Johnson's Memoirs

Here's an extract from Johnson's journal. (click to enlarge)

My quick transcription -

On the evening of the 23rd of September, 1786, I was asked by a friend if I had got the spirit of a missionary? Or if I wished to go abroad? I smiled and replied that I had no inclinations or thoughts of ever leaving my native country.

On the 30th of the same month I received a letter from another friend, informing me that a colony was going to be established in New Holland or New Zealand, and that a chaplain was wanted, that application had been made to him, to know whether he knew anyone prepared for and willing to undertake such an arduous work, and if I chose to accept it[?], he could[?] secure me the appointment.

MLJ sermons online!!

Gold

MP attacks "PC" Church

A Conservative MP has launched a fierce attack on the Church of England, saying it lacks leadership and is "overcome with political correctness". More here 

Papers of Richard Johnson

The NLA have just emailed me images of dozens of pages of Johnson's letters, many (all?) of them previously unpublished. The handwriting is very, very hard to read. Will post up a sample tonight when I get a chance.

Full time training

Peter Bolt gives a passionate defence of full time ministerial training.

I think his key line is, "Why would you want to change that wonderful inheritance from the Lord that has worked well in the past and is still working well and will certainly keep on working well into the future?" If it does keep on working well in the future, then there will be no pressure to change. But we shouldn't be afraid to question the status quo either...

The man who gets things done

MJ challenges the meritocracy. He's really getting into Luther at the moment...

GenY loves a cause

Jodie thinks about how we can connect through causes

Australian Government Blacklist

I have a link to the government black list. I'm a bit nervous about posting it online in case I get a "cease and desist" notice from the ACMA. But if you are curious, you can email me and I'll send you the link. No, I didn't click on any of the links, they make pretty repulsive reading. I did, however, notice 3 anti-abortion sites in the list.

Dying at home

Another quote from the article below -

Nowhere is this taking of responsibility more important than at the end of life. In terms of health costs, our final year of life is our most expensive. Almost all of this expense is in the last few weeks. Dying in an ICU costs more than most of us have ever paid in contributions to the Medicare levy. Nor is it a particularly pleasant experience. Evidence suggests that as many as half the people admitted to an ICU at the end of life would have chosen otherwise had they been given the choice.

It seems a crazy waste of money, don't you think? Perhaps we need to move back toward a culture of dying at home rather than dying in hospital. In your own bed, surrounded by family, perhaps with a daily visit from a palliative care specialist.

Regardless, some very hard questions need to be asked of health care, and some unpleasant decisions need to be made...

Health Crisis

Things will get worse, not better -

Ahead lies a perfect storm of an ageing and expanding population with a high burden of chronic disease. Spending on diabetes and dementia alone is expected to rise fourfold in the next 25 years. Costs to the states for health care are projected to double in the same period. New technologies and increased uptake mean that health costs increase more rapidly than economic growth, and we don't actually have any economic growth at the moment.

More here

Sydney's Got Talent

A podcast of some of the best local preaching

David Hill and 1788

Yesterday, went and heard David Hill give a talk on the First Fleet. Was very good, he is a fine and entertaining speaker. He has just released a book on the subject, called 1788. I got him to sign my copy and spoke to him about my plans to bio Johnson. He told me he hadn't done justice to Johnson in his own book, and had treated him as a rather comical character. But he thought he was one of the hardest working men in the colony, and had been impressed by the compassion he showed to the convicts.

Who is censoring the Internet?

Some countries who are attempting to censor the net

Einfeld

 A different perspective

Guitar Chords for Hymns

50,000 hits

Psalm 139

In 1993 I wrote my first ever church song. It was a set of lyrics to Psalm 139, and a mate put a very nice melody to it. You can listen to 1995 recording of it here. It's a bit old fashioned, but still nice.

Interview with Ryne Pearson

Dan interviews Ryne Pearson, screenwriter of "Knowing". Saw the film reviewed on the movie show, and it looked excellent. It was produced in Australia too.

Biker Wars

Jeremy interviews Greg Hirst from the Christian Motorcycle Club.

Earth Hour

Gordo just reminded me it's Earth Hour tomorrow. I completely forgot. Well, I'll be at a wedding reception about that time, consuming all sorts of resources. But the really funny thing about Earth Hour is that, under KRudd's emission trading scheme, it will make absolutely NO DIFFERENCE to Australia's carbon emissions. It will just leave a bit more slack under the cap for some big nasty polluter to use up. Anyway, for those who are indulging, enjoy...

Calvin and Church Planting

Interesting post from the Resurgence

Unlikely Allies

THEY make for a strange trio of bedfellows, Peter Jensen, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, David Marr, the journalist, and Janet Albrechtsen, the columnist - public figures whose views on politics, society and religion could not be more different.

They may not like what each other has to say, but they will be defending each other's right to say it, shoulder to shoulder, at a public debate next week.

