|
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them-do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." - Luke 13: 1-5
|
|
|
|
|
|
Message from Bishop David Anderson
| |
Bishop Anderson is recovering from a planned surgery and was unable to write a message this week.
|
Chaplain's Corner
|
 | |
Canon Ashey
|
By The Rev. Canon Phil Ashey, J.D. Chief Operating and Development Officer, American Anglican Council Dear Friends in Christ, In a few hours I will be traveling to Northern Virginia for the investiture of Bishop John Guernsey as the first bishop of the new ACNA Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic. I have known +John since 1992 when I came from California to join the staff of Church of the Apostles in Fairfax VA. +John was then the rector of All Saints Woodbridge, and we rubbed shoulders at various clergy gatherings and renewal events throughout the diocese. +John was then, and continues to serve as a wonderful pastor, teacher and mentor - always passionate about doing whatever we do with excellence and "as unto the Lord." (Colossians 3:23). One of my favorite memories of +John was on a Holy Saturday morning when we were preparing our Easter Egg outreach to hordes of children gathering outside. As I was about to get out of the car, my cell phone rang and I saw it was +John. I am always concerned when a bishop calls me! However, this call deeply touched me as he was simply calling to pray with me for the outreach and the Easter Sunday services - that many people would come to Christ. And I was only one of 50+ clergy he was calling for the same purpose that day. The people and clergy of the Mid-Atlantic will indeed be blessed by this wonderful pastor and faithful shepherd. In other areas of good news, I'm excited to report developments in the fields God has assigned the American Anglican Council:
|
|
|
|
Renewing orthodox Anglicanism worldwide
The American Anglican Council is working with the leaders of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) to help organize future gatherings for leaders in the Anglican realignment. We are also exploring the possibility of tailoring our clergy leadership development resources for Anglican clergy and other leaders in Africa. Closer to home, I will be flying to Wisconsin and Chicago in November to help leaders there organize a new ACNA diocese-in-formation.
Developing Faithful Leaders
The AAC is partnering with EQUIP ministries and their "Million Leader Mandate" to equip clergy with monthly leadership Bible studies. The same studies that are being used effectively by an estimated 3 million church leaders in 54 countries to help multiply leaders for the Great Commission will now be used in our Clergy Leadership Training Institute! Our clergy will be able to take these same Bible studies back to their own congregations and multiply leaders there. We have 20 clergy already signed up for the Ft. Worth CLTI in October with the Rev. Dr. Doug McGlyn, and our first group is gearing up for their second gathering in February 2012 on "Competency in Ministry" with the Rev. Dr. John Yates.
Equipping the Church for Mission
Last week I reported on some of the fruit from our Sure Foundation Program. We have also recently scheduled a seminar, "Plateaued and Perplexed: Getting our Churches Growing," which we will present in October for the ACNA Gulf-Atlantic Diocese.
With so much good news to report, it is with some heaviness of heart that I report further attempts to spread a "false gospel" within the larger Anglican Communion. On the heels of TEC's attempt to introduce rites for same-sex blessings at an international gathering of Anglican liturgists at Canterbury, which I wrote about two weeks ago, now the Presiding Bishop is going to South Africa. As the Rev. Dave Doveton of the Church of South Africa pointedly observed, Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori represents a brand of North American Anglicanism that is not only increasingly apostate, "It is both irrelevant to Africa and impotent in the face of the challenges the African church faces. Eager to cement relationship with the Anglican leadership in Southern Africa, and in the face of very severe objections, these false prophets are taking full advantage of the opportunity to distribute largesse and sow their teachings."
Without demonizing those who spread false teachings, we must be clear again that the very identity and witness of Christianity and Anglicanism is at stake, and thus the eternal destiny of millions. Sexuality is not the issue. The issues are the uniqueness and universality of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of all, the authority of the Holy Scriptures in all matters of doctrine and discipline, and the integrity of Anglican teaching. These are being assaulted and undermined daily by people who deny the essentials of the faith once delivered by the apostles. Just this week it was announced that a cathedral dean in the Church of Ireland has entered into a same-sex civil partnership, contrary to scripture and Anglican teaching. This issue threatens to split the Church of Ireland. And in New Zealand, the Auckland Diocesan Synod has decided that people in same-sex relationships should be ordained to the priesthood. In truth, these false teachings and the consequences that follow destroy the witness of Anglicanism and play into the hands of the enemy and his schemes (2 Corinthians 23:11).
