Moving to a five-day working week for the welfare of clergy
Posted on July 20, 2025
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“We have always made clear to our new clergy that their stipend is not a salary for ‘services rendered’, but rather an allowance so they don’t have to work for a living.
Set free from that burden, they are able to adopt that particular lifestyle which is ministry—that is, giving of themselves to shepherding their sheep and seeking the lost. …”
– Bishop of Bathurst Mark Calder shares his thoughts on the advantages of having a five-day working week for clergy.
Mark Short elected Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia
Posted on July 19, 2025
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From John Sandeman at The Other Cheek:
“Mark Short, the Bishop of the Canberra-Goulburn diocese, is the new Primate – titular head – of the Anglican Church of Australia.
He is an alumnus of Moore Theological College, and was elected as Bishop of Canberra in 2019. Prior to that, he served as National Director of the Bush Church Aid Society from 2011.
His election means that the head of the Australian Anglicans is once more an evangelical. Short has been involved in EFAC, the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion. …”
– More here.
Read some of Mark’s addresses on the Canberra Goulburn Diocese website.
New Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia to be elected
Posted on July 18, 2025
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A post from the Diocese of Bathurst:
“Tomorrow, diocesan bishops from across the country, together with elected clergy and lay members of the Primatial Election Board, will gather in Sydney.
The day will begin with a service of Morning Prayer at St Andrew’s Cathedral, after which, God willing, a new Primate will be elected to succeed Archbishop Geoff Smith, who has announced his resignation effective at the end of October.
Please join us in praying for wisdom, unity, and the leading of the Holy Spirit.”
– from the Diocese of Bathurst Facebook page.
Grafton and Riverina adopt five-day week for thriving clergy
Posted on July 18, 2025
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“Clergy health and safety has been behind the decisions two dioceses in NSW recently made to reduce the number of days their ministers worked.
The synods of the Anglican Dioceses of Grafton and Riverina both voted to embrace five-day working weeks for clergy in June. …”
– Story from The Melbourne Anglican.
Victorian Inquiry into Cults
Posted on July 17, 2025
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“A new submission by Freedom for Faith warns that the Victorian Government’s inquiry into cults, coercive control, and high-demand groups may pose serious risks to religious freedom if not carefully scoped and defined.
While commending the inquiry’s aim to protect individuals from abuse, the submission emphasises that poorly drafted laws could stigmatise or even criminalise legitimate religious practices. …”
– Read more at Freedom for Faith (especially if you are in Victoria).
Alistair Begg gives thanks for John MacArthur
Posted on July 17, 2025
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In this video, Alistair Begg gives thanks for John MacArthur.
See also:
Crossway gives thanks – with links to a number of articles by John MacArthur.
Testimony about John MacArthur from the fitness trainer who didn’t know his identity – NottheBee.
The evangelical application problem — with Richard Coekin
Posted on July 17, 2025
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From The Pastor’s Heart –
“We evangelicals, says Richard Coekin, have a problem – and it’s a preaching problem.
Richard Coekin says we are too often careless – his word– when it comes to application in preaching.
We work hard on exegesis, we labour to understand the original context and the author’s intent – but then we stop short. We leave our congregations with sound doctrine, but little direction.
Richard has just concluded 29 years as senior pastor at Dundonald Church in London and as the founding leader of the Co-Mission network across the UK capital. He now heads up Reach UK.
Richard’s new book, Apply: How to Preach the Bible for Real Life, is about to be released – and today he joins us to explore why good application is not an optional extra, but the very purpose of preaching.”
Kirsten Birkett on Proverbs — Church Society podcast
Posted on July 16, 2025
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From Church Society:
“Kirsten Birkett discusses with Lee Gatiss her new commentary on Proverbs in the Hodder Bible Commentary series.”
– Listen here.
Why mission needs strategy: A conversation with Scott Sanders
Posted on July 16, 2025
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The Australian Church Record speaks with Scott Sanders on why mission needs strategy –
“I went to college with a strong desire to plant churches in cross-cultural contexts, and that naturally drew me into the early stages of the church planting happening around 2008–2009.
