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Handle with prayer!
News – ANiC and AEN
ANiC synod updates
Details
of our synod, November 4-6 in Ottawa, are on the website. Here are a
few recent updates:
• |
There
will be no charge for those who wish to attend only Bishop Nazir Ali’s
presentation on Friday evening. While
registered delegates and observers will have reserved seating, remaining seats
will be available on a “first come” basis. |
• |
Drafts
of the canons and constitution that synod will consider will be posted to the website next
week. |
• |
Although
not yet confirmed, AnglicanTV may offer live webcasting of our synod. |
Asian Mission conference planned for March 21-22
Bishop
Stephen Leung is planning a major conference for 21-22 March 2011 in Vancouver,
BC to launch ANiC’s Asian Mission in Canada. This inaugural conference will
take place primarily at Regent College in Vancouver. A number of speakers from across Canada and the US will
address the theme, “Discerning contemporary culture: Challenges and Christian
ministry in a permissive age”. More information will be available soon.
Clergy, please mark the dates
A reminder that the 2011
ANiC clergy retreat is scheduled for March 29-31, in Sumas, Washington, just
south of Abbotsford, BC. More
details will follow.
Registrar announcement
We are sad to announce
that ANiC’s Registrar and Secretary of Synod, Mr Brian Ellis, has resigned
effective October 1. In accepting Brian’s resignation, our Moderator,
Bishop Don Harvey, expressed his deep gratitude to Brian for his extraordinary
dedication as our first Registrar.
“Brian’s
meticulous attention to detail and thorough work has laid a firm foundation on
which we can now continue to securely build as our identity as a Diocese in the
Province of the Anglican Church in North America continues to evolve,” says
Bishop Don. “The Board of
Directors is very grateful to Brian for what obviously was a labour of love.”
After some reflection,
Bishop Don is now able to announce Brian’s successor as Registrar. The
Reverend Tom Carman, Rector of St Aidan's Anglican Church in Windsor, has been
appointed as ANiC’s Registrar, effective immediately.
“Father Tom brings many unique gifts to this office,” says Bishop
Don. “The position of Registrar
demands sensitivity to detail, and meticulously accurate record keeping for our
clergy and parishes, including records of clergy licences and ordinations.”
Prior to ANiC becoming an
ecclesial body in 2008, Father Tom served on ANiC’s Servant Leadership
Team. More recently he has used his significant computer expertise
– and, according to Bishop Don, his boundless patience – to provide
unofficial technical support to our Moderator.
Bishop Don will announce
the appointments of Lay and Clerical Secretaries to Synod soon.
Resources to help your church pray for the
persecuted church
November 14 has been
designated the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. There are a number of resources available to help your parish participate in this prayer-focused event,
including “prayer points”, children’s material, a devotional, a video, a
bulletin insert, creative suggestions, and suggested songs. The Evangelical
Fellowship of Canada – of which ANiC is a member – is a partner in
this effort. Please participate.
Clergy wanted…
Please remember these
needs in prayer:
Parish, church plant and ministry news
Christ The King (Toronto) celebrates
with a special commissioning service October 24 with Bishop Don Harvey
(celebrant), Ruth Fazal (music) and the Rev Ray David Glenn (preaching) at Blythewood Baptist Church,
80 Blythwood Road, Toronto. The 6:30pm service will be followed by
refreshments and fellowship. All most welcome. See poster.
St
Chad's (Toronto) is offering an Alpha course. Those in Toronto can invite
friends to come and investigate the meaning of life. Dinner is included. For information call 416.889.8248.
When:
Tuesdays,
6:30 p.m. - 8:30pm, starting immediately
Where: St
Chad's Anglican Church, Toronto, 155 Wychwood Ave (on the NE corner of Wychwood
and St Clair, near Bathurst Street)
St
John's (Vancouver) will host the Liveword annual
women's conference on October 16. Registration closes October 13.
If your parish has news
that would be of interest to others in ANiC, please email Marilyn or call
1-866-351-2642 extension 4020.
