Who needs church?
Posted on August 12, 2008
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Two recent broadcasts from ‘The White Horse Inn’ may be of interest to our readers –
1.) Who Needs Church? – “In his recent book Revolution, George Barna suggests that Christians no longer need to join churches, but rather should simply look for life-coaches, and helpful information for spiritual growth via the internet.”
2.) Calling the Sheep to Become “Self-Feeders”? – “A recent study conducted by Willow Creek Community Church discovered that the most committed among their church members were the most vocal about the lack of theological depth, and were among the the most dissatisfied with the worship.”
Both broadcasts look at contemporary attacks on the biblical doctrine of the church.
The road from Lambeth
Posted on August 11, 2008
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The recently-concluded Lambeth Conference provided an opportunity for bishops from around the Anglican communion to discover the deeper realities of the contexts in which each seeks to spread the gospel. …
The Anglican communion’s present reality reflects a struggle to grow into a new level of maturity, like that of adult siblings in a much-conflicted family. …
– TEC Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori writes this opinion piece in The Guardian.
Church considers £1.2m shortfall
Posted on August 11, 2008
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A £1.2m deficit in the recent Lambeth Conference’s budget will be discussed on Monday by the committee that manages the Church of England’s assets.
A boycott of the conference by more than a quarter of bishops over the issue of homosexuality is thought to be partly responsible. …
– From the BBC. (The caption to the photo accompanying the article reads: “Homosexuality was the main topic discussed by bishops at the conference”. Not correct.)
Photo: Lambeth Conference media.
ESV Study Bible: Jonah
Posted on August 10, 2008
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Crossway has posted online the entire book of Jonah – along with the associated introduction and notes – from the forthcoming ESV Study Bible.
It’s available as a free download from Crossway (2.6MB PDF file – direct link).
(See also the interview with Dr. Mark Futato, who contributed the study notes – with thanks to Between Two Worlds.)
The Anglican Blog Song
Posted on August 10, 2008
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American Anglican Paul Erlandson has composed The Anglican Blog Song and posted it on YouTube.
– A bit of light relief.
Dr Williams and his Bishops: wheels within wheels?
Posted on August 9, 2008
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The ability of the Anglican Church to undergo apparently impossible convolutions has been further highlighted by the publication of, on the one hand, letters written between Rowan Williams during his time as Archbishop of Wales and a former Anglican Evangelical and, on the other, a letter supporting Dr Williams signed by nineteen bishops and published in today’s edition of The Times.
Dr Williams’ letters tell us nothing really new in terms of either his theology or his church polity. …
– John Richardson writes at the Ugley Vicar.
Canterbury answers critics
Posted on August 9, 2008
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In response to the recent coverage of the correspondence dated back to 2000, The Archbishop Canterbury has made the following statement:
“In the light of recent reports based on private correspondence from eight years ago, I wish to make it plain that, as I have consistently said, I accept Resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference as stating the position of the worldwide Anglican Communion on issues of sexual ethics and thus as providing the authoritative basis on which I as Archbishop speak on such questions. …”
– from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.
However see also the important Latimer Study: The Theology of Rowan Williams An outline, critique and consideration of its consequences – written by Dr Garry Williams of Oak Hill College in 2002.
(Photo: Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.)
Dr Williams has made a split inevitable
Posted on August 8, 2008
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A split in the Anglican Church was inevitable, a leading conservative cleric said last night as he attacked Rowan Williams’s belief that gay relationships could be “comparable to marriage”. …
The Primate of the Southern Cone, Bishop Gregory Venables, predicted the end of the communion, saying: “This is more evidence of the unravelling of Anglicanism. Without a clearly agreed biblical foundation, all the goodwill in the world cannot stop the inevitable break-up. Unity without truth is disunity.” …
– Ruth Gledhill writes in The Times.
See also: Archbishop of Canterbury’s Correspondence on Homosexuality Reveals Deep Conflict – by David Virtue.
(Photo: Jim Rosenthal, Anglican World.)
What happened (and what didn’t) at Lambeth
Posted on August 8, 2008
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This week SBTS President Al Mohler interviewed Canon George Conger, who has been reporting from Lambeth for The Church of England Newspaper.
The segment starts 11 minutes 20 seconds into the programme and is downloadable as an 8.7MB mp3 file (direct link).
China to Provide ESV-Chinese Bibles at Olympics
Posted on August 7, 2008
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China will provide 10,000 free Chinese-English bilingual Bibles to be distributed in the Olympic Village where the Olympic athletes and media are housed, as reported by the China Daily newspaper. The bilingual Bible text will include the CUV (Chinese Union Version) and the ESV (English Standard Version), appearing in two side-by-side columns per page. The CUV Bible is the most widely distributed Chinese Bible in the world, and the ESV Bible has recently become the fastest growing English language Bible in the world. …
The Christian population of China is estimated by some to be about 7 percent, or 90 million, of China’s 1.3 billion people. …
– Press release from Crossway (hat tip Between Two Worlds).
Baptists call for action
Posted on August 7, 2008
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Press release:
“The Baptist World Alliance has called on Baptists everywhere to strongly support government, corporate and community initiatives to address the causes of human-induced climate change.
A ‘season of gracious restraint?’ Not likely
Posted on August 7, 2008
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The 2008 Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops ended with something more like a whimper than a bang. The once-a-decade meeting of bishops of the Anglican Communion was a matter of controversy long before it started. In an unprecedented move, over 200 conservative bishops boycotted the meeting and held their own gathering in Jerusalem a few weeks before the Lambeth conclave. The 650 bishops who did attend had faced one unavoidable question — will the Anglican Communion survive?
Anglicans — like most denominations — are no strangers to controversy. But the stresses and strains in the Anglican Communion have clearly reached the breaking point. …
– Al Mohler reflects on the outcome of Lambeth. (Photo: Together for the Gospel.)
The Trigger-Happy Church
Posted on August 6, 2008
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Who’s suing who?
Christian lawyer A S Haley, who blogs at Anglican Curmudgeon, provides links to some of the lawsuits going on in the Episcopal Church.
Interesting reading.
Jaffa Cakes with Kent Hughes
Posted on August 6, 2008
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As the 2008 Ministry Intensive at St. Andrew’s Cathedral approaches next month, you may enjoy this audio interview with R Kent Hughes – conducted by Lee Gatiss of The Theologian.
Conducted over a cup of tea and a plate of Jaffa cakes, the interview is downloadable from the Theologian.
Reflections on Lambeth’s Reflections
Posted on August 5, 2008
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We need to remind ourselves what the Lambeth Conference was convened to achieve. The answer is, nothing. …
And now a Conference called for no particular reason, holding meetings designed to reach no particular conclusions, has produced not a report but a series of reflections. Read them, if you will.
Having decided to decide nothing, it appears that the Conference felt it must comment on everything. Thus the reader who is willing may wade through page after page of good intentions about good causes ranging from disaster relief to carbon footprints. Yet, of course, nothing is (nor could be) specific — not even the gospel which, it is claimed, lies at the heart of the Communion’s concept of mission. …
– John Richardson writes at The Ugley Vicar. Worth reading in full.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…