Anglican unity strained as conservatives prepare for key conference
Posted on June 17, 2008
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Conservative Anglican leaders from around the world are preparing for a gathering to discuss the way ahead amid a deepening rift over homosexuality, just days after news broke about the ‘wedding’ of two male Anglican priests in Britain.
More than 1,000 Anglicans clergy and laity, including 280 bishops, many from Africa, are planning to attend the invitation-only Global Anglican Future Conference, to be held in Jerusalem from June 22-29. …
The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM), a British organization… said “the power-hungry Global South and the separatist and divisive GAFCON-ites” were trying to take over the Communion.
– Report from CNSNews.com.
Beyond homophobia
Posted on June 17, 2008
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Dr. Andrew Cameron of Moore College has written a thoughtful and helpful piece, “Beyond homophobia”, Briefing #076 for the Social Issues Executive of the Diocese of Sydney.
You can read it at the SIE website.
Should orthodox C of E bishops still go to Lambeth?
Posted on June 17, 2008
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Four Episcopal dioceses, three in California and the Diocese of El Camino Real, have come out with ringing endorsements of the California Supreme Court’s recent ruling on same-sex marriages. …
There is little doubt that the behaviour of these bishops, in this regard, renders them unacceptable to any council of Christian bishops. Can you imagine the Council of Jerusalem or the Council Nicaea sitting down with these bishops? The question must be raised, on what grounds are the orthodox Bishops prepared to meet with them in this fashion? – David Virtue at VirtueOnline.
Billy Graham team nearly 50 years on
Posted on June 17, 2008
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Many Sydney Anglicans remember with thankfulness the 1959 Bill Graham Crusade. It had a profound impact on Australia. We thought you would find this press release of interest –
An Australian and American film crew have just completed US filming for a television and DVD special on the 1959 visit to Australia of Billy Graham.
Host Karl Faase interviewed Crusade soloist George Beverly Shea and song leader and compere Cliff Barrows at ‘The Cove’, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s conference centre in Ashfield, North Carolina. Read more
Reform urges UK General Synod to ‘pull back from the brink’ On Women Bishops
Posted on June 16, 2008
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Statement from Reform, Monday 16th June
Reform is urging members of General Synod to “pull back from the brink” of the “deep division” that voting for a single-clause Measure on women bishops would cause.
Rod Thomas, Reform’s chairman and a member of General Synod, said: “A refusal by Synod to provide legal provisions for those who disagree with women bishops is tantamount to a clear decision to exclude many faithful Anglicans from the Church of England. We want to urge Synod members to pull back from the brink, to recognise the deep division that will occur if no legislative provisions are made.” Read more
Reform statement on the ‘gay wedding’
Posted on June 16, 2008
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Statement from Reform, Monday 16th June 2008
News of the service of blessing for the union of two male clergy at St Bartholomew’s church in the City of London last month has brought to a head the issue of whether or not the Church of England intends to remain faithful to the Bible’s revelation.
The Church of England now faces the same sort of division as the Episcopal Church of the USA. Our only hope of preventing this is for bishops to exercise swift and clear discipline. Unless this happens, the floodgates of indiscipline will open. There is no longer any room for carefully constructed statements designed to hold everyone together in an uneasy truce. Schism in the church is being caused not by orthodox believers but by clergy pursuing a liberal agenda. Read more
Glasgow Cathedral to mark Lambeth
Posted on June 16, 2008
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The Very Reverend Kelvin Holdsworth, Rector & Provost of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow, shares how the cathedral will mark the Lambeth Conference –
“At the end of the service, I made the following announcement: ‘I have been giving much thought as to how we should mark the Lambeth Conference this summer. All the duly consecrated bishops of the Anglican Communion have been invited to Canterbury for a conference with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Well, all bar one…’”
– from Rev. Holdsworth’s blog. (Photo: Glasgow Cathedral.)
Bishop Peter Brain going to both
Posted on June 16, 2008
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The Anglican Church is facing ‘a watershed month’ with two significant international conferences – and Armidale’s Bishop Peter Brain will be at both.
Bishop Brain will attend the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem from June 22-29 and the Lambeth Conference from July 16 to August 4 at the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus. …
Bishop Brain – the only Australian Bishop going to both conferences – said, however, that he was going to Lambeth ‘because I feel I want to have a say’.
“Certainly, my sympathies are with the GAFCON bishops, my theological loyalties all lie in that direction,” he said. …
– Story from The Armidale Express. (Photo: Diocese of Armidale.)