More here

Gordon Brown roasted

Superb speech from a Conservative British MP -

(ht: DavidO)

Lewis in "The Weight of Glory"

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare."

JAAL

Tony critiques the Jesus All About Life follow-up material. He makes some good points. It's a well written piece too. I skim 90% of blog articles, but he grabbed my attention and forced me to read sentence after sentence until the very end. That's good writing.

Congrats to Andre and Sarah!

Elizabeth Jane was born at 2:41am this morning. Mum & bubs are well

Reynolds on Science and Faith

I haven't listened to these yet, but I rate Reynolds

Risk and the Will of God

MJs column on risk has become a pretty interesting discussion on the will of God. The reformed doctrine of the "two wills" of God is something that has interested me for a while.

Russell's Top 5

Russell gives his top 5 news stories from the week. I always enjoy this section.

Life of Jesus

This John Dickson special will air over Easter

blast from the past

About 15 years ago I wrote some songs with a mate, which were then released (with some other songs) on an album called Now Unto Him. These songs have now been digitised and are up on a website. You can check them out here.

Fire and Ice

 A puritan resource site

OneHD

Australia's first 24-hour free-to-air sports channel, OneHD, is launching tonight. So far, no boxing or martial arts, but I'm hoping...

Man dies saving suicidal lover

Read here

Acts 29 Boot Camp Audio

Click here

Johnson Update

The Australian National Library are converting some unpublished Johnson writings from microfiche to image files, at my request. Will let you know if I find anything interesting.

The Moff joins SA

Justin Moffatt's first column has just gone up on SA

Zeebo

A low-cost game console aimed at the "next billion" gamers

foxtrot

Currently learning the foxtrot to "It had to be you", for a wedding I'm attending this weekend. It's kinda fun. This old-fashioned style dancing is actually ok...

Six Easy Books

My latest column on SA

Bigger than Hillsong

Sydneyanglicans.net is now receiving more traffic than hillsong.com.

Australian Church History Festival at Moore College

God-willing, I'll be there

Anti-abortion site added to the blacklist

From the Australian -

On March 10, ACMA issued Sydney web hosting company Bulletproof Networks with an "interim link-deletion notice" for allowing its customer, the Whirlpool internet community website, to post the link to an anti-abortion web page blacklisted by the regulator.

Whirlpool is a popular website with around 276,000 members who regularly provide comments on the internet and broadband in Australia.

The interim notice, obtained by The Australian, stated that on February 19, ACMA received information that a Whirlpool forums page "may contain links to other websites that may contain 'prohibited content' or 'potentially prohibited content'".

According to the notice, ACMA determined that end-users in Australia could access the content on the blacklisted web page.

ACMA gave Bulletproof around 24 hours to act.

But this is just about child porn...right? Right??

More on Censorship

A couple of friends have challenged my thinking on the filter. They point out that the OFLC currently classifies books, movies and games, and sometimes it Refuses Classification, which means the title will not be available in Australia. Why is the internet filter any different? Shouldn't online content be subject to the same rules as other media?

It's a good argument. But there is one huge difference between what the OFLC do, and what the ACMA are planning to do. It's all to do with visibility. If the OFLC refuse classification, they put out a press release and explain the rating. And there is a database on their website, which anyone can search and see exactly what has been given an RC. (Warning, don't do this unless you have a strong stomach - the titles alone will make you sick). Yes it's censorship, but it's a very visible censorship, open to public scrutiny.

The ACMA blacklist, by stark contrast, is shrouded in secrecy. No-one knows what is on the blacklist except for a select few. A website that attempted to post the contents of the blacklist was itself added to the blacklist. There is no explanation of why individual sites have been blacklisted, no opportunity for scrutiny and debate. It is not even clear what will go on the blacklist - the government has been quite vague at this point, talking about "unwanted material" (which could include anything). The potential for abuse is pretty significant, as the blacklisting of wikileaks showed.

There are other arguments against the filter, but this is a big one...

Jensen on Abortion

Thoughtful piece on abortion by the Dean, published in the SMH

Runes of Magic

J is getting into this at the moment. It's pretty similar to World of Warcraft, except its free...

iiNet pulls out of net censorship trials

iiNet have pulled out of the censorship trial. Their reasoning makes the whole thing sound fairly ominous -

 

"We are not able to reconcile participation in the trial with our corporate social responsibility, our customer service objectives and our public position on censorship," iiNet managing director Michael Malone said.

 

"It became increasingly clear that the trial was not simply about restricting child pornography or other such illegal material, but a much wider range of issues including what the Government simply describes as 'unwanted material' without an explanation of what that includes."

 

Banning wikileaks was a disasterous move. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the filter, I think the government has blown it politically.

Rudd government to start monitoring blogs?

Hmmm...not sure where this is heading...

