Effective or defective?
David Baker
Date posted: 1 Nov 2015
Almost 450 church leaders met together for
the 2015 ReNew Conference at Chesford
Grange – the third conference that Anglican
Mission in England (AMiE), Church Society,
and Reform had organised together with the
purpose of encouraging church leaders to
pioneer, establish, and secure healthy local
Anglican churches throughout England.
Although I had hoped to attend, I was not
able to, so am grateful to Brian O'Donoghue
of St Helen’s Bishopsgate for most of the following report. In his chairman’s address,
William Taylor of St Helen’s outlined the
history, necessity, and strategy of ReNew and
introduced this year’s theme - ‘Shoulder to
Shoulder; partnering
together
in mission
and ministry’. He stressed the need for interdependence – in prayer, people, and finance.
Reaching for the summit?
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Nov 2015
‘Summitry’ was a regular part of the Cold War. The USSR and the USA faced each across the Iron Curtain with separate alliances, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the Warsaw Pact. Their leaders could not meet as part of one organisation, without recognising the unrecognisable: the West did not recognise the division of Berlin. In 1963 John F. Kennedy proclaimed across the Berlin Wall: ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’.
But US and Russian Presidents did meet in ‘summits’. And Archbishop Justin Welby has called a summit of Anglican Primates in Canterbury for 11–16 January 2016 in these words:
Shoulder to shoulder
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Oct 2015
In 1995 the Irish rugby authorities commissioned a song to unite players and supporters from all four provinces of Ireland as they played as one team in the Rugby World Cup.
No doubt we’ll hear the resulting song on numerous occasions over the coming weeks:
New term, fresh faces
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Oct 2015
In the Western hemisphere, September saw a new year for schools, universities and many professional bodies. This year it saw the elections for the new five year term of the Church of England General Synod and four new appointees in the Anglican Communion and the Church of England take up their office and ministries.
They all come from evangelical and orthodox backgrounds and commitments.
Nigeria: eye-opening visit
Paul & Christine Perkin
Date posted: 1 Sep 2015
Christians
in Northern Nigeria use
the
word
‘Crises’ in the same way that the
word
‘Troubles’ was used
in Northern
Ireland of a terrorist attack or other act of
sectarian violence.
‘Have you heard there was another Crisis
yesterday
in Kanu
(or Kaduna or
Jos)?’
means children were abducted, or a church
was torched, a pastor was killed, or a bomb
exploded in a market.
Complementarian bishop
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Jun 2015
On Tuesday 5 May there was a very subdued press conference, in a back room at Lambeth Palace, at which it was announced that Rod Thomas, vicar of Elburton Parish Church in Plymouth, chairman of Reform and a member of General Synod, had been appointed to be the new Bishop of Maidstone. No frills. No fanfares. In fact, you may have missed it altogether.
The appointment of a conservative evangelical bishop in the Church of England was long overdue. The last complementarian evangelical, Wallace Benn, was appointed 17 years ago and it is nearly three years since he retired. The gap was not unexpected. A report by the Church of England in 2007, called Talent and Calling, highlighted the lack of conservative evangelicals in senior leadership positions. The opportunities to deal with it existed – there have been 75 opportunities for a diocesan bishop to appoint a complementarian to assist them since that report was accepted by General Synod and every single time the opportunity has been missed, or rejected.
Christian Aid?
Chris Sugden
Date posted: 1 Apr 2015
Christian Aid Week in May is an established national institution. Thousands of volunteers, including me, drop red envelopes through people’s letter-boxes and collect them at the end of the week. Thousands who never attend church respond generously to appeals to help the most deprived in the world.
Christian Aid began in response to the refugee crisis at the end of the Second World War. It puts into practice the teaching of Jesus to love our neighbours and to obey him in helping the poor, the hungry and the naked. Jesus did not specify that these poor people had to be Christian.
Two new AMiE churches
Susie Leafe
Date posted: 1 Feb 2015
‘Thanks be to God’, as us Anglicans like to say, two brand new Conservative Evangelical Anglican churches have opened in the last few months: one in Salisbury and another in Guildford.
Both have been started under the auspices of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE) where they join a good number of other churches already identifying with AMiE’s remit and, wonderfully, there are many more churches in the pipeline.
Clear as mud
David Baker
Date posted: 1 Mar 2015
Recently someone discovered and posted on Facebook a list entitled A Short Guide to the Duties of Church Membership issued at the requests of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. Here it is:
1. To follow the example of Christ in home and daily life and to bear witness to him.