GAFCON leadership team meets in Jordan
Posted on June 16, 2008
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The massive undertaking that is the Global Anglican Future Conference is days away from starting in Jerusalem.
Archbishop Peter Jensen, along with the Bishop of North Sydney, Glenn Davies and the Academic Dean of Moore College, Dr Mark Thompson will be meeting this week in Jordan with the conference leadership team in preparation for the seven days of prayer, Bible study and fellowship that will follow in Israel. …
– by Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net. See also the linked video in which Archbishop Peter Jensen talks about GAFCON.
‘Gay wedding’ liturgy analysed
Posted on June 16, 2008
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This is the first of a series of posts looking at the news this morning that a London Anglican Clergyman “married” two other male priests in a ceremony that mimicked marriage.
This post looks at the liturgy used in that service and compares it to a BCP marriage service to show that the explanation that this was only intented to be “a blessing” is specious.”
– from Peter Ould in the UK (hat tip to Anglican Mainstream).
Update: Peter has followed with a second post – on the theology of the service:
“This leads us to a problem with the liturgy that not only demonstrates how its actions runs counter to Scripture, but also presents a significant issue for the Church of England to address if no disciplinary action is taken on those who carried it out. Having identical vows for both partners of a same-sex marriage, while at the same time drawing on the Ephesians 5 model for those vows, implies that there has been a fundamental misunderstanding in the church’s application of Ephesians 5 up to this point. The BCP service indicates clearly that the sexual distinctiveness of the two partners is critical to understanding the mystery of the sexual union of the spouses – the gay union liturgy implies that it is not.”
Note also the video of this BBC interview with the Rev. Martin Dudley, who conducted the service.
No place like home – St John’s Shaughnessy
Posted on June 16, 2008
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“I don’t think the people at St John’s have been as happy since Christmas 2001”, commented a member of St John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver Canada. That was the Christmas before the Synod and the Bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster agreed to permit parishes to bless same-sex unions. …
– SydneyAnglicans.net have published this report by Mark Calder on his recent time with St John’s Shaughnessy. Please be encouraged to pray for the members of St. John’s.
TEC ‘seizes property’ in San Joaquin
Posted on June 16, 2008
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“The Episcopal Bishop of San Joaquin, Jerry Lamb has seized the property of the 18-member St Andrew’s Church in Taft, California … changed the locks on the parish doors and told the priest-in-charge that he was out and not to return. …”
– Report from VirtueOnline. (Photo: Diocese of Northern California.)
1 Corinthians 6 and legal proceedings
Posted on June 16, 2008
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M E M O R A N D U M
Date: June 4, 2008
From: J.I. Packer
Re: 1 Cor 6 and Legal Proceedings regarding properties maintained, occupied and used for ministry by ANiC congregations
1. At Corinth, for no better reason apparently than litigiousness or greed, or maybe revenge, believers were taking each other to court before pagan judges (vss. 1, 6). Paul rebukes them, saying:
- This dishonours God, flaunting failure in the church by washing dirty Christian linen in public;
- This dishonours the church, implying that none of its members is fit to judge even small cases, when God is in fact equipping them all to judge major matters (involving angels!) one day;
- This dishonours the Christian calling, which requires willingness to be defrauded rather than disrupt fellowship.
This, however, is not the situation ANiC faces. …
– Read the full Memorandum (PDF file – updated link) on the Anglican Network in Canada website. (Photo: Ed Hird.)
The future may rest in Africa
Posted on June 16, 2008
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The Lambeth Conference is held every 10 years by Anglicans worldwide to celebrate, pray and work out issues that are bound to arise in any large family. That is, until now. …
At least four Anglican provinces – Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda – are expected to stay away next month because of what they see as the Church’s drifting into permissiveness and sin, especially in North America. Those four national churches not only represent a startling 30 million members – more than a third of the total global membership – but also the region likely to become the new spiritual centre of the faith. The numbers help tell the tale: Canada and the United States are closing churches as membership plummets; in Africa, they cannot build churches fast enough to keep up with demand. …
– Story by Charles Lewis, National Post, Canada.
Anger at Anglican gay ‘wedding’
Posted on June 15, 2008
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Traditionalists in the Anglican Church have been angered by reports that two gay clergymen have exchanged vows in a version of a marriage ceremony.
The service, at St Bartholomew the Great Church in the City of London last month, used formal rites and was said to be the first in the Anglican Church. …
– Report from the BBC. See also this story from MailOnline.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…