The American Anglican Council continues to do its part to work for a renewed Anglican Communion whose leadership is committed to fulfilling the Great Commission - undeterred by false gospels. To that end, we give our orthodox brothers and sisters around the Communion a "heads up" about what's coming their way and will undermine their work if they aren't careful. From private conversations to public resource documents, Facebook posts to email blasts, 2-minute videos to theological papers, the AAC continues to shine light on what is happening in the Anglican Communion.
No other Anglican ministry does what we do, goes where we go, and offers multi-level resources in the way that we do. We are entirely dependent on your prayers and financial support. Although we gladly work on their behalf, we do not receive financial support from the ACNA. The road ahead lies full of great opportunities and decisive challenges. Please keep us in your prayers and your offerings!
Yours in Christ,
Phil+
Back to Top |
Omitting Clergy at 9/11 Ceremony Prompts Protest
| Source: New York Times
By Laurie Goodstein
The second Sunday after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, New York clergy members of many faiths joined elected officials at Yankee Stadium in a city-sponsored memorial ceremony that melded the sacred and the secular, replete with flags, prayers and tears.
Ten years later, any consensus that existed about the appropriate role of religion in public ceremonies marking a monumental American trauma has fallen apart.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has come under attack by some religious and political leaders for not including clergy members as speakers at Sunday's official ceremony at ground zero on the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
Richard D. Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which is the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, said in an interview that the planned ceremony only proved that New York was the "epicenter of secularism," out of step with the rest of America.
"We're not France," he said. "Mr. Bloomberg is pretending we're a secular society, and we are not."
Congressman Randy Forbes, a Republican representative from Virginia and a co-chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, sent Mr. Bloomberg a letter on behalf of the caucus members urging him to include prayer in the ceremony.
At the same time, some evangelical Christian leaders said they were outraged that an interfaith prayer service planned by the Washington National Cathedral did not include a Southern Baptist or other evangelical minister.
"In miniature, this is what's happening to the whole country," said Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College. "9/11 was this moment that we came together, and it lasted about three-and-a-half minutes. The country went from a brief moment of something like unity, to complete Balkanization, and now we're seeing it in religion and in politics, like in everything else."
In a nation of unprecedented religious diversity, the United States once managed to navigate religion in public life with relatively generic acknowledgments of the sacred - a tradition often referred to as civil religion. . .
Read the entire article here.
Back to top |
| Truth-Telling in a Time of Tragedy: September 11, 2001 | Source: AlbertMohler.com
September 9, 2011
By Albert Mohler
[This message was preached on September 13, 2001-two days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011. It is republished in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of those attacks.]
. . . God is God, and God is good. As Paul affirms for the church, God's sovereignty is the ground of our hope, the assurance of God's justice as the last word, and God's loving rule in the very events of our lives: "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose." [Romans 8:28]
We dare not speak on God's behalf to explain why He allowed these particular acts of evil to happen at this time to these persons and in this manner. Yet, at the same time, we dare not be silent when we should testify to the God of righteousness and love and justice who rules over all in omnipotence. Humility requires that we affirm all that the Bible teaches, and go no further. There is much we do not understand. As Charles Spurgeon explained, when we cannot trace God's hand, we must simply trust His heart. . .
This generation will remember that Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, as other generations remembered the attack on Pearl Harbor or the assassination of a President. We remember where we were standing, and the sense of unreality that came over us all. Reality has set in.
We are now facing one of the greatest challenges known by any people. International terrorism is unlike any foe we have ever faced. We are certain to be called upon to make sacrifices. Our way of life and our most cherished ideals, are at stake. The nation must rally around our leaders, pray for national righteousness mixed with rare wisdom, and work to rebuild a trust so horribly violated. We must reach out to pray for all those in peril and suffering loss, and offer material assistance wherever we can.
Jesus took the occasion of the tower's fall and turned it into a call for national and individual repentance. Given our assurance that God is in control, and working even in this unspeakable tragedy to accomplish His will, dare we not see the horrors in New York and Washington as an opportunity for America-and Americans-to repent as well?
The parable of the fig tree makes the warning clear. The owner of the vineyard demands that his fig tree produce fruit, but there is no fruit. Cut it down, he orders. Why does it even take up space in my vineyard? The vineyard-keeper pleads for time to tend the tree that it might bear fruit.
"Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig it up and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine, but if not, cut it down."
It would be arrogance to claim that we have special knowledge of what God is doing through and in the midst of this horrible tragedy. But this biblical text explains that all such events are signs of our need for repentance. Thousands must have died in New York and many died in Washington. Like the Galileans in Jerusalem and the victims in Siloam, many may have died impenitent and unrepentant.
