Church sues for breakaway diocese property
Posted on April 29, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on Church sues for breakaway diocese property
The U.S. Episcopal Church has sued to take church property back from the rebel Diocese of San Joaquin.
In the 30-page lawsuit filed this week in Fresno County Superior Court, the church argues that last year’s vote by 42 of 48 parishes to leave the national church doesn’t entitle them to keep any property.
– report from the Fresno Bee via tradingmarkets.com.
Tim Keller at Google
Posted on April 29, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on Tim Keller at Google
Last month, Tim Keller spoke at Google’s Mountain View, California, headquarters to discuss his book, “The Reason for God”.
The 60 minute talk and question time is available on YouTube. (Thanks to Monergism for the link.)
Covenant unlikely to help: Venables
Posted on April 28, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on Covenant unlikely to help: Venables
In an interview for VirtueOnline, Archbishop Gregory Venables in Vancouver has spoken of the reality of a broken Communion and the unlikelihood of an Anglican Covenant helping things –
“Since we don’t stand together on Scripture or the creeds, it is unlikely that a covenant will do what they (Scripture and creeds) have failed to do. If we don’t stand on these two basic foundations, we are unlikely to stand on a Covenant regardless of how many drafts are written or how long it takes. The likelihood is that the language will be so nuanced that even orthodox folk will think that something has been said to satisfy them, when in fact it hasn’t.”
Other issues covered in the interview include his use of the ‘divorce’ illustration and also Bishop Tom Wright’s criticism of GAFCON.
The interview is available at VirtueOnline.
Canadian diocese declares: in full communion with Anglican Network
Posted on April 28, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on Canadian diocese declares: in full communion with Anglican Network
LC.net/Canada reports that the Synod of the diocese of Athabasca, in northern Alberta, has broken ranks with the leadership of the national Church by declaring it is “in full communion” with the parishes and bishops who have left the Anglican Church of Canada to join the Anglican Network in Canada.
The Synod reportedly passed these resolutions –
Resolution # 2008-11 – BE IT RESOLVED that the Synod inform the parishes and the bishops who have joined the Anglican Network in Canada and the Province of the Southern Cone that we are in full communion with them.
Resolution # 2008-12 – BE IT RESOLVED that the Synod of the Diocese of Athabasca express its dismay that bishops of dioceses have resorted to secular courts when parishes within those dioceses have found it necessary to align themselves with the Anglican Network in Canada and the Province of the Southern Cone. (emphasis added)
With thanks to lambethconference.net (Photo of Bishop John Clarke: Dio. Athabasca)
Dr J I Packer re-licensed to Southern Cone
Posted on April 27, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on Dr J I Packer re-licensed to Southern Cone
Dr J I Packer is one of those re-licensed as an Anglican minister, under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Greg Venables in the Province of the Southern Cone, after he had resigned from the Anglican Church of Canada last week.
Ed Hird, Communications Director for the Anglican Coalition in Canada (and minister of St. Simon’s Anglican Church in North Vancouver), has posted a ‘visual reflection’ on this weekend’s Anglican Network in Canada national conference. (Photo: Ed Hird)
Anglican Communion ‘in first stages of divorce’
Posted on April 27, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on Anglican Communion ‘in first stages of divorce’
The Archbishop of the Southern Cone says the Anglican Communion is in the first stages of divorce.
“I believe that the time comes when a marriage is no longer a marriage and you have to recognise it. With reference to the two positions in Anglicanism at present we are incompatible doctrinally and ethically and quite different in our presuppositions…” said Archbishop Gregory Venables, Primate of the Southern Cone. …
Speaking at a press conference of the Anglican Network in Canada, a conference of 400 orthodox Anglicans meeting near Vancouver, BC, Venables said liberal Christianity does not have a doctrine of salvation or believe that Jesus is uniquely the Son of God. Liberal Christianity is not true Christianity. There is no eternal hope or salvation. …
from David Virtue at VirtueOnline. (Photo: Anglican Network in Canada. L–R: Bishop Don Harvey, Archbishop Greg Venables, Dr J I Packer.)
True Worship
Posted on April 27, 2008
Filed under Resources Comments Off on True Worship
“To worship God ‘in spirit and in truth’ is first and foremost a way of saying that we must worship God by means of Christ. In him the reality has dawned and the shadows are being swept away (Hebrews 8:13). Christian worship is new covenant worship; it is gospel-inspired worship; it is Christ-centred worship; it is cross-focussed worship.”
– D.A. Carson, Worship by the Book (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 37. With thanks to firstimportance.org
San Joaquin legal action begins
Posted on April 27, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on San Joaquin legal action begins
As has been widely expected, The Episcopal Church has begun legal action against the Diocese of San Joaquin (Southern Cone) –
“The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin and The Episcopal Church (TEC) filed a complaint in Fresno County Superior Court on April 24 ‘to reclaim possession of the real and personal property belonging to the diocese’. …”
– from Episcopal Life Online.
Update: Anglican Mainstream now has a letter from Bishop Schofield to the members of his diocese.