Jesus All About Life

Dominic writes about the strengths and weaknesses of the upcoming media blitz

The New SydneyAnglicans.Net

It's here!

Prayers

I was on prayer yesterday and a few people said they especially enjoyed the first one I did. I think it was from St Augustine.

Lord, we did not love you,
but You loved us.
Lord, we did not seek you,
but You sought us.

Lord, You shone upon us
And then we learnt to love You
Thankyou, o Father, for your Light.

Thankyou that you taught
Our souls to desire You
Thankyou that you turned
Our faces toward You.

Lord, You have become
Our hope, our comfort, our Strength, our All
In You alone do our souls rejoice.

Thankyou, o Lord,
That you gave us sight
The darkness vanished from our eyes
And we beheld You,
The Sun of Righteousness.

When we loved the darkness
We did not know you
We wandered on from night to night.

But you have led us out of blindness
You took us by the hand
You called us to Yourself.

We thank You, we thank You Lord
That Your mighty voice
Did penetrate
To our inmost heart.

Amen.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Matheson Russell, recently engaged

Rogue Nation

You been watching this on the ABC? It's part documentary/part drama about the history of colonial Australia. Very good - we should all be across this stuff.

column

Moore Blogs

MJ has compiled lists of blogs by Moore college faculty, students and alumni.

On the Voddy #2

Stanley on medicine and death, and pastoral practice

I've been told this is interesting...

Syd Ang graphic

Dever on Baptism

There's been a bit of a gentle blogosphere blue going on the last few days. Mark Dever commented that he believes infant baptism is a sin, and a debate followed. JT has links here. Mark mentioned a few local boys in his clarifications -

...all of these years, I have been cooperating with those I take to be sinners--Ligon Duncan, Peter Jensen, Phillip Jensen, Philip Ryken, J. I. Packer and many others too numerous to name--sinners specifically on this point of infant baptism.  I have been speaking with them at conferences, having them as friends, reading their books, learning from them and inviting them to preach in our congregation, even as I happily preach in theirs.

Jesus all about Life

Making connections for life 4 of 4 :: Jesus all about life :: Dominic Steele from Christians in the Media on Vimeo.

A Letter to my MP

Hi Tanya,

I am writing to express my great disquiet over the government's planned internet filter. Freedom of speech is vital if the rights and liberties of individuals are to be protected within our society. The power to put a national block on websites is simply too great to give to government, too open to abuse. The justification for this filter is the blocking of illegal sexual content, but reports suggest that some religious and political content has also been placed on the ACMA blacklist.

Here is a disturbing report, published a couple of days ago. You may be aware of wikileaks, a "whistle blowing" site that publishes leaked government documents. Apparently they published the blacklist - and were immediately added to the blacklist themselves. The political implications cannot be escaped. You are not only blocking sites, but you are attempting to prevent people from even talking about the sites you have blocked. It is Orwellian.

I can't help but be reminded of the Vatican's list of proscribed books. Tanya, I'm amazed that someone like yourself would be endorsing this regressive initiative. And I assume you are supporting it, because I haven't heard you speak against it.

Perhaps this argument will convince you, if nothing else has. The reality is that one day you will lose government, and at that time you will be handing over this power to your political opponents. Do you feel comfortable with that?

I look forward to hearing from you soon. I will be publishing this letter on the internet.

kind regards,
Craig Schwarze
(address supplied)

I still cannot connect to wikileaks

This is very disturbing

Re-inventing the wheel

My friend Rachel asks do we need to re-invent the wheel. I think many people share her concerns about some proposed changes about the place. But I think we do need to re-think how we do things on a regular basis, to take stock, to reform and change where needed. What do you think?

Introducing God in the US

Introducing God is going to the US. Sovereign Grace have picked up on it, and plan to use it in their church network. Will be interesting to see how it goes - please pray that God blesses the tool there as He has in Oz...

SydAng offline

They are using one of my articles as a kind of test pattern

Tivo

Anyone got one? Recommend it?

The US is printing money

This is interesting. I'm no economist, but it appears they are attempting to diminish the size of the problem by devaluing the currency and promoting inflation. It's also a way to effectively give the entire country a pay-cut...

Luther on the Lord's Supper

MJ provides some info. Some evangelicals will be surprised that the man who recovered "Justification by Faith" also believed that salvation was mediated via the sacraments. But that, pretty clearly, is what he believed.

Ruse vs Dawkins

The trouble with Richard Dawkins from CPX on Vimeo.

The letter Southern Cross wouldn't print

hehehe

How to pay...

I need to send a payment to the Lambeth Palace Library in the UK. They don't accept credit cards, and if the payment is in another currency, they charge a fee. How can I send them a payment in pounds sterling?

Troubling statistics

From Al's interview -

But reality also needs to give a wake-up call to the critics – we are slowly dying. Protestant Christianity around the country is 'bleeding out' – slowly, but the bleeding is real.