Calendar of upcoming events – for your
interest and prayer support
Oct
7 – St Alban’s campus ministry U of Ottawa speaking engagements with James KA Smith.
Oct 7 – Heritage
Preaching Lectures with Dr Darrell Johnson, Cambridge, ON
Oct 10 – International day to pray for the world’s
poor and act to alleviate poverty
Oct 15-17 – ACiC regional
conference, Richmond, BC
Oct 16 – Billy
Graham Association Cross the
Street conference, Burlington, ON
Oct 23 – St John’s
Richmond, Bible in a Day
seminar
Oct 24, 6:30pm – Christ The King (Toronto) service of celebration and thanksgiving
Nov 3 – Clergy day,
Ottawa, ON
Nov
4-6 – ANiC synod with featured speaker Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, Ottawa, ON
Nov 14 – International day of prayer for the persecuted
church
Jan 25-27 – ACNA 2011 church planting summit in Plano, TX with speaker Tim Keller
Jan 25-31 – Anglican
Communion Primates meeting (Dublin, Ireland)
March
21-22 – Asian Mission conference, Vancouver, BC
March
29-31 – ANiC’s 2011 pastors’ retreat near Abbotsford, BC
News shorts –
Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)
AMiA flag-ship church transfers to ACNA
The large Plano Texas
church which hosted Archbishop Bob Duncan’s investiture in June 2009, has transferred into the
Anglican Church in North America. Christ Church was, at that time, a member of the ACNA. However, when the Anglican Mission in
the Americas (AMiA), of which Christ Church was also a member, later changed
its relationship with the ACNA from being dioceses within ACNA to being Ministry
Partners, Christ Church found itself outside ACNA.
Now with the consent of
AMiA’s Bishop Chuck Murphy, Christ Church is canonically transferring
membership, coming directly under the oversight of Archbishop Duncan and the
Diocese of Pittsburgh. The
awkwardness for Christ Church and its rector, Canon David Roseberry, of not being
a part of ANCA was that Canon Roseberry was leading the charge for ACNA on the Anglican1000 church planting initiative
– our province’s commitment to plant 1000 new churches in the first five
years of our existence. The
long-term hope is that Christ Church will form the nucleus of a new ACNA
diocese in the Dallas area.
ACNA partner, the Anglican
Coalition in Canada (ACiC), plans regional conference
The Anglican Coalition in
Canada is holding its regional conference October 15-17 at Richmond Emmanuel
Church, Richmond, BC. The
conference follows the ACiC annual general meeting on the morning of October
15. Conference keynote speakers
are Bishop Silas Ng (ACiC) and Bishop Chuck Murphy (Anglican Mission in the Americas). ACiC is the Canadian branch of the
Anglican Mission. All are welcome. For more information, see the ACiC
website.
Anglican Diocese of the
South to consecrate first bishop
On October 9, one of the
newest dioceses in ACNA, the Anglican Diocese of the South, will consecrate
Bishop-elect Dr Foley Beach as its first diocesan bishop. The news release
states that “Rev Beach is rector of Holy
Cross Anglican in Loganville, Georgia and [he] will lead a diocese of 24 member
and partner parishes from around the Southeast.” Bishop Don and Trudy Harvey will represent ANiC at the consecration as they are en route to the ACNA clergy and
spouse retreat in North Carolina next week.
ACNA to send first longer
term missionary to Diocese of Argentina
Father David Alenskis, who is preparing to work in
Argentina with Archbishop Gregory Venables, is the first long-term missionary
to be commissioned by the ACNA Diocese of Western Anglicans. You can see an interview with Father David and explore his website.
ACNA church opens free
clinic in Virginia
St Margaret’s Anglican
Church in Woodbridge, Virginia has
officially opened a free clinic for low-income and uninsured
patients in its community.