Vero Beach Florida in ‘amicable separation’
Posted on April 26, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on Vero Beach Florida in ‘amicable separation’
Bishop John Howe, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, has written to the members of Trinity Episcopal Church Vero Beach, Florida –
“It was agreed that those who wish to disaffiliate from The Episcopal Church will do so as of July 1, 2008. They will leave the historic Trinity Episcopal Church property and organize as a new congregation elsewhere. …”
Read the full letter below – Read more
J I Packer at “Compelled by Christ’s love”
Posted on April 26, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on J I Packer at “Compelled by Christ’s love”
Dr Jim Packer has spoken on the first day of the “Compelled by Christ’s love” conference currently being held in Vancouver.
“May I begin by saying where I come from. If a certain dignitary kept his word and threat, I am here under false pretences. Two days ago I will have been deprived of the ministry to which I was ordained in 1952 and I ought not to be wearing a clerical collar. It is utterly tragic. This led me to resonate deeply with the way Archbishop Venables presented in his talk. I have a joyful heart. …
God is preparing and toughening us for specially demanding conflict. In our call to mission, I suspect that over the next generations it is going to be exceedingly tough as we face secularism and ethnic religions surge which do not tolerate Christianity. The pressure is on and increasing. God is toughening us for mission. …”
Southern Cone bishop lends support
Posted on April 26, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on Southern Cone bishop lends support
Why can’t Canada’s infighting Anglicans just love each other?
That’s the question one of South America’s high-level Anglicans is bringing to the country – even while he accuses Vancouver-area Anglican Bishop Michael Ingham of not being an authentic Christian for allowing the blessing of same-sex relationships.
“I tell people in Canada not to get filled up with bitterness about the homosexual issue, to just try to allow Christ’s love and generosity to come through,” says Gregory Venables, who was elected primate (senior archbishop) of the Southern Cone in 2001. … “I believe truth is above geography. I place doctrine above jurisdiction,” Venables said, the day before he was to attend a conference at South Delta Baptist Church sponsored by the Anglican Network in Canada, which represents breakaway Anglicans. …
Report by Douglas Todd in the National Post. (Photo: Bill Keay/Canwest News Service)
Second Australian woman bishop announced
Posted on April 25, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on Second Australian woman bishop announced
This press release has just been issued by Anglican Media Melbourne –
“The Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, has announced the appointment of Canon Barbara Darling as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Melbourne. She is currently the vicar of the parish of St James’, Dandenong.
Canon Darling (60) is only the second woman to be made a bishop in Australia, following the recent appointment of Archdeacon Kay Goldsworthy as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Perth. Canon Darling will be consecrated as a bishop on 31 May in St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne. …”
Read it all here. Canon Darling will be the second woman bishop in Australia.
(The first Australian woman bishop, Kay Goldsworthy, was announced on April 11. At that time, ACL President Dr Mark Thompson said that the Perth decision add “a new level of difficulty to the relationship between the various dioceses in the Anglican Church of Australia and raises a series of significant issues of conscience for those committed to living out the teaching of Scripture, rejoicing in that teaching as God’s good word to us”.)
Update: See also “Women Bishops in Australia” by David Ould, at Stand Firm.
Call for prayer for Zimbabwe this Sunday
Posted on April 25, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on Call for prayer for Zimbabwe this Sunday
Christians worldwide have been asked to make this Sunday (April 27) a special day of prayer for Zimbabwe, “a nation in dire distress and teetering on the brink of human disaster”. The call comes from Bob Stumbles, Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Harare. Read the press release via the Anglican Communion News Service.
(Graphic: Anglican Communion Office.)
The flowers are blossoming
Posted on April 25, 2008
Filed under News Comments Off on The flowers are blossoming
“The flowers are blossoming into a kaleidoscope of shapes and colours. The congregations are blossoming with a variety of ministries and languages. The church’s programs are blossoming into vibrant systems of education, assistance, development and growth.
During her short stay in the Diocese of Southeast Florida April 15 – 17, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori journeyed from the northern end of the diocese to the south, visiting five churches and addressing seven gatherings along the way. …”
– What reads like a Messianic visit to Florida, from Episcopal Life Online.
(Photo: Mary Cox / Episcopal Life Online.)
‘How about a fresh cup of reality?’
Posted on April 24, 2008
Filed under Opinion Comments Off on ‘How about a fresh cup of reality?’
Among Anglican bloggers, there has been a great deal of comment on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s video about his hopes for Lambeth. American Anglican blogger BabyBlue has posted an entertaining, but serious, comment –
Something is missing from the video. It’s often called the “Elephant in the Room,” … the question we ask is how can any bishop trust another bishop when the chief pastor bishop cannot even admit that there is “division of the first magnitude” going on outside his palace gates? …
What we see here instead, is an Archbishop of Canterbury who has created an environment free from bishops suing laity, bishops suing clergy, bishops defrocking clergy, bishops deposing bishops, bishops suing bishops, bishops wigging out so much that judgment flies out the window and they start threatening to defrock the general editor of the English Standard Version of the Bible, for heaven’s sake. Hello? Apparently, none of that is visible from inside this ivory tower. Pull up a comfy chair. A full course of denial is on the menu.
See her full post – complete with The Parrot Sketch – here.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…