The Atonement – the Heart of our Message Archbishop Peter Jensen’s address at NEAC4, September 2003

If we do not undertake the work of reforming our diocesan organisations and culture, we may find ourselves entirely by-passed in the society in which we live and unable to speak in a contemporary way.

Everyone who knows the Archbishop of Canterbury personally testifies to his deep commitment to the unity of the Anglican Communion. It is also recognised that he is going to need all that commitment and his theological skills to hinder it from self-destructing in what he himself acknowledges to be a time of crisis.

If you believe in the media (and that’s a question to start with) Sydney Anglicans are and obscure, quarrelsome and fundamentalist tribe destined to quick extinction, and in fact would say the quicker the better! In fact ever since Europeans have settled in Australia, Sydney Anglicans have been here. In the first fleet the Reverend Richard Johnson was a member of the first fleet with Mrs Johnson and they settled here for 10 years, built the first Church in Australia, preached the first sermon in Australia, and celebrated the holy communion for the first time in Australia as far as we know, so the Sydney Anglican history is coterminous with the white settlement of this colony as it was.

Our Mission is based on the conviction that people need to be saved through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will be brought to a knowledge of Jesus through the gospel as it is used by the Holy Spirit. God’s appointed way of sharing the gospel is through human messengers.

I know I speak on behalf of all Anglicans in NSW when I express profound shock and deep grief at the news that six members of the Anglican Melanesian Brotherhood have been murdered on the Solomon Islands.

I welcome the Archbishop of Canterbury’s move to call a special meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion. This is clear evidence of the gravity of the crisis into which the Communion has moved.

In the Bishops’ Statement of 19 June, 2003 on sexuality and the Anglican Communion issued by the Archbishops and Bishops of Sydney, reference was made to Canon Gene Robinson, the Bishop-elect of New Hampshire.

Canon Jeffrey John has indicated that he is withdrawing his acceptance of the appointment as Suffragan Bishop in Oxford Diocese. He explains he has taken this decision because he now understands that his consecration would cause damage to the unity of the Church, including the Anglican Communion.

By affirming his election the Houses of Bishops and Deputies in the Episcopal Church in the United States have turned away from the traditional teaching of the Christian Church, which is based on the clear teaching of the Scripture.

Some of Sydney’s key players in migrant and refugee settlement were treated to an extraordinary tribute to the care churches provide new migrants at the opening of the $1.7 million joint Anglicare and Cabramatta Anglican Church facility on July 31. Just four weeks off the plane from the Congo, the Malula family, including three of ten children, presented a song of praise to Jesus in gratitude to the welcome they have received in Australia. In his keynote speech, Dr Jensen argued that the challenge for Australians is ‘not to be hostile to these precious newcomers’ or even ‘indifferent’ but ‘to be genuinely welcoming’, adding that the local church was the best place for that to happen.

Australia is one of the world’s great migrant communities. Sometimes, this is resented, as though those of us who arrived in the first wave of European migration have the right to keep the place to ourselves. In fact, the successive waves of migrants have been to our great benefit, and the Australia that we are all building is truly wonderful place. The challenge for us is not to be hostile to these precious newcomers, not to be indifferent, but to be genuinely welcoming. How can we achieve that?

Last month I began to explain the four Mission policies. The first concerns spiritual renewal, and the evidence that it is being put into practice will be the preaching of the word of God followed by offering prayer and intercession for those who don’t know Christ. The second policy involves the multiplication of fellowships, congregations and parish churches.

In the first of a four-part series exploring the policies of the diocesan Mission, our starting point is to ensure that we hear the word of God and live it out.

Archbishop Peter Jensen and the five regional bishops of the Diocese of Sydney have released a statement on the 'crisis in the Anglican Communion'. They refer to the appointment of a gay activist to be Bishop of Reading in the UK, the blessing of same sex unions in the Diocese of New Westminster, Canada, and the election of the Rev Gene Robinson, a clergyman living in a homosexual relationship, to be a bishop in New Hampshire Diocese, USA.

Statement from the Archbishop of Sydney and the Regional Bishops of the Diocese of Sydney on developments in the Anglican Communion

I know that, as Christian people, we have all been very concerned about the drought that has gripped so much of NSW, and the special needs of those who work on the land. This concern is reflected in the warm response to the Archbishop’s Appeal in February this year.

We didn't believe our own teachings I think. In two respects. First of all, our own teachings say to us that human nature is sinful and we do wrong things. And we were too inclined to, sort of, believe the best.

We are often deeply troubled by the absence of the so-called ‘blue collar workers’ in our churches. I am not sure whether such a term is a very adequate description of the social make-up of the community, but it seems to me to be somewhat misleading as we think about the reality of modern Australia.

Voluntary euthanasia is the unfinished business of the moral revolution of the mid-20th century. In the name of individual freedom, censorship of pornography was rejected; abortion on demand was instituted; and the nature of marriage was changed.

You would probably be aware from your reading of Southern Cross and the daily newspapers, that the use of the common cup at Holy Communion has been raised again. You would know that this matter was looked at in 1992, at which time the Synod report indicated that there was no ceremonial or doctrinal significance attached to the cup, be it common or individual. It suggested that the common cup ought to remain the norm, but that as individual cups are not in breach of the law of the church or inconsistent with the teaching of Jesus, there are pastoral grounds for permitting the use of individual cups as alternatives to be used alongside the common cup.

How do we evangelise when the reputation of the Church is in disarray and the Bible’s message is dismissed as irrelevant?

The outbreak of war in Iraq constitutes a solemn moment, with many dangers and threats and potential for great human suffering. There are strongly held differences of opinion about our participation in this war. For my own part I remain unpersuaded that we ought to have committed our military forces, but I recognise the limitations of my judgment and the sincerity of those who differ.

Voluntary euthanasia is the unfinished business of the moral revolution of the mid-20th century. (An address given at Westmead Hospital.)

Archbishop Jensen’s talks shock some, but enthuse many.