Here's a couple of troubling statistics:

Between 1991-2001 (even with the growth in the AOG churches)
Protestant churches in Australia declined by 6%
Australian church attendance declined, by 3%
NCLS figures

In 1991 - one church for every 1561 people in Australia
In 2006 (estimated) – one church for ever 2054 people,
NCLS figures – from Steve Addison – Church Resources.

During this 15-year period, the population increased and the number of churches decreased. We desperately need more churches across the nation to reverse this trend. In fact we need new churches that will plant other new churches.

The harsh truth is that we are slowly losing the war. Fresh ideas, fresh approaches are needed...

Page CXVI

A hymn project

Wikileaks

"Wikileaks is a website that publishes anonymous submissions and leaks of sensitive governmental, corporate, or religious documents, while attempting to preserve the anonymity and untraceability of its contributors."

They've recently published Chairman Rudd's website blacklist. And guess what - Wikileaks itself has now been added to the ACMA black list, and they are threatening $11000/day fines to anyone linking to it. This is so 1984, it is repulsive. I am so angry about this.

Web black list revealed

The black list to be used by Rudd's filter has been leaked. Amongst the child porn sites are "...a slew of online poker sites, YouTube links, regular gay and straight porn sites, Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites, websites of fringe religions such as satanic sites, fetish sites, Christian sites, the website of a tour operator and even a Queensland dentist."

Dear me, this is a dangerous thing the government is trying to do. I am strongly opposed to the filter, I really am...

Church planting is more than a fad

Al Stewart interview

Non-cessationist vs charismatic

Another point. I keep hearing people in the diocese say "I'm not a cessationist", while at the same time criticising charismaticism. What's the difference between a non-cessationist and a charismatic? In American circles, it seems these terms are virtually identical. Anyone want to shed some light?

The New Calvinism

The Sola Panel takes Driscoll's definition of the New Calvinism to task. Everyone has had a go at Driscoll over this the last few days. It's worth pointing out that "New Calvinism" is not Driscoll's phrase, it is Time magazines phrase. Is there such a thing as "New Calvinism"? If so, what defines it?

Contrary to the SP, I suspect the charismatic element is part of it. The most prominent Calvinist voices today are Driscoll, Piper and (increasingly) the Sovereign Grace guys. All have *some* charismatic tendencies. Anyway, it's a good discussion to be having.

The future of Sydney Christianity

It seems increasingly likely that it will be an asian future. The asian congregations appear to be the ones where all the gospel growth is happening. I know of very few predominantly white congregations that are seeing significant conversions. Whoever has the ear of asian Christians in our city will be enormously influential in 10 years time...

Richard Johnson Update

Thought I would give you a little update on my Richard Johnson research. The bug has bitten pretty deep, I'm enjoying this a lot. I'm still doing a lot of background reading, working through The Fatal Shore and also reading a history of Yorkshire. Still hunting up some new primary sources. I've got a request in with the librarian at Magdalene College regarding their archives. I've also asked the Diocesan Archivist if we have anything relevant. I'm also trying to arrange for some copies of 6 Johnson letters to be sent to me from Lambeth Palace Library - I believe these are unpublished, and have never been referenced before. And the ANL are meant to send me a quote for copying some other letters and extracts from his journal. All pretty time-consuming, but stimulating too...

Australian housing market to crash?

Is it ungodly for non-homeowners (like myself) to hope for a price crash, to lower the barrier to market entry?

New SydAng Site

Some exciting changes coming online this weekend

The Changing Economic Landscape

Excellent piece from the smartest man in parliament. He really is.

Have we stopped talking about evangelism?

Simone asks the question

J+2 Months

It's been about 2 months since J moved in with me. It has all gone really smoothly, it's been very easy. He is very self-sufficient, and at an age where he prefers to hang out with his friends rather than his parents. Being part of Generation Wired, he is always in touch with someone. He's figured out the local bus routes, so he quite happily takes himself wherever he needs to go. In sum, it's been great - thanks for all your prayers...

Folie a Deux - Fall Out Boy

My latest review for SA

Church Planting Network Welcomed

Andrew welcomes the announced church planting network -

...I'm involved with the Home Missions Committee of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland. We're responsible for providing some leadership and resources for church planting in the denomination, and we need all the help we can get. The opportunities for church planting in Queensland are huge, but as with many older denominations we're not exactly well connected with the 21st century or flexible (the name 'Home Missions Committee' says it all!). To link in with a wider church planting network could give us some extra clarity and confidence when it comes to making the hard decisions about the changes that will be needed for widespread effective church planting to take place.

