President’s Address — ACL AGM 2015

Posted on July 16, 2015
Filed under News

Anglican Church League AGM
President’s Address

The fundamental problem with the world continues to be alienation from God.

The solution remains the gospel of peace which proclaims reconciliation by Christ’s death. This is a gospel for all creation and the church remains the pillar, defender and herald of that truth.

Our diocese has responded to this challenge with the 2020 vision. Last year’s synod agreed that the 2020 diocesan vision should be, ‘To see Christ honoured as Lord and Saviour in every community …’ We committed ourselves afresh to the only way this can be achieved i.e. ‘prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit’ and ‘proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ.’ This is a concern shared by the Apostle Paul when he wrote Colossians 1:15-29.

It is not enough to summarise this passage as the supremacy of Christ (although that is a dominant theme). It is a proclamation of who Christ is and his reconciling work on the cross. In Colossians 1:15-20 the Apostle Paul declares the identity of Christ with four ‘He is …’ clauses. He is the image of the invisible God, before all things, the head of the body, the church, the beginning, first born from the dead. The identity of Christ is essential to the gospel. It is not just a message that someone died but ‘Christ died’.

Here is the answer to the question, ‘How is it that the alienated and hostile could be presented holy in his sight?’ – Only through the shed blood of Christ’s physical body (his flesh).

The challenge in verse 23 could be easily lost in this forest of gigantic truths.

‘… if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.’

(P.T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon. Word; Waco Texas, 1982) ‘If it is true that the saints will persevere to the end, then it is equally true that the saints must persevere to the end. And one of the means which the apostle uses to ensure that his readers within the various congregations of his apostolic mission do not fall into a state of false security is to stir them up with warnings such as this.’

Two ‘building’ verbs are used. The best type of building is one that is well established and will not move. ‘Themelios’ is the description given to the house that was built upon the rock (Matt 7:25).

If those alienated from God need to hear the hope of the gospel, those who are reconciled must remain established and unmoved.

The tendency is to focus on the presenting challenges rather than the fundamental issues. The short term challenges easily become the priority and we lose site of the larger vision. Whilst the prevailing issues need to be addressed, care must be taken to ensure they do not move us away from our foundations.

This year the ACL was the proud sponsor of the FCA Australian launch. There was a theological side to the conference and a practical side. The theological side was covered by keynote speakers whilst the practical side was covered by breakout sessions and workshops. The challenges were laid before us – shrinking and ageing church attendance, shifting culture and viability issues.

Many solutions were offered and we were challenged to ‘get with the times’, innovate and restructure.

The ACL’s rich evangelical heritage will always remind us of the importance of the gospel.

Our constant threat is to replace, compromise, substitute, decentralise and lose trust in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Knots Untied, J.C. Ryle warned of a Christianity that, ‘… does not give full weight, full measure, and the prescription of the Gospel accurately made up. The parts are there, but not the proportion.’ He compared this Christian to a Doctor that does not prescribe the complete medication. Have things improved since Ryle’s day? Have we moved onto new challenges? I think not.

At the risk of sounding ol’ fashioned, we must continue to restate our problem of alienation and hostility toward God and the solution being the faithful preaching of the gospel and earnest prayer to the Lord of the harvest.

This cannot be considered as tried and failed. It is not time to move on and try something different. We must never say, ‘more is needed’. How can you provide more than the eternal words of the gospel?

The faithful preaching of the gospel is not a bar to step over but rather a conviction that we continue to grow in. We can do it more faithfully, boldly, frequently and clearly. It is our active solution, vision and method.

March this year, the ACL hosted its own conference, ‘Is there a future for confessional Anglicanism?’ (a closed question with an obvious answer). I believe it was significant in restating that gospel confession is not just Christian but a rich part of our Anglican heritage. The gospel is the foundation of our denomination and a challenge for all Anglicans is to ensure that we are not moved from our foundations. Thank you to the speakers Glenn Davies, Ashley Null and Mark Thompson who were terrific doctors of gospel medicine.

At the last AGM we promised more focussed activity. I believe we achieved that with the establishment of council taskforces that meet monthly.

The membership taskforce continues to promote and recruit membership applicants. They have proved that the ol’ ACL can get with the technical times. A new state of the art database has been commissioned, which will be jointly managed by the members themselves, ensuring accurate and up-to-date information.
The communications taskforce has communicated the ACL’s activities with you. Their job is to ensure that you are not kept in the dark.
The training taskforce ensures that we are not only recommending people for diocesan roles but supporting them. We can look forward to upcoming events.
The advocacy taskforce is working on issues that need addressing. It is important to remember that we have recommended and elected people that we trust and do not intend to tell them how to do their job. Our job is not to dictate how to vote on motions and ordinances. Our job is to remind and convince our elected officials of the gospel principals not to be caught up as to whether they should vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

On your behalf, we continue to search for and research good people to recommend for various diocesan roles. During last year’s triennium elections three of our five contested elections were won, including all candidates for General Synod. At least ten vacancies were filled by new people but were uncontested. Four of these were on Standing Committee. The ACL was involved in all their nominations. Since then two new ACL sponsored people have been appointed to Standing Committee, one of which was contested.

This year Scott Blackwell stepped down from the role of Secretary for health reasons. Thankfully Andrew Bruce was ready to step up to this role. We send our love to Scott, Debbie and family at this time.

Phil Colgan kindly agreed to be co-opted onto the council and has been central in our planning and activity. I recommend his election to the role of Vice President.

Earlier this year, long-term ACL member, Tony Lamb died. We thank the Lord for his life and example. In many ways his ministry embodied what it means to, ‘faithfully preach the gospel’. We express our condolences to Jan and the Lamb family.

Our challenge has not changed or gone away. The answers will not be found in new ideas or research. The faithful preaching of the gospel and earnest prayer will not necessarily result in large, well-resourced churches led by pastors wearing skinny jeans. It will however ensure that Christ is honoured as Lord and Saviour. It will never let us down.

Gav Poole
President
16 July 2015.

Here are some photos from the AGM –