community suffers, all suffer with them. We need to be generous in care, gifts and prayer in order to express our oneness with those in grief.”
Dr Jensen has launched an appeal for Sydney Anglicans to donate through the Archbishop’s appeals unit. The appeal will support the ministry that will be needed in the bushfire-devastated areas in the months ahead.
Donations for the ‘Bushfire Crisis Appeal’ can be given on the toll-free number 1800 653 903 or www.archbishopsappeals.asn.au
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…