Bishop calls lawsuit “vindictive”
Bishop Jack Iker comments on the latest lawsuit filed by the Episcopal Church, which he calls preposterous and vindictive. “Having
struck out at the diocesan convention and struck out at the state court level,
the minority faction filed this new lawsuit in federal court over the same
trademarks as in the state court case. It looks like they are shopping for a
new judge… [W]e are confident that the minority
faction will not be any more successful in federal court than they have been in
state court… The lawsuit is vindictive because it is aimed personally at me, as
an individual. I do not use the trademarks personally – the diocese uses
them! …The question still remains: Why would they not
accept our [earlier] offer to transfer title of their property to them and
avoid all this costly litigation?”
Anglican Perspective videos
The
American Anglican Council is producing short weekly videos on various topics of
interest to Anglicans. Recent
Anglican Perspective videos have dealt with moral compromise and the
tragedy of a recent high-profile teen suicide.
More ACNA news
Savannah
Morning News – Oct 3 2010 – Religious
groups urge court to side with Christ Church
News shorts – Canada
Dr Sumner offers his thoughts on the need for
catechesis
In an Anglican
Journal editorial, Dr George Sumner (Wycliffe College, Toronto)
links the financial challenges faced by the Anglican Church of Canada to the
need for catechesis (theological teaching) and evangelistic promotion of the
ACoC.
Christ the Way conference, Burlington, ON
Those in the Burlington area
should consider attending the Christ the Way conference, November 6 at
Wellington Square Church, 2121 Caroline St, Burlington. Bishops Charlie Masters and Malcolm
Harding were keynote speakers at this inter-denominational conference in
previous years. This year’s
speaker is Bruxy Cavey. For
information and registration, see the conference
website.
Other Canadian news
Anglican Journal – October
5 2010 – Restructuring
announced at General Synod offices
News shorts – US
TEC bishop appeals to fellow bishops to oppose
power grab
Writing for
the Living Church News Service, Bishop Mark Lawrence (South
Carolina) attempts to urgently stir lethargic TEC bishops to action, to oppose
the presiding bishop’s unprecedented and unconstitutional power grabs, “lest
the polity and practice of TEC be changed”. He chooses a clever environmentalist motif to make his point,
likening the Episcopal Church (TEC) to an old growth forest being clear cut. “My concern here is that as the church’s polity
is felled only a few bother to cry “timber”.” Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori he likens to a “rapacious lumberjack” felling “trees indiscriminately” as “she and her
chancellor are felling our polity” by profoundly overreaching the presiding
bishop’s authority.
Bishop Lawrence declares,
“Every diocesan bishop and standing committee, indeed every Episcopalian, ought
to realize that if the presiding bishop and her chancellor are allowed to
dictate to bishops or standing committees… then we have entered into a new era
of unprecedented hierarchy and autocratic leadership… The axe swinging to rid
TEC of its troublesome clerics… is becoming an environmental disaster. The
presiding bishop and her unelected chancellor intruding into diocesan
independence; Title IV revisions [regarding clergy discipline] that undercut
due process and the constitutionally given right of a diocese’s ecclesiastical
authority; depositions hurried for litigious convenience, while never
addressing the deeper theological problems: all of these are strokes of the axe
hacking at the stately grove of TEC. Just maybe, somewhere, an ecclesiastical
John Muir [a nineteenth century environmentalist] will emerge, but if so, he’d
better find his voice soon. For the sound that’s coming from TEC these days is
the sound of falling trees.
News shorts –
International
The Global South’s frustration with the structures
of the Communion
A Church of
England Newspaper article on historic and Global South perspectives
on Anglican Ecclesiology states that, “At the All African Bishops Meeting in
Entebbe in August, discussion of the Anglican Covenant among the gathered
bishops took a decided second place to the conciliar programme for a renewed
Anglican ecclesiology propounded by Rwanda and the Global South group of
churches… Frustration with the present model of “instruments of Communion” and
objections to an international church that centered round the authority of an
English bishop not accountable to the wider church, has fueled discussion
within the Global South about new ways of ordering the church.”