Your own cult

Sam de Britto is starting his own cult. Here are his 11 commandments -

1. Thou shalt live in the moment.
2. Thou shalt not lie.
3. Thou shalt practice compassion.
4. Thou shalt create.
5. Thou shalt love wildly.
6. Thou shalt laugh at thyself and everybody else.
7. Thou shalt grow daily.
8. Thou shalt experience.
9. Thou shalt be generous.
10. Thou shalt dress like a rock star.
11. Thou shalt be hot.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is well and truly over the "seize the day" shmaltz. Also, 10 and 11 would probably be more appropriate if he was 28 instead of 38. At some stage you've got to put childish things behind you. To his credit, Sam seems aware of that, he even wrote a novel called "The Lost Boys" about the Peter Pan syndrome. But sometimes he seems caught between critiquing the phenomena and fully buying into it.

My blog is worth...

My blog is worth $13,548.96.
How much is your blog worth?

What I'm listening to

Wondering what sermons I'm listening to at the moment? Of course you are.

Well, I obviously hear Dominic every week at church. He's currently preaching through Revelation, a good series called Making Connections for Life. Check 'em out. Also listening to 2 series on Sydney Anglican audio - Dickson on Jesus and Jensen on the Holy Spirit. Liking them both.

I've just started listening to Justin's Lent series on the Prodigal Son. I recommend you check out the series and check out his church as well. Finally, I listen to the odd Mark Dever sermon as well, good stuff.

I know there are some King Canute's out there who are trying to discourage the downloading of sermons. Let me know how that goes...

Studies in Australian Colonial History

Peter Bolt has started this new publishing series, focusing on Christian leaders from the early colonial period. I've been in touch with him regarding the work I am doing with Johnson, and he has been very encouraging and helpful. I hope you will support this new publishing venture. This is our history, these stories belong to us. And they are good stories, too, worth reading, worth knowing...

"...the cradle of Christianity in Australia"

I like the blurb on St Philip's York St website -

In January 1788 eleven ships and their companies, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip RN, and carrying 759 people arrived on the east coast of what is now Australia to establish a penal colony. The Chaplain of this, the First Fleet, was the Rev Richard Johnson and he conducted the first Christian service in Australia on 3 February 1788.

The wattle and daub church built by Johnson in 1793 was burnt down in 1798. A new stone church named St Philip's was opened in 1810, and this was replaced by the current building in 1856. Captain Phillip's second in command, and the third Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King had proclaimed the Parish in 1802.

We welcome you now to the St Philip's York St, the cradle of Christianity in Australia. On this website you will find more information about our church and ways that you can be involved. We hope that you will visit us and become part of the history of God's people in this place.

Trick of the Light

A review of Rob Smiths latest album

Anglican Historical Society

I'm trying to get in touch with the Sydney chapter of the Anglican Historical Society. Anyone who can help, please email me

Guitar Chords for Hymns

45,000 hits

Leroy Jenkins

The most famous WoW video of all time

WoW memorial raid

This is an infamous bit of WoW footage that I've only just come across. One clan was holding a memorial service for a member who had died in real life. Another clan decided to raid the memorial. Fascinating for a whole heap of reasons, and also a well edited bit of footage. Coarse language warning.

Click here

Advice for Young Pastors

The latest journal from 9 Marks

The Real Travel Guru

If you are after cheap airfares, check out this guy

Thankful for Common Grace

Good piece on the Sola Panel. We sometimes emphasis original sin to the detriment of common grace and the image of God. Need some more teaching on the latter, perhaps...

More on the abortion issue

Russell Powell makes a few further comments on the Rudd/abortion issue.

Rudd and Abortion

Something quite significant happened last week, but it's raised barely a murmer in the media. The Rudd government has reversed a policy which prohibited foreign aid being spent on abortions. This matches a similar move by Obama just a few weeks into his presidency.

The word is that Rudd was personally opposed to the move but bowed to Caucus pressure. That is pretty weak - given his massive personal popularity, I'm sure he could impose his will on Caucus. Anyway, it's a move that will likely alienate many evangelical Christians voters at the next election. As the article above makes clear, there's an increasing awareness of the importance of the evangelical vote...

Rugby League Returns

Just watched the season opener with Ben. It was a good game, even though my beloved Dragons went down 17-16. How fat does Wendell Sailor look? They need to move him off the wing into the second row, surely...

On The Voddy

The boys are back -

Letter from Seattle

Bishop Al Stewart discusses Driscoll's boot camp, and more...

An Urgent Message

David Wilkinson is prophesying a disaster -

AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. IT IS GOING TO BE SO FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE - EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US.

I'm not too worried, even though he did put it all in caps. If nothing happens, we will know it was a false prophesy and he a false prophet. A shame really - The Cross and the Switchblade was a really good book.

