Giggle v Tickle — further response on “special measures”
Posted on July 23, 2026
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Associate Professor Neil Foster writes about back-and-forth arguments on Giggle v Tickle –
“The debate around whether a women-only app can exclude those born male is continuing. The decision of the Full Federal Court in Giggle v Tickle holds that it was unlawful for Sall Grover to exclude Roxanne Tickle from the ‘Giggle for Girls’ app.
I posted a critique of the decision on this blog. Professor Paula Gerber later argued, in a post on the ABC Religion and Ethics website, that the decision is correct. I then published a comment on the ABC site re-iterating my reasons for thinking that the decision is wrong, and critiquing Professor Gerber’s initial comment.
Professor Gerber then posted again on the ABC website (‘PG Response 1’), suggesting I was wrong to refer to possible religious freedom issues. I responded…”
– Read it all at Law and Religion Australia.
A Memo to the Media from a Presbyterian Minister
Posted on July 22, 2026
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At The Wee Flea, Presbyterian minister David Robertson shares some reflections on media coverage of the NSW Assembly’s decision on biblical eldership –
“The Presbyterian Church of New South Wales has decided to go along with all the other Presbyterian churches in Australia by upholding the biblical teaching that only men can be elders. In today’s age, this may come as a shock to some. And it is very easy for a newspaper to report on it in such a way as so that it appears to be a negative thing for women and a return to the Dark Ages. Before writing your articles, we would suggest that it would be a good idea if you try to understand our position. …”
– Read it here. (Also published at AP, but at The Wee Flea David has added some helpful headings.)
The Well prepares Indigenous stream
Posted on July 22, 2026
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“The Rev Michael Duckett looks out at the firepit, surrounded by gum trees, at Macarthur Indigenous Church’s ministry centre at Wedderburn.
We’re talking about plans for the first-ever training program designed for Indigenous people in the Sydney Diocese…”
– Russell Powell has this encouraging story at SydneyAnglicans.net.
How to preach sermons that change lives — The Pastor’s Heart
Posted on July 21, 2026
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From The Pastor’s Heart –
“Do our sermons actually land in the lives of the people in front of us?
Do they help anxious believers, tired parents, proud leaders, compromised Christians or sceptical guests to hear, trust and obey the living Word of God?
Richard Coekin says application is part of faithful preaching itself.
But application has dangers, it might come not really from the text, or could be overly directive. Or we could give accurate lectures that fail to shepherd the church.
Richard Coekin leads Reach UK. Richard has just written ‘Apply the Word: A Practical Guide to Preaching with Application.’”
– Watch here.
Men and Women in Church
Posted on July 21, 2026
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From Phillip Jensen –
“Dear friends,
This episode of Two Ways News brings us to one of the most controversial passages of the Bible. Since the Sexual Revolution and feminist movement of the late 20th century, the roles of men and women have been fiercely debated in our society. Within the church, this topic has been contested with the main focus being on the various ministries of men and women.
So when we come to 1 Corinthians 11 and read of women praying and prophesying, our debaters are alerted to possible data for discussion. But when it turns to the head covering of women, the issues brought up are very complicated. I doubt that our discussion here will be the last word or even a significant turning point in the debate. But I hope that, irrespective of the debate, we may make 1 Corinthians 11 a little clearer.
By the way, I recently spoke on Prophecy Today at the Kings Birthday Conference. You can listen to the recordings of that conference at phillipjensen.com.
Yours,
Phillip.”
– Hear Phillip and Peter’s latest discussion at Two Ways News,
Diocese of Tasmania recognises the Global Anglican Communion in recent Synod
Posted on July 20, 2026
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We missed this news from Gafcon Australia when it came out last month –
“We are delighted by the motion recently passed by the synod of the Diocese of Tasmania. The following was moved by the Venerable Jennifer Hercott:
‘That this Synod:
1. Notes that this Diocese has previously affirmed and assented to the Jerusalem Declaration as a faithful expression of Anglican doctrine and identity;
2. Acknowledges its continued constitutional relationship with the Church of England in England as presently established;
3. Recognises the Global Anglican Communion as a genuine expression of Anglican fellowship, grounded in historic orthodoxy and shared commitment to the authority of Scripture;
4. Declares that this Diocese considers itself to be in fellowship with those Provinces and Dioceses within the Global Anglican Communion that uphold the doctrine and teaching reflected in the Jerusalem Declaration;
5. Encourages the strengthening of relationships, prayer, and mutual support with these Anglican bodies for the sake of the gospel and the unity of Christ’s Church. …’ ”
– Read more at Gafcon Australia, where the question is posed, “Could your diocese propose a similar motion? Or your local church begin by adopting the Jerusalem Declaration?”