Dr Ephraim Radner analyzes the four broken
“Instruments of Unity”
In a paper posted
on the Anglican Communion Institute website, the Rev Dr Ephraim
Radner (Wycliffe College) expresses his surprise at how quickly the Communion
has crumbled since Bishop Gene Robinson’s consecration in 2003. He says, “At this point, all the
so-called Instruments of…Unity for the Anglican Communion are broken, some, it
seems to me, beyond any hope of repair… With the demise of the Instruments of
Unity, the question of the Anglican Communion’s survival and vocation is
necessarily raised.”
He assigns primary
responsibility for the Primates’ Meeting “quickly [sinking]into obscurity as a body” to “a failure to carry through on the part of the
Archbishop of Canterbury” the discipline outlined in the Primates Communique
following the 2007 Dar es Salaam meeting.
The Lambeth Conference was
rendered ineffectual by: both the boycott of the 2008 gathering by about ¼ of
the bishops in the Communion, likely representing a majority of global
Anglicans; and by “The agenda of the meeting, that sought to eschew
decision-making… in favor of discussion…at a time of obvious confusion”. “In one fell swoop, the Lambeth
Conference as the Communion’s must (sic) august and authoritative council…
lapsed into a marginal position…”
Regarding the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the traditional “gatherer” and “bishop primus inter pares” and “focus
of unity”, he says, “…it is undeniable that the office has lost its stature
within the Communion… Does anybody listen to Canterbury anymore? What the
present situation indicates is that the Communion herself, including perhaps
the Archbishop of Canterbury, has become deeply confused and conflicted about
the very nature and active demands of Canterbury’s “moral authority”, and that
this confusion has come to color the office itself.” Dr
Radner anticipates that increasingly the Archbishop of Canterbury will align
with the liberal western provinces, but advises the Global South not to replace
Canterbury.
The fourth instrument of
unity, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), “…became, along with its
ongoing executive arm, the Anglican Communion Office, the place-setter for a range
of common enterprises and discussions”. However, in more recent years, it offered “… a ready arena for political
maneuverings” which ultimately “…left the group, by mid-2010 without any public
or even private credibility.” Dr
Radner pronounces the ACC “defunct” and “altogether finished”.
The result of this
collapse of the instruments of unity is that “the Anglican Communion herself
moves from ad hoc disruptions in her common life to de facto structural
disintegration”. He goes on to
point out that a “failure to be honest” has eroded the credibility of the
instruments of unity, that continued gathering of these dysfunctional bodies
given the worsening division has been a mistake, and that “lack of leadership
has left us drifting”.
As far as solutions go, he
advises we “be less demanding of immediate solutions; more patient with less structured relations”. He also proposes a “moratorium” on meetings of the
instruments – except for the Lambeth Conference which he sees “as the only real continuity into the future”. Despite the bleak picture he
paints of crumbled Communion structures, Dr Radner concludes on a hopeful note,
saying “…individual Anglicans and their congregations are going to be drawn
into new forms of witness, ones they perhaps never imagined, in a sense more
globally bonded because less tethered to structures whose strength lay in local
orderings we have now outgrown”.
Bishop Mouneer Anis’ leadership in a broken
Communion
An editorial in The
Churchman (an international Anglican journal produced by the Church Society) and posted on
VirtueOnline provides a synopsis of the continued devolution of the
Communion with specific focus on the importance and implications of Presiding
Bishop Mouneer Anis’ (Middle East) resignation earlier this year from the
powerful Anglican Consultative Council Standing Committee. It says, “Bishop
Mouneer was one of the very few voices from the non-Western world who was still
supporting the Archbishop of Canterbury, and his disillusionment will be seen
by many as evidence that such support is pointless… it now seems obvious that
the [bureaucracy of] the Anglican Communion will accept the American Episcopal
Church (TEC) without serious reservation, making its activities legitimate
within Anglicanism, if only by default… TEC's behaviour will remain the
elephant in the room that nobody wants to notice, and eventually the odour
given off by that elephant will permeate the entire structure of the Communion.”