Geneva Push was forming in response to the broader church planting momentum that was happening globally at the time.
I joined in June 2010, shortly after their first conference, and initially worked to build out the assessment process and coaching systems. There wasn’t much of a plan—just a bold vision to see hundreds of new churches evangelised into existence. It was an exciting, ambitious goal. …”
– Read Kirsten McKinlay’s interview of Scott Sanders here.
What God has Joined Together — The plan for sexual intimacy
Posted on July 15, 2025
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From Phillip Jensen:
“As we continue to think about the creation of the man and the woman in the garden, we find marriage being introduced as the outcome of our sexual polarity.
The woman is created to the joy of the man. Consequently, the man is to leave his parents to ‘cleave’ to his wife. The old-fashioned verb to cleave has been changed in most modern translations. But the concept of sex inside the marriage cannot be changed. So Peter and I wander into a discussion about sexual intimacy in and out of marriage.”
John MacArthur 1939-2025
Posted on July 15, 2025
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Grace Community Church in Sun Valley California, the church pastored by John MacArthur since 1969, has announced that he has been called home to be with the Lord.
Wonderful help for reading the Bible in public
Posted on July 15, 2025
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Many of us can give thanks for excellent public Bible reading in churches.
But how can we help church members read the Scriptures clearly and in an engaging manner?
Clifford Warne (1930 – 2003) was a much-loved Christian communicator and broadcaster.
Perhaps his greatest passion was to ensure that the Bible is communicated well.
In 1979, he and Paul White published, through the Anglican Information Office in Sydney, a small book entitled “For Reading Out Loud”.
In the introduction they state –
“Some people who think the Bible has nothing to say to them, do so not because they’ve read it, but because they’ve only heard it read.
An unprepared or careless reading of God’s Book meant to them blurring of meaning and boredom.
These are days of trained news readers on television and radio. Why should we not have skilful Bible readers in church?
For the reader, learning, using and mastering the few rules set out in this book will make the Scriptures live in a new way.
For those who listen, it can mean a new understanding of the Bible and a desire to read it for themselves.
THE HEART OF THE MATTER IN READING ALOUD IS
TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU READ
TO SOUND NATURAL and
TO MAKE THE MEANING CLEAR.When words are spoken, the meaning is not in the words alone, but in
THE EMPHASIS
THE PHRASING and
THE EXPRESSION given to those words.”
In addition to writing on the subject, Clifford Warne gave many talks and lectures. Three, in particular, were often distributed on cassette tape.
Thanks to Russell Powell at Anglican Media Sydney, three key recordings are once again available and are wonderful resources for individuals and churches.
They are –
The art of reading the Bible aloud.
A storyteller’s secrets.
How to hold an audience.
They are all accessible from this page at SydneyAnglicans.net.
We can be thankful for excellent Bible reading in churches – Let’s help all who read do it well!
Spiritual Conflict
Posted on July 14, 2025
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“In his Screwtape Letters CS Lewis observes that there are two equal and opposite errors that people fall into regarding the dark powers. One mistake is to disbelieve in their existence; the other is to believe in them to excess.
In Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 12, Paul the Apostle writes:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power… For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places…
Paul takes the reality of conflict in the world to another level…”
– John Mason urges us to see what we need in the struggle against the cosmic powers of this present darkness.
Be radical and read the Bible
Posted on July 13, 2025
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From Murray Campbell in Melbourne:
“A challenge if you live in Melbourne. A challenge no matter your age, and especially if you’re part of Generation Z
Be radical and read the Bible!
Check out the latest on ‘Tomorrow’s Melbourne’ and how an upsurge of Bible reading in the UK could help us take the Bible more seriously here in Melbourne.”
– That’s the theme of his latest ‘Tomorrow’s Melbourne’ video.
Anglican Communion (Nigeria) restricts political activities in Churches
Posted on July 12, 2025
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“The Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, has banned politicians from using its lectern for campaign matters.
At the just concluded episcopal consultation at Nike Diocese in Enugu, the Anglicans set guidelines for the reception of politicians and government officials in Church services/programmes across all its Churches. …”
– Report from The Source Magazine Nigeria.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…