Johnson's Family

A little bit more about Richard Johnson. Macintosh suggested that Johnson's family was probably quite poor. But I think there are grounds to challenge this. I don't want to bore you with technical details, but there were a couple of Enclosure Acts passed regarding Welton around the time of Richard's birth. One of them lists the holders of existing enclosures, along with their holdings. Richard's father John owns 17 acres, which doesn't sound like much but actually puts him 3rd on the list after the Squire and the church. Backing this up is a list of trades in Welton from the early 19th century, which describes the Johnson's as "gentry".

There is no suggestion that they were wealthy, but they appear to have been better off than most of the common folk.

New Kid on the Blog

Josh Bovis has started a blog

OCA Prayer Points

Overseas Council Australia
 
Please continue to pray also for the preparations for the visit of Puje Jamsran, Acting Principal of Union Bible Training College in Mongolia, later this month. Once again there will be an extensive series of meetings planned so that people can be informed about the work of UBTC in Mongolia.
 
Arab Baptist Theological College, Lebanon
 
Amidst increasing challenges in countries of North Africa, there is a young and growing church that is in need of equipped leaders who can disciple new believers, plant churches and develop future leaders. Please pray for the College as it plans for 20 to 40 North African church and lay leaders to participate in periodic intensive courses at ABTS that address their respective needs without taking them away from the ministry field for too long.

The College is pursuing accreditation with the European Evangelical Accreditation Association – a process that will increase the effectiveness of the college. Please pray for the process of accreditation and its impact on the ministry of the college.
 
Nusantara Bible College, Indonesia
 
Up until recently the college has accepted new students in June/July each year but has since changed this process so that new students can be enrolled each semester. Please pray for the 6 new students that have just been enrolled that they will quickly adjust to their new life at the college.
 
Zarephath Bible Institute, Pakistan
 
Please pray for the political climate in the country at this time. The Supreme Court ruled that the two main political leaders from Punjab, the most populated province, could not take part in the elections. One of these leaders was the Chief Minister of the Punjab and now due to this ruling he has had to leave the parliament.

The city of Rawalpindi reacted swiftly in protest against this verdict and went into a state of chaos immediately. The college is situated on the main road of the city and there is real danger of students, faculty and staff being caught up in demonstrations.

Please pray that no harm will come to those who attend ZBI and that God will restore peace and calm to a country that continues to be adversely affected by politics.

Time Magazine: The New Calvinism Is Changing the World

From JTs blog -

Time Magazine's cover story for next week is on 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now. Here are the top 10--but I'll warn you in advance that you probably didn't see #3 coming:

1. Jobs Are the New Assets
2. Recycling the Suburbs
3. The New Calvinism
4. Reinstating the Interstate
   
5. Amortality
6. Africa, Business Destination
7. The Rent-a-Country
   
8. Biobanks
9. Survival Stores
10. Ecological Intelligence

Non-evangelical journalists often produce cringe-inducing attempts to restate and understand, but I thought David Van Biema did a very nice job at seeking to find out what's really happening and to identify some of the key beliefs and voices.

What's so special about church planting?

Interesting article from Archie Poulos. It's great that he's been writing every week for SA, I always enjoy his comments

The end of Mark's Gospel

AB has some fresh thoughts

End of The Bible Talks

I was interested to see that St Andrews Cathedral have renamed their evening congregation from "The Bible Talks" to "City Night Church". Not sure when this happened, kind of the end of an era. I think the new name sounds much better to the modern ear.

World Church Planting Summit

Mikey has put up lots of posts. Quote from Al Stewart -

Denominations like things neat and tidy. Death in church life is neat and tidy. It is our ambition to go back to Australia and make things messy and chaotic.

Jesus on the Meaning of Life

This was a very good sermon on Revelation 4-5.

The End of Evangelicalism

Hmmm...some good points.

Touching History

Just went up to St Phillip's York St at lunch. It's Australia's oldest parish and they've collected some historical curios over the years. I got to look at Richard Johnson's original Prayer Book and Bible, both over 200 years old. Amazing stuff. Pray for Justin as he leads this parish forward. And check them out if you are in the area, I think they have an exciting future.

Single Christian Female. 30+

A few weeks ago I wrote on the experience of single Christian women over the age of 30. Here's my follow up piece for SA, mostly quoting the women themselves. I'm not sure if it will get a lot of comments on the site or not - most of my original commenters went anon, because of the stigma of singleness.

An Important Announcement

From Mikey's blog -

After 3 hours in Andrew Heard's hotel room

Room 338, Hotel Nexus, Seattle. It's 12:20am Tuesday morning here. We've settled on something. Something that may, possibly, under God's sovereign hand, define the next few decades of evangelical Christianity in Australia.

We will lead an independent, Australian church planting network, with warm friendship and support from Acts 29. We are building to a launch in Melbourne and Sydney in late November 2009. We're agreed to move ahead with it and Acts 29 are keen to give their support to us.

It's big and scary stuff. Next time we meet back in Australia, we've asked Al Stewart to lead a devotion with us on the topic of right, godly fear.