The article then goes on
to discuss why ACNA has not been recognized yet by official Communion bodies
and the Church of England and states, “It is well known that there are many senior
Anglican figures in England who would rather see the whole of Africa depart the
Communion than lose the small but wealthy American church, and whose personal
sympathies lie with the radical agenda now being canonised in the USA.” It concludes by speculating on
Presiding Bishop Anis’ future role: “Can it be that just as God raised up Moses
to lead his people out of slavery, and centuries later allowed his Son to flee
persecution by taking refuge on the banks of the Nile, that he is now calling
his servant Mouneer Anis to point the way ahead for Anglicans everywhere who
wish to remain faithful to the Gospel of Christ in spite of suffering and
persecution?”
Another option for Church of England members who
oppose women bishops
Forward in Faith has announced that a group of bishops in the Church of England have launched a society- the Mission Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda – for people in the Church who oppose the ordination of female bishops,
but who wish to remain in the Church of England rather than convert to Roman
Catholicism. Draft legislation is currently being debated at regional synods in
the Church of England and will return to General Synod in 2012 for approval.
The Church Times
reports that, in the coming weeks, detailed plans and a theological
foundation for the Society will be developed.
Archbishop of Canterbury blows it in a press
conference
Even members of the British
media were shocked when the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, in an interview
with a London Times journalist replied “Pass” when asked if he hoped
one day partnered homosexual bishops would be acceptable.
Divisions within the Traditional Anglican Communion
intensify
Some within the Anglican
denomination that had lobbied the Vatican for years for an accommodation for
Anglicans to be admitted en masse to the Roman Catholic Church are having
second thought. The Traditional
Anglican Communion, headed by Archbishop John Hepworth, had earlier determined
to accept the resulting offer from the pope – in the form of the “Anglicanorum
Coetibus” – that would allow them to become Roman Catholics while
retaining some Anglican traditions. However, VirtueOnline
reports that three bishops are now lobbying to instead join the
Anglican Province of America, another “continuing” Anglican denomination.
News in brief from around the world and around the
Communion
All Africa Bishops
conference – AnglicanTV
has posted the 45 minute final news
conference in which Archbishops Anis (Middle East) and Ernest (Indian Ocean)
present the conference’s final statement and a panel of six primates answer
questions. A Church Times
article highlights Archbishop Ernest’s statement that he would not
attend the next Primates’ Meeting called for January 2011 if TEC’s primate is
present – and TEC’s presiding bishop has already stated that she will
attend the meeting. The article
goes on to say, “Primates of the Global South are expected to meet this month
to discuss whether they will refuse en masse to attend.”
South Africa – The Anglican
Communion News Service reports that the
Anglican Church of Southern Africa has voted to adopt the Anglican Covenant. However, the decision must be ratified
by at the next synod in three years’ time.
Sudan – An article in
the Fort Worth Star Telegram recounts the story of one of Sudan’s
newest bishops, Abraham Yel Nhial. Bishop Abraham was one of the Sudan’s “lost boys” who survived harrowing
experiences as he escaped the violence in the Sudan. He eventually ended up in the US where he went to Trinity
School of Ministry in Ambridge, PA. He was in Fort Worth for the recent Anglican Relief and Development
Fund’s board meeting.
Dr Rowan Williams has told the
BBC that he fears Sudan is sliding back towards civil war. The
predominately Muslim government based in the north is dragging its feet on
implementing a promised referendum on independence in the oil rich south
– scheduled for 9 January 2011. Primate of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, Archbishop Daniel Deng, is
afraid the north is looking for an excuse to invade the south and reignite war.
He is urging foreign intervention.
Nigeria – The Church of
England Newspaper reports that, the Bishop
of Ngbo, Bishop Christian Ebisike, was released unharmed one day after being
abducted at gunpoint by kidnappers in Southeastern Nigeria’s Ebonyi
State. “It is not known if a ransom was paid.” This is the second time a Nigerian bishop has been kidnapped
this year.
