Sydney News August

Sydney reply: watch this space

At the time of writing, Archbishop Jensen and his five regional bishops are still considering their replies to the Archbishop of Canterbury, after they received individual invitations to next year’s Lambeth conference six months earlier than expected.

At its June meeting, the Sydney Diocese’s Standing Committee had urged the archbishop and his five regional bishops to make crystal clear Sydney’s protest at Lambeth’s guest list if they decided to accept the invitations to attend next year’s meeting of the world’s Anglican leaders.

Standing Committee also requested that Archbishop Jensen and Bishops Forsyth, Davies, Tasker, Lee and Stewart approach other orthodox bishops in the Communion with the suggestion of meeting in England during the Lambeth conference.

This meeting would not replace Lambeth but would allow for “Christian fellowship and the planning of joint action within the Anglican Communion”.

At its June meeting, Standing Committee members acknowledged the weight of the decision in communicating Sydney’s position within the already strained Anglican Communion.

The invitations, which were sent to Archbishop Jensen and the bishops in May, have been extended to most bishops in the Episcopal Church, including those who had agreed to or participated in the consecration of the Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson.

American evangelical Martyn Minns did not receive an invitation, prompting Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria to boycott Lambeth. Uganda’s Anglican leaders have also announced they will not be there.

Standing Committee expressed its disappointment with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s “attempt to maintain union with the unrepentant while continuing to refuse fellowship to faithful and orthodox Anglicans such as the Church of England in South Africa”.

The Standing Committee requested that, if Sydney’s bishops decide to attend the Lambeth conference, they do so with public “protest, speech and liturgical action”, expressing “our diocese’s principled objection to the continued participation of those whose actions have expressed a departure from the clear teaching of Scripture”.

Youthworks shares wealth

Youthworks College dean Graham Stanton lectured last month in the city of churches, where deep biblical knowledge on youth ministry is scarce.

Mr Stanton’s teaching home was the Bible College of South Australia (BCSA), a well-known institution among the state’s evangelicals.

BCSA’s principal, the Rev Dr Stephen Raison says students do not normally receive the benefits of such a biblically thought-out perspective on youth ministry.

“Graham and Jim are part of an organisation devoted to training and teaching and theologically reflecting on what they’re doing.”

Mr Stanton taught the first half of the ‘Youth in the Churches’ subject, offered at Youthworks College in Sydney. Jim French will teach the second half of the subject in September.

Mr Stanton says Sydney also benefits from the chance to see and understand youth ministry in a different place.

Writers rank with preachers

One of Australia’s top Christian publishers ranks good writing on the same level as good preaching.

Tony Payne, head of Matthia Media, hopes a training course for Christian writers held last month in conjunction with Centre for Apologetic Scholarship and Education (CASE) will receive see Christian writing taken more seriously.

“There are lots of preaching conferences but writing is not something we talk about often – it’s time to champion the cause of the written word as an important and useful way of teaching, evangelising and proclaiming.”

The course featured panels of specialists in the areas of fiction writing, writing for the internet, writing as a ministry and writing for impact.

Leichhardt ministry assistant and prolific blogger Byron Smith said he hoped the conference would give writers encouragement and valuable face-to-face interaction, as writing “can be a little isolating.”

Chinese ‘embassy’ joins with Sydney Anglicans

The Sydney Diocese has welcomed an independent church as its newest provisional parish. Hope Anglican Church, East Chatswood, headed up by Moore College-trained minister, the Rev Brian Tung, meets in a rented hall. “It is the smallest provisional parish in Sydney – it’s literally one block of land, like an embassy,” said Bishop Glenn Davies.

Mr Tung said the congregation decided to ask to become Anglican as it considered its structure, statement of faith and mission opportunities. “It means we are in closer fellowship with other Christians and hopefully we can make a contribution to the work of the Diocese.” The church caters for Chinese on the North Shore and is the only Chinese-Filipino ministry in Sydney.

Bishop Davies said the move to include Hope shows Sydney is serious about multicultural ministry. “We ought to be flexible enough to amend our rules and embrace them, because they are going to help us reach 10 per cent of Sydney.”

Kids given helping hands

In June, Alissia Galbraith and Emily Heath became Kidzlink’s first-ever full-time ministry consultants. GFS Chairman Sharron Lewis says they will support existing GFS and Kidsplus groups, develop new groups and promote Kidzlink throughout the Diocese. “We hope this will provide a higher profile for the growth of children’s ministry across the Diocese and help expand the mission.”

Lay children’s ministry leader Melinda West says the new appointments will be particularly helpful for churches with less established ministries.

“I think these advisors will be a great support as it can be hard in a small church where you might not have much help or be aware of the resources available.”

Earlier this year, the Kidzlink name was created to provide a network and resources for Sydney Anglican kids clubs and playgroups.

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