2026 Annual Moore College Lectures with Andrew Atherstone
Posted on July 20, 2026
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Andrew Atherstone, Professor of Modern Anglicanism at Oxford University, is giving this year’s Moore College Annual Lectures.
His topic: Anglican evangelicalism in the age of John Stott, Jim Packer and Dick Lucas: Surviving and thriving in a mixed-up denomination.
When: Monday 3 to Friday 7 August 2026.
The Sydney Family Album 3 — William Cowper
Posted on July 19, 2026
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In 2011, Mark Thompson, now Principal of Moore College, penned a series of posts entitled “The Sydney Family Album”, for his website, Theological Theology.
We felt they merit wider distribution, so, with Mark’s kind permission, we are re-posting them on the ACL website, at the rate of one a week.
Here’s the third, a guest post by Peter Bolt on William Cowper.
Other posts in the The Sydney Family Album series (as we add them) are in our Resources section.
Calls for Finnish free speech campaigner Päivi Räsänen to be deplatformed
Posted on July 18, 2026
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From The Christian Institute in the United Kingdom –
“MLAs have called for the former Finnish MP, dragged to court for quoting the Bible, to be barred from speaking in Stormont due to her biblical views.
Following reports that Päivi Räsänen was invited to talk at a ‘Faith in the Public Square’ event in Stormont, associated with the Bangor Worldwide Missionary Convention, Naomi Long, the Alliance Party leader, wrote that Räsänen would “bring the Assembly into disrepute” by being there, and called for her to be deplatformed. …
Räsänen said that she was no longer confident she would make it to the conference in Northern Ireland in August as her electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to enter the UK was cancelled. …
American author Rod Dreher stated: ‘Päivi Räsänen, an elected European lawmaker, cannot travel through Heathrow Airport on the way back home, on orders of His Majesty’s government. Why? Because she is a convicted hate-speech criminal, for quoting the Bible in public. That’s where we are.’…”
And see earlier, related posts.
Disdain and hostility: What I witnessed at the Church of England’s General Synod
Posted on July 17, 2026
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“Every five years (called a quinquennium), the Church of England elects its General Synod, which is essentially the church’s equivalent of the House of Commons.
And as this quinquennium came to an end, it felt as if the sun was setting on the Church of England as a whole.
I am an outsider. I am not a Church of England member.
But I am a Christian, and I believe wholeheartedly in the Christian faith that the Church of England has historically upheld and still claims to do so today.
I attended General Synod for the first time to support Rebecca Bensted from the Christian Legal Centre and our Core Issues Trust/X-Out-Loud allies as we held a fringe event to explore the ramifications of a ‘conversion therapy’ ban, and highlight the importance of the gospel message of change, repentance and regeneration.
And I was astounded by what I saw. …”
– From Christian Concern, Holly Baines reflects on her experience at the Church of England’s General Synod.
J. Gresham Machen: Where he died Is important
Posted on July 17, 2026
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Michael Horton shares this insight into the life of J. Gresham Machen –
“Already frail in health, J. Gresham Machen kept his appointment to preach in North Dakota. For someone reared in Machen’s world, the Presbyterian Church was far from being a ‘little flock,’ as Jesus described his church (Luke 12:32). It was powerful in every area of civil and social life.