Pakistan – Compass
Direct News reports that a mob of Muslim extremists lead by three
local politicians severely beat dozens of Christians in the Christian colony of
Mohalla Kalupura, Gujrat city. The
unrelenting violence – coupled with the corrupt, ineffectual legal system
– has precipitated public demonstrations by Christians in front of the
parliament building in the capital city Islamabad.
It is also reported that Islamic extremists recently shot and killed a Christian lawyer, together
with his wife and five children in their home in northwestern Pakistan.
Egypt – Assist News
Service reports that radical Islamists are attempting to foment
religious persecution and violence against Christians and specifically the
Egyptian Coptic Church. Recent media broadcasts have included false accusations
such as that the Coptic Church is in league with Israel and is stockpiling
weapons.
Kenya – Details are
now coming to light that would suggest the August 1990 car accident
that killed Anglican Bishop Alexander Kipsang Muge, an outspoken critic of the
Kenyan government at that time, was premeditated and orchestrated by government
officials.
Somali – One of the most lawless countries on earth is also one of the most
dangerous for Christians. Although
Christians represent a tiny minority, they are persecuted relentlessly and must
practice their faith secretively. It is even dangerous for Christians to have a Bible in their home. In a recent incident Compass News
reports that the daughter of a Christian family was kidnapped by
Islamic militants. Pray that God would protect and safely return Anab to her
devastated family.
Other international news
Church of England
Newspaper – September 24 2010 – Kunonga grabs
two more churches
Church of England
Newspaper – October 1 2010 – Bishop
defends honours for Robert Mugabe
Church of England
Newspaper – October 1 2010 – 2011 primates
meeting set for Dublin
Church of England
Newspaper – October 1 2010 – Israel is an
apartheid state, archbishop declares
Church of England
Newspaper – October 1 2010 – …bishop
resigns on the eve of misconduct trial
Church of England
Newspaper – October 1 2010 – Christianity
will keep… Europe alive, Pope says
Church of England
Newspaper – October 1 2010 – Archbishop
warns of civil war in the Sudan
Church of England
Newspaper – October 8 2010 – Anglican
Covenant and the Jerusalem Declaration offered for study to the Anglican Church
of Australia
The Standard [Zimbabwe]
– September 26 2010 – [Bishop]
Kunonga behaves like… gorilla
Church Times –
October 8 2010 – If Jefferts
Schori is at meeting, I won’t come, says Primate
Anglican Communion News
Service – October 8 2010 – Archbishops
appeal to government, international community as Sudan approaches referendum
Soul food
Just for laughs
A
short, humourous segment of the British comedy “Yes, Prime Minister” is posted on
YouTube. It touches on
the liberalism in the Anglican Church.
Worth reading & watching
For those wishing more
insight into the Emerging Church – and what appears to be a distorted gospel
– you will want to read Tim
Challies’ review of Brian McLaren’s recent book.
A former Muslim gives a
powerful testimony on The 700
Club of his amazing journey to faith in Christ.
Cranmer’s Curate offers a more detailed
review of Charles Raven’s new book on the Archbishop of Canterbury
– Shadow Gospel: Rowan Williams and the Anglican Communion Crisis –
which he calls “an elegantly written theological thriller” and “a theological
investigative report of the highest quality”.
The 2010 Desiring God
national conference is over but the audio and video of the sessions, featuring
top Christian leaders, are now posted
online. The theme
of the conference was “Think: The Life of the Mind & the Love of God”.
Dr Gerald Bray, of Beeson
Divinity School, offers a brief
overview of the origins of the Prayer Book and the Thirty-Nine
articles on the Ligonier Ministries website, founded by R C Sproul.
Resources – A challenge to understand and
teach God’s “big picture”
Canadian
Christianity reports that many Christian young people are woefully
ignorant of the Bible. Annual Bible knowledge tests taken by incoming college
students at one of the US’s preeminent evangelical colleges, Wheaton College,
expose the failure of churches to teach basic Bible
knowledge. Although students love
the Lord, their faith lacks a solid Bible foundation. The solution, according to Wheaton professor Gary Burge is
for churches to adopt a “curricular approach that tells the story” of the
Bible.