Our Lord's warning is clear, for "unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Clearly, Jesus was not warning that those who heard these words were in immediate danger of Pilate's sword or a falling tower. They were, however, in immediate danger of God's judgment, and so are we.
This is a time for repentance, and in the midst of this national horror, Christians will face unprecedented opportunities to share the Gospel and tell sinners of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. We will be called upon to explain these events and to give an account. We must tell the truth in a time of terror. By God's grace, may we find the right words to speak, when we dare not be silent.
Read the entire message here.
Back to top |
| A statement on the present situation in the Church of Ireland | Source: Via Anglican Mainstream 
September 9, 2011
(Background: Earlier this week, a senior Church of Ireland minister entered a same-sex civil partnership. Read more here.)
Jointly issued by the committees of the Church of Ireland Evangelical Fellowship, the Evangelical Fellowship of Irish Clergy, New Wine (Ireland) and Reform Ireland.
As groups representing a significant number of both ordained and non-ordained members of the Church of Ireland we wish to express our deep and genuine sorrow at the announcement that a serving cleric of the Church of Ireland has entered into a Civil Partnership. In what follows we seek to express the depth and breadth of our hurt and concern over the specific questions raised in this instance, and by the broader issues that emerge.
First, we regret the apparent lack of regard for the doctrine and teaching of the Church of Ireland in relation to human sexuality and marriage. Founded on scripture, flowing from reason and following tradition, our church, in its teaching, life and liturgical practice, has always affirmed the sanctity of relational and sexual union between a man and woman in holy matrimony. We believe that the kingdom of God rules over every aspect of our lives, from issues of global and social significance to matters of personal morality and choice. Given the position of the Church with regard to human relationships, and the claim of God on the whole of our lives, we are compelled to ask if the partnership entered into is a celibate one. While this may seem intrusive it remains appropriate, especially when one considers the public promises made at ordination to fashion personal life and family relationships according to the way of Christ. Further, the question itself serves as recognition that a Civil Partnership does not of necessity presume a relationship that involves sexual intimacy though it may be considered to imply such a relationship. . .
Third, we believe that great hurt and pain will be caused to the life of the church by such actions. There is no doubt that these seemingly unilateral and unprecedented actions will do nothing to promote unity, peace and love among God's people in the Church of Ireland. It is evident that both within the Anglican Communion and outside of it, for example the Church of Scotland, great pain and division has been caused by similar actions. In such circumstances it is difficult to see how we can hope to maintain, with integrity, a common life. . .
Our desire is for a continuing and growing unity within the Church of Ireland and to see such unity expressed in a holiness and morality that is both personal and corporate. We acknowledge our common fallenness and acknowledge too that sexual sin is neither the only digression from God's design for humanity nor is homosexual activity the only way God's gift of sex is debased. However, whilst we confess that we fail God in thought, word and deed, earnestly seeking His forgiveness in daily and weekly prayer, we cannot in all conscience accept that same-sex sexual partnerships are within the will of God.
Read the entire statement here.
Back to top |
| China in danger from evangelism, Communist Party adviser warns | Source: Church of England Newspaper
September 2, 2011
By George Conger
The "abnormal" spread of Christianity across China is a threat to the Communist Party rule and social stability, a paper prepared by a top party academic warns.
Ma Hucheng, an adviser on religion to the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party, warns that the government's attempt to control Church growth through the Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) - the state sanctioned Protestant church - is failing.
"If we are unable to hold the line here, this will damage our independent foreign policy and cause the government to lose control of religion in accordance with the law, and make Christianity once again a political and spiritual tool of control for the West, and make Christianity [in China] a pawn of the Western church," Ma said, according to a translation of his paper, An Analysis of the Reasons for Rapid Growth of the Protestant Church in Today's China, prepared by OMF International's Director of China Research, Tony Lambert.
Since the Chinese government inaugurated an "open-door" policy towards Christianity in 1979, the official number of Christians has grown from 3 million to 23 million under the oversight of the TSPM. However, Christians outside the control of the TSPM are growing at the rate of a million a year to "become the first and largest religion in China," states the article, which appeared in translation in OMF's China Insight.
Party researchers disagree on the numbers of Protestants, but concur the church is growing rapidly. "We estimate the number of Protestants to be around 40 million on average, so with one million converts annually over the last 30 years, in another 20 years we give a conservative figure of about 60 million, but after 50 years conservatively there will be 100 million Protestant Christians," Ma said. . .
Read the entire article here.
Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
|