I think this is a really important moment. I agree with Mikey that it may well "define" the future of evangelical Christianity in Australia. I think they've made the right move in being independent from Acts 29, though with their support. I pray that this movement will flourish.

I believe this might also represent a generational change in leadership of the local evangelical movement. It's well past time that the younger folk stepped up to the plate...

Mikey in Seattle

Mikey Lynch is blogging Mars Hill and Acts 29

Leadership

Church planter Hans is blogging about leadership

"A male-led relationship: the best type to be had?"

No, this is not a headline from the Briefing, it's actually the latest advice from SMH's dating guru. She writes -

 

Instead of always having to be right and the controller in the relationship, women need to let the man make the jokes, think the decisions are all his ideas and continually flatter his ego. Silly, I know, but bear with me here because even anthropologists have long tried to tell us this stuff. Remember how so many of them continually ram down our throats that men are supposed to be the hunters and the rulers of the kingdom? And that if the balance is toppled (which modern women so often are desperate to do), then things can go horrible wrong? Well, that's all Allen is apparently trying to say. Don't mess up the balance.

Want to get rid of the fireworks and the nightly arguments? Then you simply need to give up your ballsy behaviour and succumb to the male-led relationship, which in turn creates what Allen has termed a "convenient relationship".

 

Who would have thought a secular journalist would say such things in 2009? Very interesting food for thought...

US Anglican church elects Buddhist as Bishop

You think I'm kidding - I am not. As I said to a friend yesterday, there is no perversion of practice of belief that does not find a home somewhere in the Anglican communion.

SyndeyAnglicans.net

Gosh I've been enjoying the new format on SA. The new blog-style content has been excellent - today we have articles by MJ on nostalgia, Jodie on clapping, and Karen Sowada on the NT intervention. People like Archie Poulos and Bob Forsyth have been writing far more regularly than I was expecting, and on some interesting stuff as well. The little face graphics are important, they personalise the articles. And the ability to comment makes it feel like a dialog. Excellent stuff...

Hymn Resources

JT lists some cool hymn resources. Hymns are back...

Pastor shot dead

There are reports on the net that Baptist pastor, Fred Winters, was shot dead today while preaching. I imagine there will be a lot of talk about this in the blogosphere over the next week or so...

Mardi Gras

My eldest is nearly 16, and so he is going out some evenings, hanging with friends. Saturday night he was going out with a group of friends to the city, to have dinner at a japanese restaurant. He told me that some of his friends wanted to go watch the Mardi Gras, and he asked my thoughts.

I told him I thought there would be some obscene stuff on display there. I also said that the parade was promoting values that were going against God's law. Still, if he wanted to go and have a look to satisfy his own curiousity, and to be with his friends, I had no objection. When he got home, I asked him how it was. He said they'd gone down to the parade very briefly after dinner, but it had been so crowded that they couldn't really see what was going by.

I feel pretty satisfied with how I negotiated this. Curious as to your thoughts, though.

Lectures on Worship

JT has posted up some lectures on the subject of worship

Visit from Fiji

Had a pastor from Fiji, Lai, visit us at home group this week, and he also came along to church this morning. Was interesting to hear him describe the Fijian church. They seem strongly committed to prayer and also meeting together. Lai said that everyone in his small village went to church 3 times every Sunday. One challenge they have is a lack of Bible knowledge, meaning they are often swept along by prevalent heresys.

There is a bit of a Fijian connection happening at our church. One young couple run short-term missions there every year. And another older couple are considering moving there after retirement, for mission work.

Richard Johnson Research

From now on, I'll be directing my Johnson research notes to another blog, to save cluttering up this one.

Forsyth on Driscoll and Acts 29

Some helpful and balanced comments.

Richard Johnson's Family

Well, here's some info about Richard Johnson's family that virtually no-one else knows yet. Feel priviliged... ;-)

John's grandfather was Marmaduke Johnson of Welton, Yorkshire. In 1723 he married Ann Dove, and their first child was John, born in 1726. He was followed by Marmaduke (1728), Elizabeth (1735) and William (1738).

In 1747, John married Mary Gill, born in 1727. Their first child was Mary, born in 1748. After that followed Thomas (1750), John (1751), William (1753), Hannah (1755) and then Richard, who was christened on the 15th March, 1756. He was followed by Robert (1758) and Joseph (1760). We don't know how many of his brothers and sisters survived - infant mortality rates were high in those days.

Sacred Cows

The Dean looks at some sacred cows

No thanks, God

Russell shares his top 5 news stories from the week

Wilberforce

Read yesterday that Wilberforce was 5'3". Ioan Gruffurd looks about 10' tall in the film...

Building Passion for God

Archie argues that emotions are a crucial part of our relationship with God

School Certificate

Just went to a School Certificate info night with Justyn. It answered a few questions I had about the SC is graded, and what is required from the students. Currently thinking about the best ways to motivate Justyn to study well.