Two ANiC clergy, the Revs
Sean Love and David McElrea are developing a tool for increasing Bible literacy
– the Bible in a
Day seminar. The
seminar will be offered at St John’s Richmond on October 23. This seminar provides God’s “big
picture”, a coherent overview of the Bible that helps people better understand
how all the parts fit together.
If you can’t wait for the Bible
in a Day seminar to come to a venue near you, you can get one of the resources
used in the seminar: Vaughn Roberts' book, God's Big Picture.
And you can listen to a highly recommended 53 minute message given to pastors at a 9Marks conference by well-known Washington,
DC pastor and author Mark Dever. The message offers a high-level overview of God’s big picture and convincingly
demonstrates the importance of understanding the whole of the Bible. Some of his key points are:
• |
The
Old Testament, which we too often ignore, is a specific, earthy history of God
working with His people where we see what God is like, His character, His
passion for holiness as well as His passion for relationship. It provides the needed
context for understanding the fulfilment in Jesus Christ of God’s promises and
prophesies made in the Old Testament. Unless we understand the full picture, that God is a God who
makes promises and keeps them, we struggle with being in relationship with God
because we don’t have a solid foundation for trusting Him.
|
• |
The
Bible is a whole. The riddle of
how God can forgive the wicked – how we as sinful people can be reconciled
to a holy God – is laid out in the Old Testament, perhaps most clearly in
Exodus 34:6-7. And the solution to
that riddle is revealed in Jesus Christ in the New Testament, for example in Revelation
5 where the slain Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, is found worthy to open the
scroll.
|
• |
The
New Testament is the story of how the promises made in the Old Testament are
and will be fulfilled. It is about
how we, who are committed to following Christ, can be the Covenant people of
God.
|
• |
Books
Mark Dever recommends include Vaughn Robert’s God’s Big Picture, as well as:
JI Packer, God has Spoken
Graham Goldsworthy, Gospel
and Kingdom
Ed Clowney, The Unfolding
Mystery
Michael Lawrence, Biblical
Theology in the Life of the Church: A Guide for Ministry |
Please pray...
For
preparations for ANiC’s 2010 synod in Ottawa, November 4-6.
For our bishops and clergy and their families – especially those battling illness.
For
ANiC projects, church plants and parishes, and for their proclamation of Good
News to those in their communities who desperately need new life in Christ.
For
the three BC Court of Appeal judges considering the decision regarding the use
and beneficial ownership of Vancouver-area ANiC parish properties and a
bequest, as well as the awarding of court costs.
For
the other legal challenges faced by ANiC parishes, including:
• |
The
mediation process involving St George’s & St Alban’s (Ottawa) and their
former Anglican Church of Canada diocese. |
• |
The
ongoing litigation involving St Aidan’s (Windsor) and the ANiC parishes in the
Niagara Diocese region, resulting in mounting expenses |
For
all the congregations involved in court proceedings and disputes. Pray for a continued focus
on, and blessing upon, their ministry in the midst of this turmoil. Pray for peace for the wardens and
trustees who are on the front lines and bear the burden of risk and
responsibility.
For
the leaders and parishioners of the dioceses pursuing eviction of and legal
damages against ANiC congregations and wardens.
For
much needed donations to the legal cases and disputes involving ANiC
congregations.
For
those affected by devastating storm damage and flooding in Newfoundland.
For
funding of the ARDFC’s malaria
prevention project in Kenya.
For
persecuted Christians, especially in Muslim lands.
For
a fair and peaceful referendum in the Sudan in January.
For
repentance and revival in our nation – as well as a hunger for God and a
thirst for His Word.
For
all those in positions of leadership and influence in the Anglican Communion,
that they would seek to honour and obey God above all else.
And now a word from our sponsor
May God be gracious to us
and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
Let the nations be glad
and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples
praise you!
The earth has yielded its
increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!
Psalm 67
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