From a family of Baltimore elites, Machen, born in 1881, had a Harvard Law School–trained Episcopalian father (Arthur Webster Machen) and a Presbyterian mother, Mary Jones Gresham. It was his mother who had the greater influence on his life, teaching her son Greek, Latin, and the classics as well as piano. He enjoyed regular Sunday dinners with Woodrow Wilson and his family after the morning service at Princeton’s Nassau Presbyterian Church. …”
Reactions to the Church of England General Synod’s vote on Palestine
Posted on July 16, 2026
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Here are two reactions to the vote in the Church of England’s General Synod –
Why the Church of England has got Israel wrong – James Patrick at Premier Christianity.
“Dear Archbishop Sarah,
In light of the controversial motion passed at General Synod yesterday, your five-day pilgrimage in the Holy Land just three weeks ago could appear to be a well-timed advertisement in its support. Even so, your concluding pastoral letter wisely steered clear of the worst excesses of the Kairos Palestine II document commended in the motion. KPII accuses Israel 30 times of ‘genocide’, and claims that the State of Israel is ‘racist’ and colonialist from its origins (1.3; 2.1; 3.3; 4.2), a listed example of antisemitism in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition adopted by the Church of England in 2018. It is no wonder that British Jewish and Christian leaders alike have expressed their deep concerns about this motion, which promotes incendiary accusations rejected by our own government. …”
A Shameful Day for the Church of England – Julian Mann at The Daily Sceptic.
“The atmosphere at the Church of England’s General Synod after it passed its shameful anti-Israel motionwas frighteningly complacent. From where I was sitting in the press gallery on July 13th the members in the chamber seemed to be very pleased with themselves.
But unless these largely middle-class Anglicans had returned home to an enclosed-order monastery after their meeting in the York University central hall, how could they fail to register the impact of the nuclear bomb they had just let off? …”
Image: Church of England General Synod, 13 July 2026.
See also Ian Paul’s speech during the debate –
CofE General Synod Private Member’s Motion affirming intimate same-sex relationships narrowly defeated
Posted on July 15, 2026
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From The Church of England Evangelical Council –
“A Private Member’s Motion seeking to affirm that committed, faithful, intimate same-sex relationships are compatible with Christian discipleship was narrowly defeated at this week’s meeting of the Church of England’s General Synod in York.
The motion, proposed by Professor Helen King and amended by the Very Revd Christopher Dalliston, was debated on Monday 13 July as part of the Church’s continuing dialogue around marriage and sexual ethics. …”
– News from CEEC. Emphasis added.
NSW Presbyterians vote on whether women can be elders
Posted on July 15, 2026
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John Sandeman at The Other Cheek reports on today’s vote in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in NSW –
“The Presbyterian Church of Australia in NSW (PCNSW) General Assembly voted in favour of an overture (motion) that women can not be elders, today. The vote passed 136 to 61. The meeting took place at PLC Sydney in Croydon.
Technically, the decision is not final. The General Assembly also voted that the (sustained) passed overture must be sent down to all regional presbyteries for a vote. Presbyterians have a process called The Barrier Act, which calls for presbyteries to vote for or against the overture unamended. If a majority of presbyteries vote for the overture, it will return to the General Assembly next time it meets. If it is passed by the next assembly, it becomes part of the church code (law). Given today’s overwhelming vote this decision is vanishingly unlikely to be overturned. …”
– Full post here. Photo: The Other Cheek.
A Contested Space
Posted on July 15, 2026
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David Cook writes at The Expository Preaching Trust –
“Dr Brendan Murphy was the Chief Medical Officer of the Commonwealth during most of the Covid crisis.
Dr Murphy’s presence at the many press conferences was quietly reassuring.
It was a surprise, then, that at a Senate Estimates hearing, when he was asked, ‘Dr Murphy, what is a woman?’ he could not reply, saying that that was a highly contested area!
In my lifetime different areas of Christian truth have aptly matched the needs of the time; in the ’60s it was the authority of Scripture; in the ’70s it was the person and work of the Holy Spirit; in the ’80s and ’90s, I remember hearing John Stott say that if he were to begin parish ministry at that time, he would spend the first year preaching on the doctrine of the Church.
These are days of gender fluidity and identity issues wherein ‘what is a woman’ is a contested area. …”
And note that – if you are quick – you might be able to secure the last spot available at the Expository Preaching Trust’s annual Preaching Workshop at Drummoyne, 4th-6th August.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…