Monthly Archive: April 2008

Apr
10

Google and Secularism

Now this annoys me – not that it is really that surprising. The myth of the secular, the neutral, the a-religious territory, seems to creep all around us. Everyone has religious presuppositions, everyone has a doctrine of God, everyone believes in something. If our generation has an attitude of ‘incredulity towards metanarratives’ as per Jean-François …

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Apr
09

Justin Moffatt on Conference Season

Justin has touched a nerve of mine about the potential hype and starry-eyed leader following which is the temptation from big-name preachers and conferences. I love the Gospel being preached and especially in ways which profoundly impact people, but there is a danger of elevating the standard of catchy sermons such that the everyweek preacher …

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Apr
08

Total Church: The Mission Demands Downsizing

Yesterday was the Total Church conference here in Sydney. It was well attended, and a well-worthwhile conference to be at and to be stimulated by. I’m really on board with the movement’s emphasis on community: local, long-term, low-key, relational – rather than an attractional model of church (and it’s attendant large staff team, many programs, …

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Apr
08

Francis Schaeffer – The Church Before the Watching World

I’ve been preparing a series of studies on the doctrine of church for my small group and this was a beautiful and powerful quote I came across in Schaeffer’s book, The Church Before the Watching World:“Who are we? We are not just those going to Heaven. We are even now the wife of God. We …

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Apr
07

Jonathan Fletcher: Reforming the Church of England – Learning from the Past

Here’s a great article well worth reading! http://www.reform.org.uk/pages/bb/backtofuture.php Jonathan Fletcher puts things into perspective by diving into the past and thinking about how to be generous within orthodoxy (I prefer this type of generous orthodoxy than that of Brian McLaren). Here’s a sample: “At the Reform Conference last year, we had a magisterial presentation from …

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Apr
02

Analogy and truth

Vern Poythress’s book Science and Hermeneutics is free and available online – have a look here. Vern is one thoughtful reformed person, and I’ve loved reading his work on theology, mathematics and logic – but here’s a few good parts of the forementioned book (from chapters 8, 10 and 12) – just a few tasty …

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Apr
02

Confession Unto Death

From the Ligonier Ministries Table Talk magazine, Gene Edward Veith talks about what it means to be a confessional Christian. It’s a great short read, and should provoke a bit of thought and reflection on our (your) confessional position and convictions: http://www.ligonier.org/tabletalk/2008/4/1056_Confession_unto_Death Updated: Archbishop Peter Jensen has a short article on Sydney Anglicans about the …

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Apr
01

Herman Dooyeweerd and the Image of God

Dooyeweerd on the importance of the Image of God: “In the human ego, as the central seat of the imago Dei, God has concentrated the entire meaning of the temporal world into a radical religious unity. Man, created in the image of God, should direct all the temporal functions and powers of his existence and …

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Apr
01

Total Church things

In case you haven’t heard of the Crowded House and Total Church thing, have a look over here:http://www.missioninaction.org.au/ Anyway, church planter and author, Steve Timmis is heading out to Oz and is speaking at Moore College soon, so if you get a chance to come, do! More info here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=8629884623 Or, have a listen to …

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