On the way home, we had a really good, earnest talk about his faith. Was excellent, I was very encouraged.

The financial crisis explained in simple terms

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Berlin. In order to increase sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are unemployed alcoholics - to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around and as a result increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar. Taking advantage of her customers' freedom from immediate payment constraints, Heidi increases her prices for wine and beer, the most-consumed beverages. Her sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic customer service consultant at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral.

At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert bankers transform these customer assets into DRINKBONDS, ALKBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then traded on markets worldwide. No one really understands what these abbreviations mean and how the securities are guaranteed. Nevertheless, as their prices continuously climb, the securities become top-selling items.

One day, although the prices are still climbing, the bank's risk manager (subsequently fired for his negativity) decides that the time has come to demand payment of the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar. However they cannot pay back the debts. Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy.

DRINKBOND and ALKBOND drop in price by 95 %. PUKEBOND performs better, stabilizing in price after dropping by 80 %.

The suppliers of Heidi's bar, having granted her generous payment due dates and having invested in the securities are faced with a new situation. Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor.

The bank is saved by the Government following dramatic round-the-clock consultations by leaders from the governing political parties.

The funds required for this purpose are obtained by a tax levied on the non-drinkers.

Christian Spin

Rach talks about Christian spin. Yeah, that is so true.

Bionic Eye

Amazing stuff. We live in a remarkable age.

Ted Kennedy is getting knighted

What...???!!!

God's word on the bushfires

808s and Heartbreak

My review of Kanye West's latest album

Blasphemous Bible Studies

Read these bible studies written by the Primate of Canada. Primate is an excellent title for him.

The Good Marriage

A very helpful and honest post from Karen on the subject of marriage. There's a danger that our approach to complex subjects like this can be, "Take 2 scriptures and call me in the morning." But we need to take time to wrestle with the subject, to learn from our mentors, to share experiences and so on...

Diary of a Church Planter

And here is Hans' blog. An excerpt -

I have got about 38 non Christians who I am actively seeking to love and tell about Jesus. Pray that they will come to know and love Jesus and see him as the great king.

One of the things a church planter must be is an evangelist. I know a few guys that want to plant churches but they don't like hanging with non Christians, seems dumb but that is what they say. I think if you are a person who cant hang with non Christians for whatever reason then church planting probably isn't for you.

Coolest New Church in Sydney

I'm told that local guitar identity, Hans Kristensen, has just planted an independant church in Newtown. It's called "Resolved", other details are a little scratchy as the website hasn't been built yet. Still, I imagine it will be a very cool little church, so anyone in the area might want to check it out...

Damned if you do?

MJ discusses a fascinating novel

Rebuilding Iraq

Karen Sowada's first blog for SA

Warwick Capper vs Pauline Hanson

lol...this will be the best campaign ever...

TWIST

They've made some changes to TWIST this year - sounds worth checking out...

SX Digital

A new initiative from Anglican Media. Check it out -

The Holy Spirit according to Jesus

Just started listening to this series by Phillip Jensen. It will be well worth following. I imagine a tie-in book will follow...

Creation vs Evolution in the UK

Fascinating belief map, beautifully presented

Connect09 Mission Update

A friend just sent me the following Connect09 Mission Update from his local area -

Total doors knocked:  44
Total answered:   14
Total unanswered:  30
Total accepted "Essential Jesus Books":10
Total rejected invitations: 4
Total potential follow-ups: 2

Sounds like a productive afternoon...

Spurgeon

Do not attempt to touch yourself up and make yourself something other than you really are; but come as you are to Him who justifies the ungodly.

A great artist some short time ago had painted a part of the corporation of the city in which he lived, and he wanted, for historic purposes, to include in his picture certain characters well known in the town. A crossing-sweeper, unkempt, ragged, filthy, was known to everybody, and there was a suitable place for him in the picture. The artist said to this ragged and rugged individual, "I will pay you well if you will come down to my studio and let me take your likeness."

He came round in the morning, but he was soon sent about his business; for he had washed his face, and combed his hair, and donned a respectable suit of clothes. He was needed as a beggar, and was not invited in any other capacity.

Even so, the gospel will receive you into its halls if you come as a sinner, not otherwise. Wait not for reformation, but come at once for salvation. God justifieth the ungodly, and that takes you up where you now are: it meets you in your worst estate.

Jesus, a short life

Latest book from John Dickson looks excellent

Twitter

I've bowed to peer pressure and started using Twitter. There is an igoogle gadget that interfaces with it - I couldn't possibly use it otherwise.

Top 5 Books on Evangelism

Tim Chester shares his top 5 books on evangelism

Persecution

The World Watch map from Open Doors, showing Christian persecution around the globe

Mardi Gras

Haydn shares some thoughts...